Where are you in your career or life? Have you hit your prime yet?
Todd Herman Associates (THA) celebrated its 29th anniversary on August 1, 2018! This came shortly after I turned 58 – exactly one month earlier – on July 1. This means I’ve worked for myself exactly half of my entire life, having started THA just after turning 29 years old.
In several ways, I feel I’ve finally hit my prime!
- We continue to do interesting projects helping clients address a range of issues, yet all having some mix of our People-Process-Technology sweet spot.
- My business development efforts – through marketing, networking, and word-of-mouth – continue to generate introductions and referrals for THA, helped in part by my making introductions and referrals for others.
- Internally, THA is more streamlined and process-driven than at any point I can remember, and our cost structure is now where I’d like it to be.
Looking back over the past twelve months, here are a few things I believe helped get me to this point:
- Passion! – Even after 29 years working for myself in a fast-changing field, I still enjoy coming to work every day!
- Auditions Work! – Job auditions efficiently differentiate candidates, as long as audition tasks mirror day-to-day tasks.
- Hold People Accountable – I’ve become more intentional in following up on WWDWBW (Who-Will-Do-What-By-When) commitments.
- Practice "Most Important Now" Consistently – I have routinely evaluated my “To Do” list multiple times daily to determine THE most urgent and important task, then do it first.
- Evaluate Experiences That Worked in the Past – Hiring an underemployed person early in her career – and then helping her grow – stabilized a key position.
While I could list other techniques used during the past year – or the past 29 years for that matter – and write many more words, I feel five items with brief explanations and links to further explanations more than suffices.
I hope everyone is at their prime, either in your career or your personal life, or hits it soon! And, if you could use some help getting your business to hit its prime, let’s talk soon.
Sincerely,
Todd L. Herman
For more reflections based on my years in business, you can visit:
