Battling the Lulls – Unplug & Recharge

In a time where negative media has stood it’s ground in our televisions and internet outlets, you have to unplug yourself from the negative hype and understand that there is still a whole world out there of working, successful people that are still making a difference.

Companies are surrounded by bad media, low sales, and no growth but that is not the case for everyone. One of my personal attributes (or flaws – however you look at it) is that I look at the glass always half full of champagne. It’s not to say I don’t have my bad days, because I could actually count yesterday as one. But it’s the can do attitude to get back up and succeed.

Another challenge businesses face is the seasonal lulls. So not only do you have the recession, now you have the winter that’s going to cut into the warm industry companies, or you will probably see home sales decline even farther because who wants to go house shopping in the rain?

So how do you battle theses lulls? Here are a few suggestions that have worked well for me and for my clients when they need a little pep talk.

1. Re-Focus:

Business owners have a tendency to just go, go, go. Once you’re in a lull, you still go, go, go but at a different pace and possibly with narrow minded focus. Take a step back. Remove yourself from the workplace for an afternoon and do some much needed brainstorming for your company.

What new clients or customers are out there that you haven’t attracted yet? What venues are they at?

Are my fee structures relevant to today’s time? Possibly establish a secondary fee structure to attract lower-end clients that are very cost conscious during this time. I’ve seen this work well for high end clients. Even setting up a second website linked to your primary one can serve as an additional revenue source.

Maybe it’s time to send a direct mail piece or email to all in your contact list, just to remind them that you’re still out there and available for them. Repeat business is great business. Remind your customers you’re out there alive and kicking.

It won’t take long before all the thoughts start flowing. Whenever I work with my clients, all I really have to do is pose some thought provoking question and a sea of thoughts and ideas flow out. Sometimes we just don’t have the opportunity or outlet to get these ideas out from our subconscious or conscious mind. Get them down on paper and get them out from the back of your head. You will probably find you’ve got a lot of good stuff up there.

2. Re-tool

Maybe it’s time to take a couple days to improve some of your internal structure. You have a few things that you’ve wanted to improve and once you accomplish this you will feel productive and motivated to share what you’ve improved upon. Some items to take a look at:

Updating website content and other media outlets. What has our company accomplished since the last time this was updated? What have we expanded on?

How can I improve my customer management and follow up system? For the service industries, maybe set up a brand new client welcome package and a follow up, and final thank you for business system to keep your company name present.

Set new forecasting goals for your company i.e. sales, cost reductions, equipment purchases. It’s the accountant in me speaking here, but this can help you reach some great goals for your company. Put some assumptions together for sales and ways to reduce cost. Modify your forecast as you go along. It’s ok that you don’t reach each and every target, but it’s important to have a goal to strive for rather than working aimlessly.

3. Stay Positive

This is much easier said than done for some, but it really can help you get through tough times for your company. Unplug from media for a day and do something to feed your soul.

For the extroverts: get out and go to more networking events. The energy you receive from people you meet will go a long way and provide a support system.

Be active. Exercise, go for a bike ride, do yoga, go skiing…these activities that get the endorphins running will help clear your mind of the clutter and give you a fresh perspective on things. Get a routing going here. Whether it’s 3, 5, or 7 times a week, pick something and stick to it.

Read a book or magazine that is focused in your industry. This will provide knowledge, that maybe you have not heard about in your field, as well as motivation to try new things you’ve learned.

Reach out to your support system. Friends, families, and spouses are some of the best people in your life. Spend some time with them and discuss work, life and anything else. This will ease some stress by being able to talk to someone about life.

Make a “feed your soul” list and whenever you have a moment where you need to “get right” pick one and do it.

All in all, it’s really up to the strength you have inside as a business owner. Stay positive and stay focused on the priorities and you will get through your lulls in one piece.

Being Effective, Efficient & Eliminating Time Wasters

Being effective and efficient is a learned management skill that can be taught, but some hands on intense CPA and corporate training was enough for me to gather some much valued gems for the future. In the corporate arena process and procedures are a necessity in order to have proper workflow and production. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does it promotes great progress and morale.

For the small business owner the organizational structure is dependent on the leader and the few people involved. Many small business owners run their business just how it sounds, like a small business. Taking the time to build some structure to become effective and finding ways to eliminate time wasters can be key turning point in productivity.

