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Archive for category Planning

Leaders seek out top talent

May 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

Leaders are an interesting lot, often found wandering, “dazed”, plodding, planning, scheming and making sure everything is in it’s right place for the team to do what the team does best. So in the plodding and wandering the astute leader searches and hunts down exceptional people to be part of the team. They also work hard at developing the talent they already have.

Leaders find great ways to recruit or “poach” people to cause them to “come over” to their team.

The reason great leaders go for top talent is really simple, they want the best in their field to be part of what the leader has, and make it the best it can be. Over time the leader might have a few top people and then lose them to another leader, but then all they do is soul search, tweak a few skills and attitudes (their own) and move on to find even better people.

Training people to be better at what they do means being a good evaluator, negotiator, assessor, mentor, coach, trainer… the top leader then influences their teams skill uptake to ensure they are at the top of their game.

Remember Great leaders love people and therefore it’s simple that they would seek out the best, finding and keeping them becomes another thing entirely.

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How to Select the Right Person to Join Your Team

May 8

Posted by Jenny Stilwell in Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning | 2 Comments

The reason people select the wrong person is because they don’t ask the right questions in the interview, they don’t probe to uncover real competencies and capabilities, they don’t explore the person’s true personality and attitude, and they get swayed by enjoyable ‘chats’ that should in fact be probing interviews.

We all like to work with people we like, but we also need to make sure those people we employ are going to deliver and produce results for us. The process of selecting the right person is both subjective and objective, but it does need to be a process.

Focus on doing these 7 things:

  1. Know what you want done – write the Position Description first.
  2. List the attributes of the sort of person you want (not physical attributes..!)
  3. Understand your culture – be honest – and know what sort of person would or wouldn’t fit that.
  4. Then, after you’ve done that, meet and interview.
  5. Don’t be swayed by anything other than your original set of criteria, because that is what you want.
  6. After the interview, give the person a rating against your set of criteria, and use that objective method of assessment to recruit the right person into your team.
  7. You could also go to this website http://www.bossgroup.com.au/products/28 and download the 12-Step People Management Blueprint and simply follow the 12 steps! It really is that easy! (But hurry! The price will increase significantly after May 30th, 2008, so if you purchase before then you’ll make a big saving !)

So how do you “grade” your training?

May 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, People!, Planning | 1 Comment

Recently over a very serious business lunch, the matter of grading came up in regards to karate, I suggested in one of those “A-ha” moments, that the same principle could be applied to staff training.

You see the person I was lunching with is a karate ‘nut’ and mentioned his new staff member was like a while belt and he, is like a green belt (a much higher grade), she knows little about his business, he knows lots.

So the idea came that he could use that to build a foundation for the staff training and make a series of clear distinctions at each level of training as the staff member’s competency grew with what they learnt and practiced the basic skills to build proficiency.

In simple terms the idea would be to use a system that followed the colours of Karate ranking. now to save confusion (as there are lots of Karate ranking systems and styles) lets go for white as the beginner and as we  move through the spectrum the aim is to get to black, highly competent and very proficient at the business.

so.

white

yellow

green

blue

purple

red

brown

black

That gives you 8 levels, if  you want more you can add a coloured strip to each “belt” or “colour” so a white belt with a red or yellow tip would mean the basics have been taught, the person operates within the basic constraints and is ready to be “graded” or tested on the skills taught at this level.

A plain coloured belt means the person is in the process of learning the tasks and skills at that level and are competent in the level below.

So all that remains is to figure out what the tasks are at each  level and set in place the training and then assessing of each task at each level!

Do You Have What it Takes to Lead?

May 1

Posted by Jenny Stilwell in Leadership, People!, Planning, Starting out in business | 1 Comment

Think about the leaders you’ve had in your life – that is, the people you’ve respected and listened to, and in many cases followed. School teachers, uni lecturers, people you’ve worked with, mentors, coaches, captains of sporting teams, friends, family.

Why did you see those people as leaders? Why did you accept them as your leader at the time?

I had a discussion with a friend the other day, and we were discussing the fact that leadership is not about being the head of a company or a team, it’s about a way of being. It’s having the ability or the presence to inspire people to trust you. You can’t lead if you don’t have the trust of those around you.
I came up with my list of what leadership means to me, and what attributes a person must have to be a leader:

Talent
To me, a person needs to demonstrate talent – they need to have ability and capabilities, they need to be able to lead by example, and also be a high performer that sets them ahead of the pack. They need to be very good at what they do.

Judgement
To me, this covers many qualities and attributes. A leader has good judgement with decision-making, delegation and being able to recognise what to delegate to whom for maximum results, they need to have good judgement when it comes to understanding their impact on others, and have the right balance of empathy and objectivity.

Commitment
A good leader can give the same as they expect – they can put in and demonstrate that they’re in it for the long haul. Self discipline underpins commitment, and without it, a person will never be able to improve and grow their skills. Leaders have commitment and self discipline.

Strength
Having the strength to do what needs to be done and to support others when they need it, is a core part of leadership in my mind. Leaders need to be strong for the people who follow them, and they need to be able to weather the storms, as well as forge new pathways.

Focus
A leader needs to know which direction to lead the team – a focus on both the journey and the outcomes is important. In my mind, a good leader needs to be really clear on the game plan and the end game.

A person who consistently demonstrates strength of character, talent, commitment, judgement and focus will gain the trust of those around them.
Finally, as the quote above says, you can’t have leadership without trust. Do you have what it takes to lead?

How to Attract the People You Need

Apr 29

Posted by Jenny Stilwell in Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, Planning, Starting out in business, The Operations Dept | No Comments

Just because you select an ideal recruit for your business, doesn’t mean they will automatically want to work for you. Why not?

Many businesses overlook the fact that they have to sell their offer and make it an attractive option for prospective new employees.

If you operate in a competitive environment where good recruits are scarce, or when you are trying to attract very high calibre people, it is essential that you make your business, and the position, sound as appealing as possible.

Here are some factors to consider:
1. Consider what drives people to join new companies. They typically want:
a. a new challenge
b. more money
c. opportunities for promotion
d. to work in a larger company
e. to work in a smaller company environment
f. to work closer to home
g. to work in an environment where they can improve their skills and learn
h. to work in a company full of friendly people
i. to work for a market leader
j. a manager who will spend time with them to teach and mentor

Does your business offer any of these enticements?

2. If it doesn’t, you may have issues with how the business is structured, or how it is performing, and may need to make some internal assessments and adjustments before you are able to attract the kind of people you need and want.

