Xtra Mile Resources

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2025! Let’s Go! Our commitment to our PURPOSE of making SMBs the best places to work in America will never change. However, we believe we have the calling to go bigger, serving more people in a wider range of places than ever before. Here we grow! New Look: We […]

From our work with dozens of businesses every year, we witness a wide range of team retention results. Our best-led client businesses consistently practice four disciplines to show their teammates they are treasured. Subsequently, the SMB owners are rewarded with high levels of retention, engagement, and overall performance. We think it is important to know […]

Have you been following our series of Hire-Coach-Keep? The battle for talent is intense in the SMB space. Check out the video that sets up this blog on coaching humans. Here are four simple coaching practices that will multiply your teammates engagement, excitement, and effectiveness for your business. Know what is important to them: We […]

Here is a short list that will help you assess and improve your hiring process. How well do you and your team execute these steps when hiring for your SMB? 1. Have a purpose for existing that rises above the basics of business. 2. Build a culture that positively grows humans and multiplies engagement. […]

The Overdramatic Worldview Things are bad and getting worse. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. The world is ending, probably next week. Western media sells bad news, and the people are buying like it’s Black Friday and sharing it on social media. The Fact-Based Worldview “Step by step, year by year, […]

It’s not hard to find SMB teams with detailed strategies, plans, and budgets for business development (Marketing, Prospecting, Selling). A little less frequently, we find teams with similar clarity around system and process improvements. New equipment, software upgrades, and other capital improvements get all of the attention, analysis, and a budget for ROI. Rarely do we […]

“How much do you love Monday?” I asked this question to open our current video series on how to HIRE-COACH-KEEP an Xtra Mile dream team in your SMB. Building the right team is life changing and life giving to any business owner. It might all come down to one simple idea: How much do you […]

Our work with SMB owners puts us in the middle of hundreds of teams every year. We believe every employee, in every kind of organization, constantly asks these five questions in their head and heart, even if they never say them out loud. 1.What is my job?2.How am I doing?3.Does anyone care about me? (Who […]

Check out our video, Work Gloves vs Running Shoes, for a new way to think about strengths and weaknesses on your team . . . and to laugh a bit in the process. What work do you squeamishly run from? We were working with a marketing and merchandising client on a strategic hire a few years […]

Check out our video Not Another YOU for a 1-minute paradigm shift on building your bench for maximum impact. In a scene from Bill Watterson’s classic comic Calvin & Hobbes, the anti-hero, Calvin, decides to build a duplicator. His theory: if he can create another Calvin, the duplicate can be responsible for the chores, homework and other […]

This is Strategic Planning Question #4. Check out our intro video to the idea of SWOT. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats: The SWOT analysis for “Where Are We Now?” We were working with a driven and passionate entrepreneur on a Strategic Planning Retreat with her team. She is a fast-paced, no-nonsense, high-D personality. Before I had even interviewed her leadership team, she […]

Watch our new Q3 Planning Video – A Simple Plan – on how to answer the most important question in your company’s strategic process. My first job out of college was leading an Infantry platoon in Schweinfurt, Germany. Do you know who they recruit for Infantry platoons? People who are stronger than they are smart (me included). We […]

Watch this 2 min video on how to Xcelerate in the second half of your year by answering these 6 questions. “We got more value out of these last three hoursthan in six months with another consulting group.” – Strategic retreat client on the first day of a 2-day strategic planning session. For over 15 years we have […]

Once you get rid of your head trash about sales (see video), now you need a process. Designing and/or teaching a sales process for a business is a 2-3 day venture. Mastering complex or consultative sales is a decades-long investment. Please forgive our brevity today. Here is a process we have been using to sell […]

To prospect…or not to prospect. That is the question. Another question: Who is your MPPC = Most Promising Prospective Client? Mindset really matters when it comes to closing revenue gaps. Watch this 90-second clip to set the stage for this week’s Biz. Dev. topic: PROSPECTING. “If you want sustained success in your sales career (or […]

Welcome back to our Business Development Series for your small business. Take a quick look at our 2-minute video that sets the stage – Magic Feathers and Easy Buttons. Marketing is a generous act of helping someone solve a problem. THEIR PROBLEM! We experienced real Xceleration at XM Brands when we began to internalize the idea that marketing […]

Empower Your Force Multiplier(Check out The Admin Professionals Day Video) Leaders, please share with your administrative rockstars. A Handshake Wealth Transfer by guest blogger, SBX, and storyteller, Krystal Mechling I attended my first Admins Run the World tour event a few weeks ago, hosted by Sunny Nunan and the Admin Awards. She opened the ceremony by introducing her […]

Hidden Treasures Series: Episode 4(Check out The Tandem Bike Video) It may come as no surprise that I love a good bike analogy. Did you know the front rider on the tandem bicycle team is called the Captain? This rider’s role is to be heads-up, looking forward, deciding strategy, direction, and speed. Much like the role of […]

Hidden Treasures Series: Episode 3(Check out The Time Audit) In our video this week I shared the story of one of our favorite clients – Jessica Riggs from Angels of Care. When we first started working with her team, she was a 29-year-old second-generation president running a $40 million-a-year home health business. I asked her, “Jessica, […]

Hidden Treasures Series: Episode 2(Check out Undiscovered Leaders) There is a famous scene in The Notebook – an exasperated poor boy Noah (Ryan Gosling) asks the love of his life: “What do you want? What do you want?! What! Do! You! Want!” Business owners and leaders should be asking their teams the same question. Instead […]