How Do You Know All This Stuff?

It isn't easy being your own boss.  Most of us would have it no other way, but that doesn't mean it is always wonderful.  Small business owners usually work long hours, take few or no vacations, sacrifice important parts of their life and have little financial gain to show for it.  Of course there are exceptions, but the majority of small business owners fit that description.  I'll bet you thought it would turn out different for you, didn't you?

So what's missing?  How do you figure out all the stuff you need to know to be successful when you barely have time to eat lunch much less work on improving parts of the business?  You have deadlines to meet, deliveries to make, bids to get out, phone calls to return, and bookwork to maintain.  How are you supposed to improve your marketing plan, hire and train better employees, cultivate a new customer, pay off debt, and become more efficient?  And how do you know how to do all that stuff anyway?

Ah, now there's an interesting question!  How do you know how to do this stuff?  I'm talking about the stuff that will make your business better.  The stuff that will make you better.  I'll bet you didn't learn it in school.  You probably didn't have anyone to tell you about it before you went into business for yourself.  You might even think these "business improvement strategies" are a myth anyway.  Take Time Management, for example.  Does anyone really "manage" time?  It may seem like you simply run out of it, or that time manages you, right?  How do you do this stuff??!!??

There is no question that small business is complex, and becoming more so all the time.  So how do you learn how to do this better?  You can take classes, but that not only takes time, it risks being too unfocused to help you in your unique business.  You can hire an experienced manager or technician for some parts of the puzzle, but that adds a big layer of overhead you may not be able to afford.

This is where coaching comes in.  A good business coach can help you learn this stuff while you make improvements in your business (even managing to find the time to do it).  The improvements can help cover the investment in the coach.  The coaching will be focused on you and your unique business.  Eventually, you can end or suspend the relationship once you've learned the things you need to know.  (Of course, if the relationship works you may want to maintain the relationship for a long time!)  But the point is, consider getting a coach!  Successful athletes, movie stars, singers, business professionals and others have coaches because they make them better.  Why not you?

Don't Forget About Networking

Almost all business owners realize that networking is a valuable activity that they should engage in to spread the word about their business.  For example, most people who join their local Chambers of Commerce do so because they feel that the networking opportunities provided will be valuable to them.  However, the irony is that once they’ve joined they usually fail to regularly participate in this very activity that motivated their membership.

Yet business success studies show over and over again the importance of networking for all business leaders, even to the extent of providing personal value in terms of enhancing careers for non-business owners in leadership positions.  Networking just works and if you are not engaging yourself in this vital business activity, I’d like to give you a few reasons to reconsider.

First of all let’s look at networking in a traditional sense.  In Guerrilla Marketing terms, it is a marketing tactic.  It usually will be a valuable component of your marketing plan if used regularly.  Some of the values of networking are the following:

·        It is a Lead Generation tactic.  Often networking creates interest on the part of others to learn more about you or to physically contact you to do business.

·        It results in referral sources.  Networking usually introduces you to people who feel so good about what you do that they are eager to refer their customers and acquaintances to you for the great products and services you provide.

·        It is educational.  Active listeners can pick up lots of great tips and advice at networking events that will enhance their business or their lives.

·        It keeps you informed of current local events and opportunities, even the latest business gossip!

Lately, I’ve uncovered a couple of new benefits of networking.  Perhaps they are not technically “new”, but they have not always been considered as outcomes that business leaders would obtain primarily via networking.

·        Recruitment of employees.  In the past, recruitment was done primarily through advertising.  Whether it be classifieds or job boards in the past, or the more modern career sites like Monster or Career Builder or even Craigslist, you simply picked your venue, posted your job ad, and waited for the resumes to roll in.  Today, not so much.  One of the top methods now recommended for recruitment is good old networking.  Telling everyone you know or meet that you are hiring and helping them to understand the kind of employees you seek has become one of the best sources for quality hires.

