Small Business Success | Small Business Mentoring

Hi everyone-

Last weekend, Mark, Chance and I went out to ‘the country’ to see my mom and my stepdad. They live halfway between Weatherford, Texas and Mineral Wells, Texas in a tiny little no-red-light town called Millsap.

Mom and “Grumpy” as she calls him are craftsmen artists. That means that they make art that requires an understanding of a particular skillset. My stepdad is an amazing talent in woodworking. He can eye anything and make it to order. Imagine how funny it was to see 7-year-old Chance in the woodshop with ‘Granddad’ engineering a wood scrap car.

A small rectangle block of wood served as the ‘car body’, four round discs created the wheels, a small wood knob made a great seat, and a fancy dowel served finished the ensemble for a backing to the seat. But what about the steering wheel?

Chance dug down in the scrap box and fished out a plumbing piece complete with red knob, “How about this? This would be a good steering wheel!” A couple of screws later and the new little racecar was ready to roll.

We all just stood there gazing at the racecar thinking that none of us would have thought of the plumbing piece for the steering wheel.

The point is, we often get used to seeing things the way we see them. Sometimes, with a new perspective, we can see something all new again. Try stepping into your customers’ shoes and walking around your office or viewing your website or looking at your new product or service.

What do you see?

Hugs-

Tina

P.S. Belief buster – Look at one area of your business you want to expand and list five ways you could repackage it. Hint: You can create something new, you can mix it with something else in your business to create something new, you can combine it with someone else’s product to make another offering, or fashion it after something in another industry.

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