There are plenty of external as well as internal variables that can distract and eat up time that could be devoted to marketing, business development, or client work. It’s important to identify ways to become effective and eliminate items that bog you down. Here are some helpful guidelines to accomplish this.

1. Plan, plan, plan, then prioritize.

This places targets on the board for you. Why drift along working aimlessly from one thing to another. Bring some value to the table by planning and prioritizing how to execute.

Some use the A, B, C system. By labeling all the most important items as A’s, the not so time sensitive items as B’s and the low priority items as C’s you can begin to group the items into categories and focus on what’s most important.

This will begin to add focus to your days which will harvest momentum in your productivity. A good goal is to try to become productive so much that you have left over time or even half a day to spend with your family or on the golf course.

2. Stay Organized

When you’re working on something and you’ve got food on your desk, the newspaper, other projects and items that need to be filed, how the heck do you intend to be effective?

When it’s time to find something that you or a client needs it should be at your fingertips, not under a pile, in your car, or in some other folder you can not find.

Keep the clutter away by investing the time.  Even a simple 5 – 15 minutes a day to stay clutter free. Clean working space = clean mind to focus.

3. Make time for yourself.

You need to step back, evaluate and re-energise yourself in order to be effective. By working smarter, not harder you see your energies go a lot further. Invest the time to strategize about your company and how you operate as a business owner and you will see a return on that investment.

One thing I advise, take a break, make sure to take time to clear your head. Separate yourself from work. This is difficult as a entrepreneur or small business owner, but very important for a work/life balance.

4. Delegate

If you have the help, use it! If you have a tough time letting go of things then delegate all the small things. Don’t waste your time micro-managing, because it would be just as inefficient as not delegating. For those of you that have managing down to a form, delegate a few big things, this will pull some stress off those shoulders.

5. Stop Procrastination

GET IT DONE, it’s really that simple. Stop thinking and worrying about the things you need to do, and do them. “Get it done” should be your new mantra. Whether you have taken the time to plan, or not, productivity is important for a business owner, being stagnant is the enemy.

If you’re a chronic procrastinator, this blog post is not for you, the aisle in the self help section of the bookstore is, eliminate the bad habit!

6. Interruptions.

Telephone

Email

Internet & Social Media

Emails and phone calls, or that notification on your facebook page will easily interrupt your workday. The consequences is the lack of momentum that you build to accomplish the tasks of your day.

When you have a big project, or you’re having a difficult time focusing that day, turn the phone on silent and put it away, shut down email for an hour and plug along. Those minor interruptions add up fast and those stolen 10 minutes total up in hours at the end of the day.

7. Inefficient Meetings

Make the meeting specific, effective and efficient. New Client or new one on one meetings should be no more than one hour unless you just met your new best friend. Other than that, keep it moving. Rather than one long meeting, meet them on a recurring basis to develop the relationship further.

8. You can say “No”

Sometimes there are just too many meetings and you actually need to get some work done. Say no or reschedule till a better time. Same goes for great networking events. The goal here is to know your priorities and letting go of the items that are not going to provide much value right now.

Being consistent with these habits will lead to greater satisfaction in your work as well as lead to more opportunities to improve, expand and develop your business greater.

Workforce Planning

“Workforce planning is the process of placing the right number of people with the right skills, experiences, and competencies in the right jobs at the right time.”

One very valuable piece of information I’ve learned in the corporate world is that people are the greatest asset of your company and can make your work life phenomenal or very challenging. Establishing the correct organizational structure for your company and industry from the beginning can make a difference in how you are able to lead your company and how your company is able to lead within it’s industry.

If you have to spend time micro-managing and correcting or overseeing various tasks that are the responsibilities of others, this will take time away of business you could be obtaining or advancements in the company model that you’re focusing on.

Establish business goals through a business plan and align your workforce or future hires accordingly. Performing an annual, quarterly or monthly review depending on your growth rate, and you will be able to manage the team your building and put together a workforce that is geared to succeed with you.

