We last talked about taking action on a project to improve your business when you’re either overwhelmed or afraid to fail.  The message I left you with probably sounded like I was telling you to, “just suck it up and do it!”  Well, in a way I was, but it’s not that simple.  Don’t get me wrong, taking action is a great motivator and could definitely be moving you in the right direction.  However, blind action – without a plan – could result in you being further away from your goal.  So, what should you do?


Step 1:  What do you want to do?  Be very clear and definitive about what it is that you want to do.  Do you want to implement a new software system?  Do you need to make a change in your staff? 

Step 2:  Why do you want to do it?  Be truthful here!  The reason could be big or small; it could be petty or deep.  It doesn’t matter.  All that matters is that you understand and own the reason – even if it’s as simple as a personality conflict.

Step 3:  Write out an action plan.  Make it as detailed as possible and it will be easier to follow.

Step 4:  Feel the fear or overwhelm.  There’s a reason you’ve been procrastinating taking action and it likely has something to do with fear or overwhelm.  Allow yourself to feel it, acknowledge it, and then you’ll be able to move on.

Step 5:  Why are you afraid or overwhelmed?  This “why” is very important because it’s likely keeping you from taking action on other projects.  Is it a fear of failure, afraid you’re not capable of doing it, or don’t have the knowledge or skill to get it done?  The why could be internal or external.

Step 6:  Do it anyway!  Now that you understand why you’ve been procrastinating, you may start to have second thoughts.  Don’t listen to them!  Take the first step of your action plan within 24 hours.

Step 7: Celebrate!  No matter the outcome of the project, celebrate that you took action and took a risk.  This is especially true of long term plans because it will be a while before you know the outcome. 

So, Nike’s right.  You should “Just Do It!”  Just do it in steps and you’ll definitely be moving in the right direction.

No!  Outsourcing is far from a willy-nilly decision.  Choose the wrong business function to outsource and it could bring down your whole company.  Many small business owners go into business for themselves because they want to control everything.  Outsourcing involves giving up control over a piece of the pie.  However, that piece of pie still has to operate seamlessly with the rest of the pie even though it’s no longer in the tin.  And, your customers should always see a pie that is completely uncut and intact.

 

Continue reading "How to Choose a Business Function to Outsource – eeny, meeny, miny, moe?" »

Contrary to what you may think, evaluation of your training programs does not start after the training program is over – it starts before.  The training plan and the training evaluation have a chicken and egg relationship.  If you are doing things correctly, the training plan is built upon the results of the training evaluation.  But, if you haven’t done a training plan, then you can still do a training evaluation on the training programs you select in preparation to create a training plan for the following year.

Deciding how you will evaluate the training should be a key part of planning training activities.  Further, the evaluation should occur in three distinct stages.

Before the training

• Set objectives for the business and the trainees (including financial objectives).
• Decide how you will measure the objectives.
• Analyze the situation before training using these same measures so that you have a baseline to measure improvement (or lack thereof).
• Identify the specific improvements you want to occur.
• Identify why you have chosen this particular training method (e.g. competitive price, trainee's preferred learning style, flexibility of delivery).
• Evaluate a range of training methods and choose the most suitable.

During the training
Ask the trainee to reflect on their understanding of the material and enthusiasm throughout the actual training process. A well-designed training program will ask participants to do this as part of the learning process (e.g. through interactive sessions and practical application, with regular recaps or by completing feedback forms at the end of each session).

After the training

• Measure your objectives at pre-set time intervals.
• Get detailed feedback from the trainee.
• Re-test knowledge and skills and compare with pre-training results.
• Review the performance of the chosen training method.
• Observe the trainee's new knowledge and skills in context.
• Identify any remaining training gaps, and include them in future plans.
• Review your return on investment.
• Give feedback to your training provider - this may help them improve their service.

I’m going to be honest.  Designing an evaluation method for training programs that truly measures their effectiveness is not an easy task – particularly if you are not an educated and experienced trainer yourself.  Therefore, if your small business is dependent on a sizable staff to operate, it will be worthwhile to hire a consultant to develop the system for you.  Although spending money on training without knowing if the expected results are achieved is not quite throwing the money away – it is getting close because you simply do not know and you cannot leverage the training for future training plans.

 
Whether your suppliers provide food for a restaurant, raw industrial materials for a manufacturer or marketing materials for a professional service, the success of your business depends on having a good, trusting relationship with your suppliers.  When your suppliers’ products end up in the hands of your clients, your clients see them as yours; they have no knowledge of the originating company.  Therefore, if the products are substandard – or even bad – then that reflects directly on you.

