Its all about business.

Archive for category Starting out in business

Their vision v’s your vision…

Aug 22

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

How about this, an organisation has the following core values as part of it’s vision.

  • Responsibility and Leadership
  • Achievement and Excellence
  • Citizenship and Community
  • Initiative and Commitment

Sounds great, things to aspire to… one problem they don’t do it, well not all of it, here are some points…

  • Staff are failing to take responsibility, citing they do not have the resources to do their jobs fully.
  • Leadership is lacking, no one sure as to who they should follow or what they should do… whose roles is who’s and where do the ‘borders’ stop.
  • Excellence… again resources or the lack of them are cited as an issue… Systemic issues are cited… not enough time… not enough support…
  • Initiative and commitment… A stakeholder took initiative and they basically shunned it, the same stakeholder is working with another stakeholder to build commitment… guess what shunned again.

Not much left except for the third point and they probably have issues with that too…

The vision statement goes on to make a lot of claims about excellence in the provision of service etc… It’s all interesting but they are failing at it. My view, they are failing to hold up the core values and use them as a solid foundation to work from, instead it has become a blame game.

Here’s the irony if you like, this organisation is a school.

A bit deeper look will show that it’s not a simple organisation as there are various stakeholders, parents and students, teachers and admin/managerial staff, so the connections between each, if tenuous, can create a nightmare approach to communication, who said what, when, why, how and so on.

I would love to share the details but the story still has depth despite names and specific issues, but basically a parent supporting their child to achieve, have a commitment, and be accountable has come across some barriers in being able to make this happen.

The big point here is that a symbol has been created (the vision statement with core values) but not followed or fully utilised. I suggest the school (or any organisation for that matter) could alter this disasterous set of situations simply by making sure at every step that the foundation is used to build on, not to branch out from with tenuous connections.

Learning opportunity, if you have a foundation to work from, your role as a business operator, principal, teacher, owner operator, director or whatever. Do your best to work with that foundation, in this case the foundation extols excellence as a hallmark and so it should, but to have a range of stakeholders pointing at each other blaming and shaming, then the end result is far from excellent. By the way, you can “rest assured” the parent is sticking to their guns and will be holding the school accountable to their foundation or core values and hopefully the end results will be worth the rigour and affront.

500 fail…

Aug 21

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

In our local area, the media are reporting that 500 businesses have failed during 2006.

Even if half of that is true it’s too many, some might be secondary businesses that are operated by a family or an off shoot of a group of investors. Some might be moves to new locations, others could be re branding, or upgrades from sole trader to Pty Ltd etc… Any way you look at it however, in a community of 200,000 people there are still a lot of out and out failures.

In a world of readily available information, of resources to assist people, of courses on business etc, etc. We still have failures.

Imagine if each of the 250 (half the reported number) lost $20,000 each that’s $5,000,000! that’s too much in personal pain for me to contemplate. Lets face it, it would not be difficult to lose that amount in shop fittings, advertising that failed, paying out staff, the list goes on.

I hope the number of failures is a lost less than that, but in the cold hard light of day any failures are bad news.

Lesson 1. Do your homework, lesson 2… Get great information on how to build a robust business and keep it that way! Lesson 3… Just because there is an empty shop, factory or warehouse, does not mean there is automatically capacity for another business to fill that space

Source: Geelong News Aug 20 2008 Page 5.

biz fail rate

The important parts of business

Aug 4

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | 2 Comments

In the “game of business” it would pay to know about the important things, what they are. To me my list is fairly short. To you they might be different altogether.

  1. Product and or service – You better have something of value to offer or they won’t buy.
  2. Leverage – Your time, you work hard, then over time you create a business system that leaves you out of it so others can do it for you, you get the big rewards for the risk taking.
  3. Leverage – Your money, If you started with little or a lot you want to end up with more.
  4. Leverage – Your passion/ideas, You want to get into business perhaps because you have a passion, it may have started as a hobby or an insight into a possible business and now it has you in a tight vice like grip, and as time goes on it becomes even more compelling. So use it to your advantage and let the passion provide the energy drive to motivate you to make it work.
  5. leverage – People. Just because you have an idea or passion doesn’t mean it can’t be improved on, so utilise others to either work directly with you or to gain more information from to make your product/service all they can be. People are the soft resources that make the hard resources a reality.
  6. Systems – At first they might be crude systems to get you going, but over time these should evolve into more elegant devices to make a positive difference (save time, save money, improve health and safety).
  7. Get creative – Note I did not say “Innovate”… Creativity can assist with problem solving and give your business the edge, there are lots of ways to do it. Having an idea is just the beginning, getting things to evolve into practical outcomes might take some harder work, that’s where other practical problem solving might come into the equation.

