We Understand your Business

Yesterday's post concluded our series on the "HTG Way." I hope that the little bit of insight that I provided on how I run my business will help you run yours.

This blog truly is aimed at and written for our clients and other business owners that we would welcome the opportunity to serve. If you are interested in more technical subjects please visit one of my other blogs:
QSSOnline
SBSC-Central Region-Midwest Area

If there are any topics that you would like to see addressed in any of my blogs, drop me a line at rick@qualitysystemssolutions.com

The HTG Way Part VI - Legacy Plan

Richard Bach said “There's no disaster that can't become a blessing, and no blessing that can't become a disaster.” While this is a true statement, unexpected and unplanned for disasters can certainly cause a lot of stress and uncertainty. So the fourth plan HTG requires members to address relates to how business, leadership and life will continue in our absence. Some call it a legacy plan.

A key component of the legacy plan is related to disaster recovery and business continuity. This plan needs to address all three of the prior areas we discussed. For example – what happens to the company if you get hit by the proverbial bus? What happens to the areas of leadership you are responsible for? What happens to your spouse, family, civic organizations and other areas you currently are involved? All those questions need to be addressed so there is no drop off in the event of a disaster, be it short term or permanent. One thing we can all be sure of, life on this earth will come to an end. We do not know when, but we do know that it will. So we need to prepare so we are ready whenever that time comes.

But legacy is much more than just disaster recovery. It addresses the impact of a person’s life after they are gone. How do you keep a tangible presence beyond your actual lifespan? It is what happens after you die. While physical assets may be deemed a component of a person's ultimate legacy, the focus on family or institutional history, values and the stories that define us dictates that every individual, family and entity can be enriched through implementing a strategic legacy plan.

So what are the key components to a legacy plan?

1. Personal mission statement – a series of guiding principles that lead you through daily and major life decisions. This answers the question “How will you live?”
2. Personal legacy statement – allows you to articulate what is closest to your heart. It is a record of messages and information too valuable to be lost and captures your inner most thoughts for the benefit of future generations. This answers the question “What will the result and impact of my life be after I am gone?”
3. If something happens to me – a collection of key information that makes recovery from a short or long term illness or death much simpler for those left behind.
4. Exit Planning Guide – key information to make the funeral planning process go smoothly.
5. Estate and Will Planning Template – key information to help in the creation and review of your will.

These are simply some tools to use to put together a systematic plan to be sure that you have at least started the process of putting a legacy plan in place that prepares your company, leadership and life for a change in your status. Without proper preparation, you put all things at risk and make the situation much more difficult and complex than it needs to be. No one really enjoys this process, but it is so very important to consider prior to being needed. It is often not possible to address these areas once illness or death has occurred. So take the time now, record the needed information, and make sure those important in your life are informed of the location of the documents.

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The HTG Way Part V - Life Plans

Abraham Lincoln said “And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years”. For too many of us in the business community, life takes a back seat to work. There is a struggle we all must work through regarding life/work balance. Without a plan and a focused effort to address this battle, we will default to the world’s answer of work. So it is critical that we all develop a plan that can help keep us accountable and focused on what we say is important so our time is spent appropriately and wisely. Without a plan, we will wake up one day and wonder where life has gone.

The third plan HTG is focused on is a life plan. For many, this is a very new concept. A life plan needs to answer the question of “why I got up this morning” or what my purpose is for my life. Far too often people get to the end of life and become aware that they have spent their entire working time focused on things that really were not the most important to them. But the cruel reality of time is that once it is spent, it can never be used again. Each of us is granted 168 hours each week. A life plan should dictate how those hours are used. Every activity or interaction a person makes should go through the funnel of a life plan to assure each minute is spent on things that align with the real priorities and objectives a person has for their life. Without a plan, each of us will wake up someday and wonder where all our time has gone and how we missed the chance to live focused on the things that really matter. For many, this may be the first time they have addressed these deep philosophical questions personally, and even more often, the first time they have discussed them with their spouse, business partners or other important people in their lives. But what could be more important than identifying how I want my life to count and what I should spend my time on to make sure the things I say are important truly are treated that way.

In many ways, the life plan we use for HTG is very similar to the leadership plan. The focus is different in that the areas are not related to business, but to our own personal goals and objectives. There are three key areas that need to be addressed:

1. Commitments – specific areas that align with life goals and stated objectives you wish to achieve through your life.

2. Execution plan – how you will achieve the commitments you have with specific steps, milestones and dependencies

3. Accountabilities – how you will measure success and to whom you will be accountable.


There are a number of areas you may wish to set life goals, but here are a few to consider in order to get things started:

- Relationships, Family and Friends
- Health and Fitness
- Money and Finances- Recreation and Lifestyle
- Spiritual
- Service and Contribution
- Happiness
- Retirement

You can add or delete areas you wish to define as life commitments, but the key is to make a list and become accountable. This is best done shared with your spouse and family so they can be part of the discussion, decisions and accountability loop. I also recommend you also include a “Bucket List” of activities you wish to achieve before your time on earth ends. This should also be shared, updated and kept top of mind so you can work toward reaching those goals and keep focused on spending your time where it matters most.

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Infix Professional

We do a fair amount of co-marketing with many of our OEM partners. In a lot of cases they provide a web-based tool that permits us to customized a piece of their collateral and then produce a PDF file for printing. In other cases we are just provided the PDF file.

In either case, I am not a graphics person nor a professional print production person. I have found it very frustrating when I have had to make any changes to a PDF file. In most cases, all I really need to do is add contact info to and existing campaign piece. I ususally end up printing labels - rather than try and "fix" the piece.

Those days are OVER. I finally found something that works! It even works for me.... Infix Professional seems like it was purpose-built, just for me. It allows me to QUICKLY and Easily open any PDF file, and effortlessly add, remove or change text. On the last piece I worked on, I needed to resize the entire document, to get it to fit properly on a business card. I was done in less than a minute. Could you do that with any of the other PDF editors out there?

If you find yourself ever needing to modify an existing PDF file, I would HIGHLY recommend that you visit http://www.iceni.com/infix.htm and check out "The Smartest PDF Editor On The Planet!"