Observations at the halfway point.

In 2010, I wrote an entry entitled, "How I work, Part I." I described my work day in detail from 4:30 am on, identified my most valuable asset as "time," and discussed how I manage it. I wrote about how I organize, sort and prioritize my projects. I also discussed my dedication to working at peak efficiency by hiring trusted managers, and delegating assignments to them. While I left that blog post promising to devote my next "Work" to "Creative Thinking During Drive Time," I want to first address a more central lynchpin of "How I Work," and with your permission, return to "drive time creativity" in the future.

Focus and Re-focus.

From the very start, focus has been a critical ingredient for me. In this article, I am taking the "focus" discussion to the next level. In general, the word "focus" connotes extraordinary levels of attention, effort, concentration, single-mindedness and motivation. "Focus" is the center of business, for me and for most successful entrepreneurs. It's critical, and yet there is one level higher.

Once the foundations of my business were focused and set in motion, the key for me became to "re-focus," every single day. That's right. Every day, based on what happened the day before, I ask myself, "What can I do today to move the plan forward, and how can I learn from the mistakes that I made yesterday?"

General Mills: Timing and planning are everything.

Forgive the pun, but I view my role as being similar to that of an Army General. Every entity within my command is filed in a notebook I carry with me all the time. It contains my privately held missions for my companies and for myself, and has one tabbed section for MCC, one for MRR, one for a "Top Secret Project", and one personal section.

For each entity, the first page reads: "What is the mission?" and "What is the plan?" These simple questions force me to re-focus every day on what MCC and the other entities will do that day, that week, or that month to complete tasks that will lead us to achieving our mission.

Numbers talk. Count on it.

Once I have a plan in mind for each entity, I include a set of metrics on the next pages, as I believe firmly that "That which is measured, improves. That which is measured and tracked improves exponentially." I have developed a series of metrics that resemble pilots' gauges, and I watch them carefully to determine whether we are on track to achieve our mission in each entity.

Pushing the envelope.

Finally, I end each entity's page with a question to myself, "What can I do today to move the plan forward?" This is a very powerful question as it removes excuses and procrastination from the workday. It allows me to be proactive with my time and ensure that I am staying both focused and re-focused.

A final word on entities.

The most important entity file I have is for myself and my family. The mission statement includes a picture of health and happiness. Without first achieving this, nothing else matters.

How it works in real life.

I "re-focus" every morning at 4:30 am. After re-focusing for about an hour I exercise for about a half hour. By 6:00 am I am prepared for the day, full of confidence and stress-free. To some it may appear to be a grueling schedule, but it works for me, and I have no plans to change it anytime soon.

MyRecyclingReports.com launches!

May 12 is here and MyRecyclingReports.com is live online!  Before I invite you to check out the site and learn more, I want to thank my fellow recycling professionals for your interest and feedback, and every member of my development team for your hard work and creativity over the past two years.

A few quick thoughts.

I am proud to be at the forefront of a revolution in tonnage reporting for our industry. MyRecyclingReports.com completely changes and replaces old, traditional, time-consuming reporting methods, makes us all more efficient, helps build brand image, and removes the hassles and detail work we once viewed as "part of the territory."

A serial entrepreneur, I have always been dedicated to enhancing business communications, both internally and in relationship to customers. More than simply a reporting tool, MyRecyclingReports.com enhances customer communications, encourages loyalty, promotes trust, adds value to your business, invites higher profit margins, and strategically brands your company as never before.

Your signature. Your data. Your look. In real time.

MyRecyclingReports.com provides unprecedented, instant, easy, affordable access to tonnage and pricing data, online, in real time. With all of your customers' data in one place at your fingertips, MyRecyclingReports.com saves you and your customers hours of time and money – with no software to buy or install.

MyRecyclingReports.com is yours. You can customize it with your own logo, your corporate imprimatur, and make it consistent with your own brand.   It is also extremely affordable.  Our most popular plan allows you to manage up to 30 customers and costs less than $3.26 per day!

A great sales tool.
 
MyRecyclingReports.com opens up new avenues for marketing for your company and helps sell your services to new potential clients. Incorporate a live demo of MyRecyclingReports.com into your next new business presentation as we do – using your laptop or iPad. Watch as your prospects become immediately engaged.
 
It also sends another marketing message about your company's dedication to organization, access and simplicity. MyRecyclingReports.com instantly demonstrates your company's ability to rise above the old-fashioned clutter of forgotten bulletin board notes and random "To Do" notes posted all over the office – it helps organize their business in a very immediate way.
 
 A watershed in the history of our industry.