3. If you do meet some of these criteria, then the next question is, how do you sell your business and the position to the candidate? At every point possible!

a. The advertisement
i. Outline what’s positive and different about your company
ii. Make it sound interesting
iii. Provide several ways to respond to the advertisement (email, phone call, fax) – it appears more professional
b. Your website
i. Presentation – professional or amateurish?
ii. Overview of your business – should provide reasonable detail
iii. Clients – some reference to clients is a positive indicator
c. The interview
i. Reception and greeting – friendly, and again, professional
ii. Positive interaction – encourage questions at the end
iii. Be animated when interviewing and talking about your business
iv. You and the company must reflect the culture (professional/casual, committed, creative, service focus etc.)
d. Follow up
i. Needs to be a fast turnaround if you want the person
ii. Well organised – timeliness, information in the offer

If you do all of these things it is more than likely that you will be able to employ a candidate who matches your requirements, and the culture of your company. Good luck!

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The connection…

Apr 2

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Leadership, People!, Planning | No Comments

Your business is all it can be due to a few factors and often it boils down to how people connect, customers to staff, staff to staff and any other stakeholders you may have in the equation.

You see it’s about your values and beliefs and theirs, if you are employing staff it is important for the business to connect (If there is no connection it’s like having one computer off a network and expecting someone to be able to work with it but of course they have no access to info and resources, so how can they.) To connect you need to be able to say what values and beliefs you have and how you are going to match those with the employee you want to hire.

It also works with customers and clients, get the right ‘connection’ and you are probably on the same ‘wave length’ as an ideal customer.

Take the time to figure out what is important to you so you can find out if they are on the same wavelength. The connection can be well worth it in the long run.

Leadership is it… PERIOD!

Mar 19

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business | No Comments

Leadership is it… If you have ever wondered about what makes a solidly compelling and successful company, well check the list and see what you think…

A leader leads by example… If it’s a brilliant business the leader is brilliant and that excellence is passed down with ease. They follow excellently because they were led excellently, and when they get to lead they do the same.

A leader plans… For the future, for the next five minutes, for the next five years to ensure success.

A leader is creative… It’s the only way to have an edge in business, call it innovation or any other term it’s creative approaches that work in a changing world. Anything else is a cop out.

Leaders go for positive results… That’s what they do because it’s good for business, good for staff great for customers and in the long run it can be fantastic for the environment.

Leaders love people… They know that to get the wheels turning it takes people, people to buy, people to sell, people to create, people to manage and people to lead.

Ever had a doubt about what it is that makes a winning business? Well not now, I have just told you… leadership of the highest order makes the difference…

The basics of the basics of business.

Mar 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

Let’s get simple with the $$ and the practicalities of business.

$$ in, this comes from the sale of goods, services and the income from investments made on behalf of the business.

$$ out, these are the expenses your business has.

Profit (or loss) is the difference between the $$ out and the $$ in.

The aim of the business, from a financial perspective is to make a profit and therefore have more in than out. (There are exceptions but in the main this is the main idea.)

With the practicalities of business, either you fulfill a want or a need with the service or product you are offering, if there is no need or want for what you have then no one buys.

So knowing the above points, a few questions come to mind, the profit amount you need to make, and is the product and or service range on offer sustainable when I make that level of profit?

Big questions perhaps, but ones that you should keep quite simple. If you get these right then your business will provide you with the sort of lifestyle you believe you deserve. One way of doing this is to figure out the industry average for profit margins and apply that to your business and or to look at what you need to grow your business to keep up with the costs of living and development that takes place, this way you can adjust the profit to suit.

It might seem okay to provide the market with 1,000 items per week @ $5 each, and make a profit of $4 per unit but if the price of living etc goes high too fast then it can fade into insignificance. Therefore the astute business operator has to make sure they have their finger on the pulse to effectively know what’s going on so they can balance things effectively, otherwise they can soon end up working for very little.

That’s the basics, how you go about measuring them and implementing the ideas presented are another thing, but being able to do so will ensure you can keep ahead of the costs and see things grow effectively over time. Therefore if someone says they do not want to grow their business you know they don’t know about the basics and why it’s so important to do so. Perhaps one of your tasks is to remind them…

The money or the end product?

Mar 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Growth, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | 2 Comments

When you start out in business or develop a new product there is an inevitable challenge to figure out if the emotion that motivates the initiative is the only thing making it happen or the $$ are a motivator as well.

I guess the ideal is both. People want the product, you make it, they pay the $$ and at the end of the process you benefit by getting $$ in and make more than the cost of the item, therefore you have a profit.

Here’s part of the challenge as I see it, people want to provide “stuff” and so they do so with the intent of it being a, something people want (it fills a gap or need in the market place) or A, something they need. Sometimes however they run into the idea that they can do it at a good price and not need to make much int eh way of $$ (the emotion takes precedent over the practicality of having $$ to run the business and make it prosper.

Lets work on the idea that both can be useful and in the case of a business with two or so partners this might become an issue early on, one wants to solve a problem the others want to make $$. Not a long wrong with that, and in fact if a partner in business does not want to make $$ then I question if they realy should be in business.

So it’s a conundrum that many businesses face how far do I go with both the emotional and practical side of the business and how do I measure this to make sure I don’t tip the scales one way or the other?

Until next time I want you to keep checking your business or business idea for both and see if there is a balance that is readily struck or not.

Lets say sorry and move on…

Feb 13

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

In an historic address to the nation today Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said “Sorry” to the stolen generation. He said sorry for the pain, sorry for the ongoing indignation, sorry for previous governments not apologising, for taking indigenous children from their families many years ago.

In essence he is saying we are sorry for the human rights abuse that took place in less enlightened times.

In analogy, is this any different from a business which, may treat its people poorly, that may provide only scant regard for safety, that may let its policies of profit grabbing rather than capacity building be the norm, that may let or indeed support bullying and harassment.

In these enlightened times, lets say sorry for these indiscretions, and actively seek out ways to make our workplaces, places where people can be engaged without hostility, or fear, for our safety, security, esteem and lifelong education.

Let’s find more ways to truly engage with the people we do business with, and those we employ. Together we can ensure the future of contemporary business is one where the “vanguard avant-garde”, is a beacon of hope and inspiration. In doing so we can only hope these champions of business embrace the ideals of sharing to allow others the opportunity to follow in their mighty footsteps.

Lets say sorry for past indiscretions, lets forgive those that perpetrated those acts, lets then take steps to embrace the future by taking positive action to fully engage all levels of business to ensure we can stay clear of the problems and utilise the precedent which has been set to full advantage.

So you are in business… Are you making any $$?

Feb 12

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Franchisees, Growth, Planning, Risk Management | 2 Comments

You have the business set up and things are running ok. You handle customers well, you pay the staff, you keep things ship shape in the bookkeeping area, all seems well, but are you making any money, real money, real income?

In the scheme of things those that have gone from an employee to a business operator will no doubt note there is a big difference between turning up and getting paid and turning up and wishing for more customers, the hassles to stop, and the seemingly endless challenges that creep up and take you by surprise.