There that’s a start… do you have any other points to add?

Why do I need to lead?

Jul 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Leadership, Personal Development, Starting out in business | No Comments

“Leadership, why do I need leadership skills?” This is a question I get asked often. So  in quick response to that I often come out with… “Oh you need this for lots of reasons…” and then stumble through some of them… sometimes I even forget some of the gems.

Leadership why you need it.

If you are in business.

  • Who provides the direction for the team to follow?
  • You get asked to supervise or “manage” a team?
  • Who ensures the team have the resources they need to do their tasks well?
  • You want more from your current role and need to find a way forward.
  • Who gets and keeps the team focussed?
  • You can see things can be done more effectively but no one is “stepping up to the plate.”
  • Who keeps the red tape to a minimum for the team so they can do what they need to do?
  • An emergency situation arises and time is crucial, you either jump in and lead or sit back and wonder what might have happened.
  • Who goes into “bat” for a team member?
  • You are recognised as being great at what you do, and you are asked your opinion on issues, you can shy away or…
  • Who gets in and gives a hand?
  • You want to start a business and have the “skills” to do the tasks well, but you lack the drive to go the next step.
  • The boss is off sick with the flu, you could sit back and slack it out… or?
  • The value of businesses is shown to be higher when decent leadership is in place. (According to the Institute for Strategic Change, the “stock price of ‘well-led’ companies grew by over 900% over 10 years, compared with 74% for poorly led companies”.)
  • You deal with customers in a service capacity and not just as an order taker, and you want to deliver sterling results.
  • Who knows how to do all these things and more…

In general life

  • What if you get asked to be part of a committee for a club you are part of?
  • Who provides direction when you go out to dinner and decisions need to be made (which restaurant, which food style, which menu options…)
  • Who makes sure things happen in their right order for special events…
  • You want to get more out of the people you deal with on a daily basis and not end up repelling them with nagging in a bid to get results.
  • Who provides the direction for daily living to make it a great experience day in day out…
  • Who sits back and watches their children explore creative play options and steps in to provide direction when needed?
  • You want to boost your confidence and forge new ways forward in life.
  • You want to seek out fresh opportunities in the way you live your life.

Discovering you are living in a world loaded with challenges is sometimes difficult, and over time I have learnt there are some things you can do to make the challenges less of a hassle.  I hope the 7 Steps to Leadership Excellence program is able to give you the edge in this challenging world.

“In life there are opportunities to excel, or not… you get to choose.” Steve Gray

The “Ideal” business

Jul 11

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

If like myself and other business people I have come across you probably have thought about the ideal business and what it might be like.

Well here’s a list to get you started on thinking about it, feel free to add any points via the comments.

1. It provides value – The product or service is needed or highly wanted.

2. You can charge readily – For whatever you are offering you know the price is good and you feel quite okay about how much you charge.

3. You make a profit – And that profit makes sure you can develop the business further and create a “device” that provides readily well into the future.

4. It has low overheads (costs) – You don’t want to wake up in a cold sweat wondering about when the next customer will buy… you want to wake up refreshed and happy in knowing the business is ticking along merrily.

5. Service – Value – Price – All of these are to a high standard, because you set it up that way! and you make sure it stays that way… Great service, Great value, Great price.

6. You know who to target to – Your customers are vital to your business and you can specifically pinpoint their characteristics and know how to get to them with your marketing.

7. You know how to target them – The customers are marketed to with ease and they respond readily.

8. Your plan works! – You have a plan that is written down and you pay attention to it, you follow it, you alter it to suit and you make sure things happen on time.

9. You have the funds to make sure it gets a great start – And that it can carry on past the “honeymoon period” If you want to last (and who doesn’t?) you will fund it properly right from the start.

10. You look after the M.O.M. P.E.C’s – this is the Marketing, Operations, Management, People, Operations and Culture of the business, If you don’t who will?

11. Research is constant – You check your competition and are easily a few steps ahead of them, you know why and how that is the case. Before you started you did some research into the viability of the idea you had.

There, that’s the list thus far, if you business has all of those then pat yourself on the back and keep on going! Remember becoming an overnight success can take some time to accomplish!

Did you have enough cash?

Jul 4

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Franchisees, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

When yo got started in business you probably didn’t figure on how much it would cost to get started, I guess no one really knows until they have done it. and for so many people in business they find they just don’e have enough to really cover their marketing costs to get a decent response.

There is an old saying that I think came out of the dot com crash… “Want to make a cool million in IT? Start with 2 million and wait 12 months…”

But seriously if you want your business to have its best chance of being seen, being heard, or just plain known…  then learn more about marketing so your business idea can reach more people than just  your family and friends.