When you build strong relationships with your suppliers, they will be more willing and open to helping you, saving you money, and giving you the best products they have.  If your suppliers see you only as a revenue stream or, worse yet, as a problem customer, then you never know what you’re going to get.  Who hasn’t had a bad day, gone into a restaurant, been ruder to their wait staff than they would under normal circumstances and then wondered if they spit in their food?  Luckily – in this situation – you don’t have to worry about passing that food onto your customer as representative of you not knowing if it’s the best quality!

Continue reading "Treating Your Suppliers like Vendors to be Easily Replaced Could be the Death of Your Business" »

As I mentioned in a past blog post, outsourcing often has a very negative connotation.  So, you may be wondering if it’s the right thing for your company.  Truth be told, I don’t know a small business that doesn’t outsource – almost by definition they have to outsource or they would be a big business!

However, the decision is much harder when it involves a function that you are already handling in-house by a paid employee.  That’s because it usually means that the employee’s job will be eliminated.  So, how do you decide if it’s appropriate to outsource one of your business functions?

Essentially, you have to do a cost-benefit analysis and carefully weigh both sides of the equation.  One thing to keep in mind is that although these decisions are largely considered to be financial or economic, that not all of the costs and benefits are best measured in currency. 

Continue reading "Outsourcing…Should You or Shouldn’t You?" »

Training and education are critical to the growth of your business.  The more that you and your employees know about your business and the sharper your skills become, the more effective and efficient your business will be.  However, training costs money and – unfortunately – it is often difficult to measure the ultimate results.  So, how much should you be investing in training? 

When I talk about training, I mean everything from books and small online seminars to major conferences and classes.  Many small business owners shy away from more expensive training options because they are “big ticket” purchases.  However, they drop $30, $50, and even up to $100 several times throughout the year in an attempt get the same training in cheaper, roundabout ways.  Often, the end result of trying to save money to get needed training is that the business owner spends the same or even more on less effective methods.

The smart business owner carefully evaluates their training programs to make sure they are getting the biggest bang for the buck.  There are also other good reasons for evaluating training. It helps you to:

• track the development of staff knowledge and skills
• find out if the learning is being applied in the workplace
• identify training gaps and future training needs
• establish if the investment was worthwhile
• inform future training plans and strategy
• ensure training continuously improves

Evaluating and measuring training is not easy, but it is the only way to know if you are getting an acceptable return on your investment.  This isn’t to say that only expensive training is worthwhile and cheap training is throwing away money, because it all comes down to what you need to get out of the training.

Therefore, the first step is to clearly understand the true need for the training.  You also need to know the learning capabilities of the person taking the training.  Not everyone learns in the same way.  Handing a book to someone who learns best by hearing is not going to give you great results. 

Lastly, you need to determine how big of a positive impact the successful implementation of the training will have on your business.  For example, training staff on software that manages the entire operation of your business will clearly help the business run more efficiently.

However, this is just the beginning.  As we move forward with our Happiness Equation, we will talk more in depth about the evaluation of staff training.

You’ve likely seen stories in the news about major companies extending the amount of time before they will pay their suppliers for the materials they’ve purchased – sometimes even by double!  In an economy where sales are down and cash flow is tight, that probably sounds like a smart business decision, right?  Not likely.

Although large companies could probably get away with it because of their size and power, the ultimate cost still makes it a bad decision no matter what size your company is.  First, just because you choose to pay later, that doesn’t mean that the supplier will willingly adjust the finance charges and late fees they impose on payments made beyond their acceptable terms.  So it literally costs more to pay later.

Continue reading "Keeping Your Suppliers Happy is Crucial in a Bad Economy" »

Outsourcing has gotten a lot of bad press because it often results in job layoffs within a company.  Large
companies looking to reduce costs and eliminate overhead often outsource non core business services.  Although those are also benefits for small businesses, where small businesses have the largest margin for gain is in the ability to refocus all of their attention on the core functions of the business – which is also what they do best!

What exactly is outsourcing?  Outsourcing is when you contract out part of your business function to a third party for a substantial period of time.  The third party is then responsible for the success of that function.  Commonly outsourced business functions include accounting, catering, cleaning, maintenance, human resources, marketing, advertising, customer service, etc.

Continue reading "Outsourcing – A Great Way to Increase Happiness, Efficiencies and Profits in Small Businesses" »