Lets do a basic sum here, if you were on $700 a week income (take home) in a job, you had few hassles, in fact you got paid if you were sick, or on holidays… Now as a business owner you are the boss and you only get holidays if your business earns enough, if you trust the staff to run things while you are away etc… the list probably goes on AND ON!

In your business you need to be able to take into account a range of things to ensure viability, the cost of overheads, materials, marketing and so on, then have a margin on top of that to cover wages… then a profit (remember to pay yourself from the wages area!)

So the way forward is to project the cash-flow for your business and see if the amount you have to earn per day is do-able, and not outside your threshold for earning… As an example, if you are used to earning $700 per week, imagine how it might be if you have to turn over $700 in two days, just to make ends meet. For some that trips their mental threshold on money and they fail fast in the business stakes due simply to this psychological hurdle.

Once you establish the cash-flow for the business and how it fits with your money threshold, then ask are other businesses in this industry area able to do that with ease… or is it a struggle?

Answering the vital questions on cash-flow will either open a “Pandora’s box” of issues and hassles, or show the way to prosperity from being in business.

Here’s a tip, if you are currently employed and are thinking about going into business on your own, take a few days leave and check out what similar business types do… if it’s a retail store do some serious spying on them to see how many customers walk in the door, and at what time. Then check out their marketing, is it enough? Is there too much competition? Or is there scope for a new player in the game to take the lead and give it a good shot.

So if you go into business and take the inherent risks that go with that notion, consider the above points carefully, otherwise you may find you will work flat out and get nowhere fast, in fact it may cost you a great deal more than the initial investment.

How to create a Unique Selling Point.

Jan 28

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Planning, Starting out in business | 3 Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here is an individual “how to” option on unique selling ponts for you to explore.

Market leading Unique Selling Point/s –
Creating a unique selling point is all about setting yourself apart from your competition, sometimes called a Point of Difference. It’s all about identifying what makes your business unique, unique in a rock solid definable way to ensure your team can communicate it, your clients know it and it most clearly causes them to come back time and again.

If you are a mechanic it might be the courtesy car you offer, or the full detail at the end of every major service.

Take a look at your competition and what sets them apart… if anything. Then ask yourself what is different about my business in a way that causes my target customers to want to buy from me and not the competition?

Do research if you have to, on what will work and what might not. Then you can tweak your business to suit. If you are looking at a franchise business to buy, ask this question in the research phase to be able to evaluate the business properly.

How to train to Win/Win

Jan 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Training to win/win
You and your staff should be trained to make the whole show win, then the customers can win too. A great position to get to and stay in.  For some the idea of training staff means showing them the bare basics of their job, but go a bit deeper and encourage thinking around the idea of Win/Win, when they get the idea the concept will probably become infectious.

  • Find out more about win/win and how you might create some examples you can discuss with your team.
  • Look for examples of win/win already at play in your business.
  • Use the concept to develop a team get together every so often to ask about and pass on ideas in business development.

Getting all this together is a great way to cause the team to work effectively together and can build the business to a strong position where people feel valued. This will then pass on to the customers and cause them to feel valued as well, in the end that’s what we all want.

Publicity- DIY or outsource??

Jan 10

Posted by Emma Rhoades in Growth, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 5 Comments

Recently I’ve had a few people ask me about Publicity and if they should do it themselves. I find that I answer both yes and no, depending on the person. Many people talk about how publicity is ‘free’,  except when you pay over $1000 for a company to do it for you.

So, how do we do it ourselves? Simple really- there are heaps of media release templates on the web- microsoft office online has a few for a start. Then do a search. Many of these are free and will give you an idea of how to structure your media release. If you don’t feel confident in writing your own, outsource this- find a copywriter who can do it at a much cheaper rate than a media company.

Then research where you want it to go, ring up and ask who to send the release to. The best process to use to achieve top results is the phone, send, phone approach. Phone the person whom you are about to email. Tell them who you are, and that you are sending a media release to them via email. Send the release and then follow up a few days later with another phone call- ‘just to check they got it’. This develops rapport with the journalist that you don’t get when you use a company.

On the flip side, if you don’t have much time, or really don’t even want to try your own PR, outsourcing to a company is a great way to go. Be careful though- thoroughly research the media company before engaging in any contract work with them. Find out what you are getting for your money. Ask to see some previous results- and actually contact those businesses to ask for their opinion. I’ve heard some horror stories about people paying in excess of $100 for a ‘media release’ that is only a couple of paragraphs- purely because they did not research the company prior.

Remember- publicity is only ‘free’ when you do it yourself!!

How to create a business with great values

Jan 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Upholding great values
People love it when you are on a positive footing and in the values area it’s a great place to start (integrity – honesty, truthfulness etc.).

Start the business with a strong stance on the rights and wrongs, if you get caught by a staff member or a customer ripping people off, word will spread fast, not a good thing to have happen. Make your act squeaky clean and others will follow.

Make a list of the sorts of values you want the business to uphold, google them on your computer and find out more about what other businesses have as values, then find ways to integrate them into what you do, yes even if you have a one person business.

You may find you already have these values, they are automatic and things that inherently are of interest to you. But there may be areas you want to tweak so you can be better at those ones as well.

Over time the staff and customers will be certain to know your business has high integrity, honesty etc.. In a highly competitive market place these things can set you apart.

How to create a business where the overheads are easily covered

Jan 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Finance, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Covering overheads easily…
Overheads are often the thing, which can break the camels back, so make it easy for the camel and take the pressure off. In this case keeping the turnover and cash flow up so the overheads are not a challenge EVER! (I know, easier said than done…)

  • Sell things which are wanted by your target ‘ideal customers’ this will mean you have things moving in and out again fairly quickly, and that’s good for business.
  • Set your pricing right, sure beat your competition if you want, but make enough to make a profit too, then you are sure the overheads are covered.
  • Know what your industry average is for turnover and profits, this way you can measure (benchmark) against the industry average and see how you fit in the scheme of things.
  • Ask your customers what they want more of, it might be as simple as “better service” then you will know “It’s not the products or after sales service it’s the SERVICE!”
  • Know exactly how much your overheads are and how many things need to be sold per day to cover them, then anything over this amount puts you ahead.
  • Know what is selling and what’s not, aim to make every square inch of your sales area sell well, (even if it’s an online page!) simply by providing more of what your customers want. perhaps just moving something to another spot in your ‘store’ will make a difference.

Getting an objective view of your business is vital to figuring out which areas to focus on to improve cash flow and keep your overheads under control, so ask lots of questions, observe thoroughly what’s going on.

Now put these things into action and watch the results alter in a positive direction.

