The Small Business Minute: Recent Episodes
greg weatherdon
With the vaccine rollouts well under way in many countries, the talk has turned to the reopening of the economies. One of the biggest issues facing many entrepreneurs, is the return to the workplace.
At the start of the pandemic, millions of office workers were sent home to work remotely. Once the initial technical issues were resolved, everybody seemed to profess that they are never going back to the office and their future was a zero commute remote work environment.
So confident that this new structure would be the new forever normal, many moved out of the big cities to rural or small communities, never expecting to commute again. Unfortunately, this might be a decision that they come to regret.
Understandably, no one knew if or when a vaccine would be developed. However, in less than two years many countries are experiencing high vaccination rates and are slowly reopening much of their economies as life returns to some form of normalcy.
So, whatâs next? Well for starters, offices will begin to reopen, and people will be required to show up for work. Just wait for the howls of injustice, that after more than a year of remote work, employees will be required to be physically present at their place of work. But, the interesting thing is that this vocal group may be in the minority.
Research
Recent research from KPMG is revealing that the majority of employees want to return to the workplace stating they âmiss the social interaction, the buzz, the creativity of being at workâ. However, they do want some form of hybrid arrangement combining the opportunity of working remotely part of the week.
Interestingly, another survey conducted by Accenture of financial firms in the US shows that 80% of executives want their employees to return office at least 4 to 5 days a week. Clearly thereâs a misalignment between employee and employer expectations.
Just to muddy the waters a little more, EY conducted another survey, whereby more than half the employees surveyed around the world would consider leaving their job post covid-19, if they are not afforded some form of flexibility in where and when they work.
This juxtaposition could prove quite interesting for both parties. When you consider that most employers want people in the office, where exactly are those employees willing to leave their present positions going to go?
Lots of discussion
Apparently, HR consulting firms and employment lawyers have been exceptionally busy over the past 18 months. For the most part they been dealing with work from home challenges many businesses have had to manage, and it doesnât look like it will subside any time soon.
The new challenge is how to deal with the return to office post Covid-19.
But, depending on the jurisdiction, employees may not have much choice as to where they work. According to some employment lawyers, employers have the right to expect their employees to return to the office as the pandemic was an aberration or a departure from the norm and didnât change the employment contract.
Granted, for some businesses, working from home may not be an issue and therefore will continue the practice. However, other employers will be less open to continuing the work from home concept. This is primarily because the pandemic has shown that communications, productivity, and creativity has suffered because of remote working.
In SBM #89, Work From Home I related how IBM recalled 11,000 of their employees back to the office 18 months after sending them home to work remotely. They realized that they were missing out on the innovation that happened through in person interactions. So, I think thereâs an opportunity to learn from their experience.
Now what?
So, the question to small business owners is what are you going to do?
For newly minted entrepreneurs, the biggest priority is to generate revenue, any revenue in an effort to transition from struggling to profitable enterprise. To those of us who have made the crossing, we have more often than not sacrificed our own financial needs in order to create a proper fiscal foundation for our business. Because so few of us ever get investor capital, we are left to our own devices to fund our enterprises.⦠Read More
A year ago, had you asked small business owners what 3 things could put them out of business?, I would have bet a pandemic would not have been on their top 10 let alone their top 50 things. But a lot has changed in just over a year. According to the CFIB (Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses), it is estimated that 1 in 6 small businesses wonât survive because of Covid-19.⦠Read More
For some time now Iâve have taken issue with the advice given small business owners on social media platforms under the guise of motivation and advice. Sadly, much of this advice being spewed forth by many of these so called experts is, in my opinion, nothing more than hype to grow their popularity.But in order to balance my opinion and for research purposes, I have spent over 20 hours of listening to the audio version of the books of some of these more popular gurus and to be honest, my opinion hasnât changed.⦠Read More
Pivot! Just pivot! Thatâs what your being told if youâre having challenges running your SME. Itâs another one of those words that actually had value once upon a time. Now, itâs so abused thatâs itâs nothing more than a throwaway statement by individuals who want to sound like theyâre offering intelligent advice, but really arenât. Realistically, most businesses canât pivot.If weâre to be honest, most individuals have a heck of a time coming up with one idea that they can get excited enough about to take the plunge.⦠Read More
This is a guest post by Dennis Geelen of Zero In.Take a minute and think of a few companies that pop into your head that were once seen as leaders in their industry but, for one reason or another, eventually came crashing back down to Earth. Maybe they have since been surpassed and are no longer a household name. Perhaps they filed for bankruptcy. ⦠Read More
Money, itâs one of those personal topics that many people are uncomfortable discussing. Why that is, varies from person to person.Even inside a business that uncomfortableness exist, but that needs to change. Generally speaking, the only time the subject of money seems to ever comes up is in the heat of the moment in comments such as âDo you know how much that costs?â.⦠Read More
Iâve been wanting to golf at a rural course for a number of years now. The reason is that this golf course now sits upon farmland that was once owned by two of my uncles. I had spent a lot of time of these farms as a kid growing up and I had only played the course once many years before and my memory suggested it wasnât a bad little course.⦠Read More
Work from home is not a new concept. People have been looking for any excuse to do so since the turn of the century. Initially, Fridayâs was the defacto work from home day. Itâs popularity was driven mostly to get a jump on the weekend, more so than trying to get distraction free time in order to get caught up. For evidence, just check the highway traffic on Fridayâs afternoons during the summer, as people are fleeing the city.⦠Read More
For many Covid-19 has temporarily changed the way business is done and for others those changes will be permanent. This is both good and bad. The good is that for those that adapt, they will find news ways to do business. The bad is that for those who remain steadfast in their ways, they may not survive. This brings me to todayâs topic, discounts.⦠Read More
Those of you that know me and have either purchased my book or attended an event that I have spoken at, know that the advice I share is based on getting the basics right. By getting the basics right, you can grow your business and your leadership skills that allow you to attain a high level of freedom by removing the shackles of ownership.⦠Read More
Covid-19 is creating utter chaos for many small business owners. Fear is taken hold of many owners as they wonder whatâs next? No one knows when or if theyâll reopen. Most donât want to admit out loud what they are secretly thinking-bankruptcy. Itâs just too difficult to fathom.Making any kind of decision while under duress is never a good idea.⦠Read More
Conference CallsThe outbreak of Covid-19 has got the world on lock down and many employees have transitioned to working at home. With that, many entrepreneurs are holding daily conference calls to keep teams connected.The upside is many employees are having greater communication with their managers than they previously had. Unfortunately, many owners have never participated or hosted conference calls and in my conversations with participants, Iâm hearing that many of these calls are bit chaotic and frustrating.⦠Read More
A few months ago, I finally did something that I had longed to do but just never got around to it. Not quite a bucket list item, but pretty close. That something was to drive a race prepared car on a closed road course. Calabogie Motorsports offers just such a program. The road course is just a hair over 5 kms that has 20 turns and enough of a straightaway to get you to question your sanity.⦠Read More
Shrink to greatness is a phrase Iâve often had to use when working with clients. To be honest, itâs rarely received well by those Iâve had to tell because everything we read about how to be successful in business says you must grow. So, this contrarian approach can be a little challenging for the recipient to accept as it goes against everything theyâve been led to believe.⦠Read More
Shrink to greatness is a phrase Iâve often had to use when working with clients. To be honest, itâs rarely received well by those Iâve had to tell because everything we read about how to be successful in business says you must grow. So, this contrarian approach can be a little challenging for the recipient to accept as it goes against everything theyâve been led to believe.⦠Read More
What if, you had the chance of starting over? What if you could reboot your business? What would you do differently? Theses are questions that I regularly ask small business owners, especially when I come across those that are struggling, stressed out and unhappy.The answers I get range from, âIâd hire better peopleâ to âI would not have tried to grow so fastâ.⦠Read More
Burnout is one of the leading causes of small business failures. The thing about burnout is that it usually gets justified as just hard work. Of course, entrepreneur knows that being self employed is going to require sacrifices and therefore, burning the candle at both ends is the price of admission to a better life. To that I say, yes and no.⦠Read More
e-Transfers have been a wonderful convenience, especially as a small business, however there are some startling security issues.
So lets be honest, most of these can be traced back to lousy security habits on behalf of the person sending the e-transfer. Email systems being hacked and just plain bad passwords. The banks are backing away and not taking responsibility, so its time to do them properly.
Five things to increase security
If you use e-transfers or would like to (Iâm a big fan), there are some simple things you can do to increase the security.
Letâs start with your email system:
Move awa⦠Read More
Opportunities are like buses, if you miss one, another one will be along in a minute. That saying has a lot of truth in it, and although I hate missing an opportunity, Iâve found out over the years, not to lose any sleep over it, because it probably wasnât meant to be.
Good or bad, Iâm wired to be constantly on the lookout for opportunities. I owe much of my success to being able to identify real needs in those areas where I have some knowledge, and this is the catch. In order to take advantage or spot opportunities, you need know what youâre looking for.
Opportunities or distractions
Of course, the best opportunities are those that tie into what ⦠Read More
I recently had some time to kill between meetings and I was hungry. So, I decided to go to a local diner. I figured I could use the time to do some writing. One of the reasons I chose this location is that I knew they had free Wi-Fi and I needed to access some information online with my laptop.
After I was seated, order taken, and beverage served, I flipped open my laptop and attempted to connect to the Wi-Fi. No luck. I checked to make sure the network was visible and still nothing. Re-entered the password that was printed in big bold letters on the wall of this establishment and still no joy.
After numerous attempts, I finally ⦠Read More
Iâve been considering this topic for quite some time but wasnât sure it was worth addressing until a recent trip to New York City.
Having been out to dinner, we returned to our hotel and were waiting for the elevator to make its way to the ground floor. When the door finally slid open there was a young lady getting ready to disembark. Also, in the elevator, but tucked over to the side where the floor keypad is located, was a young man who was an employee of the hotel.
As we waited, the young lady began to step out of the elevator car, only to be cut off by the hotel employee. There was a look of confusion and ⦠Read More
Technology has been an amazing boon for businesses of every size, but none more so than for small businesses. Having come of age as an entrepreneur through the technology evolution, itâs truly amazing that what once took days by many, is now done in minutes by one person.
The development and ease of use of current technology now allows small businesses to compete with much larger organizations. Software applications that once would have cost the small business owner a fortune to purchase, along with the hardware to run these applications, are now available for pennies a day and hosted on the cloud. Heck, most can be managed on your smartphone, giving you true mobility and freedom.