Visit MyRecyclingReports.com and be among the first to discover how it will elevate your business to exciting new levels of convenience, functionality and service. I know that it will change the way our business is done, forever.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, questions and feedback.

Michael

MyRecyclingReports.com (MRR) is an effective tool that helps recycling companies acquire new customers. More importantly it's an effective method of retaining existing customers.

During the development of the MRR app I’ve talked extensively about how great a sales tool this application is for the recycling salesman. MRR represents a wonderful opportunity to bring some very useful, easily understood technology to an otherwise non-tech business. It provides a tremendous amount of differentiation among would be competitors. The value that MRR creates for the customer is recognized very quickly and often invokes an immediate and focused interest during the sales process.

As we draw closer to the official launch of MyRecyclingReports.com on May 12th, 2011 I’d like to expand on the other major benefit of the app, -it’s ability to help the recycler maintain the loyalty of existing customers. The app is more than a data collection and reporting tool. It’s a gathering place for your recycling company and your customers. It provides an organized and professional front-stage experience.  It allows your employees to work behind the scenes in a fully functional, yet extremely simple back-stage environment.

The more your customers use the app, the more they become accustomed to it. They won’t want to leave you or find services elsewhere. They will feel safe and secure having their data, reports and service requests all happening on your company’s front-stage, all on the web and accessible to them whenever they need it.

If you desire loyalty from your customers, you first need to create value for them and MyRecyclingReports.com is absolutely one of the best ways to do it. When you keep your customers in the app, you are keeping your customers with you. Hopefully, for a long, long time!

Cheers!

On October 12th, 2010 I wrote a post about Momentum.  It was the story of how MyRecyclingReports.com got off to a fast start and then fizzled because we let our momentum die.  When I wrote that post and claimed to be kicking off the re-birth of our project I had envisioned that we would fix the budget and the deadline of Jan 1 and flex the scope to ensure that we made it on budget and launched on time.

Fast-forward to today and we have good news & bad news.  The bad news is that I didn’t abide by this valuable advice and we ran over budget and we are late to launch.  The good news is that we are riding high on momentum and we have a hard launch date set!

This is the official announcement that on May 12th, 2011 MyRecyclingReports.com is launching worldwide.

Please visit our temporary landing page to sign up for more information.  We will email you on the big day when we go live.  You can also follow us on Twitter @MyRecycReports or on our Facebook Page.  I of course, can’t stop talking about it on my personal Twitter account as well: @michaelpmills .

I want to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who has worked on this project.  Thank you to all of our programmers, writers and designers who have truly leveraged their amazing talent to bring this app to life.

One more special note to the recyclers around the world, I hope you’re excited! MyRecyclingReports.com enhances customer communications, encourages loyalty, adds value to your business, invites higher profit margins, and strategically brands your company as never before. All in 55 days from today!

MCC:  Looking good. Actually, looking great!
As the first quarter of 2011 comes to a close, I look back with great satisfaction. January 2011 was MCC’s single greatest month in company history (in revenue).  We set aggressive growth goals and are very close to achieving them - just waiting for some negotiations to close. 

I believe that MCC’s Q2 will be terrific as well; possibly even more than Q1. Our pipeline is full, and opportunities seem to be cropping up everywhere. As the economy slowly begins to turn, our clients’ thoughts have turned back to furthering environmental agendas, and discovering new ways to make them more efficient on every level. As this happens, MCC is ready, perfectly positioned to be of service.
 
There are many challenges involved in running a recycling business, but it is a young, sustainable industry with plenty of room for growth in many directions. We are very excited to be in this business at this time, and feel fortunate for every opportunity coming our way. 

MRR : Ahead of its time.
It was an exciting quarter at MRR/MyRecyclingReports.com. I have been working closely with my graphic designers and strategists on MRR’s spectacular marketing website. I am delighted with how it’s shaping up, and can’t wait until it goes live. 

Creating MyRecyclingReports.com continues to be a refreshing and interesting experience. As of today, we are refining our Home Page and looking forward to filling in the inner pages. Everything has to be crafted perfectly to make sure it reaches the right audiences and motivates them to join us.

In developing MyRecyclingReports.com, I’ve come to realize that it’s way ahead of its time. It may take a while before the industry truly recognizes its enormous power, potential and value. However, good things come to those who wait – and to those whose products and services are outstanding…

…and we are in a good position on both scores. MyRecyclingReports.com represents a true revolution in our industry, and I am doing all the right things to let the marketplace know about it. I am confident that it will evolve not just into a remarkable industry tool, but into a sustainable business with steady growth!

Q1 Blog Goals:  Lucky 5
One of my goals this quarter was to publish five blog posts. This is number five - Done!

