What is your Truth Detector? Some people call it your gut, some call it instinct, and some call it your heart. I am not sure if they are all the same, but whatever you call it, hopefully, you know what it is.
It is that inner nudge that tells you when something is right or wrong. Sometimes your truth detector tells you when something is just slightly off.
There is a type of therapy called Cranial Sacral Therapy. In this practice the practitioner uses a very gentle touch (less than 5 grams, approximate weight of a nickel) to manipulate the cranial sacral system in the patient. (Upledger Institute Int'l. website, FAQ page, http://www.upledger.com/content.asp?id=61) To give an analogy of how gentle the touch is, imagine you are holding a 36"x12" sheet of cellophane with a dime resting somewhere on the plastic sheet. Your eyes are closed and you pull on the plastic with your finger tips. Without looking you would gain a sense of where the dime is resting. If you pull too hard you will drag the plastic too fast and you won't feel the dime. But if you pull very gently, you can sense the relative location of the dime. Try it!
In the practice of cranial sacral therapy, the practitioner manipulates connective tissue in this very gentle, sensitive way, relying on an inner sense of feeling, rather than an overt tactile sensation. The more experienced practitioner trusts this feeling and uses it to heal their patients.
The connection between the very sensitive touch of the human hand and the intuition is the closest analogy I have found to demonstrate the physical manifestation of the human intuition.
This evening, just before I started writing this post, I treated my wife for a major headache, using cranial sacral techniques. In the middle of the treatment she said, "You aren't doing anything." I replied, "How does your head feel?" She said, "It doesn't hurt anymore, but you aren't doing anything. Aren't you going to massage my neck or something?"
I am no master of cranial sacral therapy. I only know the basics of the protocol, and I am not certified to practice massage professionally. But with my wife and family as my patients, I manage to stay out of trouble, and I help elevate pain in their lives.
What does this have to do with a very small business? It has to do with several layers:
1. Your inner feeling is the guide to healing. In business terms, your inner feeling is your guide to making decisions that help your business grow and prosper.
2. Your inner feeling is private and unseen by others. This is something that others may not recognize. It is difficult to describe to people what you are sensing. This makes it tough to convince others around you that your ideas are valid and based in reality.
3. Your inner feeling senses what is wrong. When our warning signals go off, we often ignore them, until we learn to trust our instincts and act boldly and courageously, against the status quo. As I was cradling my wife's head, I could feel (sense) the pressure behind her frontal lobe. She claimed I was doing nothing, yet her headache disappeared in 10 minutes.
Guide to Healing
In July of 2008, I was driving around the Great Falls Village near Wachovia Bank, when I noticed a "For Rent" sign. It was the corner leather shop, Tricks of the Trade. He was leaving. For years I had declared that I would never open a retail store, but when I saw that sign, I saw my future.
It was like seeing ten years or more into the future, like looking through a magic portal. I was My self occupying the space and being a regular fixture in Great Falls.
I will take a moment and describe Great Falls for those of you that don't know it so well. This is where the median income is over $350,000 per household annually. Average prices for homes are over $1m and there is a concentration of pools in the area. It is a wealthy wonderland. There are politicians, lobbyists, big financial investors, owners of major I.T. firms, and owners of banks. Now how rich do you have to be to own a bank?
Great Falls has always been the base of my business, because that is where the action is. Every pool company worth its salt does business in Great Falls. I have grown to know and love the area, and the people. Rich people can be great for business. I am just being honest. They can afford to do the right things to keep their stuff in great condition. I am in the service and construction business and so, we have a symbiotic relationship. I tell them what I think they need, and they, for the most part, tell me to go ahead. Of course it has taken years to establish the relationships and trust with my clients.
Back to the story…I rented the store with my bright future ahead and then the bottom dropped out of the market. Fortunately, the current tenant, the leather guy, asked to stay another year, because his business picked up in the recession. People started fixing there shoes again. I struggled through the next year, having a drop in sales from $1.3m in 2008, to $300,000 in 2009. February of 2010 rolled around and I had to take occupancy of the new store. The previous tenant asked if he could stay again, but I felt my gut telling me to move in and assume my lease.
This move went against all logic and everyone's advice. My father told me that if I had an out I should take it. He said I couldn't afford the store. He was right! I had no money! What was I thinking? All I had was my instincts and my vision I saw in that crystal ball. I was going to be successful here. It was like a beacon for pool owners. I was the local pool guy now.