Small screen and keypad ⦠Read More
In the movie Top Gun, Maverick and Goose are flying in close formation with Iceman in a training manoeuvre as they try to shoot down a much nimbler fictitious Russian MiG fighter. Maverick having been accused of abandoning his wingmen in the past, is sticking tight to Iceman but clearly has âthe shotâ.Maverick pleads with Iceman to break off and let him take the shot. Icemanâs rebuttal is that he only needs a few more seconds to acquire the target. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Iceman capitulates and breaks hard right as Maverick has requested and thatâs when things get really ugly for Maverick and Goose.When Iceman finally relinquished his position by breaking hard right, the ⦠Read More
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We all know how much work it takes to survive, let alone thrive as an entrepreneur. We have all put in the long hours and have faced disappointments along with the successes that come with the territory. Some days, youâre just freaking awesome. On others, not so much. It just feels like youâre taking one step forward and two steps back. Such is the life we have chosen!
You work your butt off to get the business, but somewhere along the line you or your staff drops the ball and turn in a less than stellar performance. This typically results in a call from an unhappy client that until you picked up the phone, you were totally oblivious to ⦠Read More
Small business owners are faced with a myriad of challenges every single day. If it isnât sales, then itâs receivables and if it isnât receivables, itâs operations. Add to this the hundreds of thoughts they are juggling trying to sustain their enterprises. Always at the top of their worry list is how to keep their staff focused and motivated.
Unlike much larger corporations, small business owners usually donât have the financial resources to implement sophisticated incentive programs. A big part of the problem in smaller organizations is that the employees usually wear more than one hat or have overlapping responsibilities. Of course, we can argue that this isnât efficient or effective, but itâs the way it is in so many ⦠Read More
Wall learn lesson throughout our working lives. Some are good lessons, some are a little painful. Some of those lessons we remember, some we forget. Hopefully, we learn to apply the good lessons as frequently as possible and not repeat those painful ones too often.
One of those lessons I learned a long time ago, was to play the long game when it comes to sales. So, what do I mean when I say, âthe long gameâ? The long game means understanding that actions today may pay off at some future point with unknown timing.
The long game is understanding that people are different. Whereas some people need to buy immediately, others prefer to do preliminary research before buying. On ⦠Read More
We all learn lesson throughout our working lives. Some are good lessons, some are a little painful. Some of those lessons we remember, some we forget. Hopefully, we learn to apply the good lessons as frequently as possible and not repeat those painful ones too often.
One of those lessons I learned a long time ago, was to play the long game when it comes to sales. So, what do I mean when I say, âthe long gameâ? The long game means understanding that actions today may pay off at some future point with unknown timing. The long game is understanding that people are different. Whereas some people need to buy immediately, others prefer to do preliminary research before buying. On the other hand, some customers have existing relationships or inventory that precludes them making any immediate changes but are now entertaining other suppliers.
Never know which ones
A lot of people think of sales as a one hit wonder, whereby if someone doesnât buy immediately, they are dismissed, and you simply move on to the next prospect. To be fair, some industries have created this environment. What is far worse, is that many individual salespeople operate this way regardless of their industry and think this is perfectly acceptable. Their attitude is, if youâre not buying, youâre simply wasting their time
Fortunately, professional sales people donât work that way. They know the value of playing the long game.
In the movie City Slickers, Jack Palanceâs character Curly and Billy Crystalâs character Mitch are riding along having a bonding moment, when Curly turns to Mitch and asks,
Curly: Do you know what the secret to life is?
Mitch: No What?
Curly : This! (As he holds up one finger)
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else donât mean (expletive).
Mitch: Thatâs great, but whatâs the one thing?
Curly: Thatâs what you gotta figure out
Iâm always reminded of that scene whenever I ask my clients âWhatâs the number one thing every business needs in order to succeed?â Inevitably, I get a number of different answers that include reputation, a good product, good customer service, great staff, hard work and so on. Quite frankly theyâre all wonderful valid answers and easily qualify within the top 5 items, but not what I consider the most important item. However, every once in a while, I get the answer Iâm looking for, and that answer is, money!
Try doing anything without money
Money pays the rent, the staff, the new pcâs, product or service development, etc. Itâs what keeps the lights on. Money affords you the opportunity to create great products or services. Money allows you to provide great customer service. Money allows you to provide a great work environment. Donât believe me? Try doing anything in your business without money.
Generating profitable revenue, getting paid and controlling expenses are the key elements to getting money. Do enough of these youâre your bank account grows.
In its heyday, the Kodak company, used the following tag line in their advertising: âMake it a Kodak Moment!â This phrase was used when taking a picture of someone at a particular moment that will never be forgotten. It even made its way into everyday use to highlight anything good or embarrassing that happened to an individual, even when it wasnât captured on film.
Iâm sure weâve all experienced our fair share of Kodak Moments in our lives, so I want to share one of mine that will be forever burned into my memory. It was an expensive sales lesson about being overly confident, that Iâll never forget.
This event unfolded when I had my first company, The Sales Support Company. As a quick backgrounder, we provided retail merchandising services for the major consumer packaged goods companies, whereby we performed a myriad of services for our clients that ranged from new product introductions to regular sales coverage and even in-store display building.
Camera of choice
This last item, in-store display building usually required us to take a picture of each display as proof of performance. This was a pretty common practice in those days and these photos would ultimately be submitted to the client. Like pretty much everyone in the industry, our camera of choice was Polaroid. Itâs ability to produce an instant picture that could be immediately catalogued with all the necessary information made it attractive unlike traditional film which required waiting until the whole roll was used and then developed.
Although we had a pretty impressive roster of clients, most of which were global players, we still wanted more. One such prospect was the Kodak Company, which at the time was one of the worlds largest photographic film companies. When you consider that in those days film was sold in thousands upon thousands of retailers that ranged from the local corner store to department stores.
A constant refrain that I hear from business owners is âthey should know better!â âTheyâ of course being any or all the employees that screwed up. Naturally, when I hear this statement, I just canât leave it alone and therefore I need to challenge it. At which point the conversation goes something like this,
Client: They should know better
Me: Really, why is that?
Client: Itâs their job
Me: Did you tell them?
Client: No, I shouldnât have to
Me: Why shouldnât you have to?
Client: Because theyâre supposed to be adults
Me: That may be true, but you still need to tell them what you expect
Client: I hired them to do a job. If I have to tell them or show them I donât need them.
Me: Seriously?
It's not about micro-managing
I think you get the drift and Iâm sure many of us have felt the same way at times. Unfortunately, too many owners wrongly assume that once they hire an individual, that person should automatically know everything there is to know. Granted, they should have all the technical skills required for the job, but thatâs only half the battle.
Where many entrepreneurs fail, is in telling their employees what they expect from them on a regular basis. Weâre not talking about micro-managing, itâs about providing clarity. Itâs about setting expectations or objectives. Itâs about letting them know specifics, like when you expect the task to be completed or how many hours youâve allocated for that project or how you expect them to act in front of customers, or your dress code and on and on. Just because you failed to mention something and then expecting your employees to read your mind, is asking a little much, donât you think?
The easiest way to fix this is to communicate. Yup, it can be that simple.
READING TIME: 5 minutes
Discipline is not always a strong suit when it comes to describing many entrepreneurs, it just goes against their rebel nature. One of the main reasons they went out on their own is because they figured they could do a better job, make more money and have a better life, but to do it their way.
For many, their jack of all trade, get it done, whatever it takes attitude, helped them launch their business, but this not an enduring strategy if one wants to create a sustainable business. On second thought, it can be, if you enjoy long days, doing everything yourself and running around like your hair is on fire. Chances are though, this helter skelter approach to running a business wonât get you to where you want, because that requires discipline.
We can do whatever we want,
regardless if itâs productive or not.
Discipline is one of the most difficult habits for entrepreneurs to form. On any given day, distractions abound for these individuals. When coupled with not having a boss looking over your shoulder, itâs akin to leaving a child alone in a candy shop. We can do whatever we want, regardless if itâs productive or not.
This is why discipline is so hard. Itâs almost like anti-freedom. It means you must do certain things, at certain times and these tasks become your new boss. However, over time, with enough practice this boss becomes your partner that shoulders much of the load. But first, you must embrace discipline, if you want to achieve freedom.
"I've got so much to do,
I don't even know where to start?"
Embracing discipline means, identifying whatâs truly important on a daily basis. In general terms, whatâs truly important can be summed up as follows- âAny task that can move the business forward, by eliminating restrictions or generating revenue.
I have worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs helping them to shape their businesses into their vision. One problem that I frequently come across is the quality or I should say, the lack thereof of some 3rd party service providers e.g. bookkeeping, IT specialists, etc.
For the record, Iâm all about outsourcing non-core or mission critical activities to individuals who specialize in a given area. But time and again I find that many of these providers never consider the best interests of their clients.
Most of my entrepreneurial ventures have been as a service provider and one of my key mandates was to always be searching for ways to reduce our costs to our clients. That may sound treasonous, but in fact it helped to grow our profits and our roster of clients, most of whom were divisions of global packaged goods companies.
"Clients are always looking for cost reductionsâ¦suppliers are always looking to increase their billings"
The premise was simple. Clients are always looking for cost reductions on the goods and services they buy, so my thought was to pre-empt that thinking. Without boring you with the details, we provided telemarketing and communication services to the packaged goods industry, servicing their small or orphaned accounts.
Our normal program recommendation was to execute 3-4 telemarketing sales programs a year. The targeted accounts would range between 3,000-5,000 retailers. By the end of the second program we had accumulated sufficient information to go back to the client looking to adjust our original agreement-downwards!
Of course, this is not the norm. Most suppliers always look for ways to increase their billings by recommending the program be expanded. Our approach on the other hand, was very disarming to clients but was based on solid business premises.
Our typical recommendation after the second wave, was to reduce the number of calls by around 20%. Because at this point we usually had enough data to determine which accounts simpl...
Someday Iâll be able to slow down. Someday Iâll be able to take more than just a couple of days off. Someday, someday, someday. This refrain is repeated daily by millions of overworked and underpaid entrepreneurs. Some feel trapped in a design of their own making.
Others feel they have traded their soul or some other part of their being for the sake of their company. Still others are oblivious to whatâs happening and just accept, whether itâs right or wrong, that this is what they signed up for.
They kid themselves every day into believing that someday is just around the corner, when in fact, itâs nothing more than just a shimmering mirage far off in the distance.