MPM: My personal Q1
It was also a great quarter for me personally.  This quarter, we welcomed a new salesperson at MCC, leaving me more time to take a more traditional top executive leadership role in my company.  Along with this new role came new realizations. I was able to hone my Unique Ability(ies) – the activities at which I excel – and love doing the most.  

I consider myself very fortunate, as I was born with the gift of auto-inspiration. I am driven to move forward every day.  To constantly make progress.  To innovate and see the future.  I love to teach, speak, write, strategize, innovate, inspire, and assist. I love working with my staff, keeping them as excited about each day as I am.  In sharing my experiences with them, I feel most gratified when I have succeeded in truly motivating them.

My Unique Ability(ies) shine in a public or group setting – not when I’m alone. Like a snowball, I need inertia and proper conditions in order to grow.  When I work with my employees, my partner, my top vendors and my entrepreneur buddies, these talents really shine. The challenge? To work within my Unique Ability(ies) as much as possible, as I believe this is the path to happiness. I hope to discover more concrete ways to accomplish this during Q2.

I am always filled with new ideas stemming from my Unique Ability(ies). I am toying with new ideas - a speaking career, more frequent blog posts, a magazine column, a book, my entrepreneur support group or even a teaching job.  Any of these would be absolute bliss not just for me, but for the mutually beneficial relationships and success stories that come to people I meet along the way.

Q2 on the Horizon
They tell me I’d better squint, ‘cause it’s ‘gonna’ be bright! Here's to a great second quarter.  Cheers!

Scott Morgan, the business editor at the US1 Newspaper in Princeton, NJ has published a very nice article on myself, MCC Recycling Services and MyRecyclingReports.com. 

Read the article here (pages 38 & 39):  Life In The Fast Lane: Trash or Treasure? How About Both?

Thanks Scott!

Comments? Let's talk on Twitter @michaelpmills

I remember the day vividly.  I was sitting and discussing business with Martin, my attorney.  I brought up the fact that we had just put the finishing touches on a new web application that would bring  MCC Recycling – and possibly many recycling companies – to a newer, higher level of efficiency.

I described  how our new app would accelerate the ways in which we communicate and report critical data to our customers – always a very tedious, time-eating process  which we had completely revolutionized and packed into the touch of a button!  

Martin and I quickly realized that it would only be a matter of time before other recycling companies heard of this new service we were offering, and might want to compete with it or try and copy it. We spoke about how to protect the app – and recognized there really wasn’t any way to completely accomplish that.

And then it hit me.

“Martin,” I said, “this online web application is so revolutionary and useful, I can’t stop other companies from trying to copy it. I can see that it might not take long before it’s no longer an exclusive offering from MCC Recycling.  But…what I can do is create a company that allows other recycling companies to buy the product from me at incredibly low cost.

Living as we do, in a free market economy, everyone is free to invent products and services, use them and sell them.  My job is to be the first to offer this particular service to the marketplace, and to always be the best one of its kind, anywhere. Just like the iPhone.  It was the first, and it is still the best.  Apple can’t keep competitors from creating smart phones, but they can keep innovating to make sure theirs is always on top.

Make it irresistible.

We spoke further about the investment and the price.  To date, I have more than $50,000 invested in my online web application, including all of the new features currently under development.  Other recycling companies will know (or research) what it costs to develop a product such as this one. Recycling companies hearing of MCC Recycling’s wonderful new online web application have a choice to make.

They can start from scratch, re-invent the wheel, hire a developer for $50,000 or more, spend months and months of time and man-hours to create their own systems…or for about $99 a month, they can sign up for and buy an account from MyRecyclingReports.com .

It’s a no brainer, right?

In less than one hour, I had created the concept for MyRecyclingReports.com .  When I walked out of that meeting - about one year ago today - I was running on adrenalin! Time, research, expertise and momentum were all on my side.

Especially momentum.

Ah, momentum.  For the first 2-3 months of the project we were operating at warp speed.  I was meeting with developers, graphic designers, copywriters, strategists, and talking about the features and design of our new app, which we decided to call MyRecyclingReports.com . 

Every day was exciting, fun and progressive.  By the end of each week, we had moved ahead and gained momentum.  Things were going well. Everyone on the project was loving it - even though we had no customers, no prospects, no venture capital, and no real site up to view. It was pure momentum that kept us going.  We were gaining in size and speed every day.  Like a snowball rolling down a hill, there was no stopping us.

Until one day it did.

Our project stopped cold on the day our functional spec was finished. We sat down and looked at the cost estimate and we paused.  We questioned ourselves.  We wondered whether anyone would ever sign up for and pay us for this app. And we decided to take a week off from the project.  We decided to put some thought into this before we wrote the check. In our defense, it was a big check.  

