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Thoughts on the Real Nuts and Bolts of Running a Business, for Owners and Entrepreneurs
Getting Older is a Brand New Experience
“Getting older is a brand new experience.” One of my wise, yet young-at-heart business consulting colleagues uttered those words in a reflective moment the other day, and I was struck by the truth of them. For all of us baby boomers who have “gone for the gusto” and now see in the distance the promised land called “retirement”, getting older is met with both a wistful sigh and an eager eye.
Wistful, because some of us now know how fleeting time is. Did we accomplish what we intended to? Did we come close? Did we even try?
Eager, because, if we have the means and our health, retirement can mean a whole new exciting chapter in our lives; a clean sheet of paper upon which we can write something different than what has been, creating another story uniquely our own.
Normally we think of the process of getting older as one of slowing down, self-reflection, imparting the wisdom we have gained along our path to others who come after. Yet, for those who (like me, part wistful and part eager) look at life as a wonderful, awe-inspiring, miraculous journey, it’s curious to realize that getting older can, indeed, be its own brand new, riveting and inspiring experience.
So, what different and exciting chapter will you write when your current one conludes?
Tuesday 17 August 2010 - 12:20:30 by Sharon Joseph
Posted in Odds and Ends | Comments: 1 |
Business is Soft and I Want to Do an Email Blast
One of my small business clients is in a very profitable niche. He recently mentioned to me that business was turning a little soft and he wanted to do an email blast to generate some more leads. Acchh! Initially, that made the hair on the back of my neck almost stand on end. Realizing, of course, that his comment was all well-intentioned, I backed off my teeth grinding… Why did I have such a visceral reaction?
It’s true that the purpose of marketing (and an email blast campaign is certainly a decent marketing tactic) is to generate qualified leads. But think about it – one single email blast, devoid of a plan or a process won’t get you very far. My guess is that initial results would be dismal and that my client would come away thinking that “email doesn’t work for me”. Nothing could be further from the truth! But when you approach the project with this “Ready! Fire! Aim!?” mentality, you get what you plan for…
So, here are some questions any owner should ask himself (or herself) before doing an email blast:
1) What is my marketing plan for this business and how does email fit in?
2) What is my email strategy and how can I optimize it for best results?
3) Who is my target market? How can I best reach them through email?
4) How frequently should I send an email? What should my message be in each?
5) What is my company’s process for collecting and recording responses and acting on them?
6) What tools should I be using to create my emails, track open and click-thru rates, and manage my lists?
7) What is my budget and what are my expectations for results? How will I know if this has worked for me?
These questions are not necessarily complicated, but they do take some thought. I encourage owners to work with a small business or marketing professional to sort all through of these answers. Owners know their businesses inside and out; they often are experts in their fields. When embarking on a marketing initiative, call in an expert to assist.
Wednesday 28 July 2010 - 20:18:16 by Sharon Joseph
Posted in Marketing | Comments: 0 |
What to Do With a Relative on the Payroll who Can’t Step Up
My small businsess consulting colleagues and I all wince when we hear that the son-in-law or the mother or the dad's best friend from high school is working for an Owner. Our first step is always to assess, what’s the deal? Are they performing up to snuff or are they a drag on the company? Often, they are kick-ass performers, dedicated, energetic, loyal, creative, and devoted. Always willing to go the extra mile for the benefit of the company. But sometimes, uh, they aren’t. They clock in at 9, are cleaned up and ready to roll out by 4:55, need constant oversight and prodding to move projects and workload ahead in a prompt manner. These guys or gals miss deadlines (or, rather, they never took them seriously in the first place) and can’t “think out of the box”. They believe they do a good enough job.
That’s often a situation where a consultant can make an impact where an owner can’t. As long as the owner is serious about and committed to improving the organization’s performance, an outsider can dispassionately come in, facilitate a frank conversation and set measureable goals – to be achieved in 30, 60 or 90 days. Sometimes, a consultant can coach a person to successfully complete the challenge, awakening them to the possibility that they can get demoted or even dismissed if the job performance is not attacked in earnest. Unfortunately, there are the rest of those people who just won’t or can’t step up. Then the Owner has two alternatives.
The first is to take the hard step of letting the person go. This does not have to be done unsympathetically, but should be done professionally, quickly after making the decision. Sometimes the company has grown and the person's skill set simply no longer fits what is needed. Many times generous severance and/or out-placement services are offered to ease the transition for the employee - and diminish the guilty feelings of the owner. I prefer this alternative; it eliminates what could eventually turn into a ‘bad apple” and it sets the bar on performance expectations for the rest of the team. Remarkably, the recipient of such news is often relieved, at some level, that they can stop trying to fit their "round" selves into a "square" hole.
The second alternative, and one I have seen too often, is to hope the organization grows “around” the character who can’t step up. Owners, not willing to face the hard facts or do the hard task, will put this person in a cubby-hole, out of the way, and just look at their salary as an unpleasant cost of doing business. Not only does this marginalize and ultimately demoralize the employee, but relations outside of work suffer.
Kind but honest authenticity is always preferable to a slow, painful deterioration of a relationship.
Thursday 24 June 2010 - 15:41:21 by Sharon Joseph
Posted in The People Factor | Comments: 0 |
Be Deliberate
How many times have you as an Owner, jumped from one idea to the next – gotten excited about a direction or an initiative - then, months later, realized that little was done to follow-through and execute? Or maybe some stuff was done, but then abandoned when the next, even better idea, presented itself.
I find that one of the hardest principles to adhere to, especially in a young and growing company, is to decide what you ARE and what you ARE NOT. Our instinct is to go for the gusto, grab everything we can, throw enough stuff against the wall in the hopes that some of it will stick. Now there’s a place for being opportunistic and there’s a place for morphing your business to changing circumstances. But there is also a time to be DELIBERATE about what opportunities really fit and which do not.
I worked with a client once who called himself ADD (his words, not mine). He was creative, energetic, charismatic, had a growing business – and never said “No” to an opportunity. Consequently, his tiny staff was unfocused and not as productive as it could have been. He needed to “prune the tree”, lopping off branches that took up valuable time and resources, yet didn’t contribute to the mission or, quite frankly, materially to the bottom line. It was hard, he didn’t want to let go, he had emotional attachments to the peripheral businesses. Ironically, tho, once we got him to lop off the extraneous branches and focus more on the core "tree", the more profitable he became. It’s a hard lesson, but one that I preach over and over: the more you focus, often the more profitable you become.
Wednesday 02 June 2010 - 15:04:05 by Sharon Joseph
Posted in Strategy | Comments: 0 |
