Business success doesn’t just happen. It’s a takes a lot of hard work. But, that hard work needs to be focused like a laser on what success means to you. Once you know what it looks like, it becomes a passion, a force more powerful than anything you can imagine, helping you accomplish things you ... Read More
Creating Accountability is Critical to Business Growth I talk with small business owners struggling with employee issues all the time. . I often hear “Oh, that stuff is just for big companies. We only have 10 employees.” Their mistake is that if business growth is really the goal, then they need to start thinking more ... Read More
Strategy execution is a current theme at Your Small Business Growth. So, I have been giving strategy execution a lot of thought. There have been lots of connections that I have made as I think through this with my associates. One of the big connections has helped me solidify why strategy execution has come so ... Read More
Last week I started a new set of articles focused on execution titled Why Business Execution in Critical to Successful Growth. In it I tried to convey the difference between just taking action and business execution, also known as business strategy implementation. The main difference is FOCUSED vs RANDOM action. This is a pretty simple ... Read More
I saw this article and infographic in Entrepreneur on how to develop a successful business plan and said “they nailed it!” You’ve heard me talk about successful business plans from time to time. It’s not the plan that is important to you as a business owner. It’s what you learn by going through the process that ... Read More
For years I have tried to spread the word that business growth is a standardized process as I documented in my post The Search for Business Growth Continues. The main premise is that a business matures through stages. There are a specific set of objectives to achieve in order to mature through each stage of development. Complete ... Read More
It is amazing how many businesses are stuck in stage 2 – the survival stage of growth. What is it that causes this to become an obstacle to business owners developing a self-sustaining business? In a word – MANAGEMENT! If you aren’t already familiar with the stages of the growth cycle or the main goal ... Read More
What would it be worth to know exactly what every person in your business needs to do to achieve your revenue goal for next year? Imagine if every person’s objectives were set specifically to support the revenue goal! It’s actually simpler than you might think. It’s all about tuning your revenue engine! Our business management ... Read More
Well fourth quarter is here. While many will scramble to hit their revenue goals, if they’re not on track yet it’s probably because they started too late last year. So, this year start earlier to improve revenue next!!! Most sales managers will tell you, if the sales aren’t already in the pipeline, hitting your goal ... Read More
As I presented in my previous post Succession Planning vs. Exit Planning Which Do You Use?, the primary goal of any succession plan is leadership transfer. So, you can imagine that things can get a little tricky. One of the biggest reasons is that most succession plan checklists out there seem to focus on the ... Read More
Often the terms succession planning and exit planning get used interchangeably. However, there is a definitive difference between the two. It’s important as a business owner that you understand the difference. Succession planning is really identifying, training, and transferring the leadership/management of a company to another person or team of people. Exit planning, on the ... Read More
Succession planning is something too many small business owners think about too late! Many don’t even think about succession planning because they believe that they will just sell their and that’s the end of it. However, even with the sale of a business succession planning is critical. The buyer will be your successor instead of ... Read More
While cash flow is a regular topic here, it’s been a while since we hit the topic from a finance and accounting perspective. While many small business owners find accounting to be tedious it is extremely important if you ever want to have success with your business. The reason cash flow is so important for ... Read More
Will you hit your revenue goal for the year? It’s 6 months into the year. Do you know where you stand and what it will take to increase revenue so you hit your goal or what will it take to get there? If you are on track to hit your ... Read More
Recalibration to Increase Revenue We’ve hit the mid-year point again. Many small businesses are looking at their numbers and asking “can we get there from here?” That depends, are you going to leave it to chance or are you going to aggressively manage it? To aggressively managing it doesn’t mean ... Read More
There are dozens of articles and blog posts written every day about what you need to really grow a business. Most tout the most obvious aspect – more money and financing; better marketing; added sales; a raving customer; etc. Tell you something you don’t know if you own a business. You need all those things just to have a ... Read More
I see small business owners get distracted from their main vision all the time. It’s amazing how many owners have attention deficit disorder (ADD). ADD can be a strength in business. But, it also presents its challenges by creating what I call – shiny object syndrome! Shiny object syndrome stems from a person’s ability to ... Read More
Ok, so how did Q1 sales end up? Were they where they needed to be, or are you already behind on your 2013 goal? Well, your sales won’t just happen. You have to plan and work the plan. But, you want to work smart! There are only 3 different strategies you can employ to increase ... Read More
Is Your Business Ready for You to Leave? Last week I post a question, “What’s Your Greatest Challenge in Exiting Your Business?”, on LinkedIn. My intent was to get some feedback before writing the next few weeks’ posts on “exit/succession planning.” While I got a few interesting comments, which I plan to write on later. ... Read More
The number of people using their personal credit cards for business purpose is growing and that might just prove to be a disastrous financial decision given the risk of mixing pleasure with business. The National Federation of Independent Businesses has found that the percentage of small business entrepreneurs using their personal credit cards to incur ... Read More