How to create a business that is enjoyable to run

Jan 8

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Enjoyable to run
Who wants a business, which is a hassle to run? Who wants to work in a tough field? No one… Make it a joy to be part of for you and staff and the low hassle enjoyable nature of the business will probably rub off onto the customers over time.

  • Make the systems simple effective and clearly understood, no one wants to run a system they have little idea of why it is being done, especially in larger organisations.
  • Ask the staff for suggestions on ways to make the work more enjoyable, perhaps multi tasking could be a useful starting point.
  • Figure out the culture or if it’s a new business create a suitable culture one that is inclusive, cooperative and has fun some times, this way you will be encouraging the best from everyone involved.
  • Make a Profit! This is an obvious point but without it the stress you suffer might soon spill over into the business. Take it easy that bad stress can wipe you out! So make sure you “juggle” things properly to ensure you have a profit and not just cover the overheads and wages.
  • Smile, show you love it, show you love being there, show you love the staff, (yes love them!) let the positivity rub off.
  • Ask lots of questions from all angles, the customer, the staff member, the senior staff and you… if there are common areas to be tackled then focus on those first.

If your business is enjoyable to run now, what would it be like if you went through and made it MORE enjoyable to run!

How to create an easy saleable range

Jan 7

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Creating easily saleable products and services
You want people to buy, not to um and err then walk away, so it should be easy for them to select what they want and then make the purchase with great peace of mind. Especially people in your ideal target market.

It may be one thing to provide a prestige product and another thing to have enough people in the right target market to meet the needs you have. Again it might be a case of having some prestige products and more of another not so prestige product.

When it comes to business you should be making sure that customer satisfaction is a number one concern, and a big part of that is the service and support your business provides. Make it EASY for people to get things serviced, not a hassle. Make it easy for people to select the right product, Make it easy for them to find a sales person, the list goes on.

So take a customers viewpoint and walk in and out of your store as if you were them, how quickly are you attended to? how gracious was the enquiry “How are you today sir…” How easy was it to get your bearings on where things are (online or in a physical sales environment…) Now ask yourself what can be done to make changes so the people walking in and out are really satisfied.

Also look at the things you may want to add to your range… How easy are they to market? And will people readily make enquiries that could lead to sales… These are all aspects of easily saleable products and services.
Taking all these things into account you should be able to”pull apart” the customer experience to know what’s working and what you can do about it.

How to create a business that really fills a need

Jan 6

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Does your business fill a need and or want?
Hopefully it does both. If there is no need for what you have there will be no sales, therefore no business. This is a vital prerequisite for any business . Consider this, if you are selling diving gear in the middle of a desert you would not sell much, however a cold drinks stand would be a more obvious choice.

If you are just starting out in business do a lot of research to make sure what you have will fit, the local people, the culture, the psyche of the whole area, again if you are selling art in a working class area the amount you might sell may just be way less than a city where the arts might be more solidly valued.

Consider if are you providing for a want or a need, e.g. if you sell food, there is a need for that, if you sell dolls it’s more of a want, not a need. Ideally I guess the best scenario might be to have a needs based business that also sells some “wants” as well.

Watch out for things changing, cassette tapes were once the only portable music device, then came the CD… selling cassettes today would be a waste of time. So move with the changes so you don’t get left behind. What might start out as a solidly moving product range can become dead in the water fairly quickly.

How to create a business people love

Jan 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Creating a business that people love!
Customers and staff a like love the business and what it does, heck why have a business that people despise? Go for love, it’s much better. But that’s easy to say… what can you do to make people love it?

  • Find ways to engage the customers. – Consider a database and keep in contact – Create special deals they can’t get anywhere else (think packages) and the list goes on, get creative and explore.
  • Engage the staff. Right from the start, cause the staff to ‘buy in’ to the philosophy, ethics, and other values and beliefs the business has, make it strong, make it real and make it matter, make it so the idea of turning up to work is a vital thrill in their day.
  • How about you? Do you love the business? Why shouldn’t you aim to create an entity that really rocks, so you want to be there in such a way that it causes everyone else to believe in what you have created and it builds from there.

Now you have some starting points, what will you do to go the next step? research, evaluate, plan, budget, implement? Whatever order you put them in, make it work for you.

How to grow your business

Jan 3

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | 2 Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Growth ability
Starting out in business is one thing, growing the business to be more than it currently is another… And for many business people the idea of growing the business seems strange, they have a fear of change it seems, and don’t want to go any further, unless pushed.

The problem is multi fold but lets take a basic view, the business operates and costs go up for supplies, the rent goes up on the lease… but without a growth strategy they are stuck paying more with the same amount in their pocket… when they do put the prices up they are apologetic about it to customers, and start to sound more like victims than business people.

Therefore the business needs to be the type that can be grown readily so that these (and other growth related challenges) can be handled easily.

To grow your business make room in your business plan for it, flag it for discussion with your business coach, accountant and partners. Explore your target market and look for ways to expand on what you have to offer.

Growing your business does not automatically mean you have to take on more staff, you may be able to find ways to delegate some tasks to sub contractors outside your business, like bookkeeping, virtual admin services and so on.

How to make your business profitable.

Jan 2

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | 1 Comment

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Profitable
At the end of the day it’s what’s left in the kitty that counts. With no profit you’re a charity or a hobby, which do you want?

Lets say that you want to be more than a hobby (that’s what business is about I guess…) so you should be able to know readily and easily if you are in profit, by how much and what to do with it.

Your bookkeeper or accounting software should be able to tell you where you are at, if you have put in all of the $$ spent and $$ earned, so that’s easy, but the other sides, what to do with it and how to make it is another.

Firstly lets imagine that you have paid yourself out of the $$ in so you are covered, and all the expenses are covered, you now have a surplus to work with… nice eh! Some people just spend it, some pour it back into the business, some do a mix of both. My thought is to create what I call a debt reserve fund or business wealth fund. This is simply a bank account where you put the $$ in and don’t spend it, you let it grow.

This is a different way of looking at what to do with profit but it sure feels good to see a bank account growing… the security it offers is fantastic and the fact you don’t touch it is even better, it compounds.

As for making a profit… lets see if you have paid everything and have a surplus, then you have a profit, so the aim is to ensure with your pricing you have left a margin to cover the profit, and in some industries the profit can be 500% in others 15%… in your research for your business you should be able to find out the average % of profit and work out some of your projected cashflow from that.

Whatever you do with your profit aim to make it work for the business, as often people simply take out of the business without a thought to it’s growth, growth potential and future.

How to make your business readily understood.

Jan 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Innovation and Creativity, Planning, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Is it readily understood?
If your business produces widgets for the trucking industry it’s important for the target market (trucking companies in this case), to readily understand what it is you are providing. If you are in the start up phase your brand may not mean anything until the prospect sees it a few times (probably 6+ times!) so you have to make sure that it is presented in such a way that they know who you are, what’s on offer and how it’s done (online, retail, wholesale etc.)

There are many companies that put a logo on their vehicle, drive around and no body has a clue what they do or if they are of value to them (i.e. target market). It can be ok if the target market is a niche In this case a trucking supply Co, but if even your target market does not know then you have a challenge on your hands.

Consider working closely with your designer or PR people to make sure the people that should know clearly do know, otherwise your marketing $$ can be wasted.

How to create structural integrity in your business

Dec 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Structural integrity
The systems and procedures for your business are vital to ensuring a solid foundation and the supporting structures up from there are suitable. The aim with developing structural integrity is to ensure that “when the wind blows” the house stays in tact, or when it rains and a tornado comes through after it that you have the ability to get the business back on track quickly.

Depending on the business will depend on how you plan to develop the structures to keep things in place. If it’s a retail store you might keep some stock off site, the same with databases and records in the event of sabotage (yes staff can do it to you if they are displeased…) or a natural disaster, you have a back up.

You can extend the idea right through the business to leadership, HR policies and so on, so that the organisations backbone is supported by healthy muscles, all finely worked and tuned to provide the right amount of support.

To begin working with ideas on structural integrity you would probably start with looking at the values and beliefs the business has and how the ‘culture’ supports that and vice versa, then you can identify strengths and weaknesses and start to see the spots to tackle.

How to create a sustainable and robust business

Dec 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Sustainable and Robust
When you start up in business you probably do so wanting it to last, so you can get more than just the $$ it cost you to get started. So you need to think about what will make the business sustainable and strong so it can last. Ideally you will want to set up a profitable passive income device so that you can reap the rewards of being in business without having to be there.

Sustainable will probably mean your industry niche is one that means people will be require what you have for a long time to come, it may be a flexible area so that you can go with the flow and include new innovations with ease.

A robust business could be seen as one that has good investments in place that create passive income returns JUST for the business, so that it can be supported by its own wealth. This can be done by putting away a percentage of profits, so that in the event of a disaster happening you can weather the storm. (You still need insurance though!)

These are just some of the ways to create a strong business and over time I suggest you add these points to discussions you have on business planning, this way you can really know that they are being considered and acted on for the future.

Retain and engage staff, or else…

Dec 23

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

In the race to maintain and or grow their business many business operators find another hurdle that pops up far to easily, and that’s staff turnover. Some call it churn, but whatever you call it it costs the business $$.

Some businesses try to keep their wages above the award rates in the hope it will keep people in the business and not move on. Some use other tactics to retain the employees and even engage them further than the usual 9 – 5 arrangement.

In reality a lot has been written on this subject over many years and the fact that it is still a major issue is testament to the fact that not a lot has been done, or not a lot of understanding about the issue has filtered it’s way through.

Whatever the situation and the outcome, the effective engagement and retention of staff requires innovative approaches to ensure they are mentally stimulated enough to want to hang around and give positive input rather than just being driven by the $$.

Over time people can fade in their energy and interest levels, and this can have wide ranging effects on productivity, leadership, communication and probably a whole raft of other things in the business. So to ensure ongoing engagement, a variety of techniques should be employed, not just one.

Giving cash is one thing, but it’s often a short term fix, giving training is a good option, but should not be the only option as not all people want to be taken away from their work to attend leadership training for example. The astute business needs to find ways to adapt to the person and become more flexible in the delivery of retention devices.

Issues around working hours, family friendly work practices, and now health schemes are becoming more obvious as options for the team. Again innovative approaches need to be used to implement and develop these practices so the staff member can not grow or feel complacent, but rather feel more valued as the various options get rolled out.

Imagine a workplace where a range of options were put to staff, where they could elect some of the options to retain them, then there are more options they do not get to choose but are put in place as well (formal and informal training for example.) The upshot of all this is that an employee feels valued, to the point where they don’t want to go elsewhere, they want to simply contribute at 110%.

In an age where quality workers are lured by better players in the market any employer needs to consider the best ways to get and keep the best players, otherwise their business could find itself on the scrap heap faster than it might care to know about.

Successful business 21+ list

Dec 17

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room | 3 Comments

Okay so I like lists, let’s face it they give us readily accessible starting points to build with, so lets jump in and see what a successful business should have.

  1. Sustainable and Robust – So it will last and be strong as well. Who wants a business, which will fall over with the slightest puff of wind?
  2. Structural integrity – The systems and procedures are built from a solid foundation. With no foundation how can we expect a building to stand for long, it’s the same with any business.
  3. Growth ability – Wealth is not a dirty word, it’s a leverage point, you want the business to grow so that it can absorb future price increases and be ab le to handle any changes that come along unexpectedly.
  4. It’s readily understood - By the clients and the staff, if you are in a niche the niche should understand it. Clarity can lead to power.
  5. Profitable – At the end of the day it’s what’s left in the kitty that counts. With no profit you’re a charity or a hobby, which do you want?…
  6. Strong brand - The customers know your brand or are getting to realise it has longevity.
  7. People love it! – Customers and staff alike love the business and what it does, heck why have a business that people despise? Go for love, it’s much better.
  8. Fills a need and or want – Preferably both. No need for what you have? No sales, therefore no business.
  9. Easily saleable products and services – You want people to buy, not to um and err then walk away, so it should be easy for them to select what they want and then make the purchase with great peace of mind.
  10. Enjoyable to run – Who wants a business which is a hassle? Who wants to work in a tough field? No one… make it a joy to be part of for you and staff that will rub off onto the customers over time.
  11. Overheads are covered easily – Overheads are often the thing that break the camels back, so make it easy for the camel and take the pressure off, in this case keeping the turnover and cash flow up so the overheads are not a challenge EVER! (I know, easier said than done…)
  12. Upholds great values - People love it when you are on a positive footing and in the values area its a great place to start (integrity – honesty etc.).
  13. Train to win/win – You and your staff are trained to make the whole show win, then the customers can win too. A great position to get to and stay in.
  14. Market leading Unique Selling Point/s – This will set you apart from the competition, then your aim is to make it known to everyone, therefore they will pick you over the competition, If they don’t they are crazy right?
  15. Duplicable – You can franchise this in an instant, or open other branches, either way its easy to duplicate (usually means it’s easy to run).
  16. Readily/easily established – You don’t want a business to take forever to get up to speed, you open and its up and running fast.
  17. Easy to plan – Your foundation will ensure the basics are in place, and from here the business plan is a breeze, if not you will avoid the business plan and lose sight of your goals. And of course have the plan on paper.
  18. Able to take massive action – In an instant, to get ahead, to make a stand, to stand apart, to innovate, to lead, to penetrate deeper. When the going gets tough, the tough get going…
  19. Know your competitors – Your research enables you to know quickly if you need to zig while they zag. If you know them intimately then you can readily compare prices, marketing etc.
  20. Niche flexible – You have a target to aim at, but you also realise there can be ‘sub niche’s’ e.g. a bicycle shop, sells kids bike, mountain bikes, racing bikes, but its main business is bikes, if its a sports store it has more niches.
  21. Maverick management/leadership – Your leaders and managers can pull great results out of thin air and do it all the time. Sure they make mistakes (how else will they learn?) the point is they can think on their feet and get great results. Therefore innovation becomes your middle name…
  22. Minimum footprint – Physically, environmentally, emotionally, resources. All of these (and probably more) are important make a big impact but do it without making a big mess of things.
  23. You get support - Family and friends appreciate and understand what you are doing and support you to make it successful. Without this support you are on your own in a tough wilderness and it’s hard to survive on your own.
  24. One great idea - Sometimes it’s two or three ideas (serial entrepreneurs), but in the main people in successful business do good with the one idea well researched and executed.

That’s it, easy huh? Now all you need to do is copy it and figure out if you can do it, can’t do it, want to do it and or have the guts to at least try… Go on, make a name for yourself.

Jerry Seinfeld’s 3 rules of life

Dec 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business | 2 Comments

Here’s Jerry’s 3 rules of life, pretty simple… so lets add some business thinking points to it.

Print it, use it, tick things off as you do them, make notes, add to the list, include some of these points in your staff training and see what happens.

Thanks Jerry lets see what happens now…

Bust your ass…

  • Work hard, work smart, if it’s not fun, do something else.
  • Following your passion, you will then want to do the work, in fact the work will be so enjoyable it won’t seem like work, you will be early and rarely late….
  • On something that will make a difference for more people than just you, you win they win.
  • On being exceptional, who wants to be mediocre? Ok so lots of people do, but why do you have to be…
  • Getting the next goal, and then the next, the journey of a thousand miles begins with that first step. The sense of achievement is a powerful drug.
  • Providing what the market place wants, you will soon be happy with the sales, they will be happy you provided what they want and those that work with you will be happy you thought of it.
  • Getting people to know about your business in the start up phase and then to come back for more of what you have, often.
  • To influence others in your circle of influence to be exceptional at all they do.
  • To surround yourself with great people who want to pass on great information you can all utilise.
  • Living life to the full, when the show is over it’s over folks…

Pay attention…

  • To the details so that you can understand the bigger picture from within. No point in having a business that no one knows what’s going on, especially you…
  • To planning. No plan no house, it should be the same in business.
  • To how you present what you have to the market place… Get great at marketing and sales, then do it with the rest of your team.
  • To the way you learn, then you will be able to pay attention more effectively.
  • To how others liearn, your role as a business leaer means you will probably do a fair bit of instructing on how things are done, so teach others in ways they prefer to be taught.
  • To the way you communicate, so get very specific about what you communicate.
  • To the way you listen… Be an attentive listener, that’s why you have two ears and one mouth.

Fall in love

  • With what you do, how you do it how your team does it…
  • With causing others to fall in love… with the job, the business, the customers, the service the products, their life, their significant others.
  • With life. Life is what we do day to day so we should get great at loving it.
  • With how others see the world. This level of fascination is from the old American Indian idea of “walking in another mans moccasins” it hlps to give us perspective.
  • With the people you surround yourself with. Are they all lovable? Are they all worth fighting for?
  • With the glory and beauty of nature. If the view is lousy, I wonder what you are looking at?

The business of red-hot core values

Dec 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

In business it’s too easy to fall into the trap of just doing business, then it can become a grind, the details become a blur and the idea of lifestyle enhancement as a value you wanted to chase can become minimal, in fact you may as well have just kept a job.

So where is the depth, the meaning that gives hope, strength, clarity, stamina, creativity, innovation and a whole raft of positive/emotive sensations?

These positive values are the core mechanisms that enable us to keep going even in tough times, to enable us to fall down and get up again, the resilience to bounce back, with a vengeance.

So here’s a loose definition of these “valuable business intangibles” as I see it, in this context. “Showing refinement, distinction and concern for the higher things in life.” This is where it comes down to the red-hot core values and some bigger questions to ponder in the business, and by individuals.

The points that follow are concerned with both team and individuals and how they connect or not. It’s about looking for and working with these distinctions to be able to create a business, which embodies these with a degree of ease and efficacy without having to consciously working towards them. So a degree of unconscious competence can kick in.

In reading the list, feel free to say, “If I had a business that had all these things I would be delighted, but it’s not going to happen today, nor tomorrow for that matter…” I appreciate this viewpoint and suggest the following… “You have these things in your business already, it’s a matter of ‘to what degree’ you have them”.

Your aim as the business-person would be to look at what you do in the improvements to your business that will add to the value of any of these. An example might be if you were wanting your team to service the customers more effectively, In chatting to them about the issue/s you might find yourself suggesting they be more tolerant, cooperate more with the customers and staff, show higher levels of respect and so on.

As you have just seen it may not be difficult to work with these as a group of items, but in isolation it might be. Note also some o the items are team based while others are more individual in their appeal and approach.

  • Honesty
  • Sensitivity to Others
  • Responsibility
  • Emotional Balance
  • Tolerance
  • A Deep Compassion for Humanity
  • Cooperation
  • Accurate Self Image
  • Respect
  • Development of self and others (for intrinsic and extrinsic value)
  • A Deep Sense of Mystery
  • Connectedness
  • Vision Mission – Personal and professional
  • Inner Peace
  • Freedom
  • Simplicity/Elegance
  • Strength – integrity
  • Holistic approaches to the development of – People – Environments – Culture/s

Taking a look at the list may be daunting, but I hope to show you ways to utilise each of these to enhance your business to be all it can be.

Finally, don’t think for a moment that this list is complete, feel free to add words you and your team might find that can be utilised to enhance the business further.

Risks are what business is all about… or is it?

Dec 8

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

This is the eighth in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Risk taking (all business is this, the further you go the more risks seem to ‘pop up’)

These days there is a lot of talk about risk management to ensure your business is not exposing itself to too many risks that could undermine it. In this article I wanted to point out that being a risk taker is often a useful device in starting a business, without the ability to take a risk we might never start one and spend the rest of our lives wondering what would have happened if we had…

  • Do your business research to ensure the risks you are taking on is minimised where possible.
  • Know how far you can go with the risk you are undertaking, if you pull out at any stage, will there be “something in reserve” or will the project finish you?
  • Explore the unknown, often great ideas come from the strangest places or mishaps in scientific research, sure there are risks involved but the ‘pay off’ can be worth it.
  • Making mistakes often leads to learning opportunities, far too often we are risk adverse and fail to give things a try. When you or an employee make a mistake, are you ridiculed by others for the mistake or is it seen as an opportunity to learn and grow?

