Do You Have A Business Plan?

If you're a new entrepreneur, I have to ask: Do you have a business plan written? If you don't, I urge you to take time today to do just that. Why? I work with too many clients who don't have a business plan and they end up saying "yes" to every project, spreading themselves too thin and not charging enough for what they do. They eventually suffer burnout as well as having a bottom line that remains in the red.

I think a business plan and success go hand in hand. Here is what you need to have in yours, at a

minimum:

1. Your business's purpose aka mission and vision statement
2. The problem your business will solve for its clients
3. The solution you offer and how it differs from your competition 
4. What is the market you're targeting?
5. Who will be on your team and why? 
6. What is your financial model and how much do you want to make? 
7. Who can you work with as a mentor or who can you emulate that is a success in your niche? 

Take some time to at least get these basics down on paper. You can add to it as you go because your business plan should be a living, growing document. Do you need help with your business plan? Our team can provide assistance. 

Keep Your Workfoce Engaged

Do your employees have a ho-hum attitude about the work they perform for you? If you don't even know the answer to that question, then you need to make some time to spend it on the shop floor to see how engaged they are. Sure, they may act differently when "the boss" is on the floor, but in that case, spend some time to ask them, "How happy or engaged are you?" "What more could we do to make your workday better and you more productive?" You'd be surprised how happy your employees would be to know you were asking!

If you're in the start up phase and have to hire new employees, what steps can you take to hire and

keep an engaged workforce? Here are a few items to think about:

1. This should be a no-brainer, but you need to hire the "right" people. To do that you need to know what you expect of them and their specific roles. Don't try to fit the "perfect" person into a role just because he or she may seem perfect on paper. Hire to fill the role you need filled. 
2. Make sure your people are empowered to do their jobs. Sure there will be a training period, but once they've progressed past that timeframe let them do their jobs. Plain and simple. 
3. If your employees don't understand your business's mission and vision, how can they be expected to carry it out? 
4. Talk to them. Just as you talk with your upper management, you should talk to those on the shop floor as they are integral to your business's success. 
5. Offer feedback. Constructive criticism is welcomed by most people if it will help them do better at their jobs. Offer a criticism that also provides a way for them to improve. 

When is the last time you talked with your workforce to see how well they're doing and how happy they are? 

How Strong Is Your Business?

Monsoon season in Arizona takes hold in a month or so and it had me wondering what business owners do to weather storms -- both literal and figuratively. With the weather that has been striking across the nation -- hurricanes and tornadoes, floods, forest fires, earthquakes -- a business owner needs to have a contingency plan in place to deal with these events. Do you have one?

Do you wonder what could these weather events have to do with your business and its success or viability? Imagine this: A physical business location could be harmed by a storm if there is a flood,

fire or even loss of electricity.

Running a virtual business, such as my coaching business -- means I have to have access to Internet, electricity to run my computers and much more. I also need to make sure my computers and all of my systems are backed up in the event of a computer meltdown. It happens and if you don't have your systems backed up, you could lose your client lists, your inventory tracking and your invoicing systems. Could you recover?

Do you use cloud storage? Do you back up your computer systems to an offsite location regularly? If you back up weekly, have you considered what you might have lost during those previous six days?

There are myriad items that many business owners don't consider when thinking of whether they could weather a storm or a computer meltdown. If you want a walk through and an idea of what could be lost and how you can protect yourself, your business assets and your company's bottom line, give me a call!

Be Part Of The 'In' Crowd At Networking Events

Remember how you used to walk into the lunch room when you were in grade school or high school and wondered, "Who am I going to sit with?" Well, sometimes those feelings come back when you walk into a networking event. Unless you're the gregarious type, you may be faced with that tinge of panic that struck each day in the school lunch room.

What can you do to combat that? Here are a few networking how-tos I've gleaned:

• Have a plan in mind of how many people you want to meet at the event. If you know that, you will have a focus and a goal. 
• Get in touch with the event organizer and see if there is a Facebook group or other area in which attendees are gathering to "get to know" one another prior to the event. This is a great way for you to hone in on who you'd like to meet.  
• The event is not a place at which you will sell your widgets. The event should be looked at as a way to get to know potential clients. Once you meet someone, set up a time at a later date to get together to grab a coffee and see if you can work together. 

Remember, if you see someone standing alone, approach them. If you're in a group and you see someone wandering around, looking lost, invite them into your group -- they will thank you for it. 

Schedule Your Downtime

Guest post by Robbi Hess, All Words Matter 

Scheduling down time is a must for entrepreneurs. Why? Because if you don't, chances are the day -- or several days -- will get away from you and all you will have done is work. I realize that entrepreneurs need to work and need to be in the office, but they also need to step away and recharge

their batteries if they want to remain effective and healthy.

Here are some ways to schedule downtime into your business calendar to avoid burnout: 

•  Schedule time for lunch. You need to make a concerted effort to get away from work and the computer and eat your lunch. Schedule time during your lunch downtime to get in a short walk or even a bike ride. Your mental and physical health will suffer if you are sedentary every day, all day. 
• Take a vacation. Whether it's a weekend or a week long getaway, you need to do just that get away. When you plan a vacation, let your clients and your staff know that you're away and that you will have limited access to the Internet. Plan occasional check-ins. Know that if you've hired well your office will function in your brief absence. 
• Attend networking events of conferences. You need to interact with others in your industry and you need to keep up with the latest trends. Also, attending networking events or conferences just may help you grow your business. 

Do you have downtime scheduled into your calendar? 

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'Shark Tank' Business Lessons

Start-ups or long-term business owners might find themselves in the situation of having to approach investors for capital for their businesses -- this is a great position to be in, but it does require planning and forethought on the part of the entrepreneur. 

If you're meeting with potential investors you will need to have your "investor pitch" prepared. What

goes into an investor pitch? Here are a few items:

1. Stating your business premise and the clients you serve in a concise and clear manner. If you're stumbling for words, you haven't honed in on your ideal client yet and you need to do so. 
2. What are the potential flaws in your business plan? A flaw could encompass not having thought through who will manufacture your widgets, or how you will market, or not having a plan in place for growth and hiring of staff. 
3. How will you make money? Having passion for your business is ideal, but if it doesn't put money in the bank, you need to step back and consider how you will generate income. An investor won't want to invest if he isn't sure whether he will see a return. 

Are you ready for potential business growth? Do you have a written business plan? That will be a necessity when you meet with potential investors. 

Just Let Your Employees Do Their Jobs

Do you find that you're continually in hiring mode? Do you ever do exit interviews to find out why your people are leaving? It might be an eye-opening experience. You may find out that your employees are unhappy or unfulfilled or any number of other factors of dissatisfaction with their jobs in your company. While you may not be able to address all issues of dissatisfaction, there may be issues that you uncover that you can -- and likely should -- address if you want to keep any new hires.

In many studies it's found that employees are dissatisfied if they feel they are being micro-managed.

If you hired diligently you should have hired staff who are qualified to do the job for which they are hired and after a training period, let them do their jobs. If you don't want to lose your employees, consider changing these micromanaging traits:

1. Let them do their jobs. It's that simple. If your employees don't feel you appreciate their skills or respect their work ethic they will stop working. Plain and simple. 
2. Provide training so the employee understands the nuances of your firm and how it works, and then let them do the jobs for which they were hired. 
3. Make certain there are goals and expectations set that are reasonable and attainable. Benchmarks help everyone understand whether they are performing up to expectations and if not, you can address with them, why not. If they are meeting or exceeding expectations, then mention that. 

Do you have a lot of turn over? Are you wondering what you can do differently to keep your employees? Call me for an onsite evaluation. 

Who Is Your Ideal Client

My business model allows me to serve EVERYone. What? How can it possibly do that? Even McDonald's can't promise to be everything to everyone, and they certainly do try. If you're chasing every person, every business owner, every single opportunity you need to stop. You cannot be everything to everyone. You need to know who your ideal client is and then seek out that person or business. Having a focus on who your ideal client is will make you more productive and likely make you more sales.

