“No-one on their death bed ever wished they had spent more time at the office / in the business.” This is a fairly well known quote by the late Stephen Covey, author of “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People” and many other great personal development books. If you have never read this book, we… [Read more…]
Sometimes in our Business Owners Board mentoring group meetings we work through a case study and discuss what each member would do. This particular case study calls for us to think about ethics in business! (Figures and identities of the companies and individuals have not been disclosed, but it is a real life case study,… [Read more…]
In their book “Great By Choice” Jim Collins and Morten Hansen dispel a number of entrenched myths about what makes companies great in tough times. What do you think about them? Please add your comment below! Entrenched myth #1: Successful leaders in a turbulent world are bold, risk-seeking visionaries. Contrary finding: The best leaders we studied… [Read more…]
As business owners, how do we learn anything? What happens in the brain? The four stages of learning, initially described as “Four Stages for Learning Any New Skill”, was apparently developed at Gordon Training International by Noel Burch in the 1970s. (Wikipedia) It’s a great theory for business owners to understand because often we “don’t… [Read more…]
It’s easy to get lulled in to a false sense of security when a business is doing a good turnover and turnover figures are going up. The problem is though that it is NOT about the turnover, it’s all about the LEFTOVER! In other words the profit and growing the profit dollars. So often we… [Read more…]
Business owners: where is your hungry crowd? The crowd of people who are beating a track to your business to get what it is you are selling them. Often the answer when we ask this question is something like “All small and medium sized businesses.” Worse still is the answer “Everybody!” These answers mean the… [Read more…]
In a Business Owners Board business advisory meeting, when we ask this question, the answer is usually something like “Vitals, what are you talking about?” or “Yes, my blood pressure is a little high. So what?” According to Wikipedia: “Vital signs (often shortened to just vitals) are a group of the 4 to 6 most… [Read more…]
The most underrated tool in business for driving up your results – a good strategic plan! A good plan will fit on one page and be the guiding light for everything that happens in the business. However, success not only relies on a good plan but also good execution. There are many reasons why business… [Read more…]
One One of anything! The numbers in a business are the instrument panel by which an owner should run his business. It still amazes me how many business owners we talk to have no idea and no interest in their numbers – until it is too late! That’s why there are many businesses out there… [Read more…]
Or does it seem to go from crisis to crisis? Can you leave your business for weeks at a time and it still runs ‘profitably’ without you? All too often we hear from business owners that rather than a well oiled machine, their business is a bit of a lumbering, stuttering jalopy. Goes well in… [Read more…]
