2020 will go down in history as a whopper.

Many companies suffered. 

Some failed.

Other owners re-invented their businesses to capture new opportunities leading to record success.

One thing is certain–2021 will be another year filled with uncertainty.

For some, uncertainty creates paralysis.  Consequently, a large percentage of entrepreneurs will attempt to maintain status quo in the coming year.  They will change very little, cling to their antiquated thinking, rigid processes, and sacred cows, adopting a strategy of hope and allowing their default future to dictate their outcome. A very risky approach…

Successful CEOs understand that uncertainty and change can be their greatest asset.  These owners will restructure processes, systems, strategies, and mindset.  They understand that the ability to learn and execute quickly is their singular sustainable strategic advantage.  These leaders will commit to invent a much better future. And they will win.

Which approach will you choose?

Will you live into your default future, or will you invent a more prosperous, rewarding, future?

Do you and your company have a practice to learn and execute quicker?

We’ve all heard the popular adage (often attributed to Albert Einstein) – “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.”

Similarly, many people believe that doing the same thing will produce the same result.  In 2021, this statement could not be further from the truth. In fact, if 2020 has taught us anything, it is that doing the same thing will likely get us STOMPED.  The pandemic made this obvious, but the trend has been developing for decades.  Just one example of proof is that since 2000, fifty-two percent of companies in the Fortune 500 have either gone bankrupt, been acquired, or ceased to exist.  That’s 52% in just 20 years! But let’s cut these companies some slack.  After all, it is no small task to overcome the inertia and change the direction of a big, bureaucratic, multi-billion-dollar ocean liner.

Conversely, 2020 has also taught us that massive opportunities abound for nimble, innovative entrepreneurs who adopt a process of learning and acting faster than their competitors.  As a private business owner, you can easily adopt an agile rapid-learning practice in order to maneuver your speed-boat company to previously unimagined new heights.

If you lead a company that struggled in 2020 and find yourself thinking “I’m too busy and don’t have time to adopt a new practice”, your mindset may have already cost you the race.  Simply, owners who consistently succeed do things that weak owners do not. They make time for the important and delegate the urgent.  They do not live into default.  They invent their own future.

If you are committed to proactively creating a better future, but just don’t know how to start, no worries.  Your business and market may be unique, but the formula to optimize your odds of success is bullet-proof.  It has been used by tens of thousands of successful owners to inform their decision-making, and to learn faster, to rapidly convert that learning into executions, to strengthen their companies, and to win.

I’m so grateful to the thousands of owners, coaches and facilitators in the TAB Community who help me learn faster, keep me on track, and inspire me each and every day.  I’m committed to helping each and every one of you have a record year.

Best wishes for an amazing holiday season and to achieving incredible new heights in 2021 and beyond!

Copyright © Joe Zente 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Jay Pearce, President
Reunion Ranch

Jay Pearce is a truly versatile entrepreneur.  He was born and raised in Austin, Texas and started his first company, J’s Roof and Gutter Cleaning Service, at the age of 20 (he still believes there is a huge market for gutter cleaning).  Three years later, Jay formed Precision Ground Care, maintaining lawns for small offices and apartment complexes.  He obtained his real estate license five years later in Georgetown, Texas, and was ranked #5 among 265 agents.

In 1986, Jay started the Reunion Ranch Event Facility, entertaining large corporate groups.  In August of 1991, he was cited as 1 of 3 outstanding entrepreneurs in the state of Texas by the Entrepreneur Magazine of California.  In 1998, he started Cowboy Cooked Briskets, offering pre-cooked briskets in grocery store chains.  He had never dealt with the retail industry before, let alone the grocery industry, and describes the experience as “tough,” learning some expensive and very valuable lessons.

Next, Jay returned to his passion of real estate and started accumulating property.   He was asked to teach real estate courses for a local real estate school in 2003.  For every 40 students taught, 3 to 4 wanted to work for him, so Jay started Jay Pearce Real Estate.  The company grew up to 58 agents in 23 months and in 2007 Jay was awarded the Realtor of the Year for all of Williamson County.

His family business of Reunion Ranch was still going strong, and when the president stepped down, Jay moved back to take over the position in 2006.   Today, Jay is very happy to be back in the saddle at Reunion Ranch and says, “life is good.”

“My initial idea was to join The Alternative Board of Austin (TAB) with CEO peers in order to increase my revenues.   However, I have now learned that the contacts are invaluable. The knowledge of the group and their business experience is very helpful in my own business and life.”