Start with your department heads. Here’s some insight into some first hires:

Considering I have a very heavy Accounting background, I have to say, one of the first hires I typically recommend to put on the payroll is a Marketing Director. For starters, they typically have a great energy and are very positive. The marketing tasks of a start up, or a small business are immense. The offline and online strategy is extremely time consuming so you need someone strong to get those tasks off the ground or at least someone to split those responsibilities with if you’re just starting out. Another thing, is that marketing heavily will get you exposure and eventually the sales your looking for.

Now the rest are in no particular order, but all have their importance in your workforce. A common area that is overlooked by business owners is the financial aspect. As long as owners have some money to live, and can pay for marketing they’re fine. But in reality some in-depth forecasting and financial objectives should be put in place. In order to do so, you will need to find yourself a great accountant. One of the good things about this position, is that it can be outsourced for a period of time. When starting out, there isn’t a lot of transactional activity, so you do not need someone on a daily basis.

For product development, the Creative Director is typically the owner. He or she has the vision of the product or service. But after a period of time, the business owner will find that there will a number of items to review, approve and to execute on and that product development might have to be handed off to someone that can truly focus on this task. This role has a slightly emotional aspect to it because it is the heart of your company, so choose someone that understands you and your vision.

Operations Management is another very key role. Supreme management skills are needed here as well as organizational skills. I can’t say that industry experience is a must because as operations managers go, the skill sets are identical across the board, leadership, strong management skills and forward looking perspectives. For the higher Director and VP positions, yes, I would say industry experience would be more important to eliminate the time allotted for the learning curve.

Administrative help will probably allow you to get more sleep at night. A strong administrative person to manage the day to day meetings, schedules, and communications will not only relieve you of the tasks but unknowingly become a support system for you as well.

One of the best tools is to draw up an organizational chart for your company. This paints a clear picture of your staff. After doing so, make sure that the responsibilities are clear for all staff members, this will eliminate any confusion or mishap under stressful situations. There are plenty of templates out there to make this easy: Microsoft.com; Vertex42.com have a few to choose from.

One thing I will harp about, is don’t hire your friends just because they need a job. If you’ve got a friend that has been a successful executive or an expert in their field and you know they have a strong work ethic, then yes, go for it. But if you’ve got a friend out of work, floating between jobs please think twice about it. There’s always an option for a temporary hire, but once they’re in, it may be hard to replace them. Conflict in the workplace between friends can have a long term affect on a friendship.

A few things to leave you with: 1) constantly assess, like I mentioned above, review annually, quarterly, and monthly depending on your growth rate. 2) Pick your department heads carefully as they will shape the culture of your team, and 3) be a positive leader for your company. Great leadership will harness great rewards.

Update Your Media Outlets

After speaking with a highly successful and experienced marketer yesterday he reinforced a few items I’ve been targeting to do lately. Update my website, update my bio on various places, and of course, update my blog….Which brings me to this topic of staying up to date – or updates!

I’ve talked with several affiliates that I work with and they’ve been guilty of doing some of the things I have done. For instance, in the past, getting a website up as fast as possible to be able to have an online presence. Or establishing a blog just for the sake of establishing a blog and driving traffic to your website and ultimately to you. With the focus on just getting it done, the quality of the content will not be as effective as it could be and the connection to the reader is lost.

What I’ve been able to focus on lately is going back to my website and social media outlets and fine tuning the content. One tip given to me by the Marketing expert I spoke to is to take a look at your website and ask “what can this person do for me?” I still find it challenging to truly explain what I do because my services are so broad. But as I start this process, I begin to realize, that there really is some significant content to update. There’s the basic, “let’s just make this sound better because it’s pretty dang weak.” There’s the fact that “what can this person do for me?” has not been answered. Then there’s the fact that you have simply accomplished more since the last time you posted the content.

In this world of online ADHD, people are over stimulated and easily distracted. In the SEO world one of the goals is to point people to your website over and over, but if you’re going to do that it’s important that your content is not stale and outdated. While speaking to an SEO expert last week, he loosely mentioned, that the website should always be changing…that little tidbit of info will go a long way. By keeping your medias evolving, you’re doing your best to stay up to pace with the whizzing online world.

Women on Course

On Tuesday, September 21st, I attended a fantastic women’s networking group. It’s not your typical Mary Kay, Cookie Lee, and crafts networking event (no offense ladies, that stuff is great) it’s professionals out to do business and to play some golf.