Its not all risk taking but hopefully when the challenges arise you can be ready to accept the challenge and not merely dismiss it.

10-20-30 the planning guide for the rest of us…

Dec 8

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Finance, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Negotiation, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

I have been on about the Guy Kawasaki 10 – 20 – 30 planning device for a while now (since I found it in early 07) Well this week I had the good fortune to use it myself and have created a template to be used in Power Point.

Unfamiliar with 10 -20 – 30? It’s a simple device for pitching ideas, I see it as a way point in the planning process, not so much as an endpoint which seems so logical when you figure it being used to pitch ideas to investors etc. Ideally if you have a business idea I would STRONGLY suggest you use this to assist in sorting out its usefulness.

So it’s 10 slides presented to a max of 20 mins and the smallest text is 30 Pt. see I said it was simple… but of course there are fairly explanatory headings and some body text in it to assist you to make your pitch viable/useful. I feel sure you will be charmed by the thing once it’s used a few times.

The 10-20-30 power point business presentation

As you will see when you download the file, it is a plain old BxW, simple presentation. All you need to do is put the words in that fit for your project even the basic animation is done (when you view the slide show, you can click the forward button and see each point come up one at a time, how it should be, and not a whole page of text.)

I used it on an idea as a way to ‘flesh out’ a few things and in following the headings I found I was really challenged to come up with appropriate answers, after quite a while of cutting, pasting and soul searching I got it to a point where it seemed to work.

I see all sorts of possibilities with this. For pitching ideas to a boss on an area of business or a dept, which is not doing too hot, to put thoughts together for a business partner to look over, then of course to show info to prospective investors. These days when people pitch ideas at me I say to them to do this, then show me the result, thing is not one has actually done it (yet).

Those in the know, figure that’s because it causes people to look at things logically and not just emotionally.

Have a play with it, read it though, jazz it up with imagery etc and see what happens, I’m sure it has lots of uses, I hope you find the same.

Running on autopilot

Dec 7

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

This is the seventh in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Automatic functioning (the skills are already known)

After a while of doing a task you can become competent at it, then at the next level become proficient, at this level, things can seem automatic. Do that with the basics of what you do in business and a solid foundation can be built for your enterprise. Teach others to do the same and the base structure can become much stronger again.

  • Recognise the things that are BASIC skills for your business and then train (often its informal) you and your team to do them well, (effective beats efficiency hands down.) Then find a person in your team that picked it up fast and see if they have the skill to put the process in writing so anyone can learn it.
  • Chunk the skills into groups so as you and your team learn higher level skills, the previous skills have become proficient and form a solid foundation.
  • Review the skills you and your team have at all levels and work to understand areas to be developed further. (Leadership and communication skills are often good examples.)
  • Work to make your business a lifelong learning exercise so your organisation can be highly flexible in what they do.

Getting an organisation to run on automatic may seem like an easy thing to do, and that’s often the challenge to be able to figure out what skills are simply hidden due to them being automatic and therefore hidden.

Get uncomfortable and see the results…

Dec 6

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

This is the sixth in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Comfort zone stretching (An elastic band is only working when it’s stretched.)

Have you noticed yourself only doing things within a set range? It might be mingling with only a select group of friends at a party… or only looking to set ways of solving problems all the time. Stretching what you are comfortable with can be a great way to develop your resilience, problem solving skills, and ability to become more flexible. In business thee skills can be very useful to the ongoing success of your enterprise.

  • Travel the road less traveled and enjoy the view – Literally take different roads while out driving, yo may have gone to the same destination day after day and have never thought about a different route. Now you can start to explore things by simply changing your view of the common things you do.
  • Ask others for ideas and input – You may never do this normally, but give it a go and see what happens, be sure to pat people on the back if you use the ideas, the recognition can be very useful for their esteem.
  • Explore creative options – There is more than one way to do most things, so start to look at things from different perspectives. It might be as simple as thinking about wearing a different “hat” if you usually see things from a bosses perspective try a marketing “hat” on.. how does that change things for you?
  • Do some internet research on creative options to explore.

It may take some time, but having the chance to find others ways of doing things might just be the break you need in your organisation.

Have you decided what to do yet?

Dec 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

This is the fifth in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Decisiveness (Either a thing will happen or it won’t, often the decision is the only thing that stands in its way.)

I was once told that the best way to become better at making decisions is to make the, right or wrong stand your ground and see what happens, before long you can become very decisive and develop the skills and confidence to live with the outcome/s.

  • Make lots of them even on little things, and see what happens, avoid the procrastination cycle of saying you will do it soon.
  • Check out the idea of “Whats the worse thing that can happen if I make the wrong decision?” then check to see if it really is that big a deal.
  • Ask others to make the decision for you (delegate) and check the results, you can be surprised just how well this one can work for you.
  • What is the difference between a person that is decisive and one that is not? Check out those qualities and ask if you can readily develop the skill/s or if you will need assistance, then do it!

Keep on going with the concepts laid out and put together a personal list of achievements made by being more decisive.

The journey begins and ends with you and your goals…

Dec 4

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

 This is the forth in a set of articles designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Goals (If you know where you are going it makes it easier to get there.)

In the story of Alice in Wonderland the Cheshire cat sat in the tree smiling widely as Alice asked which road to take at a fork in the road, the cat replied “It depends on where you want to get to” The goals we set will assist us in finding the right roads to take and in business the wrong road can cost us dearly.

Setting goals is easy, making them a reality is a different matter again…

  • Get smart about your goals -  specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and tangible. If these can not be thought out readily you will find the achievement of the goal nearly impossible. Write out the details in DETAIL… leave nothing to chance.
  • Work on small goals first and build up from there. – Often these are the basis for a “to do list” and chipping away at the small bits will make the big bits come to fruition.
  • Take action, avoid talking about what you are “going to do” and get on and do it. The world loves people who take action.
  • Consider how well you have done with goals in the past… Easily achieved them or… make sure you build up these skills if they are a challenge, then you can get more automatic in setting and achieving them.
  • Use your calendar – set time lines for the achievement of the goals, then tick them off as they are achieved, the sense of achievement is often a cause for some small celebration.
  • Use a project plan – These help you to break up a big goal into smaller ones and fit the details to a time frame. There is specific software for this or  you can create a table in a word-processing that can give you the basics to work with manually.

Go get ‘em tiger should be your catch phrase at this point and with the basics of goal setting up your sleeve the results should follow on soon after that.

Preparation makes all the difference.

Dec 2

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | 1 Comment

This is the first in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of how to as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that, and then forget it and let it go.

