“Vision without execution is just hallucination.”

—  Henry Ford

When the phone rings and I are asked to do a project, it is rewarding and prosperous. What do you do when the phone doesn’t ring?

In business, there is so much work that must be done that while it doesn’t look like it is productive if neglected can make things worse.

There is always paperwork to do, especially if you are an entrepreneur who is a one-person operation like me.

Working on my books is one of the first things I do on most slow days. This is to be sure all the ledgers are up to date. Often this means sending out reminders to slow payers.

Take the time to learn something new. Over the years, I have invested in numerous books, magazines, and many online videos to stay up to date on my industry.

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

—  George Bernard Shaw

Be proactive. Plan your life rather than just reacting to things.

One of the best ways to plan is to network. This means you must gather the names of people and organizations you want to work with in the future.

Work on creating a database of new prospects. Also, make a plan on how you will connect with these people.

These are ways that I connect with my audience:

• Monthly Newsletter
• Blog – tips for my audience
• Postcards – small taste of my portfolio
• Phone calls
• E-mail

For the self-employed, taking some of this time for personal time is much easier. Many business owners are so busy running their businesses that home chores and projects don’t get done.

So many of my friends have discovered they can work from anywhere this past year. Many college students also realized that they could be anywhere if their classes were all online. I know some friends of mine went to Colorado and snowed skiing during their breaks.

Another friend of mine is planning to work from Hawaii for a month.

“The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything.”

–  Theodore Roosevelt

For those who work the gig economy, having a phone and computer with you means you can work your downtime from anywhere. Visit your family and if a call comes that you need to respond to, then adjust.

Volunteer in your community. Find something that you can do to give back. It helps others and lets others know your heart for the community.

One of the best things to do during a slow time is marketing. You may be someone who needs to promote your products or services to drum up new business. Having authentic images of your product, company, or staff can put you ahead of your competitors, and I can help you with it.

Work on telling your story of your business and how it intersects with your customer’s story. Please hire me to help get on video client testimonials on how you made their lives better.

Do you need employees? How about letting me help you record the testimonials of your employees and why they like working for you?

There is much to do today in this downtime. What action will you take today?

There are many reasons your organization will fail in the next generation. Most of the reasons are the present leadership not planning for the change.

In this post, I want to talk about realistic planning for budgeting. Most of the time, organizations plan to maintain the same roles as they have now, which is one of the biggest mistakes. As you grow and mature your organization is developing just like you did go through school.

Many of us have gone through preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, college, and advanced degrees. Your organization also develops similarly.

You start with one teacher, and then when you progress upward, you need more teachers in specialties to help you maximize your talents.

If you retire and the organization is still in the elementary years, it may fail because they were not planning for the need for more staff, more supplies, and space to operate in the future.

Let me tell you the story of how one man [Zack] hurt a nonprofit because they were focused so much on the present that he was not helping the organization plan for tomorrow.

The most significant need of a nonprofit is to tell its story to its donors. Zack was one of the best marketing guys in the business. He was working for a fortune 50-size company. He knew how to tell stories to build a brand.

He had a huge heart for this nonprofit’s mission. They were an educational nonprofit that was changing communities all over Asia. Zack knew that the organization couldn’t afford him, so he donated all of his time.

The problem came when Zack could no longer help the organization. He had retired, and his health kept him from being able to contribute anymore.

He never helped the organization understand how they needed to budget for someone like him in the future. He didn’t groom the next marketing/communications person. He loved to travel, and the organization was thriving. He also loved to do a lot of the work himself. He took photos and videos and wrote as well. He found his friends to help as well.

Don’t be just like Zack for your organization. Teach and mentor those who will replace you. Most of all, help set up the organization to afford later to pay someone with your skills. Help them understand how to budget for the organization with the next generation of leaders.

Great leaders prepare the next generation and work themselves out of their job.

You see, Zack had succumbed to pride and his ego. He loved doing the work and getting recognition for it as well. Zack was on an ego trip.

If you were no longer around and the rest of the staff as well all left, what would the organization need not just to survive but thrive? Take the time away from the present work to plan for future work. Create teams to help budget for the needs of the future.

You will discover that the time for the new leadership to start taking ownership is long before you are ready to give it up.