Business Coach Firm

Tough economic times require decisions that are as unique as your business.  Why then, are so many independent business owners following the pack and taking action that could significantly hurt, if not kill, their business going forward?

Re-think the lay-offs.  Think about it: If other companies are reducing their workforce; they are, in effect, backing out of the marketplace: 

• They have reduced productivity
• Their customer service levels will begin to suffer
• They will not be able to react to a customer needs quite as quickly
• When things do turn around, they’ll be spending big bucks on hiring and training

This is the perfect time to push forward, not to pull back.  Don’t follow the pack.  Find creative business ideas to keep your employees busy, productive and employed. 

The best time to promote your business is when everyone else has stopped promoting theirs.  Marketing budgets at most small companies have been cut back severely, if not eliminated all together.  That just increased the value of your marketing dollar ten-fold.  Be one of the few out their promoting while the rest of your competition hides out, waiting for things to improve. 

Here are some things you can do for little or no money that go a long way for your reputation in this environment.  When appropriate, take pictures and tell the local press:

• Together, with your employees, do something that needs done in your neighborhood.
• Put on a food drive – get people into your business.
• Accept donated items for our troops. Pay for the packing materials and shipping.
• Adopt a family in need, provide the funds and ask the employees to do the shopping.
• Be a mentor to small business owners starting out or struggling.

Don’t take out the water cooler.  Think through all of the possible ramifications of a decision.  Take the water cooler for instance.  Seems like an easy way to save a few bucks, right?  Wrong.

• Employees are drinking less water. How does that affect their health?
• More individual 16 oz bottles of water will be consumed. How does that affect our environment?
• Employees are spending their disposable income on something the business previously provided. How does that affect their attitude? Company morale?

Think everything through.  Before you jump on the bandwagon; you might want to ask yourself which direction it’s headed!

Does it feel like your Small Business has done nothing but put you in debt and suck up all your free time? You’re not alone. Almost every Small Business Owner struggles under the weight of responsibility that comes with entrepreneurship. Someone I respect a great deal once told me, “When you own something, it owns you.” This was his response to our discussion regarding his decision not to purchase a summer home. The same can said about the decision to own a Small Business.

There are many reasons for starting a company:

• Freedom
• Income Potential
• Security
• Be Your Own Boss
• Because You Can
• and the list goes on…

Why then does a small business take us down a path that seems to be the exact opposite of why we started the journey in the first place? The reason is simple; the business wasn’t started with a specific goal in mind. For instance; the business will generate $1,000 a month in profit that will be invested until it generates $10,000 a month in passive income. Rather, when we start a business we hope and pray to make enough money to replace our income and cover our health insurance premiums!

Without a specific means-to-an-end for the company, we’ve just bought ourselves a job. With a job comes never ending tasks. Finish one and ten more emerge and eventually the only thing you can see is a never ending stream of work ahead. Your vision, your passion and your energy are gone.

STOP: Think outside your box for a few minutes. Get clear on your goals, what you want your business to deliver and put a time limit to those accomplishments. Separate the technician day-to-day busywork from the necessary entrepreneurial goal work and watch as you and your business emerge from the mountain of tasks that are burying your potential.

This is a very common question from entrepreneurs.  It can seem strange that when you opened your new business sales grew right away, in fact they probably shot right up to where they are today and no matter what you do, you can’t seem to break out and take the company to the next level.  Even more perplexing is that all of a sudden competition opens up down the block and their sales soon match yours.  Where was all this business before they opened up down the street?  Why didn’t those customers utilize your services?

The crux of the problem isn’t a lack of new customers.  It’s because your company has most likely reached capacity.  Trying to deal with an influx of new customers would throw your business out of whack because you wouldn’t have the operational strength to deal with them.  If you want to grow your company, all four areas of your company; Sales, Operations, Money and Employees, have to be properly organized, aligned and ready for more business. 

Is it a lot of work?  Yes, but you have to grow your small business capacity before you can grow your sales.  

I speak with a lot of small business owners, and although they don’t all come out make this statement, most hint at it. After years of sacrifice and hard work, they can see no clear light at the end of the tunnel. In many cases they are reliving Groundhog Day-esque examples of the repetitious cycle of routine business work. They’re suffering from the “I have to get up and do it all again” syndrome. They have long lost the excitement and passion associated with the concept of starting a company. Another day seems more like a prison sentence than an opportunity. I call this feeling sleepwalking.

We are all guilty of some form of sleepwalking in our lives. Just go in your car and take a trip. If you are like me, most of what you see and experience while driving will be forgotten. The day-to-day becomes familiar, and we cruise through each week, absorbed by the urgent and too tired to be open to change. Sleepwalking and complacency walk hand in hand, leading us down a dangerous path. Your business is killing you, because there is no end, no goal and no exciting completion to all your hard work. And, that is just not a fun place to be.

It doesn’t have to be that way! Our business is a place designed by our imagination that has the potential to give us everything we need and want. I know that sounds like bull, but stay with me. You made a conscious decision to go into business, didn’t you? You could make a conscious decision to walk into a wall, but that would hurt, right? My point is that your decision was made because you wanted pleasure not pain. So, why are we so willing to accept pain as a result in our business?

The remedy lies in re-engaging with your vision. Go back to the beginning by asking yourself these questions:

1. What will my business look like when it’s done?
2. What do I love about my company?
3. What do I hate about my company?
4. What do I have to add to my company?
5. What do we offer that has little real value to our clients?
6. How do I want to interact with my creation time-wise?
7. What would more balance between work and life look like?

Sleepwalking is dangerous. For your sake and for the welfare of the entire company, wake up! Everyone wants to feel the owner has a vision, is excited and committed to the future. It’s hard to convey that passion if your sleepwalking through each day.

Why am I in such a rut?

If you are a Small Business Owner, the answer is you’re busy! That is the simple truth. It isn’t due to lack of mental certainty, life, family or friends. You are busy and have been busy for so long that you’ve forgotten the reason you started this game in the first place. When I point this out to many entrepreneurs I usually get the response, “I know. You want me to slow down and reengage with who I am and what I want, right?” “Not really,” I respond. “What we have to do first is address the issues that are keeping you so busy in the first place.”

What are the issues that keep entrepreneurs so busy? Of course they vary from business to business and person to person, but the central theme remains the same. The work has to get done, and there are always fires to put out. We often mask these issues with the belief that we can’t find good people, that no one cares as much as we do, or that if the clients don’t talk to us we will lose them. These concerns are valid; however, they shield us from the real cause at hand. Owners fail to achieve their full potential and move out of debilitating ruts, because their companies lack poor opening and closing procedures.

What!? Let me repeat myself–you lack good opening and closing procedures. There are two critical times in the day for any company: the moment the day begins and the last hour of business. Why? Because the mood, plan, focus and energy needed to succeed converge at these times.

If you start off sloppy and disorganized, then the entire working day will reflect its unfortunate beginning. This is why it is critical to lead the way every morning with energy, focus and certainty. At the days end, your system should allow you to set objectives for tomorrow while reviewing the current day’s results simultaneously. Remember, you fight sleepwalking and complacency with focused attention. In some ways closing procedures are more difficult to enact than opening procedures, because everyone is tired by the days end. Again, leadership and systems are required to get the desired results.

This may sound too simple an explanation as to why both you and your business are in a rut. All I can ask of you is to try my suggestion. Create opening and closing procedures and stick to them. Lead the way with energy, focus and certainty, and I believe you will be pleased with the results.