| Prelude I’m writing this blog listening to ‘Sounds of the 80’s’. As far as I am aware there is no correlation between the music and the blog content. But it could be sublimal! |
- It’s My Business!
| Survivor - ‘Don’t lose your grip’ |
Pride of ownership is understandable. The strength, focus, direction and probably the money that you provide are essential. That’s what makes you want to run your own business - an entrepreneur if you like. But it can’t be a totalitarian state because life’s not like that anymore. So, loosen up! Listen to the people around you – particularly those you’re not likely to agree with. Listen to learn not to argue. Be open!
- I have to Know Everything
| Africa: Toto |
Oh no you don’t – more loosening up! Because this mindset is a recipe for disaster. If you’ve come out of corporate life you will be imbued with a number of assumptions. Knowledge is power, seniority is what counts. But there’s no way you can know everything you need to know about your business. Learn humility and again a willingness to listen. Build a network around you of knowledgeable, challenging and supportive people. Look for opposites to challenge the way you think.
- Urgent v Important
| Love Resurrection: Alison Moyet |
You’ll never run out of things to do. Running your own business will most likely consume all your energy and all your time. Let’s deal with the time issue here. There’s a functional element true - like getting to meetings on time and handling a piece of paper just once.
There’s a decision making element – a big ‘P’ word to avoid here – ‘Procrastination’ – not all decision making issues improve with time.
But the killer challenge is identifying those critical few things that make a real difference to your business. They’re going to be things like staying close to your best customers, managing your cashflow and making sure your staff aren’t the terrorists in your business. Do you know what your critical few are?
- Focus on next week
| Dancing in the Dark: Bruce Springsteen |
Most people are not energised by the past – the future in all its uncertainty is much more stimulating and potentially exciting. So, don’t spend too much time looking in the rear view mirror - often this just causes post mortems - something to be learnt maybe but too often just a big bagload of recriminations. Be upbeat:
· What have we learnt about what our customers want?
· What’s getting in the way?
· Most importantly. What should I be doing differently?
This is a killer question! Don’t be afraid to ask it of yourself and others.
Make sure you step up and be prepared to acknowledge that you may be part of the problem. Yes – it’s a great team building offer and you could learn a lot about yourself.
- Dealing with your competitor’s ‘Killer’ offers
| 99 Red Balloons: Nena |
It won’t be unusual – given all the things you have to deal with – if your customers and your staff in particular know who’s doing the best deal at the moment. For your staff this will be potentially demoralising if you don’t deal with it.
The knee jerk reaction, once you’ve found out, is to want to match the offer.
Don’t – take some time to consider the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’. Competing on price is a zero sum game. Stick to the principles of your pricing strategy. Sorry, there’s a huge assumption here - that your pricing strategy is well founded.
But essentially this is the trade-off between volume and margin – high volume v low margin and lower volume v higher margin. The issue is what profit do you make at the end of the day?
Make sure your people know the story too.
- The ‘To Do’ list
| Down Under: Men At Work |
Writing lists is good practice – it really does free up space in your head and helps you to stop talking to yourself. So you have a list - check it against the ‘Urgent v Important’. Check it against ‘Now/not now’. What’s on there that only you can do – think about what you can delegate. So, if you’re not selling something people will buy you don’t have a business. If your supply chain isn’t working properly then you don’t have product. Think about what you can safely ignore. Test and trial. Sharpen your decision making skills!
- The Money Thing
| Ghostbusters: Ray Parker Junior ‘I ain’t afraid of no ghosts’ |
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If only we could do without it! Of course we’re all afraid of the ’ghost’ of money. Not many people will say they have enough but a lot will recognise that money doesn’t buy them happiness. Moving from the relative certainty of being salaried to the total ambiguity of self-employment is very very frightening. But a good friend told me that if you get uptight about money or more particularly the lack of it – then it will radiate through in sales interactions.
So, put the money ‘ghost in its place – in a dark dark cupboard and leave it there!
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