Take some time to develop an ideal client persona, understand what problems he or she has and how

your services can address that -- that is who your ideal client is -- the one who will benefit the most from what you have to sell.

Here are tips to go into a deeper dive on creating a customer persona:

• What pain points does your service or goods address? Who are the clients who could benefit the most from having those pain points erased? 
• Visit your ideal clients, those who you believe would benefit from your goods or services. If you can see them in action you can see how your goods or services could fit into their daily work routines. Getting out of the office is a better way to network than to continually network through social media. 
• Write down the characteristics of your current clients and how they use your goods or services. If you already have an active client base, they are your best first source for building a client persona. 

Targeting your client base will help you be more productive and will help your bottom line better than chasing every client who comes along.

Tips To Being More Productive

Everyone wishes they had more hours in a day. If you were granted that, would you get more done or would you use those additional hours to spend more time on Facebook or LinkedIn or involved in some other activity that didn't further your business or your life?

Here are some tips that I share with my consulting clients to help them get more done in the office:

• Work on smaller tasks first. Finishing off ten small tasks will give you the momentum of having completed something and that will spur you onward to complete complex, larger tasks. 
• Before you leave the office at the end of the day, put together a to-do list for the following day. Knowing what your plan is for the day ahead will help you jump in as soon as you step foot in the office. Having a to-do list will keep you on task and will also offer you a way to track what you've completed. 
• Give yourself permission to take a break. Stepping away from your desk and even getting out of your office will give you a much needed respite and will help you come back to face work with a refreshed, relaxed attitude.  

I'd love to hear where your productivity problem areas are. Leave a comment below.

Is Fear Of Success Holding You Back?

Guest post by Social Wordsmith, Robbi Hess

When I work with clients on their writing projects I find that many of them are held back as much by procrastination as they are by the fear of success. What if they finish that book and have to promote it and themselves? Are they afraid of the "shameless self promotion" that comes with having written a book and having to be the focal point of attention. 

If you find that fears are holding you back from completing a project whether it's writing a book, picking up the phone to make a cold call or taking the steps necessary to propel your business toward

greater growth, here are my tips to help combat those fears:

1. Share your expertise and become a trusted resource in your industry. You can do this by blogging, sharing relevant content on social media and by speaking to industry groups. When you become the go-to person for your expertise, you will easily step out of your comfort zone. 
2. Your conversations shouldn't always resolve around, “what can I sell you today?” You should think about, "who can I serve today.”  This takes the fear of the sale out of your mind because if you believe in what you do and sell it should be easy to think about how your goods or services will help a potential client address a pain point. 
3. Spend time every day to count your blessings. Consider how many clients you have. Count up the contacts you've made. Reach out to current clients and say, "Thank you." Send a follow up thank you note to a prospect and thank them for having given you some of their precious time -- which all business owners know is a precious commodity. A heartfelt thank you can go a long way in helping you, and your business, grow.  

Don't let your fears hold you back from your successes. What are you afraid of? Share your comment below. 

Money Matters: Are You Getting Yours?

When is the last time you looked at your bottom line? Do you regularly check out the profit and loss statements from your business? You should. Why? Because if you're not charging enough or if you're paying too much for particular items now is the time to take the time to see if you're making money

and if not, why not?

Entrepreneurs seeking success and wealth can check these few items:

• Always be ethical. Define what success means to you and then assure that you’re seeking it ethically. 
• Demonstrate your benefit to your clients. Don't chance a client walking away from you just because they aren't quite clear on the benefits you offer. Understand what sets you apart. 
• Answer the questions your clients are asking -- whether to you personally or on social media. Be the go-to expert in your business niche, you will see your business income soar! 
• Stay current on industry trends and technology.  

What can you do to become more successful?

How To Improve Staff Accountability

If you're like many business owners you work with a virtual team. Let's face it, having your staff work from their home offices has been shown to improve productivity and you also save on having to rent office space and potentially increase your utility bills because of the need for more internet bandwidth among other on-site costs. 