Entrepreneurial lifestyle
Self employment is an insidious
lover that knows no boundaries
When we take the entrepreneurial plunge, we readily accept certain realities, like long hours and reduced or no income. But if the truth be told, the list is much longer and itâs not until we are knee deep in it, do we realize how little we know about this thing called, the entrepreneurial lifestyle.
Self employment is an insidious lover that knows no boundaries. Left unchecked, it will consume your every waking moment with thoughts of opportunities, challenges, self doubt or euphoria and of course the promise of someday having a better future.
Throughout this journey, many never realize that as time creeps by, they have given up activities, interests and even friendships. They justify it by saying they donât have time and the business requires all theyâve got, and someday theyâll reengage.
Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle unlike others and those that are successful have realized that they must either manage this lifestyle or risk being managed by this lifestyle.
Why is it that so many owners think they and they alone have all the answers, to every problem in their business?
When you consider that most owners started their companies as the only employee, itâs easy to understand how this attitude got started but why it continues is the question? Granted, there will always be those technical, legal or safety issues that require the owners input, but what about those day-to-day operational, sales and marketing challenges that arise?
Businesses are not democracies
Contrary to all the discussions about managing in the new millennium, businesses are not democracies and the final decision still rests with the owner. However, there are plenty of opportunities to engage employees in the problem solving process.
Owners who think that the only opinion that counts is theirs, are doing their employees a great injustice. What they fail to realize is that they are hurting themselves even more by being the choke point for every decision within their company. The risk of operational paralysis increases exponentially.
Itâs interesting to note that this frustration of having to make every decision, usually manifests itself in longer tenured entrepreneurs. It is my opinion, that the compounding effect of always being called upon to make every decision, has just depleted their patience. Their younger self, would have relished in the control and prided themselves in being the go to person for everything. Thatâs one of the reasons they went into business in the first place, to be in control of their destiny. It got their blood pumping.
But as a company grows and time goes by,
Reading time: 3 minutes
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Many successful entrepreneurs get asked, âWhat was their defining moment?â or some similar question. Several have never even thought about it, nor can they easily identify that special moment. Those that do, will admit that they didnât recognize it at the time as a defining moment, because no trumpets blared or some similar event. It was only through hindsight that it became evident.
Defining moments just happen
The point is, nobody sets out to create defining moments. They arenât goals in and of themselves, they just happen. What these individuals do though, is they get up every day and work hard to realize their goals and have been doing so long before they became entrepreneurs. What Iâve come to realize is that successful people work hard at everything they do, itâs just part of their DNA.
Working hard doesnât just mean physically working hard, although that may be part of it. No, they just spend most waking moments thinking about the work they do and how to do it better. Hands on experiences, studying the best practices of not only their industry but even unrelated industries. Itâs all fair game. And they do so on their own time and on their own dime.
Polish the stone
Entrepreneurial or not, most successful people didnât wait for someone to enroll them in a skill improving courses or to pick up a book, no they just did it on their own. They were driven to be better or to âpolish the stoneâ as I like to say. I have found that once this quest for knowledge is acquired, it just becomes second nature.
Throughout their careers, they have strived to be the best at every job they had. They took the time to understand what was expected of them and endeavoured to excel. Is that because of the competitive nature evident in so many successful entrepreneurs? Is it pride that drives them? Or is it just their need to be better?
Read Time: 5 mins
Donât worry about your competition. Pretty unusual advice to receive for any business owner. To be sure, we need to know some things about our competitors like:
⢠Who they are
⢠What products they sell
⢠Their pricing strategy i.e. cheap or expensive
⢠Their reputation i.e. after sales service, timeliness, etc.
But this just makes good business sense. Far too often I find small business owners who obsess about every move their competitors make. This obsession often leads to distraction and paralysis as they are not sure whether to match a competitorâs activity or ignore it.
In industries where there is lots of competition, you run the risks of getting serious whiplash as you try to keep an eye on what they are all doing. Letâs be clear, some of your competitorâs activities will prove to be successful. When that happens, thatâs your queue to borrow their strategy, provided you have the skills to make it happen, but not before.
Play your own game
Nine times out of ten though, my advice is to completely ignore what the competition is doing and to focus squarely on your own business. In other words, play your own game. What does play your game mean? Well, most us like to think we provide the best service possible to each and everyone of our clients. But do we really? Or, do we simply accept âgood enoughâ as our performance standard and only do our best once a customer complains?
Think about this for a second. If you were to outline what you consider to be the gold st...
Successful entrepreneurs share many things in common. Hard work, focus, belief in themselves, hungry for knowledge and so on. One trait that doesnât get much mention is the ability to accept and overcome failure. As entrepreneurs, failure can be a daily occurrence, but the worse is when a business fails.
To be sure there is a lot of noise made on social media and from the start-up world about âfail fastâ. It is often heralded as a badge of honour and a goal in and of itself. The premise being that the sooner I fail, the sooner Iâll become a success. Failure is no guarantee of success. Success requires several skills and a lot of luck. Failure is no fun and it can be incredibly painful.
The real meaning of "Fail Fast"
The real meaning of âfail fastâ is to instill the notion that if, the business is not performing no matter what you do and has limited chance of becoming profitable, then donât wait a second longer and shut it down.
Unfortunately, most individuals hang on far too long, hoping and praying that their situation will improve. They fail to look at the cold hard facts and let their emotions make decisions. They continue to drain their resources long past the point they should, only to end up worse off. Had they listened to that little voice in their head that was telling them it was time to shut it down, they would have been better off.
Reading Time: 5 mins
We all have our own definitions of training for our team, but in all honesty, most of it sucks. Sure, for customer facing team members, we do the mandatory, how to acknowledge a customer stuff, with all the expected please and thank youâs.
It also goes without saying that we spend time teaching them âthe systemâ, whether that be a retail POS or other software necessary to capture and order or process payment. Add to that the mandatory workplace safety and theft prevention training, we usually feel pretty good about our efforts.
This whole area of training, has been a sore point for me, for quite some time and two situations minutes apart has made me want to revisit this topic. The extreme difference in the size of these two retailers served to reinforce how deficient product knowledge training is compared to the above mentioned items. One is a local franchise retailer whereas the other is part of a global department store chain.
Letâs begin with the local retailer. This is a specialty store whose main business is selling coffee pods and teas. Judging by the inventory, it would appear that the majority of their sales are Keurig pods. As we were looking for a specific brand of coffee we found on a recent trip, I used the opportunity to ask a couple questions regarding the availability, compatibility and difference between the original Keurig machine and the 2.0 machine. Theses are machines that they sell along with the coffee.
One in three
After and few hums and haws, the answer I received, and I paraphrase, was âI think soâ. What made this so noteworthy was that another gentleman was in the store ahead of us and was asking some, what I thought, basic questions and the clerk was only able to answer one of his three questions.
Seriously, this is a specialty store and people were asking about the products in the store. Aside from basic pricing information and availability of some products,
We all spend time, money and other resources making sure we put forth the right professional imagine. Many people limit their definition of image to how we look, dress and speak and for the most part that would have been acceptable once upon a time. But not anymore.
In our connected digital world, the tools we use to do business number in the many. What was once a Yellow Pages ad has been replaced by a website and a variety of social media business pages. Where a human being answered the phone, auto attendants and voicemail now do the job. All in all, these are wonderful tools that have increased awareness and productivity and reduced operating costs in the average business.
We need to check
Unfortunately, because they do their jobs so efficiently and require little maintenance we often forget to check in on them to see how theyâre doing. Because of this neglect, these tools may not be projecting your company, staff or yourself in the best light.
How often have you called someone and got their voicemail that states that they are away from the office between two specific dates? A common experience that weâve all come across. Sadly, though the dates of their absence are months old. Similarly, you receive an email out of office notice, generated by an auto responder, that is weeks old! Lastly, you go to a website that clearly has not been updated in years. What message do these oversights send to their customers or business partners? That details arenât important?
We already know
Why does this happen? Thereâs a pretty simple explanation. We donât phone or email ourselves. Nor do we ever go to our own website. Why would we? We already know what we do. We already know which products or service we sell. We know where we are located and our phone number. So, we have no reason to check any of these things.
Recognition is the easiest and most effective way to motivate employees, yet remarkably, one of the least used.¬ Entrepreneurs spend endless hours trying to figure out how to motivate their teams, yet ignore this basic human need.
A little research will show that there are an untold number of studies that rank recognition, or appreciation for their work, in the top 10 qualities that lead to job satisfaction, often placing it as the number one item.
The funny thing is, this is not revolutionary. I remember being a young manager in the pre-digital age and regularly coming across articles stating the exact same thing. A different time, a different generation, yet the very same piece of advice for managers. Tom Peters, in his seminal book, In Search of Excellence, stated that âwe need to catch people doing something rightâ!
What about all the good?
All too often weâre quick to notice when something goes awry, we lose no time in bringing the misstep to the guilty partyâs attention. Yet, how often have we ignored the many good things that same individual does? Is it because we take the position that itâs their job to do it right and thatâs what Iâm paying them for?
Catching people doing something right requires very little effort and only entails you to be on the lookout for those moments. Recognition of a job well done can have a significant impact on morale, on profitability as well as innovation.
Build confidence
Think about it for second. You catch someone doing something really well or took the initiative to try something new. At this point you thank them and let them know youâre pleased. So, what do think happens next? Well, itâs been my experience that a smile usually breaks across the individual face. Even the most grizzled employee will probably soften for a moment. That small action on your part signals that what they do, matters. It builds their confidence, all because someone noticed.
Letâs face it, we all like to be recognized. We all enjoy the occasional pat on the back.
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Every business has lots of moving parts. By default, an owner must have a wide ranging skill set if they hope to achieve any success with their enterprise. Those skills include, but not limited to, sales, marketing, human resources, bookkeeping, production and administration.
Of course, at the onset, we as owners tend to do all these activities. But as your company evolves, and demands on your time increase, you need to seriously consider getting out from under all of those responsibilities. Doing so, would free you up to focus on what you do best as an individual and allow the company to grow.
Fortunately, for many of these areas mentioned, you have choices on how to free yourself from these tasks. You can either hire someone or, outsource those activities to a freelancer. Either way, the end result would be to unburden yourself.
What to give up
What to give up or delegate varies with each entrepreneur. But be aware, there is a fine line between delegate and abdicate. Letâs face it, your enthusiasm for the various roles in your company range from, enjoyment to sheer torture.
What I have found is that we tend to keep doing the things that weâre comfortable with, regardless if itâs a good use of our time, and eschew those things that we donât like, or have little knowledge.
