If you are going to be an executive, an entrepreneur or an effective manager, you have to constantly develop new ways of looking at your business and then learn the skills to solve them. The most challenging part is just seeing the issues in your business that need changing the most. This is followed closely by the challenge of breaking out of your routines to learn the necessary skills and take on the issues.

Watch “The Profit” on CNBC

I’ll admit this blog comes after watching “The Profit” on CNBC. The star, Marcus Lemonis, and I went to the same college so I started watching his show. Regardless of the episode there’s usually a predictable issue with the business: the owner(s) don’t know how to manage part of it. Either:

• the sales team only finds small customers and isn’t aggressive enough finding new customers
• the company doesn’t keep accurate financial records or doesn’t study their financial records enough to know how to improve profitability
• the staff doesn’t know what raw materials they order, the status of their inventory or how to prevent waste
• the boss tries to be everything to everyone and wastes the company’s time making products and services that very few people purchase or that aren’t profitable
• the executives don’t understand how to market the right product whether it’s packaging, distribution or promotional placement
• the executive team just doesn’t think big enough, i.e. nationwide distribution, a big partnership or new ways to scale

Of course, the businesses on The Profit usually have other problems that keep them from getting off the ground like dysfunctional relationships, personal baggage, too much emotional investment, etc. It makes for some entertaining TV!

Getting Started is the Hardest Part

Recently, I’ve had to push myself to learn new areas. What I found is that the hardest part is getting started. Once I got started I found it easier to just take it one step at a time. Then, before I knew it, I had confidence that I could understand the new area and began to see the process that we needed to be effective.

Entrepreneurs, managers and job seekers have something in common here. Both need to push themselves in new areas and, if they don’t, they won’t break through to new ways of thinking and new habits that will bring the change they seek.

Time to Make a Deal

So here’s what I would do: watch The Profit on CNBC some night or online. Pretend that Marcus Lemonis is coming into your business or looking at your career. Ask yourself, “What would Marcus say is wrong?” “What are the first things he would fix?”

You see, he looks at things and makes them simple then he pinpoints exactly what needs to be done to get on the right track. You probably know what you need to do to get on the right track. Pretend Marcus has told you to fix these areas and he wants them fixed right away. Use him as an accountability partner, who is going to get upset if you don’t start pushing yourself to learn new areas and fix your existing process. Finally, imagine that you are on his TV show. Implement the changes you need and you’ll get a deal with Marcus; don’t and he’ll walk away without investing in you.