Do you want business success?

Jun 12

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business | 1 Comment

Getting started in business is one thing, gaining success is another. Many of us will have seen and heard of people who have failed in business even though they felt they had a great business idea and the finances to put behind it to get started… So what went so wrong that it failed?

Lets look firstly at one possible factor, it is said that about 10% of society is motivated to achieve, and of that about 3 % are probably the ones with enough active risk taking motivation or drive to actually get started and see the business through to fruition.

So if you take 100 people and only 3% have the drive or motivation to be able to pull it off, then what happens next?

Out of that possible 3% there may be those that blindly go forth and try being in business and will flog it like a dead horse to try and get a result, even when all the money is gone or vanishing fast.

I guess it’s a time when the emotion of going into business takes over from the logic of it, and before long if there is no “balancer” the person starting the business can run off the rails with ease. Indeed the balancer may well be a person that “holds the purse strings”, figures out the budgets and projects forward when money can be spent.

The “business achiever” on the other hand will still come up with ideas and use their energy and enthusiasm to forge forward, but now within some reasonable constraints.

I figure without the emotional side being constrained by the logical side, all hell can break loose.

So here’s to better business, know your limitations, and balance things out, your long term success might well count on it!

What’s A Burned Business Bridge Smell Like?

May 29

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Growth, People!, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

The reason burning business bridges are so fatal is because when you burn a bridge … it releases no odor. That means, you can be burning business bridges all over town and never even know it — until it smacks you in the face later.

Here’s an example:

There is a woman with whom I’ve been attempting to establish a business relationship. We spoke over the course of a couple months at a monthly business expo. She expressed interest in my products and services and sent me her e-mail for some “ideas”

I followed up asking for a face to face or a phone conversation so I could get a better handle on her advertising and promotional needs, wants and desires. I called, left a message and e-mailed her. No response.

After seeing her again at the business expo, I wrote her a lengthy memo detailing some great, usable ideas. I hand delivered the memo to her in an envelope at the next business expo. Again, I followed up by e-mail and phone several times. No response.

Today, here name is in my e-mail in box. “Wow”, I thought as I opened the e-mail. “Wow” quickly became “ow”. I shook my head in disbelief. This woman, who can’t or won’t return my phone calls and e-mails, has the audacity to send me an impersonal, e-mail blast solicitation for a donation to her golf outing.

It’s not gonna happen.

I simply can’t get across that bridge she burned by not taking the time to, at the very least, tell me she’s not interested. Yes, by ignoring me she “told” me that. Bottom line is: Now she wants something from me and she’s not getting it.

Are you burning bridges by not responding to vendors? Are you burning bridges by being rude to people you deem as “unimportant”. If you want it to matter to me when it matters to you … treat me like I matter — even when I don’t.

This is the basis of effective networking — making people feel as though they matter … even if they don’t. Sometimes it’s as simple and easy as acknowledging them with a return phone call, a smile or a nod.

Burned business bridges emit no smell. On the other hand, those who burn bridges do.

Tags: ,

I’m thinking about going into business, should I?

May 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Franchisees, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

A friend and I were chatting, he is to be made redundant, and after many years in his role with a big multinational he stands to get a good pay out. He’s still got plenty of time as an able bodied worker and wants to work… But.

There have been a number of larger businesses fold up their operations locally and he’s not about to move out of the area. He could invest the money and watch it grow, his wife is still working a fair bit so that could be useful, but he would probably get bored (in fact I know he would…)

Doesn’t take long before his mind turns to business. “Hey Steve what do you recommend? One of those franchises or???” Well it’s like this it depends on what you want to do I thought.

It turns out someone had given him the hint that a franchise could be useful, I set him thinking by asking… “What do you currently earn per hour, and do you think you could earn that in a franchise, especially if there are people being put off work in the area…” It got him thinking.

But the temptation is there, to the untrained eye it could look okay, you get the system, you milk it and the planning side is partially done, the brand image is there? What more could you want? In all honesty a LOT more.

And here is where most people seem to go astray, they get emotionally wound up in the idea “Be my own boss? YEAH!” and the rest they say is history… It’s all very well for me to say “Go do your homework…” But what if you don’t know what to REALLY research?

So the short answer is to ask lots of questions, check out lots of options, and get savvy on the language, biz speak can be daunting for those not in the know.

In any business there are risks, so before you commit your funds find as many people as you can in that field then ask them lots of questions. In fact I suggest you get to more than 10 in any one group, and then more in other groups as well.

So do the due diligence, and make sure the full on emotional satisfaction you feel in the beginning is something that will last well into the future, just in case things go “belly up”.

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?

  • You are currently browsing the archives for the Starting out in business category.