Held at Coto De Caza Golf and Raquet Club, the Women on Course group put on quite a successful event. The event started off with a light mixer and a LPGA golf pro speaker who was also out on the course for clinics in the afternoon, followed by a fitness expert speaker showing specific workouts tailored to golf. Once the speakers concluded we were off to the greens. Three different groups were available, 1 a clinic of lessons, 2  a lesson with a few holes to play and 3 a nine hole scramble (which I played)

The group that I was teamed up with was perfect, Jan who I’ve played with before is always fun to play with and two women from Newport Beach rounded out our foursome and I enjoyed getting to know them as well. It was a gorgeous day and although I wish I played better I hit a good amount of drives, chip shots and putts that I can be proud of.

On the networking side of things, I have to say it’s an excellent group. Great mix of attorneys, designers, CPAs and marketing professionals. On the social side of things, it was equally great. After all the golf was to be had, free flowing wine sponsored my Mirassou, delicious cheese croquets, seared ahi on toasted crisps and chicken skewers in pineapples hit the spot. I had two mini plates but could easily have put away four.

I have to give this event two thumbs up and will definitely be attending the next event. For more info visit their website: http://www.womenoncourse.com.

Networking….a few tips

In the state of the current economy networking events have seen an increase in attendance. Small businesses are looking for consistent referral sources as well as a support group for one another to lean on to get through the downturn of our economy.

Aside from the obvious benefits of networking and marketing your company, there are positives for the individual business owner. For one thing it gets you out of your office or home and out talking to people about your company, giving your company some exposure with a face to it. The connections made with a face to face occurrence will be much stronger than an email introduction.

Also, networking groups really give you some ground floor information as to what’s going on around your community. Various industries are represented and their successes and challenges are shared in presentations and conversations.

Lately I’ve been on an Orange County networking tour, visiting groups in the area. Here are a few tips that I’d like to share that have worked well for me:

• Prepare for the event:
  • Know your elevator pitch inside and out, you will be asked a dozen times what do you do, so practice, practice, practice. You don’t want to stutter through it, the confidence you exude will go a long way
  • This may sound elementary but bring your business cards and don’t be shy about giving them out. I still run into the person that has “run out of cards” or “forgot them” which doesn’t present well in a world of veteran networkers.
  • Make sure you’re registered for the event or contact the president of the group to let them know you’re attending and get some info on the format of the event so you know what to expect.
• At the event
  • Be open and receptive, by doing so I’ve found that people naturally come up to you and begin to ask what you do.
  • Know your targets. For me some of my personal targets are CPAs, attorneys and business brokers. They prove to be a great resource of info for what I do as well as great referral sources.
• After the event
  • Follow up with those you made great connections with quickly.
  • A possible great referral source or someone you could refer business too. (don’t underestimate good ol Karma)
  • A great resource for what you do
  • Someone that you know would be a great connection with a colleague or friend of yours.
  • Someone that you just naturally connected with and have a few things in common, whether it’s business related or not.

The connections you make can be quite long lasting so be positive, put out a good energy, present well and you should be able to leave the event feeling productive and satisfied.

Build a Strong Foundation

Have you dreamed of having your own company? In this era of plentiful layoffs and unsatisfied employees, people are not content in their current positions and the dreams of running your own business and “living the dream” are abundant.

So what do you do if you truly have an idea and want to run your own company? Well, first let me tell you, it’s a lot of work. I’ve started a few companies myself and have helped a few start ups launch. But if you’ve got the passion and drive and feel it’s the right time then ask yourself some questions.

• What do you want to do?
• What do you enjoy?
• What are you good at?
• What skills do you have from past jobs that can contribute to your future
• Is it relevant to today’s economy?
• Is there a need for it in the market?
• Who are the major players?

It may take a few attempts to truly find the right niche and company for you, but stick to it. Once you do have the idea it’s time to build a company and become a business owner. There will be many administrative detailed tasks to get started, but here are some high level starting points to build the foundation.