I walked into my new store after the leather guy had cleared out. It still smelled like the leather and the chemicals he used in his shop. The wood floors were black and the walls were stained a dingy brown color. It was difficult to breath in there. It was the year of snowmagedon. We had the worst snow storm in 100 years. Multiple feet of snow dumped on the Washington D.C. area. With no money or motivation, I did very little with the store in February. I would walk in there, look around for 15 minutes, then walk out. I was overwhelmed and I didn't know where to start. On March 1, I realized I needed to get started if I was going to be able to open on April 1. I sketched a plan for the counters and shelves. I enlisted a close friend to help me and we started planning. I sold some work so I had just enough cash to pay for the build out. Plus, since the previous tenant had been there for 32 years and did basically no repairs to the place, the landlord agreed to pay for most of the work.
We replaced ceilings, added recessed lighting, cabinets, granite counter tops, shelves and decorations. We managed to open the doors on April 10, 2010. As luck would have it, there was a new farmers' market held in the parking lot right in front of the store. People stopped in after they shopped at the market, and bought their pool stuff. We sold more service and construction work than supplies actually. To make the situation even more sweet, the other local company had to move out of their location! The fire department was getting a new fire house and the county purchased the land where the other pool company was located, so they could put in their new septic field. What can I say, God was on my side. To this day I am the only locally based swimming pool company with a storefront, in one of the most affluent areas in Northern Virginia. I would like to say it was stroke of genius that caused me to move into the store, but it was pure instinct and divine intervention. I did no research before I rented the store, it just seemed like a no-brainer.
Well, from our pitiful existence in 2009, at $300K in gross sales, we grew to $1.8m in 2010. It was the biggest year by far, since I started my company in 2004. The store proved its value, and it continues to be a beacon for all pool owners in Great Falls, VA.
Our Inner World Is Private
Understand that your gut feelings or instincts are a private sensation. They are invisible to others around you. As a leader, it is your choice to share your inner experience with those around you, or keep them to your self. For me, I question my motives for doing either of the two.
If and when I chose to share my inner revelations, what is the purpose of my disclosure? Am I trying to change the way they conduct business within my organization? Or am I simply sharing by thoughts out loud to get another perspective?
In one of our morning staff meetings last Spring, I decided to share some appreciative comments with my team. I was up late the night before, writing the characteristics I valued in each of the individuals. It was a practice I learned in grad school at GMU. It is called Appreciative Feedback. The idea is to recognize the things people do well, and enable them to do those things more. (Appreciative Intelligence, Tojo Thatchenkery and Carol Metzker) I also shared with my employees my process for coming up with their feedback. The night before I couldn't fall asleep, and so I took an Ambien to help me sleep. I then realized I hadn't prepared for our staff meeting, and I got up to write some notes before the medicine kicked in. Well, if you have ever tried to stay awake after taking Ambien, it is an experience reminiscent of foggy college party days. It made for interesting content for the staff meeting to say the least.
I shared that entire experience with my staff. They thought it was funny, and I wasn't worried about them judging me for taking a sleeping aid, but I wonder if it diminished the appreciative feedback I gave them. I made sure the feedback was appropriate the morning of the meeting, so the content and data was good, but mixed with the story of my strange process the night before, it is possible that the focus was diffused. The point is, a) I don't recommend working after taking a strong sleeping aid like Ambien, and b) your process for preparation and inspiration is private and potentially taken out of context when you share it with others. I have always believed in being open as possible with co-workers, but I also know that it is important to consider the impact on others as I share my inner voice. Are my inner thoughts relevant and necessary? Do they support my desired impact?
In Simon Sinek's book, Start With Why, he illustrates his concept of the Golden Circle. The inner circle is your Why, the next circle is your How, and the outer circle is the What.
The Why is your vision or the dream, the How is the mission or how the organization does its work, and the What is what the organization does; what products and services it offers.
Your inner voice, is what I consider your "Why" or your dream. In order to translate your dreams into reality, it is helpful to have clarity of vision. Once you can clearly articulate your vision, others can understand and and be inspired by you, if their values are similar to your own. I recommend reading Sinek's book, Start With Why, if this is something that interests you. It changed my life.
