Yet another dicsussion on LinkedIn over whether businesses should have to grow or not (see the NRG-Networks group)
It's simple. There are two different types of business owner. Those who think it's their job to produce widgets (or build websites, or fit boilers, or sell insurance...) and those who think it's their job to build a business.
The first type are really just self-employed. The second type are the true business owners. They are focused on driving their business forward. They spend time thinking about how they get to the next step. They invest in their company and themselves so that they can achieve that next step - because they know that it will take a bigger strategy, a better plan, a tighter operation and more teamwork.
These business owners will spend time planning for when they come to sell their business. Or maybe they're wondering about getting money from a venture capitalist, business angel, government agency or bank to fund growth plans. They recognise when they reach the point where they and their management team become the limitation on the company's growth and they need to step back and change the way the busines operates. Success in any of these scenarios requires them to raise their game.
If you're one of the second type (true business owners) then you recognise the value of getting expert help. You will probably want to click here for your free copy of the white paper "Raising Your Game" which addresses the challenges you'll face.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Use IT Effectively To Boost Business Performance
How do you apply IT to boost business performance?
1. Set clear business direction as a prerequisite for the effective use of IT. This of course applies to the effective use of all parts of a business - marketing or operations or HR - but you'd be surprised at the number of companies, small and large, who don't have a clearly-articulated direction or if they do don't apply it to IT decisions.
2. Ensure your IT strategy and roadmap supports your business strategy. IT should not be an afterthought and IT decisions should not be based just on the internal requirement to get things done. All major IT decisions and investments should move the business in the desired direction and add to the bottom line, not subtract from it.
3. Understand what is important to your customers and how your IT helps you deliver this. All IT projects should improve the experience for your customers - possibly by improving the experience for your staff.
4. Having decided what you need IT to deliver then evaluate the impact of your choices about IT infrastructure and management on profit.
If you want to learn more about this then why not book online for this seminar on Using IT To Boost Business Performance?
My workshop programme covers this and every other key part of running a business, from strategy through to invoicing. For more details of this comprehensive and affordable course visit my business advice website.
If you'd like a free white paper on boosting the value of your company then complete this simple business value calculator
1. Set clear business direction as a prerequisite for the effective use of IT. This of course applies to the effective use of all parts of a business - marketing or operations or HR - but you'd be surprised at the number of companies, small and large, who don't have a clearly-articulated direction or if they do don't apply it to IT decisions.
2. Ensure your IT strategy and roadmap supports your business strategy. IT should not be an afterthought and IT decisions should not be based just on the internal requirement to get things done. All major IT decisions and investments should move the business in the desired direction and add to the bottom line, not subtract from it.
3. Understand what is important to your customers and how your IT helps you deliver this. All IT projects should improve the experience for your customers - possibly by improving the experience for your staff.
4. Having decided what you need IT to deliver then evaluate the impact of your choices about IT infrastructure and management on profit.
If you want to learn more about this then why not book online for this seminar on Using IT To Boost Business Performance?
My workshop programme covers this and every other key part of running a business, from strategy through to invoicing. For more details of this comprehensive and affordable course visit my business advice website.
If you'd like a free white paper on boosting the value of your company then complete this simple business value calculator
Monday, 1 November 2010
Manage your time, grow your profits
As a business owner or director your available time limits the growth and performance of your business unless you manage it properly.
How can you manage your time better?
- Schedule a weekly review with yourself. Set aside the same 15 minutes at the start or end of each week to write down the things that were achieved/missed in the past week and the things to be achieved in the next week
- Don’t just react to the latest stimulus. When a task or interruption appears, train yourself to decide what is urgent, what is important, what is both and what is neither and prioritise accordingly
- Start each day with a written list of things you are going to achieve that day and review the list at the end of the day
- Time-box your day - have targets for the next hour, by lunchtime, before I have a coffee...
- Set aside a time each day when you will accept NO distractions
- Have a schedule for everything that happens regularly - and stick to it
- Delegate everything unless there is a compelling reason not to. Aim to deskill tasks and process them using the lowest-cost resource. Taking responsibility for the things that distract you may well enrich the role of someone more junior
- Fix things for the long term. If you do have to break-off to deal with an unplanned issue don’t deal only with today’s interruption or distraction – understand the root cause and remove it, look at the trend and educate the people involved, set up simple processes, scripts, forms or rules to handle similar events in future
- Turn email alerts off. If you have an assistant, set them up with access to your email and get them to deal with everything they can, delete the junk and just leave the important stuff that you have to do yourself
- Set aside a time each day to deal with email – don’t look at it before that time and stop dealing with emails at the end of that period
Make sure that every day you have done something to make the business less reliant upon you.
My workshop programme covers this and every other key part of running a business, from strategy through to invoicing. For more details of this comprehensive and affordable course visit my business advice website.
If you'd like a free white paper on boosting the value of your company then complete this simple business value calculator
How can you manage your time better?
- Schedule a weekly review with yourself. Set aside the same 15 minutes at the start or end of each week to write down the things that were achieved/missed in the past week and the things to be achieved in the next week
- Don’t just react to the latest stimulus. When a task or interruption appears, train yourself to decide what is urgent, what is important, what is both and what is neither and prioritise accordingly
- Start each day with a written list of things you are going to achieve that day and review the list at the end of the day
- Time-box your day - have targets for the next hour, by lunchtime, before I have a coffee...
- Set aside a time each day when you will accept NO distractions
- Have a schedule for everything that happens regularly - and stick to it
- Delegate everything unless there is a compelling reason not to. Aim to deskill tasks and process them using the lowest-cost resource. Taking responsibility for the things that distract you may well enrich the role of someone more junior
- Fix things for the long term. If you do have to break-off to deal with an unplanned issue don’t deal only with today’s interruption or distraction – understand the root cause and remove it, look at the trend and educate the people involved, set up simple processes, scripts, forms or rules to handle similar events in future
- Turn email alerts off. If you have an assistant, set them up with access to your email and get them to deal with everything they can, delete the junk and just leave the important stuff that you have to do yourself
- Set aside a time each day to deal with email – don’t look at it before that time and stop dealing with emails at the end of that period
Make sure that every day you have done something to make the business less reliant upon you.
My workshop programme covers this and every other key part of running a business, from strategy through to invoicing. For more details of this comprehensive and affordable course visit my business advice website.
If you'd like a free white paper on boosting the value of your company then complete this simple business value calculator
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