One of the very first areas that entrepreneurs canât wait to get rid of is bookkeeping. Heck, some donât ever do it. They just outsource it right from the beginning and are glad to be rid of the responsibility. Too be fair, it can be a little tedious and many of us just donât have the patience for administration.
Ignoring powerful information
This is also a great example where delegation turns into abdication. When questioned, most owners simply answer that they donât understand it, or itâs too complicated. Although it is primarily a record keeping function,
I like to define entrepreneurs into one of two categories, they are either a hunter or gatherer.
A hunter is someone whoâs business requires them to go out every day and find new customers. Whereas a gatherer is much like a farmer who continuously harvests business from an established base of existing customers. The best businesses do both.
Of course, all entrepreneurs start out as hunters. They must, because they donât have an existing customer base from which to harvest. Survival in the early days requires hunting every day, otherwise they wonât be in business very long.
Neglected Opportunities
Unfortunately, far too many entrepreneurs neglect the opportunities that exist to become a gatherer. They are so accustomed to the thrill of getting a new customer, they completely miss out on or donât realize the potential that exist from generating incremental business from their previous customer base.
Long vs Short Purchase Cycles
To be fair, some businesses have incredibly long customer purchase cycles. An example of this is roofing sales as most people only replace their roofs every 15-20 years. Another example is new car sales, whereby people are keeping their vehicles an average of 7+ years. So, trying sell these people any sooner is very difficult.
In these situations, there still exists the opportunity to harvest from these relationships through referrals to friends and families. Easy to do, but seldom tried and wastes all the goodwill generated. Even hunter type businesses can become gatherers, if they stay in business long enough.
Many other businesses with shorter purchase cycles, think months not years,
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Many entrepreneursâ struggles can be traced to their inability to bring focus to their business. It is said that if you try to be great at everything, you'll end up being good at nothing. I like to use the example of sunlight to explain the power of focus.
The Power of Focus
Most day our world is full of sunlight and even on the hottest of days there's little risk of it setting anything on fire. But take that same sunlight and let it pass through a magnifying glass held at just the right angle and within seconds you can create a flame. Then, if properly stoked, it can become a raging inferno. That's the power of focus and by applying the principles of focus to your business can take a mediocre enterprise and turn it into one that is highly profitable and sustainable.
Not That Popular
Bringing focus is easier than most realize and can applied to many areas of your business but none are more important than sales and marketing. The first step is to identify your most profitable products and services and then rank them. You'll most likely discover that upwards of 80% of your revenue is coming from approximately 20% of your services or products. This is key. Far too often we waste time and energy on our slow moving products. One of the reasons we do this is that they offer higher margins but also because we hate admitting we made a mistake. However, in many instances these more profitable products are just not that popular.
Now, do the same with your customers. You need to determine, their purchase frequency and order size. Chances are that youâll find an interesting overlap of your most profitable products and type of customers.
Now here comes the hard part. Ideally you should look to lose or reduce your activity opposite these low volume or unprofitable products. Next, stop chasing those non-profitable customers and focus all your attention on those products, services and customers that are making you money.
For example,
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What if, you could start your business all over again? What would you do differently? What do you like or dislike about your current business? What would you change?
Why Mess With A Good Thing?
These sound like simple questions and thatâs because they are. As entrepreneurs, we seem to get ourselves trapped into doing things one way. And why wouldnât we, if itâs brought us some success? Why mess with a good thing, right? Not necessarily.
One of the problems is that the longer weâre in business, the harder it is to make changes. Weâve managed to survive and maybe even consider ourselves successful or resigned ourselves to the fact that this is as good as it gets, even if deep down inside we know it could be better. But arenât entrepreneurs supposed to work hard and overcome challenges? Of course, but not everyday!
It's Not A Fair Trade
Didnât you go into business to have a better life? I donât believe anybody goes into business to sacrifice their life or their family for the cause. But so many do and all the long they know itâs not right. Itâs not a fair trade, but they do it anyways, and many lose more than they gain.
So, what if you could do a âdo overâ? How would organize and operate your business differently than it is now? Should you have grown bigger or stayed smaller? Would you have a larger staff or less? Should you have targeted different customers? Should you have narrowed your product offerings? Wish you could have more automation or electronic processes?
Don't Let Fear Stop You
The point is we all make mistakes and head down rabbit holes that take our businesses to places we wish we werenât. Then, for some reason we lose sight that we absolute control over our destiny. We forget that we can change whatever we want and all it takes is a little courage and faith in our abilities. Donât let fear stop you from something better.
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As entrepreneurs, we all set goals. Itâs a way to measure our progress. The biggest difference I have found between individuals is the size of the goals. Some people are just more ambitious than others. But the size of onesâ ambition is not a precursor to success.
"Without Goals
We Risk Drifting Aimlessly"
Goals are wonderful, they keep us moving forward. Much like a ships compass, goals give us a heading or a direction in which to sail, even when our destination is over the horizon. Goals give us focus, because without them, we risk drifting aimlessly.
One of the most common goals entrepreneurs have, is a million dollars! It could be a million dollars in sales, a million dollars in profit or a million dollars in wealth. Regardless of what anybody says, a million dollars is still a lot of money and damn hard to achieve. and the 1st million is the hardest. The million dollar goal was immortalized by The Barenaked Ladies hit âIf I Had A Million Dollarsâ.
The problem with having such lofty goals is that, although achievable, theyâre rarely short term, nor easily attained. When you think about it, if we were to measure our progress on a daily basis, most of us would become disillusioned very quickly. The painfully slow progress would be akin to watching a kettle boil.
Patience and Resilience
When we first hang out our Small Business shingle, we outwardly exude confidence in our idea and our abilities that we will succeed. But if truth be told, we have absolutely no idea how the story will end. Will it be a fairy tale or a horror story?
Mouse in a maze
Throughout the planning stages, we have spent hours upon hours dreaming of the future we will create. We hope that this future will take us on an amazing and positive journey. Realistically though, this journey will not be in a straight line from A to B. It will not be simply a matter of putting one foot in front of another. Often, the entrepreneurial journey is more akin to mouse in a maze where it keeps running into dead ends in search of that elusive piece of cheese.
Of the many challenges we face is that success and failure can exist in the same day and frequently collide creating an emotional roller coaster. But true believers have the confidence that no matter what obstacles come their way, theyâll have the wherewithal either go through it, around it or over it to be successful.
Self-assurance
This confidence is not based on wishful thinking but is a feeling that resides deep within them. Itâs a belief in themselves. A self-assurance, if you will, that lets them focus on the end goal that allows them to continuously move forward even if they donât have all the answers. They know theyâll eventually figure it out.
Having that inner confidence is what sets the successful entrepreneur apart from the rest of the pack.
Recent book read Deep Work by Cal Newport
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2017
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Profit, that elusive goal that frustrates many a business owners. To be sure, many businesses are just bad ideas that never should have been started in the first place. However, there are plenty of others that are well run with decent revenues but for some reason they arenât as profitable as they should be.
When helping business owners, one of the first places I look is their pricing model. Other than suggesting some adjustments, their pricing doesnât appear to be the issue. Take a minute and checkout episode #47 Pricing For Profit for more insight into pricing.
A little probing into customers and marketing initiatives often uncovers a flaw in their sales and marketing activities â namely geography! The problem is rooted in the fact that these businesses are casting their nets too wide. As a result, they fail to generate critical mass for their services in a single geographic area. This is where the concept of clustering can help increase awareness for certain businesses and profits for most.
What is Clustering?
Clustering, is nothing more than grouping your service deliverables or offerings around key geographic areas. Clustering can be applied to many types of businesses and services.
Most major sales organizations have been using clustering for decades. Sales forces use clustering as a way of making the maximum sales calls with minimal travel time between each location. Most delivery companies do the same to generate the necessary e...
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Every entrepreneur goes into business with a list of dreams, hopes and desires for their business and their life. Unfortunately, dreams require more than just hoping and praying for a successful outcome.
What we need to realize is that dreams are just the starting point of the entrepreneurial adventure. Dreams get us in the game, but to be successful in business requires being able to put all the pieces together in order to create a prosperous enterprise.
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Those elements consist of:
- Sales
- Marketing
- Operations
- Administration
The thing is, most of us are only really good in one or, if weâre lucky, two of those areas.
Self Assessment
Each of those areas require a wide ranging set of skills, yet many entrepreneurs have no ideas what real strengths or weaknesses they possess. Putting our dreams aside for a few moments, we need to ask ourselves some questions. A little self evaluation, if you will.
⢠What skills do we really need for our business?
⢠Are our strengths aligned with the skills required for our type of business?
⢠Do we have the temperament to even be in business?
Find Your Strengths
Relying solely on our own answers, only gets us part of the way. We need to get a little more scientific, because we all think weâre exceptionally talented. However, if we can leverage our true strengths, our path to success becomes just a little bit easier.
Once weâve done a self-evaluation,
Iâm frequently asked how one goes about pricing their goods and services for profit. It sounds like a simple enough question, but in reality, it can very complex. Get it right and all should be well. Get it wrong and youâll be constantly chasing revenue, if only to pay the bills.
Now if your product is a âme tooâ, you donât have a lot of flexibility, as the existing products have already established the pricing parameters and therefore you must compete accordingly. Raising your price becomes almost impossible. The only way to improve your profitability is either to reduce costs or add real value for which your customers are willing to pay a premium.
First Mover Advantage
Moving to higher quality or higher value allows you to break free of the commodity pricing, but with potential trade-offs. Chances are youâll reduce the number of customers but add much higher profits on every sale.
Conversely, if you have a unique product or service, you can leverage the âfirst mover advantageâ and command higher prices. This is because there is no opportunity for your customers to do any comparison pricing, because youâre the only one.
I leveraged this âfirst mover advantageâ when I started the Marketing Resource Group. I expected to maintain my higher margins until such time as competitors caught on to what I was doing. Once that happened, I fully expected to reduce my margins, but that never happened and I maintained my premium pricing and margins.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of businesses, especially new businesses,
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Far too often I come across entrepreneurs who can't seem to launch their new business, product, service or even a new strategy. They are constantly tweaking it, in an attempt to make it better or even perfect the final offering.
What they fail to realize is that they're wasting valuable learning time by not being in the market. Regardless of when they finally do launch, chances are they are going to need to make adjustments anyways once they receive customer feedback, so why wait?
"Far too often I come across smart people who create wonderful solutions for problems that don't really exist."
