subject: Business Strategies and Frustration [print this page] Business Strategies and Frustration Business Strategies and Frustration
Their can be many things but the one I feared the most was debt. The answer is quite simple, you need to make enough money to cover the premium with interest, while still try to enjoy life.
The best way to approach this is to have separate accounts, one for business and one for you personally. Setup a budget for each account and try not to use the business profits for your personnel life style, this is crucial and should be the first step if not doing this already. Secondly, you must keep the taxman happy by not using his money for other purposes.
Planning and controlling your stock is very important; as we all know dead stock can kill any business profits. Think about it, buying material and not selling it within the 30 or 60 day invoice period means that the profit margin will be smaller every month and eventually it will be zero.
Do not fool yourself by a high turnover, do the calculation.
Ignorance is also an aspect that keeps us poor. Having systems in place will let you have control over the Business as well as to be able to measure results. The aim must be to get out of debt and to lower the RISK as soon as possible. This can only happen by following a system.
Remember there is no such thing as good or bad Debt. Debt is debt, and you need to get out of it as quickly as possible, by applying effective Strategies.
It is very important to have the right team on board. I cannot emphasize this enough. Run a profileof your staff and see if they fit the job. Remember it is no use having more than two people with the same profile, but doing completely different jobs. You are then wasting your time, energy and money. This goes for family businesses as well, and I know this is a sensitive issue, but knowing the person's profile will at least give you a choice where to recruit or reposition him or her to your advantage.
There will always be competition, which can be good or bad, but generally, it is a good thing. Must I waste my time and energy to keep track of what my competition is doing? Well, it depends on what market you are, but I used the competition as a benchmark to establish if I were too cheap or too expensive but normally the prize was never a huge factor as there were many ways around it.
You will be amazed how small things can let a customer become a client. Also, keep in mind that you cannot keep everybody happy but do take note what the reason was why the customer or client was unhappy. However, when a problem does occur, go out of your way to rectify the problem to avoid negative influence on the business. I do not know why, but negative issues seems always getting people more interested than positive comments.
Generally, I was more expensive, but I always outplayed my competition and added lots of Value. Dealing with facts and knowing your products is a huge advantage and the customer will see you as an authority or expert. Never say I cannot help but rather let the customer know you are not an expert in that specific field but will get back with more information. This will build a trust worthy relationship and respect. If you make a promise stick to that promise, this will only enhance your relationship.
The economy also plays a role, but this usually becomes a bigger problem when in Debt and then Fear strikes. Careful planning with strategies in place should at least minimize the effect of having the economy turning your business upside down. There will always be good and bad times and preserving for the bad times is essential. Normally the first year of any business is difficult as you do not have any records but keeping track of each month will help for future references.
Creating multiple income streams should be the focus of your business as this will help when the economy turns. For instance, in my Business I dealt with Road Signs, Engraving, Digital Printing, Pad Printing, Number plates, Vehicle Wrapping and Promotional Items etc. Some of these departments were seasonal and the fact is, not all departments were busy to its full capacity every month, but at least three or four departments were very busy every month. No matter what is happening in the economy.
Why is their always time to do a job over but never enough time to do it right in the first place?
Well, this can relate back to incompetent staff or not having systems in place. This could also be a very costly exercise.
My biggest problem was between the different departments, there was not efficient communication channels in place and I had a system developed to resolve this. It is extremely important to log all interaction between departments for future references.
Tracking and monitoring the flow of a job is crucial to limit mistakes. Being able to keep track of your stock is very important as this can highjack the job process flow.
Of course there can be many frustrations and it is important to find out exactly what it is that frustrates you the most in your Business.
