Xtra Mile Resources

Freedom is an inspiring human ideal. Think of the thousands and thousands of migrants who spend every penny and risk the lives of their families to make long journeys to America. At times we can’t understand the breadth of our opportunity through the tightly scripted battles being waged inside our country. Media, social media, and […]

It has been the windiest April in 30 years in Texas. The constant, nagging pull is wearing us out (especially road cyclists). We feel that same constant pressure as business owners, and right now that burden is heavy. The market is hot Customers are demanding Supply lines are disrupted Inflation is eroding our profit The competition for […]

Last month a former #XtraMile teammate lost a dog she rescued this summer. After a desperate two-week search, Olive showed up in the woods behind her apartment. What was lost is found again; great rejoicing over this small miracle and hope is restored. The Christmas Story is full of miracles and hope. A miraculous […]

In the middle of a chaotic summer, we made a key hire when we convinced Lisa Valle to join the #XtraMile Team. Lisa hails from the island of Trinidad and Tobago, where she grew up as an active participant in her family’s ministry. Singing, hosting, helping with almost everything about running a church; she is a […]

One of our long-term clients has been working for a few years to take their industry-disrupting business to the #xtramile. They have been diligently building systems, expanding their sales and marketing capacity, and running expansion teams in a few new markets. It is hard work; if you have done it, you know. Why does everything […]

Almost all of our clients are rebels to some extent. They have a better idea, a more compelling vision, an insatiable desire to disrupt the status quo. If they followed our #XtraMile guidance in January they put a plan together for an economy that came back faster than expected. As we hit 2021’s midway […]

If you know anything about dare etiquette (The Christmas Story), only in the most extreme circumstances can you go straight from the dare to the Triple Dog Dare. Today, we too are going to break etiquette, because we strongly believe in the power of this tool/process to unleash next-level performance. For over a […]

Re-Onboarding: Is that even a word? The Texas Governor announced the reopening of Texas businesses starting March 10th. Even before that announcement, our team has been noticing increasing traffic inside Dallas/Fort Worth. We are bumping up against 4 million vaccinated and nearly 3 million recovered, which means almost 25% of the 29 million Texans now have […]

#Snowmageddon2021 in Texas is in full force. For the first time in history, the entire state of Texas was under winter storm warnings at one time. With a -2°F on the thermometer Wednesday morning, we tied a 1949 record for the coldest recorded temperature in Dallas/Fort Worth. The stress of having too much cold, for […]

A little brag on our XM team; record Q1 and it’s only January. That feels good after 2020. One of the benefits of our diverse client base is we get to see a wide sample of the SMB market. We did work with three of our long-term clients this week. One landed a record-breaking deal that […]

I had a little time to study this week while I was quarantined. I have been digging into Leaders: Myth and Reality, by Stan McChrystal and his team of researchers. The overarching theme of the book is that leaders and organizations have to be cautious about the following three myths of leadership: The formulaic myth: Leadership is not […]

Conquest-War-Famine-Plague Recognize these names? These are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Christian New Testament. Their arrival signals the end of times. There are also four horsemen in our SMBs that are keeping our teams from breaking through. The Technical Genius: He/she was critical to the startup. But now we are […]

Six months of a pandemic, three months left in 2020. My bride and I took 4 days off last week and spent time hiking, biking, and relaxing in Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, TX (it is the second-largest canyon in North America). What a relief it was to set aside the turmoil of 2020 […]

We have been sharing insights and #XtraMile truths about hiring the last few weeks. Here is the most critical truth about hiring for your SMB team. XM Truth: If you can’t define your culture—you can’t hire people that will fit your company. We were working with a tech company in Virginia two years […]

“Letting the days go by, Same as it ever was, And here the twister comes, Here comes the twister.” Once in a Lifetime, David Byrne This Wednesday, I put on dress pants for the first time in a couple of months. We had our first physically distanced, in-person training session, followed by a […]

Last week we shared a few basic ideas for developing a 90-day crisis plan for your small/medium business (Chaordic). This is a time when #XtraMile leadership could make the difference between survival and failure. State by state, county by county, restrictions are gradually being lifted as the curves begin to flatten. SMB owners what is […]

Over a dozen times in the last 10 years, aspiring consultants and coaches have sought our counsel on getting started. Because I am a high ‘D’ on the DiSC profile, I am usually quite frank. If you don’t want to learn and master marketing and sales, go work for someone who already has. Most business […]

Still not the Christmas Blog… We have been writing this month about tactical planning that creates breakthroughs in small business (Marketing, Lineup). We want to close the year out with three gifts. If you open these up, I can almost guarantee a breakthrough for you and your business in 2020. 1) Focus on the MIGHTY […]

If you are looking for a Christmas blog, this is not it. I was fortunate to work for great leaders early in my career. First, because I was that young, egocentric leader who needed a lot of help evolving into the real world. Second, because they pushed me hard and accelerated my development. Many of my early, enthusiastic […]

In January, my youngest son starts the spring semester of his senior year. I get to make my last tuition payment. Three kids through undergraduate degrees mean one of team Paterson’s major life goals is complete. It must be time to start another business. I was having a casual conversation with a business owner earlier […]