Weeks went by, and then months.  Our programmers, designers and copywriters wondered what happened.  “You were so excited.  So pumped.  What happened?”

Nothing, really. Really!

The truth is, nothing happened after we broke our stride.  We lost our momentum and haven’t done much since.  And it has been one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. Which brings us to today. I am happy to announce  that this blog post represents  the re-birth of our project.  Today is the day I blow the dust off that snowball and give it a little push down the hill.  If we keep at it, one day at a time, our momentum will build again.

The lesson we learned here is that you don’t need deadlines, giant project diagrams, team assignments, victory dances or even budgets.  All you need is momentum, created by ingenuity and determination – an endless, slowly building movement that you push forward a little bit, every day. 

These days, around our office, we like to say, “What can we get done TODAY?”.  Not this week, not this month and certainly not by the end of the year.  What about today?  What can we get done by 5 o’clock?  As little or as much as it may be, it will move us forward.  Even if it was a mistake, or it didn’t work out, we’ll learn from it.  And we’ll move forward.

With  m-o-m-e-n-t-u-m.

Something ventured, something gained. But not what you think!
Two weeks ago, the phone rang. It was a business colleague I admire. He’d been reading my blog, and wanted to get together and discuss a venture he was working on.  

Intrigued and excited, I met with him over an afternoon beer.  He told me about a project that he and a few partners were working on. I believe his sole objective was to get my perspective – and to have a new set of eyes review his project. We talked for an hour, we brainstormed, I offered some opinions, and then we returned to our offices.

I really enjoyed that meeting.  In fact, I left the meeting feeling very excited. Why? First, I was excited for my friend. I was excited that he had invited my opinions on his project. I was grateful that he has so much respect for me, he wanted to hear my comments.  

None of this excitement had anything to do with personal gain.  You see, I made it very clear that I am not an investor or a venture capitalist, and I wanted nothing in return for my time and ideas.  I wasn’t looking for 10% of his company, or for options, shares or the possibility of gaining anything in the future from his success.  For me, I was happy enough just to sit with him for an hour, and to be working within my unique ability.  

My unique ability. Your potential asset.
My unique ability is a talent for dreaming…inventing…creating business ideas…and working with people as their ideas come to fruition, and turn into profitable companies. When I thought about our meeting, I realized I wanted more opportunities to exercise this creative ability.  Brainstorming business ideas doesn't feel like work to me – it exhilarates me -  and I often lose track of time. Hours can go by and I sometimes don’t realize it.  

The coolest part is that the feeling is the same, whether I am working on one of my ventures or on someone else's.

So, I have an idea.  I am going to start an entrepreneurs' round table. Eventually I'll need a better name than that, but that's not important now.  What is important is the basic structure of this alliance I'm envisioning. I will organize monthly meetings of like-minded entrepreneurs – we can get together someplace comfortable where we can eat, drink and have privacy to talk freely.

Just a couple of Golden Rules...
The rules will be quite simple.  All current or potential entrepreneurs are invited to participate. There will be no confidentiality agreements and no non-disclosures.  There will be no investment opportunities, and no one can ask for venture capital from other group members.  We will trust each other with our ideas – everything is held in confidence, on an old-fashioned honor system.

We will listen to each other's ideas, projects and obstacles.  We will all offer advice, exchange ideas, and work together to bring new ideas to the table.  The only requirement is that you come with your idea.  It can be just an idea, or it can be an existing profitable company.  Our objective is to build a network, a support group and to gain each other's trust as advisors for a long-term relationship.


…and an eye towards your future.
I don't have any other details worked out yet. At this point I'm anxious to see what levels of interest l might have - I'd like to start with a minimum of 3 or 4 people. If you want to be a part of this, get in touch with me.  Email, call, text, Facebook, even send an old fashioned smoke signal if you have to, but don't miss out on the opportunity to take your creation to the next level.  

Come on! Come dream higher with me!

Currently MyRecyclingReports.com is being tested in the marketplace by a select group of recycling companies.  The following is an example of an opportunity that was shown to us:

Let's call our recycling company, "Fred's Recycling" or "Fred's" for short.  Fred has a customer that we will call the "Acme Corporation" or "Acme" for short.  Currently, here is how the application is designed to work: Fred creates a customer with a company name, "Acme Corporation".  The application requires an email address and password for Acme.  John Smith is the manager of Environmental, Health & Safety for Acme and John will be overseeing the recycling program.  Fred sets up the application so that John has access by entering his email address (john.smith@acme.com) as the login.  All is well, until...