Our Inner Voice Warns Us
There have been multiple times when I went to bid a job, and my gut told me to walk away. Until recently, I would ignore this message because I thought I needed to sell every bid that came my way. In every case, when my gut told me to bail, the job and the customer went sour. It usually starts when a potential client tries to over negotiate the price with me. It has happened when I have been in desperate situations and I decided to lower my margins to get the job. The job starts well, but then somewhere in the course of the job, I run out of cash-flow, because I underbid the work. I am a small outfit and so I cannot take advantage of economies of scale. Like all other companies I too have a payroll to worry about, not to mention that store we maintain.
Recently I bid a job, and I sensed that scenario where a customer wanted me to do the job for way less than my bid. I liked the potential client, so I took a hard look at the numbers to see if I could make it happen. I managed to bring down a few items, but overall I was nowhere near his price point. Resolving my self to the real possibility that I was probably not going to get the job, because I was not going to lower my price enough, I sent the following email:
"I have done my best to reduce the price of the pool while including the options you want.
The bottom line in the bid is my absolute lowest price. I have crunched the numbers over and over again, trying to get to your price point, and it is not possible for me to get there without reducing the scope of work. Because of my personal involvement, every project I build requires much of my personal time. So, I have a limit to the amount I am able to discount projects.
I want you to know that I would very much like to build your pool, and if you decide to sign with me, you will be delighted with my commitment to our relationship and to your project."
The email was received well, and I am still not sure what will come of this. After talking to them last Friday, I actually believe they will go with me, even though I did not lower my price.
There have been times in the past year when I have abruptly turned down a bid, or been non-compliant with a potential client's requests for lower and lower bids. There are some people that I can now tell early on in the process, that just aren't a good fit with us, and we aren't with them. Now that I write this, I am not sure if I am listening to my instincts, or if I am simply basing my choices on my past experience. It is probably both.
Take It To The Bank
Your truth detector may be your best asset as a business owner. It can protect you, help you make good decisions, and repair major damage. Malcolm Gladwell wrote about making snap decisions in Blink. He proposed that our snap judgements are often very accurate and they are based on our experiences and observations throughout our lifetime. Whether you believe this inner nudge is instinctual or learned, the outcome is the same. Maybe there is a combination of things happening.
What I know is, it works and it is impossible to run a business without it. Trust your gut and act accordingly. I promise you two things: 1. You will make some great decisions based on your instincts. 2. You will make some horrific mistakes because you thought you were following your instincts. So I will leave you with a version of a short story you may have heard before.
There is a young man, Harold, working for a cattle driver at the early age of 14 in the western U.S. He is responsible for taking the food and extra horses to the next camp site, while the cowboys drive the cattle across the plains. One night he is very tired and he wonders whether or not he will have to hobble the horses to keep them from wondering off. (For those of you that don't know, hobbling a horse means shackling their feet so they can't take full strides, thus limiting their ability to run away.) The horses seemed to be settling into the routine, and it was a serious hassle to hobble all 12 horses. He remembered a story he heard once about a man riding across the desert on his camel.
"There was a man happened upon a wise spiritual man and asked, "Sir, should I tie up my camel at night, or just trust in God that it won't wonder away?" The wise man answered, "Trust in God AND tie up your camel."
So Harold decided he'd better hobble the horses for the night. After struggling for an hour, he had all the horses hobbled and they were peacefully eating grass. He rolled out his mat and sleeping gear and went to sleep. Harold woke up at the crack of dawn and found only 11 horses. One of the horses got away, in the hobbles. It took him nearly 6 hours to find the horse. The horse managed to scurry way taking little shuffle steps, 14 miles from the camp site.
You can trust in God, trust your instincts, AND tie up your horse, and the bugger will still get away. But, you improve your chances of being a success and achieving all you desire in this life, when you use all your faculties to the best of your ability. 11 horses stayed put, only 1 got away.
How are you going to pay for any of the other basic needs if your phone stops ringing? I have referenced Stephen Covey's model called The Management Matrix, from his book First Things First, in other posts, and it applies here as well. Marketing falls in the Important, Not Urgent quadrant, so when we are in crisis mode, it gets cut. I am not suggesting that marketing shifts to the Important/Urgent quadrant, I am suggesting that you focus on Quadrant 2 during a crisis. Marketing takes planning and forethought. You can sometimes get your printer and marketing company to get your flyer out in a few days notice if it is simple and small, but is it going to be effective? It is important to take time to develop your marketing plan, budget and materials. 
