The Business Formula – Part 8

Less Mass = More Flexibility

In business, often a smaller upstart competitor can take on a giant due to the advantages of being flexible.  Being small is not always an asset, but using your size to be flexible is a HUGE advantage in the modern business world.

Lets start with a few advantages smaller companies have over larger ones

1. no excess staff, and no excess costs

2. no thick processes

3. a collapsed heirarchy, so decisions can be made with few interactions and discussions

4. no lockins for hardware, software, and technology

5. no office politics!

Also, being a new company can have some specific advantages, like fewer pre-made permanent decisions, lack of long term road maps strangling new ideas.

The important thing to remember is that being small and new is NOT a pure disadvantage.  Being small and new can give you some great strategic advantages, IF you pay attention to them and use them for your benefit.

The Business Formula Part 7

As a business owner, part of your responsibility and your duty is to create wealth.  You’ll be creating positivity out of nothing, out of thin air, out of your own ideas!  This creation of positivity will filter out to your community, your employees, their families and communities, the world, and more.  Imagine the powerful change you can enact by only getting started on making your idea into a reality.  Over the lifetime of an entrepeneur, you will have so many opportunities to make the world a better place, and you should do your best to take as many of these as you can.  One thing you can start with right now, at the beginning of your business, is taking care of your employees.

Today we’re going to discuss something that should make everyone feel great about starting a new business.  Recognition and rewards!  This will be one of your first opportunities to see the wonderful effects of your ideas bringing real change into someone else’s life, so take this time to think about how you want to recognize the achievements of your employees, and how you want to reward them for that.

Will you give them comission based rewards, regular raises, advancement within the company, or even a partnership?  Recognizing your employee could be as little as giving them a free movie ticket or free video rental to recognize them for having such a great attitude in their training. Giving them a percentage of sales gives them a vested interest. Sit down with your employee and find out what their personal and professional goals are and help them achieve them. Trust me, if you help them achieve what they want, a good employee will bend over backwards to help you reach your company goals. They go hand in hand. These are all great ways to not only motivate your employees, but also to make the world a better place, and to make your working environment a place that is FUN to work at, competetive, and challenging.

Competition is great, as long as its healthy.  Make sure that people are working towards their goals in the way you think most aligns with your goals by scheduling team building exercises, doing bi-annual or even quarterly official reviews, and most importantly always keeping your eyes and ears open to ongoing opportunities to recognize and reward.  Catch people doing things right. Turn your judgements on good performance into rewards and watch as your hard work changes the world, just a few employees at a time!

Also, don’t forget to take care of and evaluate yourself! Giving your team a survey of your performance as a boss can ensure that your being perceived the way you intend. After all, you are your own employee as well!

The Business Formula Part 6

This one is going to be pretty easy, and it only applies if you plan to be opening a storefront, or offering support!  We’re going to talk about the four things you need to consider when planning your hours of operation!

1. Scout the competition – what are other businesses in your sector doing?  Are they open 24/7, or just 9-5?  It is important to offer what your customers will want, so if you are selling something that may end up as mission critical to your customers, you need to make sure you’re available to them when you need them!

2. Look at the successful – Beyond just scouting those in your industry, look at the successful businesses in every sector.  Find out what people who are succeeding are doing.

3. Look at your neighbor – If you’re running a storefront, is the strip mall you’re in a daytime only shopping area?  When does the heavy traffic come through your area?  Do people stop by after work, or on the weekends?  Look at the businesses around you, and learn.

4. Stay on top of events – Make sure you make allowances for special days like Black Friday.  If you are running a niche business, make sure that you’re very aware of events like conferences and parties that your community will be participating in.  Cater to their schedule on these special days, and be sure to try to cross promote with these events as much as possible.

Next time, we’ll be talking about scheduling your time…stay tuned!

Champions are determined to win

Often what separates champions from everyone else is their conditioned mindset and pure determination to win. Champions do not negotiate the price of success. They do not question whether or not the investment will be worth the reward. Instead the thought process of a true champion is focused on the victory. They will endure any price or any burden to make their winning goal come to fruition. Champions are determined to win no matter what it takes.

The amateurs are quickly separated from the champions when the going gets tough. Amateurs are not conditioned to feel and embrace pain. Instead their instinct is to escape pain. Champions on the other hand are mentally and physically trained warriors and anticipate feeling pain in order to push past it to further improve their training skills. This is the distinct advantage that champions have on the performance field. By not allowing the price of victory to get in the way, champions have both the mental and physical toughness to win over their opponents.

By: Dr. Mindy Mar