John calls up Fred one morning and says, "Fred, your recycling company is doing such a great job and I really love using your online web application for recycling tonnage and rebate reports, and I'd like you to handle the recycling for our other building."

It turns out that Acme has another building right down the street.  John wants to be able to use the online system to manage the reports, but he wants them kept separate from the first building.  John asks Fred to create another customer account for his second building.  Again, all sounds great until we realize that our application is using John's email address as the login name and therefore we cannot use it again.  John cannot have multiple customer accounts with the same email address as the login name.

Or can he?  And that's what we're working on today!  We have figured out a temporary workaround, but on a more permanent basis we will have to change the application to allow user accounts to be assigned to multiple companies.

The above situation is real and shows how important it is to us to get MyRecyclingReports.com out in the marketplace, in the hands of recycling companies.  Their feedback and discoveries are extremely valuable to us.

Entrepreneurs hardly ever leave enough time for accounting. We get so involved in our specialties, sales efforts, daily operating issues and customer service, we are often too busy to pay attention to critical business issues.

Big mistake. Especially in the recycling business.

Many of my recycling competitors run junk equipment and offer terrible service. This is usually not because owners are oblivious, but because they look the other way when it comes to basic business principals…and Gross Profit Margin.

Obsessed with sales, sales, and more sales, they let everything else fall by the wayside, paying no attention whatsoever to Gross Profit Margin. Then, they close their eyes and hope for the best. Kind of like eating a whole box of chocolates at one time, then hoping it won’t show up on the scale later on. What they've completely missed and mistakenly overlooked is the magic number:

Gross Profit Margin.

My basic definition of Gross Profit Margin is simple. Sales minus COGS equals gross profit. COGS includes all variable costs. Gross Profit Margin is expressed by the gross profit as a percentage of sales. I assume that the gross profit must pay all of the fixed costs and then when all the bills are paid, what's left, is net profit.

In my opinion, lack of attention to this number is actually putting many people out of business! Owners fail to recognize that when business is bad it's due to one of three problems: Overhead is too high; volume is too low; or Gross Profit Margin isn't healthy. For my competition it’s always the latter.

Rise up, cut the fat, and get your Gross Profit Margin healthy!

Owners, raise your top line, trim some fat and keep a closer eye on that Gross Profit Margin number – it should be 40% at a minimum. This will leave you some coin at the end of the day – and that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Then, take better care of your existing equipment, buy some new equipment and step up your level of service.

Take a bite out of the Apple example.

Apple, Inc. is my favorite company – I’m a Superfan. They make great products and sell them at a premium price – and I buy a lot of these products for my business. How do I justify these premium expenses?

Easy. I'm not paying for the product I'm buying now, I'm paying for the product that I'm buying next year! How so? In 2007 I stood in line for 8 hours and paid $600 for the first generation iPhone. I could have stood in line for 8 minutes and paid $50 for something else, but then we wouldn't have the iPad in 2010. When I paid $600 for the iPhone, I wasn't really paying for the phone, I was paying for the innovation that was yet to occur. Apple uses their healthy Gross Profit Margin to invest in their own innovation - and their own innovation is what brings us these magical and revolutionary products each year. We could have paid $200 for the iPhone, but then there never would have been an iPad. We could pay $500 for a MacBook, but there never would have been a MacBook Air. When we pay these prices we're not fattening the pockets of the Apple executives and shareholders, we're actually investing in our own future of technology.

The Apple pattern at MCC.

At MCC Recycling Services, we have patterned ourselves after Apple. By maintaining a healthy Gross Profit Margin, MCC is able to invest in our own innovation every day. Simple concept, but so often overlooked.

In the meantime, my competitors barely have enough money left over to wash their crappy trucks, let alone invest in new products for their customers. At MCC our on-time rate for service pick-ups is 97%. Why? Because we run new trucks that don't break down, and we hire quality drivers. And we can afford to do this because our Gross Profit Margin is healthy.

When a customer pays more for MCC service they're actually investing in the future of our performance. Everybody wins.

Here's another example: In 2010 I created MyRecyclingReports.com. Of course, MCC was the first customer and user of the service. MCC's customers benefit from the wonderful convenience of using this web application every day. In the middle of one of the worst economic times this country has ever seen, while my competitors are fighting to stay alive, we are pouring tens of thousands of dollars into…

…innovation.

And it's our own healthy Gross Profit Margin that allows us to do this. Just like paying slightly more for that iPhone, my customers have invested in their own future. And it's paying them dividends every day.

The take-away?

Owners! Watch your Gross Profit Margin like a hawk. Walk away from cheap customers and re-invest in your own company. It's the best long-term play you'll ever make.