• Prepare a business plan. This can be a long and grueling process, but for start ups this process can force a business owner to think about alternatives and variables that one normally would not explore. Business plans are used to obtain funding, but they’re also designed to take a strong look at a company, which larger companies do annually. The plan enables the business owner to look at their business model, competition, and financial projections. There are tons of business plan templates online, but there are also some great business plan interactive books that will help get you through the task. Bplan.com and planmagic.com are a couple websites that have business plan templates by category and industry. For a very basic template to get the thoughts down you can visit ViralVentures for a pdf version.
• Product or Service Development. Spend time researching the best way to produce your product or the service you will be providing. Look to the experts in the field or the major players with large market share, they’re obviously doing something right. In time your product or service will have an opportunity to speak for itself, make sure it speaks well.
• Prepare a Marketing and Sales Strategy. You’ve now got a business plan, a well developed product or service, now it’s time to spread the word and get some sales. Put together an online and offline sales strategy to spread the word about your company and it’s service or product. Take advantage of social media networks, networking events and if you can afford it, an advertising campaign.

These tasks will begin to shape the way you manage as a business owner and your company will begin to take form. You will experience challenges as well as excitement throughout the process, it will be important to stay focused but also important to do the things that make you relax and enjoy life, during this time.  Doing so will breed a relaxed mind frame and will allow ideas to flow freely. Start out with a strong foundation and your company will be well structured for future bumps, curves, and success.

Stay Connected to your Accounting

There’s always the small business owner, with great talent and great vision for their company but zero interest in their bookkeeping and accounting. Unfortunately, I’ve seen companies having to close their doors, because their financials were neglected for so long that they were no longer recoverable.

It’s fundamentals people.

So how can a business owner stay connected to their accounting? In the simplest form, hire a bookkeeper. By doing so, the stress if off your shoulders and the income and expenses are nolonger neglected. The bookkeeper needs to be trustworthy and efficient. You don’t want the bookkeeper that’s just learning your software and entering items in at turtle speed. So do your homework in looking for a good one. Depending on the company volume, establish a weekly or monthly routine and stick to it.

For the progressive business owner that’s willing to tackle it himself, have as many possible things automated. Use the company card for all business transactions and accept credit cards and wire transfers for payments. Simply perform a weekly download from your bank into an accounting software, classify the transactions by client or project and the software will do the rest.

Getting the info in is vital, but if you want to get ahead and position your company for the future, the next step is essential. Let the reporting process begin. Most accounting softwares will have reports ready for you to analyze, but you can also customize your reports to show your key points in spending, revenue and forecasting. See where your money is going and where it’s coming from. You will start to become muchmore aware when you’re making that next purchase or presenting trying to get that next big client.

Now, for the rewards, by routinelyanalyzing your company’s performance you can begin to position for newpurchases for your store, look to expand into new products, hire a helpinghand, or give your employees a little company retreat. You can also now giveyourself a pat on the back for being a truly sound business owner.

Get Organized & Stay Focused

For small businesses and start ups, I typically see that business owners have ten things to do in about ten different areas of their business…”I need to do some online and offline marketing…I need to get that new machine, product or service to make my job easier and better…I need to see where I stand in my accounting…I need to get 3 client deadlines out today!”

For some business owners, you wake up and go. You start to work on the first thing that you feel is most important that day. Then you may get a call, surf the net for a business need or idea, go to lunch, and end up back at the first thing you started that day and now it’s the end of the day.

I have three things to recommend for you business owners where these scenarios sound all too familiar:

1.   Set goals for your days or weeks that touches on different aspects of your company, i.e. customer service, accounting, marketing, administrative or operations. It doesn’t have to be all of them each week or each day. You can rotate them throughout the month. But by keeping all aspects of your business present on your goals list you start to develop a well rounded company.

2.   Find a planning tool that works for you. It can be an online task list you can access from anywhere, a white board, a word document, or one sheet of paper.  It really depends on the easiest method for you

3.   Now the vital part, stick to a routine. Once the plan is set in place for the day, week or month, stick to it! If you need to add tasks to it, go right ahead, do not start a new task list, this is unnecessary administrative time that can be spent elsewhere. Update your task list daily or weekly depending on which routine you have chosen.

Take the time to stay organized. It will help you stay focused and productive. You will finish your days feeling more accomplished, and you will be able to attend to areas of your business that are typically neglected. In time, you will develop a stronger and more efficient company.