In my last post, I explained the different mindsets a business owner needs and the systems that need to be in place to achieve the most from your business. Now I will discuss solutions to help those business owners who are frustrated and about to give up on their business, or want to sell it because it’s been more of a headache and heartache, then they expected.
There are three levels to make your business work smoothly. They are outlined below and discussed more in depth. Continue reading
Do you have an employee who won’t ‘do the work’?
Use your 1 on 1 meetings to address the fact that despite initial enthusiasm and agreement to complete a given task, they fail to deliver – and so experience few or poor results.
This is frustrating for you and for them. To the point where you become totally frustrated and begin doubting your own management abilities. This is not helpful to either the manager or the direct report.
Here are five steps to help you through this situation if it is a recurring one – or even if it’s not. Continue reading
Finding the disadvantage dollar in your business.
Continuing on from last week discussing your disadvantage dollar. A refresher on what that is… It’s the money your business is missing out on through all sorts of channels and avenues. Sometimes it’s things that are costing your business money.
Last week, I shared an example of a business that was having problems with staff time and approach to work. This week, I’ll talk about a business that was missing quotes (resulting in missed business), and one which had mistakes made too often that were causing stress or overtime on the part of the owner and causing him/her to miss out on things like valuable family time. Continue reading
Most business owners are not aware of the places their businesses are ‘leaking’ money. Sometimes real, sometimes in other forms such as lost or missed opportunities, inefficient use of time and other resources and ongoing frustrations that seem constant.
More often than not, these frustrations are dismissed with a shrug as ‘just a part of running a business’. Until the day you decide to measure what it is actually costing you. Better sooner rather than later.
The good news is that once you look into these you can generally uncover the cause, and the higher the cost to you or the business, the sooner you want to address it.
In almost every case of when a business is leaking money, it will be because of a missing system. Continue reading
Last week, I discussed spotting, or identifying, the problem or problems. This week, I conclude with identifying what is causing the breakdown and showing why the system approach to problem solving is the best solution.
Now it’s time to check on the cause of the breakdown. We check in on a number of areas. The system, the resources, the conditions.
The questions to ask are:
Is, or was there, an existing system? As in, a documented system that needs adjusting. Every business runs on systems. However, most of them in most businesses are informal. What I mean by a formal system is one that’s documented. There is actually a documented way of doing this.
If there was a system in place, is it written down, or is it in people’s heads? Is it the actual steps of the system, the timing or the standards?
Does the system have the right resources that it needs to produce the results and meet the standards? Resources could be money, time, information, equipment, staffing, supplies, or facilities. Continue reading
