by Dave Crenshaw
Business Coach & Founder of Fresh Juice Strategy

THE METAPHOR
Many years ago, I sat at family breakfast in a Yellowstone lodge. Although it was many years ago, I still vividly remember that as I looked at the menu, I asked my mom,

"Why is a small glass of orange juice so expensive?"

"Because it's fresh squeezed, Dave," she revealed.

Not long after that, I noticed the difference again at the mall corn dog shop. They had a large vat filled with fresh squeezed lemons and fresh lemonade. While the price of the lemonade wasn't as high as fresh orange juice, it certainly was more expensive than concentrate, or Kool Aid, or the lemonade at the stand I had when I was a grade-school entrepreneur.

It's a business lesson I learned early: Fresh Juice is better than not-fresh juice. While people can't easily explain why fresh-squeezed is better, they know it is and will pay for the extra value. It's a difference they can smell, taste, feel, even see.

Fresh Juice is a unique and personal way to provide a product or service. A spark of life! A taste of energy! People are drawn to, and pay more for, the fresh way in which the visionary provides the product or service.

THE DILEMMA
"Fresh", however, is an elusive quality. The more hands the juice passes through, the more things it touches, the longer it takes to get to the consumer, the less and less likely it will be fresh. The value, in turn, diminishes.

Initially, visionary owners and executives serve Fresh Juice.

"No one sells the way I can," or "no one cares about the customer the way I do," are statements of truth that confront visionaries daily. Each new employee, each additional managerial level, each procedural step away from the visionary diminishes the freshness of the customer's experience. When an organization has a few employees, they find it simple to keep customers happy and to provide high quality. This honeymoon period in business is when fresh is the only way anything gets done. Because the service is fresh, the company grows. As the company grows, more employees are added. The dilemma begins...

Each additional employee beyond this honeymoon reduces freshness. Sooner or later the visionary experiences business letdown. Customer complaints grow. Sales drop. Income per employee drops dramatically. The visionary begins to question this vision.

“Was this just a pipe dream?” the visionary might ask.

Then, they have two choices: grow or give up. But growing was what caused the problem in the first place. And giving up is not an option for the visionary. So, most limp along, waiting for some illusive break that will never come.




THE PHILOSOPHY
Fresh Juice Strategy is both a philosophy and a program. The philosophy is that the fresh quality begins with the business visionary. All visionaries have the gift to grow fresh businesses. We believe that the visionary must be the one who instills into the organization that unique and fresh way of doing things.

Fresh Juice Strategy helps visionaries achieve their business vision. It ensures that their businesses and employees will serve their products and services fresh --every day, regardless of location; regardless of growth; regardless of size. This strategy helps visionaries transform their organization from a one-person, micro-management undertaking, into a self-aware, self-healing, self-growing and vibrant entity. We help visionaries duplicate themselves in every aspect of the company.

However, systems are only one-third of the Fresh Juice Strategy. To be consistent, organic, and ever growing, systems must serve the employees as well as the customers. Business consistency also requires individual accountability. An organic company must serve individual motivation of all kinds. When an organization is built to maintain all three, that is, systems, accountability, and motivation, than that organization then becomes self-aware. It becomes fresh ... consistently. Fresh organizations give visionaries more freedom, more time, and more money, to pursue even greater vision.

Your vision may include adding multiple locations or franchising. Your vision may be to sell the company and move on to a new project or charitable cause. Your vision may be to keep the company in the hands of capable, stable leadership so you can pursue greater adventures with friends or family.

Fresh Juice Strategy is Freedom.

Fresh Juice Strategy is Systems Strategy with Heart.

Dave Crenshaw is a business coach, author and keynote speaker. He began his coaching career in 1998 by becoming the youngest independent consultant for a large small business coaching firm. He had already coached business owners several times his age before receiving his degree in Business Management-Entrepreneurship. Dave is the founder of TimeGym, a time management and productivity coaching program, and Fresh Juice Stratgy, a small business coaching program. He has coached and consulted business owners worldwide. He is the author of The Myth of Multitasking: How ‘Doing it All’ Gets Nothing Done, published by Jossey-Bass ). More information about Dave is available at www.davecrenshaw.com.