Slides for a presentation given at the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce on working on your business.

1. Are You Working IN Your
Business, or ON Your Business?
Shannon Register
Broker / Owner, Register Real Estate Advisors
Owner, RREA Media
Host, “Houston Real Estate Radio” on NewsRadio 740 KTRH
Small Business Forum
2/17/15

2. Agenda
• The predictable life cycle of a small business
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• Becoming expendable
• What working on your business looks like
• Resources

3. THE PREDICTABLE LIFE CYCLE OF A
SMALL BUSINESS
“As unique as we all think we are… we aren’t.”
–Matt Register

4. • You get into business because you love what
you do
• You hit the capacity of your ability to do it
alone
• You hire employees and add overhead to
increase your capacity
• You no longer get to do what you love
• You hit the capacity of the yellow legal pad

5. **SPOILER**
Nobody likes admin.

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN
YOU GROW UP?
“If you don't know where you are going, any road
will get you there.” –Lewis Carroll

7. What does success look like to you?
• Grow, sell, retire?
• Grow, pass to next generation?
• Stay where you are, make a nice living, and
shut it down? (lifestyle business)
• Pass to your employees?
• A combination of the above?
• What’s your number?

8. BECOMING EXPENDABLE
“All mangers are losers. They are the most expendable
pieces of furniture on the face of the earth.”
–Ted Williams

9. Can you take 3 weeks off without it
having a detrimental impact on
your business?

10. Avoiding the “Hit by a Bus” Problem
• Knowledge Management
– Training
– Manuals
• Delegation
– Tactical vs Strategic
– Cross training
– Most tasks can be delegated
– Some can only be done by leader

11. WHAT WORKING ON YOUR
BUSINESS LOOKS LIKE
“Success isn’t owned, it is leased. The rent is due
every day.” –JJ Watt

12. “It's supposed to be hard. If it were easy,
everyone would do it.”
-Tom Hanks, A League of Their Own

13. Working ON Your Business
• Building systems
• Know your value
• Understand your
environment
• Follow your mission
• Measure your marketing
• Maximize training
• Leverage technology
• Inventory your assets
• Utilize your database
• Lead

14. Building Systems
• Measurable metrics – find yours
• Manuals
• Database
• Accounting / costing
• ERP/MRP (computer systems)
• Accountability
• Training
• Marketing
• Payroll
• Hiring

15. Know Your Value
• What is your value proposition?
• What do you do better than anyone else?
• Why do customers choose you?
• Who has a problem that you are uniquely
qualified to solve?

16. Understand Your Environment
• Customers
• Vendors
• Competitors
• Regulations
• Political
• Social

17. Follow Your Mission
• What is your mission?
• Do your employees know it?
• Power of everyone pulling as hard as they can
in the exact same direction

18. Measure Your Marketing
• 1 million ways to burn money in marketing
• Find what works
• No magic bullet
• Constant effort

19. Maximize Training
• Insource or outsource?
• Frequency?
• Certifications?
• Cross training
CFO asks CFO: “What happens if we invest in developing our
people and then they leave us?”
CEO to CFO: “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

20. Leverage Technology
• Website
– Online brochure or communication platform and
lead conversion machine?
– Who has a problem that you are the solution for?
What are they searching for to solve their
problem? Are you found?
• Better, faster, cheaper
– Manual machines -> cnc
– Kingdom Dog -> text to database

21. Inventory Your Assets
• Barter
– Some things are better than money
– HRER -> home shows
– HRER -> Christmas lights
• Find customers for expansion
– RREA Media -> drone
• Media
– Make their job easy in exchange for coverage
• Alliances
– RREA -> home builders

22. Utilize Your Database
• How big is your database?
• How do you use it
• Opt-in database is absolute gold in today’s
online world
• Communicate
• Inform
• Educate
• Be a trusted and valuable resource

23. Lead
• Inspire
• Lead by example
• Hire to your weaknesses
• Demand excellence
• Understand personality styles
• Position yourself as a thought leader

24. FREE RESOURCES
“And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed!
Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent
guaranteed!” –Dr. Seuss

25. • Greater Houston Partnership – houston.org
• Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses –
10ksbapply.com
• Lone Star Small Business Development Center
Evolve – Lonestar.sbdcnetwork.net/lonestar
• Score Houston – ScoreHouston.org

26. QUESTIONS?

27. Shannon Register
s@rrea.com