Do you have accountability metrics in place for your staff? Prior to bringing on your first employee -

- or even contractor -- you will want to have policies and procedures in place as a way to measure success, hold employees accountable and make certain that client tasks are getting completed. Also, if your staff or contractors aren't clear on your standards how will they know if they’re not meeting them (or if they’re exceeding them!)?

How can you improve -- or set -- standards for accountability? First remember that all behavior starts at the top so you need to set the example you want your staff to follow. Here are other things you can do to hold staff accountable: 

Set Yourself Apart With Your Customer Service

I don't know about you, but I get annoyed with people who talk on their cell phones while in a checkout line. I also get a bit annoyed by the poor customer service delivered by many in the service industry. Perhaps the rudeness is a function of no one paying attention and therefore no one delivers good customer service. 

I can tell you though, as a business owner you need to set the standards high for yourself and for your employees on what you expect for the customer service they (and you) deliver. In the past when someone said they set themselves apart from the competition based on their level of customer service it was a cliche. It is no longer a cliche because too many business owners are providing shoddy service.

What can you do to be one of the business owners who sets himself apart from the crowd as it relates to the customer service your business delivers? Here are my ideas: 

1. Be that business owner who actually answers his phone. Don't screen your calls or have a caller navigate a phone menu. Answer the phone. It's as simple as that. 

The Power Of One More Item

Guest Post by Robbi Hess, Written Marketing Specialist at All Words Matter 

Some days when you look at your to-do list you might be stricken with analysis paralysis -- the "what should I do first when I have so many things to do?" What happens in many of those instances is that you do... nothing and your list continues to grow. That feeling may also strike when you want to grow your

business or your clientele but aren't sure where to start first.

How can you ward off analysis paralysis? What I tell my clients is that they can invoke the power of one. What that means is:

• Suggest an add on service to a current client -- just one. If they already like product or service A, why not talk to them about investing in product or service B or C. It's one way to enhance your sales path. 

Marketing On A Budget

Entrepreneurs need to look at where they're spending their money -- especially when they're first starting out. Budgets are usually tight and money can't be spent without planning and forethought. That being said, you do need to have a marketing plan in place or you won't be able to grow your business to the point where you can earn a living from it. 

What can you, as a new entrepreneur or an entrepreneur going through budget

constraints, do to market your wares? Here are some of my tips for marketing on a budget: 

• Get out of the office and have a face to face meeting. There is no better way to build a business than through a handshake and an in person meeting. 
• Word of mouth. Talk to current customers and ask them for referrals or testimonials. People want to do business with a known entity and if you are a known entity through a business connection, you will have an in. 

Profit Power Series: IT & Physical Security

What is the one thing more valuable than your manufactured product? 

Information is the most valuable commodity you have. It can be destroyed by accident. Or it can be stolen, then sold or used to ruin or steal from your company.  In addition, some folks hack computers for the simple joy of doing it.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

It happened to my company…
A number of years ago, we had a lighting strike right outside our building that burned out half of the communication ports on our PCs and dumb terminals. About $10,000 worth of damage and a real pain in the butt. After that, we isolated not only the power wires with surge protectors but also the communication wires that passed the low voltage back up through the system that caused the damage.

It happened to South Carolina…
A hacking of the South Carolina tax department lead to 3.8 Million records being stolen by a foreign entity that used some sort of phishing email to penetrate the system. A simple click on a dubious email and wham, you got a problem. Using a credit card at a department store like Target or a hardware store like Home Depot -- who both had recent hack attacks -- can lead to your identity

being stolen.

It could happen to your company…
Your employees can cause the problems by having weak passwords or by taking company records home on their own computers, tablets or phone. You are just a stolen car or lost equipment event away from a mad scurry to repair the damage. I just read that an eight-digit password made up of alphabet letters, symbols and numbers can be hacked in five hours or less by the computers out there today. The funny thing is that most of the hacking programs start with the obvious passwords like “password” or “12345678” or “myname1” and then they start with the brute force trial and error attacks.

And YOU could actually go to jail!
Almost all companies have:

1. Employee social security numbers
2. HIPAA (health information) data
3. Company proprietary information
4. Customer supplied information. 

