David J. Pollay's Blog

Is it Time to Open Your Own Business?

Monday Morning Momentum™ with David J. Pollay – March 30, 2009

Our challenging economy has a lot of us speculating about our future.  If the big companies aren’t hiring, is this the time to consider starting our own businesses? 

But, many of us are also asking, “Am I really cut out to be an entrepreneur?”  The challenge is to figure out the answer.  One way to find out is to look to your past.  Have you ever wanted to run your own business?  Have you ever done anything entrepreneurial?  You may find that you’ve had an interest, but that you haven’t yet explored it; now may be a good time.  Here’s what I found when I combed my history.

When I was seven years old, I rode the bus to school.  The trip took about an hour.  The ride was predictable, the kids were the same, and everyone was bored.  One particular ride I noticed that some kids seemed excited by the littlest things other kids had.  No matter how insignificant the object seemed – an eraser, a sticker, a pen – kids seemed to want it.  That’s when it struck me; I had my first business idea.

The birth of a business

That night after dinner I looked for all the little knick-knacks I had in my room.  I collected everything.  While much of it was not particularly exciting, I remembered that “kids are interested in other kids’ stuff.”  I also needed a display case.  So, I emptied my old, tattered cigar box, and place everything in it.  And then I put fifty pennies in the box in case I needed to make change for my customers. 

The next morning I grabbed my book bag, my jacket, and my cigar box.  I kissed Mom goodbye, waved to my little brother, and ran out to the bus.

Open for business

I climbed on board.  I said hello to the bus driver, and waved to the kids as I walked five rows back to my seat and sat down.  I then looked around.  It was time.  I put my cigar box on my lap, and tapped the shoulder of the boy in front of me.

I said, “I have a new store.  Do you want to see what I have?”

“Sure,” he said.

I held up the cigar box.  I flipped open the top.  His eyes lit up.  He moved across his seat, came back around, and sat down next to me.  He looked through my box and found a sticker he liked.

“How much?” he said.

“2¢,” I told him.

He said, “I have a nickel.”

I gave him the sticker and he passed me the nickel.  I then handed him three pennies.  “Thanks,” I said. 

Looking at his sticker, he smiled.  “Cool.”

My first referral

He got up and went back to his seat.  The girl across the aisle saw him admiring what was in his hand.

She said, “What’s that?”

“A sticker,” he said.

“Cool.  Where did you get it?”

“From David.  He has a store.”

“Oh yeah?”  She turned around and looked at me. 
I smiled.

She cut across the aisle, and moved in next to me.  “Can I see what you have?”

And that’s how my business began.  I made 27¢ that first day.

That night I looked for more things to add to my store.  And the next day I opened for business again.  And that’s how it went for the rest of the week.  By Friday, almost every kid on the bus had bought something.  My take for the week was $1.14.  I was thrilled!  The kids were happy.  I had fun.  The effort was worth it.  I liked being in charge.  I had my first business.

In 2002, thirty-one years later, I opened my second business.  This time around I started my own training and seminar company, The Momentum Project.  While this business is more complicated than my first, and the prices are higher, the idea is the same:  I get to do what I love and I’m in control.  I’m in charge of my creative and economic destiny.  I enjoyed being an entrepreneur when I was seven, and I love it now. 

How about you?  Is there something entrepreneurial in your past?  How about your future?  Now might be the time to act.

Copyright 2009 David J. Pollay

Invite your family and friends to join you

If you want your family, friends, and colleagues to join us on our Monday Morning Momentum™ journey, send this post along to them. 

Have a great week! 

Best to you,

David

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David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker.  David’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out this summer. 

David is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.  He is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email dawn@themomentumproject.com.  Here’s David’s full bio.

 

Speak the Language of Growth

Monday Morning Momentum™ with David J. Pollay – March 23, 2009

When I was a sophomore in college, my three roommates and I bought four plants from the local grocery store to liven up our dorm suite.   We wanted some variety, so each plant was a little different. 

When we brought the plants home, we put them around our suite, grabbed a mug, and watered them.  We then designated that mug the official watering can; it would help make sure we gave the same amount of water to each plant.