Preparation (No plans no direction)

The topic of preparation takes into account research as well as plans, so lets look at these.

Many people in business make the error of not doing full research or think they know better than any research often going off a hunch they have a great idea that will bring them great profits. Fact is many people are throwing away thousands of $$ by not getting the research in the start up phase right.

Some research basics

  • Find out all you can about your competition, chart it on paper and figure out what sets them apart from the rest in your line of business.
  • Find out what the basic profit margin is for your business then figure out how much you have to sell to be able to make that kind of turnover, then break that down into a daily figure to see how much you have to earn.
  • Know what it will cost to run the business (find info on cash flow and make a LONG list of every aspect of your business and its expenses.)
  • Know if it’s legal, do you need special licences or registration to run the business, find out now, NOT LATER!
  • Chat to an accountant or solicitor about the right structure for your business, there are a few options here, pursue them and know the difference.
  • Get smart around business terminology, create a glossary of terms (Google that, there are bound to already be a few.)
  • Know your target market – focusing specifically on a group of people or types of businesses you want to target then find out how these people buy
  • In business (especially in the start up phase) you will be selling, ideas, then products and or services so do some research on the right sorts of sales methods and then practice them to build your skills in this area.
  • How much money is required to set the business up.
  • How long it takes before the business will make money (They rarely make money from day one…)
  • How will you pay your way in the start up phase? (a wage or similar…)

Planning

  • A business plan is vital so you have a guide to follow, it can be The Mini Business Plan or a fully blown complex one but have one ON PAPER, they are no good in your head.
  • The plan will at LEAST set out the goals you have for the amount of sales, the way the business will run (management) and the marketing.
  • Because planning needs to have goals set, find easy ways to make goals work (the SMART system works well.)
  • Make the plan usable, and make it the FIRST thing you turn to when you need to have an answer.
  • Use a calender a 12 month one even if it’s a photo copy of a 12 month diary page, it’s better than nothing. Then write in all the things that will happen from start up day.
  • Check out a bookkeeper to handle the accounts do you can focus on your business and running it right. Learn the bookkeeping terms and how they effect you. If you plan to do your own books, make sure with your accountant this is the best way to do things. Some will not accept your input of the info and prefer a bookkeeper (a professional) do it for you. (accuracy counts.)

There is a starting point for for your business preparation. I hope it makes things easier for your business planning phase.

What support do I need?

Nov 27

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchising, Growth, People!, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

It can be surprising how much support a business can require. Even if you look at the basics of Marketing, management and operational issues and the sub headings under each, then you would have to be highly skilled to be able to do all of them, so some support can go a long way!

Most males will try to doggedly forge on independently (and don’t say you won’t!) thinking they know best… But when push comes to shove there is a lot of expertise that can be obtained if you ask for support.

In a small business it might be having a partner do the books, working closely with your accountant, working with a business coach to build marketing plans. In the larger business it might be hiring a person or company to look after your an area of the business like marketing or sales, the more time goes on, the more of your business you should be able to hand over to these types of support services.

Support can come in the simplest form and often that can be the most powerful. I was chatting with a tradesman the other day who mentioned his business support. “My teenage kids have been trained to sort a few things out when I get home at the end of a long day. My boy sorts the junk out in the front of my vehicle, clearing the rubbish from a day on the run, he gathers the receipts up in a small folder and takes them into my daughter who we have taught to input the info into the accounting software. It frees me up to unwind at the end of the day, once a month we have a clean out session of the vehicle and I pay the kids for the duties they perform.”

A great way to get things happening I thought, simple straight forward and results driven.

Take a Look at your business and ask, what support do I need and what support would be useful, then start handing over the things that fit to this criteria. Only then will you truly have a business that gives you the lifestyle you have taken risks for.

How vital is your business success?

Nov 26

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

You do what you do in business because… it pays the bills, it fulfills a lifelong dream, it gives you the lifestyle you want, it gives you something to do where you are the boss. The list can probably go on. and on… but in all of this reasoning is it vital to you that your business succeeds?

Many will say “well its  important to me, but vital? I’m not sure…”

So how will you figure out if it’s vital to you?

Lets try this, can you do without it? If the business was taken from you, would you feel the loss badly? and is the loss likely to be short or long term?

I guess if it’s a long term sense of loss then it is vital to you.

Now let’s think about the success of the business and its link to that vitality. Success in this sense being, “working towards any worthwhile goal” so it would relate to the goals set in the business and the ability for you and your team to achieve them.

Therefore…

  • Make sure your team has the right resources at its disposal to do the job at hand to make the goals come to fruition.
  • Invest in the training of you and your people so you can all grow with the business.
  • Explore lots of creative and innovative ways to make your business and the teams stretch so you can all know you put in a top effort to find more ways to succeed other than the ‘normal range’ of options.

There will be many things you will discover about the vitality of your business when you start to look, so may I suggest  you start looking today.

Who are you supporting?

Nov 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning | No Comments

In the crazy mixed up world of business we can often forget why we are in business… of course it’s to make a profit but what kind? is it just money or are there other profits to be had?

Other profits might include

• People learning more and benefitting society by utilising their new found skills and abilities.
• Suppliers to your business having to grow their business because your business provides them with the need to create more product due to increased sales on your behalf.
• Local community growth due to your business providing increased capacity for the local community to spend and earn.
• More community support due to your business providing executives on loan to not for profit groups.

I am sure there are many more ways you are supporting the community and those near and dear to you, often I find businesses that realise their impact is so vast they start to smile a lot wider, and get a warm feeling in their heart. It’s not just the cash, its the wider community benefits as well.

You may not plan for it or you might want to plan for it… Either way when it happens it makes the whole idea of business take on a fresh new meaning.

Two steps forward two steps back… or where did the money go?

Nov 20

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Growth, Planning | 2 Comments

The accountant chatted about the year that was, big deal it had happened, he mentioned a few down points in the year (a few too many for my liking…) but my trouble was I was focusing on short term here and now, not longer term way back when…

So I was on the up and up and he was on the ‘old stuff’ and there was a big difference. It made me flat for a while and in thinking about it there’s nothing I can do about it, it’s history.

Question… how often do you focus on the past only to miss the present, or the future for that matter?

Perhaps it happens too often.

So what can be done…

1. Keep the review times short – our accountant is talking about things six months ago that we knew about and have moved on from there.

2. Follow the plan – No plan no action – No goals no milestones.

3. Work smarter – The way forward may well need to seem like a backward step sometimes so you can move forward, put some serious effort into thinking things through and testing the various scenarios out BEFORE going head long into things.

4. Know your expectations might provide limitations too – Some times I expect gold medal performances from other people or organisations and am disappointed by the results (or lack of them…) Be clear in what you want and make sure they can match to that.

Until next time, keep your business real…

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