All of this data must be secured either by law or by contract. Failure to secure this data can result in jail time and or large fines (for the SSN and HIPAA info) and possible loss of business in the case of the other two.

Two common mistakes…

1. Most companies believe that just because they have data that isn’t that attractive (to them) that they have little to worry about. WRONG!
2. To top it off, many companies make it all too easy to access their computers physically or do not isolate them from risk.

And three steps you can take now…

1. First, call me, David Senkfor, for a free one-hour on-site*(see below) visit and consultation and I’ll give you a report card that grades your company relative to the risk you are currently exposed to.  No obligation, no cost.  I’ll tell you what you need to do to protect your ‘corporate memory’, your company, your money and your reputation.  At no charge to you!
2. Check my website out for what you can do today to limit the risk and sleep better at night. Click on this link and get started now.  http://tinyurl.com/cbvvqxe
3. Check out our new "Exhaust Notes" video using the link under the picture of my 1967 Chevelle to the right. In this month's video, you'll come to understand why it is essential that you implement three simple solutions that can secure your information technology and physical plant.

What Leadership Traits Do You Possess?

Attention business owners: It's not enough to proclaim, "I want to own a business." You need to have myriad skills and strengths in order to lead and manage a company, whether you're a solopreneur or manage a staff of hundreds.

Do you have the leadership traits it takes to succeed? Here, at a minimum, are the traits I believe any

want-to-be business owner should possess:

• The ability to share your expertise with others
• The ability to articulate your business mission and vision
• The personality that allows for follow through on ideas as well as the creation of them
• The perseverance it takes to keep moving ahead even if you're faced with failure. Look at a failure as a chance to regroup and look at the process and start over
• Are you approachable and able to take constructive criticism, whether from a colleague, customer or coach? 

What do you have planned for your business this year? Do you need help honing your leadership skills?

Set 2015 Business Goals

Can you believe that the new year is almost two weeks old already? Wow! 

Before it moves forward any further, take time to evaluate your business and your business plan. Look at 2015 as a way to get an "out with the old, in with the new" mindset. 

Don't toss what worked last year, but do look at what didn't work with a critical eye. In fact, you may want to work with a business or manufacturing consultant -- someone who can look at your processes

with a fresh perspective and help you make 2015 the best year ever.

Before week three of the new year arrives, take time to look at the ways you're monitoring success: 

• Are your goals clearly defined? 
• Are your goals measurable and trackable, ie have you set performance indicators to your goals? 
• Are you using the correct tools and metrics to measure your goals? 
• Are you setting aside time to check in with the goals you've set and make sure you're on track? It's easier to correct course early in the process than to wait until the end of the year and realize that what you were doing wasn't working

If you need help with a course correct, give our office a call!

David Senkfor has 20-plus years of experience as an owner of a gear manufacturing facility in Northeastern Ohio. That experience gave him the opportunity to examine trends and practices that affect the gear industry in specific and the  manufacturing industry in general and allowed him to develop a clear business focus. He uses this manufacturing consultant focus to help companies seek new opportunities for business development, quality improvement and in crafting aggressive strategies to achieve competitive advantage.  No issue is too small to examine for improvement and optimization.

CEOs And Productivity

I found this great post and wanted to pass it along.

As business owners, we need to get myriad tasks done during the course of the day and here are some great tips on how CEOs work smarter every day.

What, from this list, could you add to your workday to help you be more productive?

Get Prospects To Call You Back

You met with a prospect and you felt like you hit it off. What gives with them not calling you back? Could it be your phone etiquette or when you're calling or the message you're leaving?

It could be any of those, so here are my tips for getting a call back:

• Don't call Mondy morning or Friday afternoon. Chance are you don't want to talk then and chances are, neither does your prospect. Mondays are typically catch-up time from the weekend and Friday is slowing down time. 
• Leave a clear message with your name, your number, the reason for your call and the action you're requesting,  ie...a call back, a meeting, etc.
• If you're cold calling but have a connection to the prospect, mention it, ie. "Jack from XYZ Company said I should give you a call because (fill in the blank that shows the relevance)."

Make the best use of your phone call time and give the prospect a reason to call you back.