The next day, three of the plants looked droopy.  We grabbed the mug and watered them all again.  Another day passed and the three plants looked even worse.  We did the only thing we knew how to do; we gave them all more water.  And that didn’t work either. 

The next day a friend showed up at our place. 

“What’s up with your plants?!” she laughed as she entered the room. 

“They’re not doing so well,” I said.

She laughed again. “No kidding!”

“But we’re giving them plenty of water,” said one of my roommates.

She smiled, walked over and touched the soil of each of the unhealthy plants. 

“You’re giving them too much water,” she said.

“That can’t be,” I said.  “All plants need water.” 

“Yes,” she said, “but in different amounts.  You just have to touch the soil.  If the soil is dry, the plant needs water.  If the soil is wet, the plant has plenty of water.”

We followed her advice, and as you would guess, the plants thrived. 

People and plants

I’ve always believed that the lesson I learned that day translates directly to business.  Employees need nourishment too, but just like plants, they need it in different doses.  When we treat employees the same, we miss an opportunity to give them what they really need to grow.  

People are not the same

A number of years ago I was in a meeting with senior leaders discussing the importance of recognizing employees when they do good work.  One of the leaders pushed his chair back from the table, put his hands behind his head, and said, “I rarely give out recognition; I believe my employees work harder when I keep it in short supply.”  

Was his strategy effective?  Yes, but with only one person.  The rest of his team had individual preferences for when and how they liked to be recognized.  He wasn’t reaching everyone.  And as a result, they weren’t happy, nor as productive and successful as they could have been.  But he had a deep-set belief that everyone should get the same ration of feedback.  

Reach out

We must take the time to know what brings out the strengths of our employees.  But, how do we know what they need?  The answer is straightforward:  we have to ask.  Employees will tell us what they need when we touch them with our questions, our interest, and our support.  They’ll tell us what size mug of water to bring and how often.

Let’s give our employees what they need to succeed.  Speak their language and watch them grow.

Invite your family and friends to join you

If you want your family, friends, and colleagues to join us on our Monday Morning Momentum™ journey, send this post along to them. 

Have a great week! 

Best to you,

David

-------------------------------------------------------

Sign up

And remember you can sign up for my newsletter, Monthly Momentum Minutes™, right here.

-------------------------------------

David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker.  David’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out this summer. 

David is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.  He is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email dawn@themomentumproject.com.  Here’s David’s full bio.

 

 

Agree on Success. You’ll Be Happy You Did.

Monday Morning Momentum™ with David J. Pollay – March 16, 2009

                               

Rule number one on the job:  be clear what’s expected of you.  Agree on what success looks like.  Ask how you’re going to be judged.  I learned how important this is when I interned for Procter and Gamble in the summer of 1986. 

 

Room for rent

 

I wanted my own apartment near the office, but my budget was too tight.  I could only afford to rent a room in a suburban home.  We’ll call the owner of the home Mrs. Johnson.

 

In order to reduce the rent that was advertised, I suggested to Mrs. Johnson that I could cut her lawn during the summer.  She agreed, and I moved in the next day – my first day on the job with Procter and Gamble.  I worked hard that first week, logging in more than seventy hours.  When Friday night came around, I was tired.  After dinner I went straight to bed.

 

Saturday morning visit

 

Now, do you ever get the sense that someone is staring at you?  You can tell without even opening your eyes, or looking in their direction.  Well, the next morning I had that feeling…and then I heard a voice. 

 

“David, it’s time to get up.”  It was Mrs. Johnson.

I looked at the clock.  It was 7:00a.m. on Saturday.

She said it again, “David, it’s time to get up.”

Confused, I said, “Why are you waking me up?

Mrs. Johnson answered in a cheery, but demanding voice, “It’s time to get up and mow the lawn and clean the pool.” 

 

I couldn’t believe it!  First, why did Mrs. Johnson feel the need to wake me up at 7:00a.m. on a Saturday?  Second, when did I get assigned to clean the pool?!  And third, what was Mrs. Johnson doing in my room?!

 

The answer to these questions was simple:  this is what I got when I didn’t clarify and agree on specific expectations in our business relationship. 