If you have a working prototype or framework for your service, my advice is get to market as soon as you can. By waiting you could be wasting valuable resources on developing features or benefits that no one cares about. Far too often I come across smart people who create wonderful solutions for problems that don't really exist. Itâs better to find that out sooner rather than later.
Going to market as soon as possible with the minimum acceptable product or service will get you that all important feedback from the initial clients or presentations That way you can now focus your efforts on things that really do matter to the customer and not what you think matters.
So, if you're wondering when to launch, do it now, because you can always make it better later.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2017
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There's a lot of time and energy wasted by small businesses on the whole concept of brand building and little on reputation. So much of this noise can be traced back to the explosion of Social Media and if the truth be told, that's all most of it is, noise.
To be honest branding any kind of service business has always been a challenge and is best suited to products. The exception to this is when a service business reaches a size and scope that no longer qualifies it as a small business. The primary factor is that most small businesses have difficulty defining what business they're actually in and any attempt to develop a brand is a lesson in futility.
Personal Relationships
Think about how you react to certain businesses. There are many large organizations whereby you don't have a personal relationship with anyone, yet you have come to trust their products or services. That's because they have consistently lived up to or exceeded your expectation and you're more likely to try a new offering from them. Contrast that now with a small business. Typically, you've met the owner and/or received a referral from someone who has. The distance from the top of the organization to you, is very short. It's a personal relationship, their reputation.
What most successful entrepreneurs focus on is not creating a brand but of creating a great experience for their customers. Doing so, has built a reputation that is far more powerful than any manufactured brand.
Delivering a consistent service that customer are willing to tell ...
One of the simplest ways to increase your sales closing ratio is by simply following up with your prospects in a timely manner.
All too often I encounter entrepreneurs who lament at how difficult business is or that they just donât get sales even though they are pitching and quoting.
Digging a little deeper quickly uncovers one of the main reasons for their poor sales performance, they donât follow up. It is estimated that 85% of sales contacts are never followed up.
When I enquire as to why they donât follow up, I usually get the same answer- âI donât want to bother them or come across as pushyâ. To this I typically respond by saying âthey asked you to quote, so a few follow up calls is not considered pushy, if done in a professional mannerâ
People Are Well Intentioned
When you consider that people lead busy lives and although well intentioned, they sometimes need a little friendly nudge in order to take action. I canât tell you how many times a prospect has thanked me for following up with them- which is certainly in contrast to what we would expect.
By following up, it also gives the serious prospect the opportunity to ask questions or get answers to things they thought of since our last meeting and more often than not, if it doesnât result in an immediate order, it certainly moves the process along and keeps me in contact with the prospect.
So if you want more sales, follow up.
Successful people are always on the lookout for ways to improve themselves and their businesses. Unfortunately, with the advent of Social Media, there are now an overwhelming number of so called experts promoting the latest and greatest way to take you and or your business to the next level.
Scream Loud Enough
I get the sense that they believe that if they scream loud enough or post frequently enough, people will automatically assume that they are experts.
Rarely however, have these denizens of success achieved the level of achievement they proclaim that you can attain. Just because they say so, doesnât make it so.
I like to say âthat most of the people making money on the internet are those individuals selling you courses on how to make money on the internetâ. Buy their book, sign up for their course, and you too will become successful.
Granted, there are some individuals that have actually achieved success in their chosen field and are now sharing and yes, capitalizing on their knowledge they gained over a lifetime and you know what? Thatâs okay. Unfortunately, theyâre in the minority.
Get Experts To Help
A simple and effective alternative, is to find someone in your community that you admire, that has done their time. and is successful. Offer to buy them a coffee or lunch to get some insight into their successes and failures.
It has been my experience that truly successful people are willing to help and share and most donât care how many likes, followers or friends they have on social media.
Their strength and knowledge comes from experience.
No one likes doing hard stuff. Itâs far easier and requires far less motivation to do the things we like. Great concert pianists produce wonderful music in what appears to be an effortless manner. Top ranked Olympians appear to have superhuman abilities and successful entrepreneurs have an air of quiet self-confidence.
What We Don't See
The one thing all these individuals have in common, is that they put in the time and effort required to develop and refine their skills. What we donât see is the hours upon hours, year in, year out that the pianist has spent practicing at the keyboard. Nor do we see the Olympian training long before the sun comes up, when theyâd rather stay in bed.
The successful entrepreneur is not excluded. What we donât see is the copious amounts of information they consume in their off hours or the mental gymnastics they perform as they try to distill this new knowledge into an actionable strategy all the while keeping up the daily demands of their enterprise.
Believe me, these individuals would prefer not to have to work so hard, given that there is no guarantee of success. But they do!
Regardless of the repeated disappointments and failures, they just donât quit!
They just pick themselves up and keep on grinding it out,
Why would anyone want to be an entrepreneur? Why would you want to have to constantly worry about getting business, hiring employees, making payroll, covering rent, dealing with grumpy customers, finding customers, firing customers, firing people, sending out invoices, collecting payment, marketing, fixing the computer, quoting on jobs, preparing presentations, working too hard, sleeping too little, meeting with lawyers, meeting with accountants, explaining to bankers, being rejected, losing customers, out guessing the competition, managing your time, trying to be creative, managing people, selling, being late, shipping, receiving, paying bills, getting home, getting home on time, prospecting, closing, reporting, profits, networking and deadlines?
Why The Heck Not?
On the other hand, maybe the question should be, Why the heck not? When done right, the freedom and rewards far outweigh the alternative.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.
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Sitting down with a cup coffee, you look at your financials and you realize your annual projections are not unfolding quite like you planned. Revenue is down, expenses are up and profitability is just a flicker on your Profit and Loss statements. You know that the longer you wait, the harder it will be to make up the shortfall. Itâs time to step up your game and maybe even get outside your comfort zone and do some business development. Because you know that if you donât act now, things are just going to get worse.
"You already have a relationship with them, take advantage of it!"
So here are five things you can do to hit those goals and get the business back on track or to the next level.
Business Development
1 â Call your dormant customers. Look at all those clients youâve served during the past 18 â 24 months and the ones you havenât heard from in the past 12 months, give them a call to let them know youâre thinking about them. Use the opportunity to tell them what new offerings you have. You already have a relationship with them, take advantage of it.
"This exercise will help you free up the time you need to be more visible"
2 â Up your visibility! Get in front of your target market whether as a guest speaker or attend an event that your prospective clients may might be participating. Consider volunteering within your industry association or a business group like a chamber of commerce. Get out in front of people and let them know what you do.
3 â Delegate an important task to one of your employees. Give them direction and set expectations then get out of th...
A very common trait of successful entrepreneurs is that many donât have rear view mirrors. By that I mean, they rarely dwell on the past mistakes. They know their future lies ahead and not behind. The past is the past and mistakes happen.
"Once distilled, they let it go and move onâ¦"
Thatâs not to say they pretend they never made a mistake, to the contrary. They acknowledge their mistake, analyze what went wrong and distill those learnings, notice I say learnings, into usable information. Once distilled, they let it go and move on because they understand that theirs is a journey of successes and failures, generally with more failures than successes. Those failures however, must be let go otherwise they become burdensome and limiting and would extinguish the fire in all but a few hearty souls.
"They realize not to take errors or failures personally."
Although itâs easier said than done, successful entrepreneurs have come to realize not to take errors or failures personally. They understand they made an incorrect decision based on the information they had at the time and nothing more.
Much like driving a car, when running your business, you need to look down the road to where youâre going because you canât make any progress looking in the rear view mirror.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
You may also enjoy The Blame Game
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I have a simple saying that I live by, and that is âLook as good as you soundâ!
We constantly tell people how great our product or services are but do we support that statement with a professional image?
People tell me all the time that itâs not that important and I call that a cop out! Itâs about respect!
"Image is that common thread that
runs through your organization"
Business is difficult enough and we need every advantage possible to change the odds in our favour and image is relatively easy to elevate.
Image to me can be best summed up as that common thread that runs throughout your organization. From your business cards to how you look and everything in between. Itâs an opportunity to showcase your professionalism because as business owners, we canât risk not making a good 1st impression.
The thing is, it only takes 7 seconds to form a 1st impression and 93% of that 1st impression is based on how we look and how we sound. The remaining 7% is based on what we actually say.
"It can upwards of 8 additional contacts
to change a 1st impression"
All is not lost though, as a bad 1st impression can be changed. Â Unfortunately, itâll require a fair amount of work as it can take upwards of 8 additional contacts to correct that bad 1st impression. Sadly, we rarely get those 8 additional opportunities.
People want to deal with successful people,
Whether we chose to admit it or not, every entrepreneur has limitations and failure to acknowledge them can become an anchor that limits our success.
"Unfortunately, most of us never seem to shake our start-up attitude"
Granted, during the start-up years we must do everything to get our enterprise off the ground and there are many things that we arenât very good at. Fortunately, we only have to be good enough at our limitations until such time as we can hire people that are better at them.
Unfortunately, most of us never seem to shake our start-up attitude, even though weâre not start-ups any longer. Is it because we donât want to show any weakness? Is it because we let our pride and ego get in the way? Are we afraid of what people will think? Or do we just not know any better? Iâm not totally sure.
"What I do know is that most successful people never hide their limitations."
What I do know is that most successful people never hide their limitations. (Tweet this) They acknowledge their existence and build their companies with either employees or 3rd party resources that fill those gaps.
My advice is simple. Identify your limitations, then concentrate on the things that you are good at, and let others do what theyâre good at. This will move your company forward at a much faster pace.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
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If youâre to believe everything you hear or read about innovation, you would be justified in thinking that innovation is an area best left to the big companies, but that would be wrong.
Donât let the status quo be the reason you donât try something new
If truth be told, every company, regardless of size, has the opportunity to innovate. Although small innovations never make headlines, they never the less can make a dramatic impact within your company, and frankly thatâs all that really matters.
What you need to understand is that most successful innovation comes from either borrowing ideas from other industries or reconfiguring your existing products or services to tackle new markets or customers.
Simply changing some business processes to be more efficient can be considered innovative
A great example of borrowing ideas is Henry Ford who has been heralded for developing the modern auto assembly line, he actually borrowed and adapted the process from the meat packing industry.
Simply changing some business processes to be more efficient can be considered innovative, if it reduces costs, improves the customer experience or generates more profit.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks to innovation is âthe industry doesnât do thatâ attitude but to my way of thinking thatâs exactly why it should be done.
