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Posts Tagged ‘small business’

4 Business Coaching Conspiracy Theories That Might Actually be True

Sep
2011

When you think of business coaching, what comes to mind first? Rah-rah sessions? Feel-good moments where you get a pat on the back and validation for all of your ideas and decisions? If you believe this is what business coaching is, we have some news for you: it’s not. We’re here to dispel some notions you’ve come to know and set the record straight. If there was ever a doubt, be clear that your business coach is conspiring…

We will tear apart your ideas. The truth is good coaches will tell you when you’re wrong and will help you avoid pitfalls in every way possible. Sure, we’ll let you keep and refine the good ones, but the bad ones, the unprofitable or ill-conceived ones will get promptly kicked to the curb.
You won’t be able to hide behind excuses. Sorry, but you’ll need to share your excuses with someone who wants to hear them, it’s just not us. Reasoning, yes, excuses, no. We want the truth why something wasn’t done like it should have been. We want your accountability to be first. Excuses fix nothing. Excuses are the anti-fixer.
We will prove that you don’t always know best. You hired us to be an adviser to you, to help you. Fighting sound ideas we develop for you, or not implementing them is not helping your business. Let us do our job. We want you to succeed.
We will make you uncomfortable. It’s really part of the job description to make clients squirm a bit. The reasoning is simple: when things are too much the same, complacency cannot be far behind.

3 Dangerous Trends That Can Destroy You and Your Small Business

Sep
2011

Does your business own you or is it the other way around? Some business owners we know are working harder than ever, logging more hours, but seemingly never catching up. Others are trying hard to control their businesses, but instead are being controlled by it. Still others seem scattered, frantically running from fire to fire. What’s the problem? Business ownership should be fun and it should be profitable. We see some dangerous trends with businesses and while many will point to the economic climate or other issues, the truth is, this hasn’t just cropped up. It’s time to stop and make a couple adjustments to some deadly business trends.

Trend One: Running on Empty. “Getting up and working earlier all the time means I’ll get all my work done and I’ll get all caught up.” This is pure folly. Our bodies and brains need rest and need to have time away from work, so constantly starting at the crack of dawn and working past dusk does not cut it. Statistically, people will perform poorest when they don’t get adequate rest, plus solutions for nagging problems can’t surface if the brain is exhausted. It’s hard to be on your game when you’re sleep-deprived and stressed to the gills. Here is a great article on ways to help your brain. Bottomline: Get away and get some sleep! Make a commitment to keep yourself refreshed so you bring your very best to your business.
Trend Two: Fear of Delegation. If you are a “gotta do it myself all the time” kind of person, take a step back and be honest with yourself: Are there some minor admin chores of your day eroding billable time that you could be devoting to bringing in business? An easy way to move past this roadblock: delegate small tasks and be very clear on the expectations you have. If you’re a small shop, hire someone for only a few hours at a time and let them prove themselves. Over time, their worth will be shown by allowing you to work more efficiently, making your hire an asset, rather than a liability. Rule of thumb: get rid of whatever you can do, but really shouldn’t be wasting your time on.
Trend Three: No Plan for Marketing. When’s the best time to be marketing? All the time. When a business is busy and flush with customers, it’s easy to think things are okay. This short-sighted comfort can kill your business. Why? Because you need to keep the pipeline filled at all times, let the business begins to dry up. Customers can come and go, so if you’re marketing consistently, you won’t really experience the downturn some businesses face when there their marketing goes flat. A solution: make a concerted, written-down plan for marketing for just the next quarter. Commit to it and let nothing stand in the way of doing it. By taking it in quarterly chunks, you can make adjustments when some marketing isn’t getting the results you need.

Rebranding Semi-Painlessly

Jun
2011

It seems like forever since a post was placed here, so this is a good time to catch the world up on our doings. As you can see from our main website, we have a new look and are embarking on some new adventures in business. With that always comes the taxing and un-fun part: balancing the rebranding objectives. While we’re excited, it’s hard sometimes to make sure all the plates are spinning at the proper speed and that nothing gets dropped. And that’s the purpose of this post. We thought we’d share a checklist of sorts, one that could give you a glimpse of a few things to consider if you’re contemplating a rebrand.

Good News: You Lost Your Biggest Client

Mar
2011

Loosing a big (either in size or profile) can feel devastating for your small business; it can send you into panic mode. When this kind of client pulls back their project (and with it, resources) citing “economic uncertainty” or other such term, at first glance, it might spell bad news. Does it really have to be this way? Rather than giving up hope or rushing to court a replacement client to fill the void, this sort of uncertain situation can often serve as the perfect opportunity to reevaluate and streamline your business, allowing you to refocus on the things that tend to fall through the cracks when you’re feeling flush.

First, identify the sort of clients that are the best match for your company, the type you ideally want to do business with. While big clients are tempting, sporting their significant and reliable profits, they are not always the best match for many businesses. Why?

Blogging: To Get the Most, Self-Host

Feb
2011

With so many well-designed free and easy blog hosting services out there (Blogger (BlogSpot), TypePad, etc.), it can be easy to be lured into using a network-hosted site instead of self-hosting your own. But, especially if you are promoting your business, the benefits of a self-hosted blog are numerous and important.

Using a self-hosted blog versus one that is network-hosted is roughly analogous to owning versus renting a house. When everything is going smoothly it doesn’t much matter if you rent or own, but if something goes wrong or you want to make a change, being a homeowner allows you much greater flexibility and security. Specific to blogs, a network host has the ability to censor your content and may shut down your site and delete its contents without warning if they see fit. More likely, if a network host experiences technical problems or terminates their service, your content may be lost and unable to be restored. You are also always at the mercy of your network’s policies and terms of conditions. Even if you find them agreeable now, they may change in the future and content you stored on their site may be very difficult or impossible to retrieve and move elsewhere. A self-hosted blog allows you to moderate your own content indefinitely and back-up your entries much more reliably.