 

Setting expectations

 

You can bet I quickly sorted out my agreement with Mrs. Johnson.  And we put it in writing.  We discussed my job (mowing the lawn), how it should be done (cut medium length with the lawnmower tracks running east to west), and when it should be completed (by 5:00p.m. every Sunday).  Then we agreed that Mrs. Johnson should continue to use her pool cleaning service; they had all the necessary equipment and chemicals to do the job right.    

 

My summer with Mrs. Johnson taught me the importance of setting and agreeing upon business outcomes with your boss, your employees, your suppliers, and your customers.  There should be no surprises, unless they’re good ones.

 

The research

 

“Define the right outcomes and then let each person find his own route toward these outcomes.”  This was one of the key findings of two Gallup Organization studies involving over 80,000 managers and more than 1 million employees.  Managers who followed this principle were the most successful in the Gallup study.  Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman (Gallup consultants at the time) related the results of this research in First, Break All the Rules.   Buckingham and Coffman wrote, “Keep the focus on outcomes:  The role of a company is to identify the desired end.  The role of the individual is to find the best means possible to achieve that end.  Therefore, strong companies become experts in the destination and give the individual the thrill of the journey.”

 

Take the guesswork out of success; agree on how it will be measured.  If you don’t, you’ll have someone like Mrs. Johnson waking you up someday.

 

 

Copyright 2008 David J. Pollay

 

Invite your family and friends to join you

 

If you want your family, friends, and colleagues to join us on our Monday Morning Momentum™ journey, send this post along to them. 

 

Have a great week! 

 

Best to you,

David

 

----------------------------------------------------------­­­--

Sign up

And remember you can sign up for my newsletter, Monthly Momentum Minutes™, right here.

------------------------------------------------------------

David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker.  David’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out this summer. 

 

David is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.  He is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email dawn@themomentumproject.com.  Here’s David’s full bio.

Your Children Are Sponges: What Beliefs Are They Absorbing?

Monday Morning Momentum™ with David J. Pollay – March 9, 2009

Here are the highlights of a family dinner last year.  The evening was pretty typical.  Dawn and the girls were in the kitchen when I arrived home from the office.  I first hugged and kissed Dawn.  Then I grabbed Eliana and Ariela, and I hugged and kissed them too.  I lifted them up in my arms and bounced them as I sang our special song (I’m so happy to see you!  I’m so happy to see you!  I’mmmm soooo happy!).  The girls then led me to the dinner table.

We held hands, said our prayers, and ended our blessings with a loud, and in unison, “amen!”  We ate dinner, and along the way, we talked about the fun and important things that happened to each of us that day – real or imaginary, four and five year-olds are fun to listen to! 

Our rituals

Why do we perform these rituals every night?  Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, in his book Stumbling on Happiness, wrote:  “Just as we pass along our genes in an effort to create people whose faces look like ours, so too do we pass along our beliefs in an effort to create people whose minds think like ours.”  We want our children to share our values and beliefs and to demonstrate them in their behaviors.

“Almost anytime we tell anyone anything,” says Gilbert, “we are attempting to change the way their brains operate – attempting to change the way they see the world so that their view of it closely resembles our own.”  I would add that anytime we do anything in front of someone we are also transmitting a belief. 

Beliefs we transmit

I kiss and hug Dawn in front of the girls because I want them to believe that I love, respect, and appreciate their mother.  I hug, kiss, and sing to my daughters because I want them to believe that I love and adore them, and that they bring joy to my life.  I make sure we hold hands and have fun saying “amen” when we pray, so that the girls enjoy giving thanks for everything that is good in their lives.  

But, what did checking my email twenty minutes after dinner say?  What belief was I communicating then?  My diving right into email said that my work was more important than family time.  I thought about this before I went to bed.  I didn’t want my girls to hold this belief.  I wanted them to believe that family time is meaningful, interesting, and fun.

Beliefs to share

How about you?  What beliefs do you feel will help make your children happier, kinder, and more successful?  What are you saying and doing to transmit these good and powerful beliefs? 

