A TINY CELEBRATION

Before going straight into our featured post this week, I’m taking a brief pause to celebrate making it to double-digits on the newsletter — welcome to Edition 010 🎉.

The small wins matter. Don’t forget to take a moment to celebrate one of yours today.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled programming...

FEATURED POST OF THE WEEK

Our long-form article of the week. You can always view the current and past featured posts onEmpower’s blog.

Taking back control: build momentum through incremental improvement

A business growth dilemma

I often encounter business owners who aspire to take their operations to the next level but struggle with where to begin. The sheer number of tasks, decisions and interactions they manage each day can often delay crucial operational improvements that may hold them back from achieving their goals. While delaying may be OK short-term, the long-term implications of sustained inaction could be painful.

When presented with a broad challenge like “improving how my business runs on a day-to-day basis,” it’s natural to feel overwhelmed by the potential breadth and depth of what needs to be assessed and addressed. Rather than letting the overwhelm get the best of you, take a step back to re-assess, break things down and simplify the complexity. These are principles I’ve also introduced in Edition 002 (the featured post) and Edition 005 (weekly dose of empowerment).

Stephen Duneier also strongly reinforces this message in a TED Talk and provides a persuasive argument for why getting started today, even in a small way, is better than the alternative:

Get results from marginal improvement

Duneier provides a roadmap and practical examples throughout the talk that speak to how small adjustments impact people’s ability to achieve their objectives.

Here are three key themes he highlights: 

• Take control of tiny decisions to move the probability of achievement in your favor: You can’t control everything, no matter how much you try. Focus on what you can control. Start making small decisions that will steer you on the ideal path. 

• Change your approach to see change: It’s easy to fall into the trap of going through the motions of each day and assuming that nothing can change because you don’t have the time to fix everything. Duneier applied this technique to transform from a C student to making the dean's list. He needed a new technique to help him stay focused, so he adjusted to work in shorter bursts, and it paid off. He employed the same approach to life after college and attributes his success to it.  

• Be an active participant, not a spectator: Actively intervene in your trajectory to enhance your chance of success. Develop systems to improve outcomes instead of passively accepting the status quo. 

Guided questions to help you take action

If you’re at a phase of your business where you have so much going on and also feel blocked, reflect on the tools that can help you break things down and start to make incremental improvements. 

Use these questions as a guide:

• Where can you take control? 

• How can you play a more active role in your chance of success? 

• What daunting goal can you break down into more manageable steps?

• Where do you need help?

Remember, change doesn't happen overnight. You know that expression: Rome wasn’t built in a day? Start with small decisions that move you closer to your business goals. Embrace marginal improvement and watch the flywheel effect take hold.

WEEKLY DOSE OF EMPOWERMENT

The weekly dose of Empowerment is meant to provide one weekly tip that’s both practical and approachable, to help drive incremental improvement to your day-to-day. We’re always open to your contributions as well. If you would like to submit a tip to be shared with the Empower community in a future newsletter, please reach out at [email protected] with the subject line “Weekly Dose of Empowerment Submission.”

Establishing streaks

I’m borrowing this week’s dose of empowerment from venture capitalist Fred Wilson. He wrote about the concept of streaks a few weeks ago, and I think it’s also a relevant topic to follow the first section of this week’s newsletter.

Wilson discusses streaks within the context of tactics companies deploy to keep users coming back and retaining them. For example, beehiiv, the platform I use to write this newsletter, uses the concept of a streak to keep track of how many weeks in a row I’ve published.

When you’re on a roll, you don’t want to break the streak, right?

Streaks are powerful customer growth and retention tools, but they’re also helpful in forming new habits for our personal or business lives. Once you establish a new, healthy behavior, you set goals and track your accountability. The more you repeat the new habit, the more likely it sticks.

As Fred Wilson states:

Get started with your next streak

Step 1: Identify a new streak that’s important for you.

• Learn one new thing about your industry each week.

• Attend three networking events each month.

• Do one thing every day to improve your customer’s experience with your business.

The list could go on…

Step 2: Set up an easy way to gamify and stay accountable.

Once you pick something you want to build a streak around, how can you make the process a little more fun?

Similar to how beehiiv gives me a push of encouragement each time I log in, think about how you can track your streak and feel good about each time the number goes up.

As two examples:

• Keep track of your streak on a whiteboard and give yourself the satisfaction of crossing off your last milestone and replacing it with the next.

• Many project management tools can be used for habit tracking. Asana has the added bonus of a colorful unicorn flying across your screen when you check off tasks. Other apps can support the process as well.

The benefits

• A sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

• Personal and professional development.

• Builds determination and momentum.

• A mechanism for achieving marginal improvements more frequently.

• Potential for significant long-term results through consistent small actions.

What streak can you start this month?

JESSICA’S READ, OR LISTEN, PICK OF THE WEEK

A little something that got my gears turning this week and might pique your interest as well!

From Wes Kao’s Newsletter: How I give the right amount of context (in any situation)

TL;DR

Wes Kao is an established entrepreneur who publishes a weekly newsletter focused on being a better operator and leader in modern organizations. She consistently hits the nail on the head, and I often read her pieces and think, “Wow, I feel equally passionate about this topic.” Today, I’m highlighting one she wrote in June about context.

Context is so important when you’re managing teams and/or building a business. It’s a topic I’ve emphasized with my previous teams and other leaders who are trying to drive a particular outcome. Providing the right level of context is a practiced skill, that when done well, will accelerate your success as a leader and allow your team to move faster.

The newsletter does a much better job than I could at providing a blueprint for how to get this right, driving improved clarity and alignment. So, I’ll leave it to you to review Kao’s thoughts in detail.

Here’s one of my favorite takeaways:

JUST FOR FUN

Really, this section is just for fun. Who knows what will be in store each week?

In the spirit of continuous experimentation with AI, I had Claude, an AI assistant generated by Anthropic create the following sonnet expressing the benefits of a small business owner partnering with someone like Empower to streamline operations 😊.

I don’t think I’ll be adding AI-generated poems to our marketing strategy, but it’s a reminder of the bit of fun you can have when testing out AI.

LOOKING FOR MORE EMPOWERMENT?

You’ve worked hard to build your business. Let’s work together to make it last. We want to be your partner in the journey to build the business that lives into your vision.

If you want to learn more about Empower’s offerings or methodology, reach out to discuss how we can support your goals. 

If you were forwarded this newsletter and enjoyed it, I encourage you to subscribe and join the Empower community.