Donât let the status quo be the reason you donât try something new. You just donât know where it will take you.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Everyone one of us needs to be motivated and inspired occasionally. Although successful entrepreneurs are inherently self motivated but none the less they still look for opportunities to keep themselves in the right frame of mind.
Being inspired or motivated is only half the required elements to achievement. The other half is action.
"Being motivated and inspired has little or no value if you donât put anything into action."
The biggest difference between successful and struggling entrepreneurs is action. Being motivated and inspired has little or no value if you donât put anything into action. Spewing forth motivational quotes or inspirational stories is nothing more than a feel good exercise when you fail to take any steps towards accomplishing your goals.
"Turning your inspiration in to action is not always easy."
Committing to doing something and actually doing it is the true test of being inspired. Wanting to do something and doing it are two entirely different things. Turning your inspiration in to action is not always easy.
The same applies for motivation. Alone, it will do nothing for you if you donât have a plan. That plan should consist of all the steps required to achieve your objective.
Having all the necessary steps clearly laid out ahead of time will make taking those first steps much easier and will give you the momentum you need to launch yourself toward your goal when mot...
Many business owners complain that they never seem to get anything accomplished during normal business hours because they are constantly being interrupted to deal with relatively unimportant issues. As the business grows the interruptions just keep on multiplying.
This happens because when they first started out they were accustomed to doing everything, because they were it and only had to take care of themselves. They handled every issue. But as the company grew, they didnât realize that they need to find an alternative, so they continue running the business like theyâve always done, only to see the number of decisions they need to make expand exponentially. And why not? Every other successful owner is doing the same. Right?
Itâs easy to say that they should just delegate more. But before doing so you need to establish processes to ensure that regular, everyday activities get executed in a consistent and predictable manner.
"Itâs akin to washing your hair â Shampoo, Rinse and Repeat!"
The purpose of processes is that once established, allow the organization to operate without the need for constant input or direction from the owner. Itâs akin to washing your hair â Shampoo, Rinse and Repeat! Simple straight forward steps to accomplish a task in a manner that everyone can understand.
A common mistake entrepreneurs make is that they expect their employees to take responsibility for the job they are tasked to do but fail to give them the authority they need.
"Itâs a little contradictory and more than frustrating for your team."
This is particularly evident in customer service or customer facing positions. We tell our team that we want to provide the best customer service or experience, yet what typically happens is the individual is powerless to deliver on that promise without first checking with the owner or manager. Itâs a little contradictory and more than frustrating for your team.
Additionally, by giving them the authority to solve the problem immediately for the customer, youâve just increased the overall efficiency of that area and thereby reduced your costs. How so? Itâs simple math. Think about it this way; a customer calls with an issue. The team member listens to the problem but even though they most likely know what should be done they donât have the authority to remedy the situation because they need to check with the owner. So they take down the information and tell the customer theyâll get back to them. Now they need to track you down and most likely to be told the exact same thing they were thinking of in the first place. How much time got wasted? How often during the day, week or month does this happen? I repeat,
Most successful entrepreneurs that I've met have a balanced approach to empathy, deep when required and non-existent when really necessary. On the other hand, I witness owners that aren't so balanced.
Those that have too much empathy, frequently worry way too much how a given decision or request will be accepted by their employees and regularly succumb to the slightest resistance. This failure to follow through on their decision, even though deep down inside they know it's the right to do, often limits their success or ability to move the company forward.
"In many cases these companies find it difficult to keep good people"
Conversely, having no empathy can be equally limiting. Individuals with no empathy are regularly referred to as tyrannical or worse by their employees. Right, wrong or indifferent these owners don't care how their decisions will impact the individuals that work for the organization. It's their way or the highway. In many cases these companies find it difficult to keep good people because their lack of respect or donât seek their input. More often than not, those companies are left with mediocre employees that are unwillingly or unable to leave even though they would like to.
Having a balanced approach to empathy is one of the best attributes a leader can have. Taking into account the impact and feelings a decision can have on employees and then adjusting if they receive valid feedback.
Its not always your bosses fault that you donât like your job (Tweet this). Sure itâs easy to blame someone else that youâre not reaching your full potential, that your job is boring and repetitive to say nothing of the fact that you feel stuck without choices. To that I say, get over it.
Working for an entrepreneur can be both challenging and fulfilling
Where is it written that they are responsible for your future? Working for an entrepreneur can be both challenging and fulfilling all at the same time. Challenging because they donât always have the time to communicate their wants clearly, leaving you to figure out what they meant. Fulfilling because in many cases you have the opportunity to take on as much responsibility as you can handle. But first you must take charge of your personal growth.
If this is a new concept to you, getting started is easier than you might think. A question I regularly ask owners is, â What are the three things that keep you up at night?â For employees, I ask âWhat are the three things you would change in your job?â Not the company, not someone elseâs job, but your job!
Based on my experience, every job can be made better. So pick one of the three and start investing your time and thought energy on trying to make this one area better.
"just showing up isn't good enough"...
I regularly tell business owners that you donât have to be an expert in every area of your business, but you have to good enough at everything until you can afford to hire someone who is better than you in a specific discipline.
This is pretty simple advice but it can be challenging for the entrepreneur because they donât know where to begin. As humans, we tend to gravitate towards the things we like or good at and avoid those things we donât understand.
"learning anything new can be tedious"
Chances are you got good at something because you spent time doing it and eventually became proficient at it. Same applies to learning anything new, you must work at it. Of course, learning anything new can be tedious, but the more information we consume on the subject, the easier it becomes. Before you know it you start to become confident in your newly acquired skill set.
"look in the direction that you want to go"
If you have ever taken motorcycle training, one of the very first things they teach you is to look in the direction that you want to go. This is especially useful when you encounter a rock or pothole. If you focus your gaze on the obstacle youâre trying to avoid, thatâs exactly where youâll go. So to avoid the potentially damaging encounter you must train yourself to look away from it in order to avoid it.
A wonderful piece of advice we can all use is that we should all have two mentors. One that is older that can share the wisdom that comes with age and can helps us avoid the many pitfalls that theyâve experienced.
The second and younger mentor, and by younger I mean at least one generation behind us and not just a few years our senior. This mentor or group of mentors will be the ones that keep you in tune with the new trends and applications that are changing as quick as the seasons.
"have a mentor for sales and another for logistics"
In either case you may want to have more than one mentor in both these categories. For instance, you may have a mentor for sales and another for logistics, depending on your industry. As for the younger mentors you may have one for the technological changes and another for the social trends including social media.
I encourage you to give this concept some thought, because no matter how good we think we are, thereâs no way we can know everything and having generational mentors reduce our learning curve and reduce our risk of errors.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2016
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Being the creator of our future is part of the allure to being an entrepreneur, however one of the costs of doing so is the increased stress we experience while chasing our dreams.
The thing with stress is that although we all experience it, how we deal with it can be far different. Some even look upon it as a badge of honor and fool themselves into thinking that stress is a great motivator and therefore theyâre making progress, when in fact they could be more effective if they could just reduce their stress.
Get Things Done
Funny enough, one of the easiest ways to do that is to get things done. You see, stress is not a result of having too much to do, but of never finishing anything. As entrepreneurs we always seem to have far more priorities or ideas that we want to implement than we have time.
Just like the proverbial plate spinner who can never rest, for fear the plates will come crashing down, we always seem to have far too many priorities that never get completed. Over time these unfinished priorities accumulate to the point that we feel we are overwhelmed and now stressed.
Decide What's Important
The best solution Iâve found is to make a list of all outstanding projects. This alone will reduce your stress. Next decide which are the most important to move your company ahead. Typically, revenue generating activities should take priority and not pet projects and then get them done.
This simple approach will go a long way to reducing stress and give you a fe...
As entrepreneurs, we are faced with a daily buffet of decisions we must make. Some days the sheer quantity can overwhelm and dishearten an individual. Granted many decisions are simple and require little or no effort, however they all aren't and this can really cripple an individual if they're afraid to make a mistake.
The saying "I've learned more from my failures than my successes" is one often expressed by many successful entrepreneurs. They learned early on that failure is a big part of being successful. What you learn and how you apply that lesson, is the true test of your ability to survive the entrepreneurial journey.
Dr. Phil
Most of us didnât learn to ride a bike on the first try. We fell, got up and tried again and again until we got it, then pedaled off to freedom. Somewhere along the line we lost that innocence and started worrying about all sorts of unimportant things, like what people are going to say or think about us if we fail? I believe it was Dr. Phil who said that âIf youâre worried about what people are going to think, youâd be surprised how little they care!â In other words, weâre never as important as we like to think we are.
What If?
Being the eternal optimist, I prefer to look at decisions from the perspective of âWhat if Iâm right?â I find that weâre right more often than weâre wrong and the more decisions we make the better we get at the process. That of course assumes we take the time to review both our successes and failure so that we may learn from each.
So donât let the fear of making a mistake paralyze you.
Wilfredo Pareto discovered the 80/20 rule when he wanted to determine who owned all the lands in Italy in the 18th century. He found out that 80% of the lands holdings were owned by just 20% of the families. As he continued his research he soon discovered that many things fit that profile.
Applying The 80/20 Rules For Sales
So how do we apply the 80/20 rules for sales? Well as entrepreneurs we seem to manage to bog ourselves down doing all sorts of non-productive activities. Sure we justify them as necessary activities but in many cases we're just doing busy work that could easily be delegated or maybe not even done at all.
Because sales are such a critical element of our businesses, it is the #1 item that owners ask for help or guidance when I advise them.
The Formula
So here is my simple formula; until you have enough sales to provide you with sufficient revenue to cover your monthly fixed cost, including your salary, you should be spending 80% of your time on sales related activities, period! Make sure these activities are actual productive and really sales related. Too often, we classify all sorts of activities as sales related when in fact, they're really not.
So what are sales related activities? Here's a list of seven:
- Preparing prospect lists
- Making calls to the list
- Sending emails to the list
Letâs face it, employees will screw up. But how we manage the situation can have greater importance and do more damage to your business than the actual mistake.
It has been my experience that most mistakes occur because the information or directions issued were not clear or detailed enough yet as managers we assumed they understood.
Too Little Information
In many situations, weâre so busy or stressed that weâve issued just enough instructions to get the item delegated without considering whether they have ever done the task before or are clear about the end result. The employee on the other hand may not want to look foolish, or frustrate you any more by asking questions all in an effort help you out.
Of course, these mistakes only happen at the most inconvenient time that just adds to your stress or busyness. Although mistake will always happen, how can you reduce their frequency?