Whatever good things that you are doing, keep doing them; your children need to hear and see them.  And what are you doing that undercuts the beliefs that you want your children to have?  Make sure that you start removing your contradictory language and behavior from your daily routine. 

Our children are sponges; let’s give them something positive to absorb.

Copyright 2009  David J. Pollay

Invite your family and friends to join you

If you want your family, friends, and colleagues to join us on our Monday Morning Momentum™ journey, send this post along to them. 

Have a great week! 

Best to you,

David

------------------------------------------------------------

Sign up

And remember you can sign up for my newsletter, Monthly Momentum Minutes™, right here.

------------------------------------------------------------

David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker.  David’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out this summer. 

David is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.  He is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email dawn@themomentumproject.com.  Here’s David’s full bio.

Momentum Can Be Scary

Monday Morning Momentum™ with David J. Pollay – March 2, 2009

                 

“Why is it so hard to maintain positive momentum in our lives?”  “And how can we create and keep momentum in our careers?”  These are two questions I’m asked a lot.

 

Positive momentum is the key to our happiness.   It is also the key to our success in business.  Most of us say that we want momentum; we want to be “on a roll” in life.  The problem is that many of us struggle with momentum once we experience it.

 

Skiing down the hill

 

I was 17 years old, and skiing for the first time.  I was at Alpine Valley in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. 

 

I had just finished my first ski lesson with a group of beginners.  I thought, “If they can do it, I can do it.”  I was ready to take on the hill.  I took the chair lift to the top of the hill, hopped off, glided a few yards, stopped, and looked down; the hill was steeper than I had thought.  I had one goal:  I wanted to ski the hill without falling. 

 

So, I pushed off and started down the hill.  Ten feet, twenty, forty, eighty feet, and I was still on my skis.  One hundred feet, two hundred, four hundred feet, and I was still standing!  Within seconds I was a quarter of the way down the mountain and still going!

 

Growing concern

 

And then I began to worry!  I started thinking, “What if I hit someone?  What if I veer off the slope?  What if I go too fast?  What if I can’t stop?”  And before I knew it, I’d had enough!  I was scared, and I wanted to stop.  So, I turned directly into a snow bank.

 

I landed face first; my skis went flying.  Even with my face freezing, knees hurting, skis sliding down the hill, and everyone sailing past me, I was relieved!  I no longer had to worry where my momentum was taking me; I had stopped it all together.  I was safe again.

 

How often have we experienced something like this in our lives, physically or emotionally?  We quickly build momentum towards achieving an important goal.  We enjoy the exhilaration of our progress.  But, then something triggers us.  We become anxious because we’re moving more quickly than we had anticipated. 

 

Momentum can be scary; it not only moves us more quickly to our goals, it can carry us beyond them.  We often find ourselves in an unexpected, new world of possibilities. 

 

The power of momentum

 

The good news is that achieving and experiencing momentum in our lives does not have to be scary.

 

The power of positive momentum can help us achieve our goals more efficiently, and with less stress.  We will be challenged, but not anxious. We will have people and processes set up to help us stay on a roll. 

 

When we have the focus, and the right support, positive momentum will lead us to our dreams.

 

This week

 

Think about the most important areas of your life.  In which areas do you have positive momentum? 

 

Choose one area this week, and focus on it.  What can you do to “keep on your skis?” 

 

Who do you know who has already skied down the hill you’re on?  Who can help you prepare for what’s coming?  Reach out to people this week.  Give them a quick update on what you’re doing.  And ask them for any wisdom they could share with you to help keep you headed in the right direction. 

 

Your mission is to remain excited about the momentum you have, and keep going. 

 

Momentum can be scary, but when you have support on your journey, it’s awesome.

 

Invite your family and friends to join you

 

If you want your family, friends, and colleagues to join us on our Monday Morning Momentum™ journey, send this post along to them. 

 

Have a great week! 

 

Best to you,

David

------------------------------------------------------------

Sign up

 

And remember you can sign up for my newsletter, Monthly Momentum Minutes™, right here.

------------------------------------------------------------

 

David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker.  David’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out this summer.  He is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.  David is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email dawn@themomentumproject.com.  Here’s David’s full bio.