                                                                                                                                                     -Jay Pearce

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Dan Steinborn, Founder & President
PrintGlobe

In 1995, two years after graduating with an undergraduate in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin, Dan founded Corporate Communications of Austin, a regional graphic design and print brokering firm. Five years later, Corporate Communications of Austin embarked on an ambitious online business strategy and launched PrintGlobe.com.  Today, PrintGlobe.com operates the largest business printing superstore online and has earned business from more than 30% of the Fortune 500 companies and over 30,000 customers. 

Entering its eighth consecutive year of double-digit growth, PrintGlobe was named by the Austin Business Journal one of the “50 Fastest Growing Companies” in 2006 and 2007 and has also been awarded “Best 50 Places” to work in Central Texas.  PrintGlobe has also been recognized by the Inc. 5000 in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Recently, Dan was invited by Google to serve as a member of its national Google AdWords Advertiser Council, a select group of marketing executives who provide strategic advice and feedback to Google.  In his personal time, Dan enjoys live music and mountain biking and has served as a campaign advisor to political candidates.

Dan has been a member of TAB since 2004. Lessons learned from fellow board members have helped Dan and PrintGlobe grow the company from $3,000,000 in sales to more than $10,000,000 in 2010. Dan stated in a recent interview, “I made a great decision several years ago to join the Austin TAB organization and be part of a monthly board meeting with other business owners of growth companies. They’ve inspired and counseled me and helped me to push the limits of what I thought I could do.”

For more info about Dan and PrintGlobe, check out his recent profile in the Austin Business Journal.

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Jeff Turk, CEO
Formaspace

Jeff Turk’s Bio

Formaspace featured in Austin Business Journal, “Formaspace Finds a Bigger Home”

How did you get into your business?

I arrived in Austin in the fall of 2005.   I was just coming back from West Africa, so all I had was two backpacks and a laptop.  I bought two chairs and air mattress at Wal*Mart, got an apartment on East Riverside Drive, and founded Council Oak Investors.  We closed the fund in 42 days, and the apartment was condemned by the city the following week.  Formaspace was the first acquisition in the fund.

What is your company’s Driving Critical Success Factor?

I’m not sure I understand the question.  Unless you own something completely proprietary, don’t people always make the difference?

What do you love most about what you do?

I like solving problems creatively.  I like working with people I like and respect.  And I love being part of our client’s workspaces.  We’re in all kinds of spaces, from national labs doing top-secret research, to robotics and aerospace projects, to the set of Gray’s Anatomy.  How cool is that?

Elvis or Beatles?

Whoa – you might as well ask “Duke Ellington or King Oliver?”  I’m a child of the 80’s.  When Elvis broke out with ‘Love Me Tender’ my parents were tweens. The Beatles broke up before I was born.  I prefer for the music to fit the context of the environment.  If I’m down in South Texas I might tune in a little Tejano, if I’m in Chicago I might listen to my wife’s Southside music, if I’m clubbing in Austin it could be Bob Schneider, but right now I’m at our very loud, very amped-up factory and Nickelback is playing in my head.

What is your favorite business book and why?

I’m not sure if I can name just one, but if I did, it might be ‘Good to Great.’ Actually anything by Jim Collins.  And Gladwell, and the ‘Topgrading Guys’, and Jack Welch, especially ‘Winning.’  Who doesn’t like to win?  The best book I read in 2009 was ‘Who’ by Geoff Smart and Randy Street, which I think is actually better than Topgrading.  I also like the concept of lifestyle design outlined in ‘The Four Hour Workweek.’  I recommend reading anything Warren Buffet has written as well as transcripts of everything he has said.  I just recommend reading in general.

Do you consider yourself a good communicator?

No.  I’m a terrible listener, and listening is the key to communication. I’m one of those ADHD kids, so when talking to me, it’s best to get to the message quickly. Also, I have an aversion to simplicity  and repetition, so that’ something I’m working on. 

One thing that has helped me recently is a Livescribe pen.  It’s this pen that records conversations as you take notes.  Then you can tap your notes, and the conversation that occurred as you took the note plays back to you.  Very cool.

How do you define success?

I have a little piece of paper that I scribbled on years ago that says “Do good by doing well.”  My goal is that everyone who touches us – coworkers, partners, vendors, and customers – is better off for the experience.  If we can develop people in the direction they want to go in, improve people’s quality of life in the workspaces where they spend most of their working hours, and generate a profit that can be churned back into the community – that’s success.

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