Create A Teaching Moment
Since screaming and yelling rarely works. The most effective way that Iâve found is that once the crisis has been averted, is to take a few minutes and create a teaching moment with the individual or team members. In a calm manner, explain what you had wanted, ask what information was lacking and then let them know what impact the error may have had on the companyâs finances, reputation or product quality all without laying blame.
It has been my experience that once people understand the expected result and have been given clear instructions, the same mistakes rarely reoccur. The added bonus is that they begin to ask for clarification when necessary, but just remember, it all starts with you, not them.
There really isnât a better testament for your business than having repeat customer sales. It tells you youâre doing something right because your customers are coming back for more. But the true magic of repeat business is understanding the frequency a customer buys, what they buy and the value of their purchases.
In Small Business Minute #21, I discussed how profitability increases when you deal with existing customers, but now I want you to leverage this information so you can enhance a customerâs lifetime value to your organization.
Big Companies Understand
Customer Lifetime Value or CLV has been used by large corporations for years. Companies like Gillette and Schick realized a long time ago that if they can get one of their shavers in your hands and you like it chances are that you'll become a loyal and profitable customer by selling you an ongoing supply of blades at very high margins.
The same goes for printers. Once HP, Brother or Canon get you to buy one of their inexpensive printer, they know that you'll produce a steady stream of high margin purchases every time you run out of ink.
Figuring Out
As entrepreneurs we are use to doing everything because in the beginning there wasnât anyone else. As they say, old habits are hard to break so when a staff member gets sick or overwhelmed, weâre usually the first ones to jump in and cover the situation. But who covers for you when you get sick? Whoâs got your back?
We're Only Human
I know we think weâre superhuman, and sometimes we really are, but most of the time weâre just frail human beings just like everyone else and we need to seriously consider a contingency plan. How would your business operate if you weâre sidelined for a week or even worse a couple of months?
Now chances are no one employee can wear all your hats, but chances are if properly allocated across a few employees you would most likely cover 70-80% of your critical duties and would allow your company to continue to function if your absence was more than just a couple of days.
Who's Got Your Back?
So where do you begin? Ideally look for those task that can be easily transitioned like staff or project scheduling. Who does the invoicing? If you train someone else as a back up, your cash flow wonât be terribly disrupted while youâre benched. Is quality control part of your oversight? Again, train someone because you canât afford to have completed orders sitting on the floor and missing deadlines.
The thing is,
Have you ever taken the time to actually inventory your achievements? Every once in a while we should stop and look back over our shoulder to appreciate really how far weâve come since we stepped into the abyss of self-employment
Success has many definitions. To some itâs a state of mind, to others itâs a financial achievement or the accumulation of possessions. Unfortunately, many have yet to create their own definition.
Define Your Own Success
The advantage of being an entrepreneur is that we can set our own parameters to this definition. In this age of over-hyped 24/7 news cycle, itâs easy to get sucked into someoneâs elseâs definition of success.
Just remember that you and you alone can determine your success. What is important for one person may not even be on another personâs radar.
Some people take a more holistic approach and are less concerned with the materialistic trapping normally associated with success. To some personal health, happiness and well-being are part of their definition? To others they look at success as a full contact competitive sport, where the one with the most toys wins.
Take A Moment
Itâs funny how we plan for so many things in our lives from next vacations, car or TV weâll purchase, yet we never seem to plan for success. To be sure we have some vague and random thoughts, but most of us are so busy chasing an undefined goal that we usually donât even stop at the crossroads of success and achievement.
I regularly work with small business owners who are so focused on growing their customer base that they ignore their existing customers.
Existing Customers Are More Profitable
What most donât realize is that existing customers are far more profitable than new customers. In fact, it can cost you 5 to 10 times more to get a new customer than it does to service an existing customer. In addition, if you can increase an existing customersâ loyalty or purchase frequency by just 5%, you can increase your profitability between 25% and 85%!
So why is that? Well, when you consider how much effort goes into getting a new customer on the books, it becomes very clear. Think about how many prospects you phoned or emailed. How many quotes did it take to convert one of those prospect into a customer? How many appointments did you have and far did you have to drive and still not get an order? So when add it all up, getting new customers can be a very expensive proposition. But of course we never take those costs into consideration. That would be too painful.
Existing Customers Trust You
Now compare that to your existing clients. They already know and trust you and that makes it far easier and quicker to get in front of them again and introduce some of your other products or services. In other words you have history with them.Of course you can only do this if you have been collecting their contact information all along. I know of companies that have done business with 1000âs of customers but have not taken the time to collect and manage these custome...
Prior to starting my own business, I literally devoured everything I could about owning and running a company. One thing that I could never understand was how a perfectly good business ended up going bankrupt because of cash flow problems. It wasnât until I started my own first enterprise that I quickly learned that regardless of how profitable you were, it didnât matter until that money was in the bank- Cash flow ruled!
Cash flow in a business is much like the oxygen we mere mortals need to survive. Getting paid for what we do is like breathing in, itâs the oxygen our business needs to survive. On the other hand, paying our bills is like breathing out. Much like our bodies, we canât just breathe out nor can we just keep paying bills, we need a constant source of cash coming into our businesses and the only way to do that is to make sure our receivables are current.
Get Over It!
All too often I hear owners tell me they donât want to annoy their customers by constantly bugging them. To this I usually respond with âget over itâ. Youâre entitled to your money and you need to get a little more serious about it. If dealing with consumers,
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As a business owner, do you even know what youâre trying to achieve? Waking up and hoping that today will be better than yesterday is not much of a strategic initiative (TWEET THIS) and will do nothing to advance your dream. Alternatively, simple statements like I want to be wealthy or sell the company someday and retire just donât cut it, they are just too vague.
Being successful in business is a combination of hard work, focused attention, and luck. Unfortunately, all three elements must work in harmony to ensure a fruitful outcome.
Hard work is not enough
Hard work on its own is not enough. Heck if it only took hard work, most entrepreneurs would be multi-millionaires. Similarly, focused attention by itself wonât do anything if you donât put things into action. Itâs like spending the day watching an aquarium full of fish, entertaining but not very productive. And lastly, thereâs luck. They say that luck is nothing more than preparedness meeting opportunity and preparedness is equal parts hard work and focused attention on your desired outcome.
Stephen Covey stated that you must begin with the end in sight and in my opinion the best way to do that i...
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Entrepreneurs are notorious for not delegating duties and responsibilities within their organizations. A common reason for this that they figure itâs just easier and quicker to do it themselves than to take the extra time required to train someone. So instead, they just figure theyâll work a little harder. (TWEET THIS)
Delegating Is Freedom
For those lucky few who do find enlightenment, they quickly realize how learning to delegate can be a revelation in freedom that, over time will allow to become a better manager and allow you to focus on the long range plan of your organization, instead of being stuck in the moment.
Contrary to what most people assume, delegating is easier than you think. Instead of trying to delegate a whole task start by breaking it down into bite size pieces. For instance, if a task requires ten steps to complete, start by delegating the first few steps. That may be as simple as getting an individual to collect some of the some initial data.
By delegating those couple of items is the beginning of th...
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Trying to increase the profitability of our business is always at the forefront of our thoughts and that usually revolves around looking for the next big idea, product or service that we can offer our customers.
Many times this makes perfect sense, especially if weâre confident we have maximized the opportunities within our current clients, products and operations. Unfortunately, more often than not, we have done neither and are simply looking for something new to play with, something to get us excited simply because we may be a little bored with the status quo.
So before we waste untold amount of time looking for that ânew whateverâ, why not look internally for those efficiency gains? Streamlining your processes can lead to increased productivity and reduced overheads by doing more with less and getting rid of waste.
Small Gains = Big Rewards
Hereâs a couple of simple examples to prime your thinking.
1. Can you get a cheaper cell phone plan for your company? If you pay for three phones and reduce the monthly bill by $50, itâs an instant $600 to your bottom line.
2. Got dead inventory? Blow it out and turn it into cash because right now itâs worth $0 and tying up real estate.
3. Got vehicles,
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One of the key skills successful entrepreneurs share is their ability to use the selling process as a research vehicle.
Being a great designer, mechanic or programmer matters little if you canât convince someone to buy your goods or services. Alternatively, hoping âto be discoveredâ may leave you waiting a long time. (TWEET THIS)Â
Sales Generate Revenue
With the exception of sales, all other activities that you do are costs to the business. Sales is your sole revenue generator and supports all other activities. Remember, No sales, No business. But getting in front of customers is hard work and often frustrating, especially if youâre being faced with constant rejection. So maybe itâs time to change your outlook.
Every minute you spend in front of a prospective client is a learnin...
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I often come across business owners whose sales style is to use scare tactics rather than a consultative sales process By scare tactics, I refer to that style whereby the sales individual attempts to pressure the individual into making a purchase decision based on world ending events.
An example of this would be a roofing salesperson telling the client that they canât wait any longer because their roof is failing and if they donât act now they risk a leak that would cause untold damage to their ceiling, furniture and flooring and may not be covered by insurance. Although all of this is technically true, the urgency of impending doom in the salespersonâs voice can create an emotional purchase decision that may be regretted later. Is this the kind of relationship you want with your customers? You see most people are trusting and assume youâre being honest {TWEET THIS} but once they find out that they misled or pressured, then youâre probably going to miss out on any referrals.
Using the same example, an alternative approach should be along the lines of âI realize that this is a big decision, however, I would like you to keep in mind that although it may be fine toda...
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As business owners, we sometimes forget that every employee can have an impact on sales in our organizations. (TWEET THIS)
For example is the shipper receiver courteous to all who present themselves at the loading dock? Do those customers have a pleasant experience that reflects favorably on your organization? Thereâs nothing worse than going through the sales process only to drop the ball at the last step.
Are All Your Employees Motivated To Sell?
Are all your employees trained and rewarded for generating leads? Do they let you know about that new business that just opened across the street from their favorite restaurant? Is your delivery driver conscientious enough to be on the lookout for competitive products showing up at your customerâs place of business and advise your sales team?
Is your customer service team asking any type of probing questions before terminating the call other than the standard â Is there anything else I can do for you today?â Why not change it up to âBefore I let you go, did you know we have a complete line of â¦? And fill in the blank with your product or service. How about letting them know that youâre having a sale next month.
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One dreaded and often neglected aspects of being a business owner  (Tweet This) and managing employees, is the annual performance reviews. Although youâre well intentioned and sincere in your desire to perform this exercise in a timely manner, most of us just end up forgetting about them or, because we never get around to preparing the formal review, we just keep putting it off, much to the frustration of the employee.
Is this the right attitude? Absolutely not! But it happens all the time. So why is that? Well, as with many HR related issues, few of us are skilled in the area and not really sure how youâre supposed to conduct a formal annual review. There seems to be as many theories as there are days in a month.
The Solution
After many years of struggling with this issue, I came up with a simple solution. I told the individuals that reported directly to me, that when Iâm pleased about their performance or how they handled an issue, Iâll tell them at the time and likewise if Iâm displeased. I was no longer going to collect all the information over the course of the year and then dump it all on them at once.
Once that system was in place, everyone knew where they stood and the annual discussion revolved around the coming yearâs expectation and any increase. All very positive stuff for both parties.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
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Being a great leader is about helping others achieve, itâs not a position, itâs an attitude and anyone can be a leader, no matter where you are in an organization.
Great leaders work hard and are humble.
Great leaders are empathetic and they have an uncanny ability to see around corners.
Great leaders engage and empower their people. Tweet this!
Great leaders act as coaches and mentors,
There is this great saying I once heard and it goes something like this:
âWhen I talk to managers, I get the feeling that they are important but when I talk to leaders I get the feeling that I am importantâ
True leaders, have your back, they create an environment of trust and they wonât be throwing you under the bus.
And lastly, true leaders take all the blame and give away all the credit.
A study by Leadership IQ showed that individuals who are engaged with leaders for 6 or more hours a week are
29% more inspired
30% more engaged
15% more motivated
10% more innovative
I donât know about you, but Iâll take an inspired, engaged, motivated and innovative staff over the alternative, any day.
So are you a leader?
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.Â
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Entrepreneurship is currently all the rage. Itâs the Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. Itâs the magic elixir that will fix everyoneâs problems and so many people are spending hours daydreaming about the life they will enjoy once they get into business.
Unfortunately for the uninitiated, going into business is very hard work and for the most part the reality of being in business doesnât come anywhere near your dreams.
So if youâre bound and determined that being a business owner is on your horizon, you need to have one important ingredient- Passion.
Passion vs Excitment
Now donât confusion true passion with excitement. Passion is your secret sauce, your silver bullet. Passion will keep you going when all hope has vanished. Passion is that internal flame that keeps burning long after you would have normally packed it in and quit, excitement wonât do any of that.
Believe me when I say, there is absolutely nothing wrong with dreaming about being in business. Iâve started thousands of businesses in my mind and the beauty is, it cost you nothing, so go ahead and dream. But if youâre going to turn your dream into reality, just make sure you choose the right dream and that youâre passionate about it.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.
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One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face doesn't have anything to do with revenues or expenses, but has everything to do with achieving that elusive goal of Work Life Balance.
Starting a business requires a total commitment and dedication over an extended period of time because overnight successes are very rare.
Fortunately for most of us, we are blessed with a significant other who is willing to support our ambitions for extended periods of time but we must also live up to our end the deal and this is the challenge.
If the world was right, we should be able to have equal parts work and family time. But the world is not right.
In business, having Work Life Balance is akin to being on a teeter totter. One minute youâre in the air with your feet dangling, that would be work, the next youâre on the ground in control, that would like life and rarely are you ever equally balanced.
So instead of stressing over achieving that perfect balance every day, look to be 100% present in your life when possible.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
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Successful entrepreneurs rarely engage in the Blame Game. The Blame Game is when anything negative happens itâs always someone elseâs fault and never theirs.
You see at the end of the day, we make the decision to proceed down a given path even when weâve consulted or solicited input other professionals. And once we have gathered as much information as we think weâll need, it is then we make the decision to proceed or not proceed. The operative word is âweâ. Right, wrong or indifferent âweâ make the decision and as a result we must wear the consequences of that decision.
Blame someone else
Of course itâs always easier to blame someone else as it protects our self-esteem or egos, but successful business owners rarely go there and when they do, they donât stay long.
They understand they are going to get incomplete advice and that theyâre going to make a wrong decision, but when that happens they chalk it up in the loss column and move on.
Wallowing in self-pity or playing the Blame Game is just counter-productive to the successful entrepreneurâs way of thinking.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
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Successful entrepreneurs have long learned that identifying internal deficiencies can increase profitability far more quickly than the chasing new ideas.
These owners do not like waste. Wasted time, wasted effort equals wasted profits. Doing something over again because of carelessness, doesn't sit well with them.
We're all human
Iâm not talking about the occasional mistake, heck, weâre all human. What Iâm talking about is those recurring situations where individuals are just not paying attention, like sending a technician out after a job has be completed to adjust a setting or flip a switch that should have been done at the time of the initial install. Or what about the installer who continuously leaves items on the dock that then requires a separate trip to complete the job.
Creating checklists is a simple way of avoiding or least minimizing errors and errors cost money. When you consider a commercial airline pilot who performs hundreds of takeoffs and landings every year, you would think they could do so without a checklist, yet they go through the procedure every single time.
Adopting checklists may help you keep a little more profit in your pocket.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
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Growth for the sake of growth is a dangerous strategy for most small businesses. By making revenue generation the prime mission of the company, it fails to take into account how the rest of the organization will execute the product or service delivery of the increased sales.
Risks
Assuming that everything else in the company will expand naturally as revenue grows, is wishful thinking. A small group of people can do amazing things when necessary, but as a company grows the need to add additional staff. This risks destabilizing a cohesive group as new personalities are added to the mix.
Additionally, the added requirements for cash or lines of credit may not be readily available when you actually need it most.
Sacrifices
Lastly, how much of a sacrifice are you prepared to make? To be sure, success demands sacrifices, but the trick is to acknowledge what these sacrifices might be and who they impact. Then have a conversation with all those affected to ensure you have their support and understanding.
Taking your business to the next level requires a full 360 degree assessment of your current business resources, identify any shortcomings and then put a plan in place to correct them. But above all else make sure this is what you truly want.
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At one time or another, many owners are faced with a business that has stalled out, and often itâs a simple matter of a sluggish economy and with a little patience things recover and growth resumes.
Look under the hood
For others though, their business has just plateaued and are at a loss as to how to regain their rhythm and push through to next level. When this happens, the first place I look is under the hood of the business. Is it structurally sound with the right people in place to go to the next level? In other words is the company ready, willing and able?
In many situations all the elements are in place. I then turn to the owner and ask âWhat made you successful?â âWhat did you do when you first started out to generate business?â Was it networking, participating in associations, cold calling and how much of that do you do now?
What typically happens is that we get so busy servicing customers and making money that we stop doing those things that made us successful in the first place.
So when you find yourself with a stalled business, ask yourself âWhat made us successful?â
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
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Nothing undermines your professionalism more than using one of the many free email services available today.
Being in business is hard enough. On a daily basis we are faced with numerous challenges that keep us awake at nigh. Â We struggle to take our business to the next level and yet we penalize ourselves by not taking care of some of the simple no brainer activities.
Domain based email
Domain named email is nothing more than having a company based email address instead of joesmith@gmail or @yahoo you have joesmith@yourcompany.com
Registering a domain is a simple process handled online. Many of these same organizations also offer email for a few dollars a month. If you already have a website, you most likely have domain named email included in your hosting fees. You only need to activate it.
It may not seem important but it is one of the first things your prospective customer sees. Having a free email account telegraphs amateur hour and that youâre not serious about your business.
Having a named based domain removes one more obstacle for people to do business with you.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
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One of the hardest skills business owners have to learn is Networking. People regularly comment on how adept I am at networking and it usually makes me chuckle. Yes I can network now with relative ease but it wasn't always that way. I used to hate it!
The high school dance all over again
It wasn't that long ago that I would absolutely dread going to a networking event, as I would spend most of the event wandering aimlessly through the crowd pretending to be looking for someone or worse stand at the back or the side scanning the crowd hoping to see someone, anyone I knew. It was the High School dance all over again.
Having read that people like to talk about themselves and the things that are important to them, I decided to develop a couple of questions that were simple and generic instead of struggling to come up with something clever to say.
The first question I usually ask is âSo what do you when youâre not attending ..and insert the event nameâ? If that doesn't get the dialogue started Iâll ask what part of the city they live in or some other simple question. More often than not these are enough to ignite a conversation. If not, I bow out gracefully saying it was a pleasure meeting them and move on.
Always having a couple stock questions at the ready will help become more comfortable in these situations.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
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Going into business is easy, running a business is hard and until we get in it we donât realize how very hard it is. Oh sure we talk a good game by telling people that we know it will be difficult but that the hard work will pay off in the long run. The reality is, we havenât got the foggiest idea of what lays ahead.
For those of us who have made it with most of sanity in tack, it is said that, much like childbirth, that if we knew how hard it was going to be, we would probably never have attempted it.
Entrepreneurship is the loneliest job
I constantly tell people that being self-employed is one of the loneliest jobs in the world. Just ask any entrepreneur who they talk to about their business issues and most will tell you they donât. The internal dialogue alone will drive you crazy.
Validating your idea, is one of the best pieces of advice I can give start-ups as well as existing business owners. This one item should be at the top of your to do list if youâre considering starting a new business or thinking of adding a new product or service to your existing operation.
You may think itâs a great idea and all your friends and family nod their heads in agreement, but frankly they donât matter. The only opinion that counts is those people you want as customers. Itâs their opinion that matters, so get out in front of them during the concept stage, to see if there is any interest, would they willing to buy and at what price?
The upside to this exercise is that you may find out they like it and they may even give you an idea to improve it prior to you making a large irreversible investment. The downside of course is that may not see any value in it and tell you they wouldnât be a buyer. In fact that may be an upside, when you consider how much time, effort, money and grief youâll save by not pursuing it.
This way youâll live to fight another day.
Iâm Greg Weatherdon and this has been your Small Business Minute.
Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015
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Building a business is hard work and not for the faint of heart. Itâs where Survival of the Fittest rules the day. In an effort to be one of the survivors, many small business owners make the strategic error of trying to make everyone their customer. In other words, trying to be everything to everyone.
Although the idea is forged on their belief that having everyone as their customer, will allow them to maximize their revenue when in fact it actually works against them. You see the more specialized you become, the more intimate knowledge you gain on your subject matter. This in turn, allows you to solve customerâs problems quicker and innovatively. Over time, you will be sought out for your expertize thereby allowing you to charge more for your product or service.
Becoming a specialist may take you a little longer to build your revenue stream but youâll be far more profitable in the long run. Think about it for a minute, who gets paid more the heart surgeon or the general practitioner? The choice is yours?
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Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2014
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