·        Finding prospective buyers for your small business.  Since small businesses under $1 million in valuation don’t often attract business brokers, one critical way to find interested buyers it to simply network the fact that your business is for sale.  Some of the people that need to know are bankers, competitors, suppliers, sales reps, customers and others in your sphere of influence.  If you are in the midst of an exit strategy for your business, you might be nervous about putting the word out about your interest in selling, but it may be the very best way to find a buyer willing to pay you top dollar for your productive business.

Remember that we live in a time when networking can be done both actually and virtually, and I encourage you to embrace both.  Social media venues are not just for sharing personal life details, but for conducting serious business, too.  Networking on these platforms may feel a little different than the traditional “meet and greets”, but in many ways the exact same things can happen, and you will only limit your networking effectiveness if you fail to utilize both.

Nervous about networking?  Not sure how to go about it?  Ask us about how to design a networking strategy that can help you achieve your business strategies and goals.

6 Little Things That Make A Big Difference To The Value Of Your Company

With the Sochi Olympic Games taking place this month, it is interesting to reflect back on some of the big events of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

In the Men’s Downhill race at Whistler, for example, the winning time of 1:54:31 was posted by Didier Défago of Switzerland. The time among medalists was the closest in Olympic history, and while Mario Scheiber of Austria posted a time of 1:54:52 – just two tenths of a second slower than Défago – he finished out of the medals in fourth place.

In ski racing, one fifth of a second can be lost in the tiniest of miscalculations.  And when it comes to selling your business, markets can be equally cruel. Get everything right, and you can successfully sell your business for a premium. Misjudge a couple of minor details and a buyer can walk, leaving you with nothing.

Here is a list of six little details to get right before you put your business on the market:

1.   Find your lease. If you rent space, you may be required to notify your landlord if you intend to sell your company. Read through the fine print and ensure you’re not scrambling at the last minute to seek permission from your landlord to sell.

2.   Professionalize your books. Consider having audited financial statements prepared to give a buyer confidence in your bookkeeping. At a minimum, make sure your books are accurate and up-to-date.

3.   Stop using your company as an ATM.  Many business owners run trips and other perks through their business, but if you’re planning to sell, these treats will artificially depress your earnings, which will reduce the value of your company in the eyes of a buyer by much more than the value of the perks.

4.   Protect your gross margin. Oftentimes, when leading up to being listed for sale, companies grow by chasing low-margin business. You tell yourself you need top-line growth, but when an acquirer sees your growth has come at the expense of your gross margin, she will question your pricing authority and assume your journey to the bottom of the commoditization heap has begun.

5.   If you’re lucky enough to have formal contracts with your customers, make sure your customer contracts include a “survivor clause” stipulating that the obligations of the contract “survive” the change of ownership of your company. That way, your customers can’t use the sale of your company to wiggle out of their commitments to your business. Have a lawyer paper the language to ensure it has teeth in your jurisdiction.

6.   Get your Sellability Score. Take 13 minutes to answer the Sellability questionnaire now at www.baltusgroup.advicoach.com/sellability.aspx. You’ll see how you performed on the eight key drivers of sellability and you can identify any gaps you need to fill before taking your business to market.

Like competing in the Olympics, selling a business can be an all-or-nothing affair. Get it right and you will walk away a winner. Fumble your preparation, and you could end up out of the medals.

Biking to Success

Somewhere around 20 years ago, I started having a desire to make a cross-state bicycle ride in Wisconsin.  Honestly, I don't know where the idea came from.  I did a fair amount of bike riding as a teenager, but for the most part bicycling was limited in my early adult years to a few short rides with my family.  But in the winter of 2000, I decided that the coming summer was going to be the time when I would make this dream a reality.

That spring, I started riding regularly.  A short ride, around 10 miles each morning plus a weekend ride from 30-50 miles.  I worked up my endurance over the summer and capped it off with a back-to-back ride of 60 miles each day on a weekend (Sheboygan to Green Bay on Saturday and Green Bay back to Sheboygan on Sunday).  Then on August 4, 2001, I dipped my rear wheel into Lake Michigan at Pleasant Prairie in the southeast corner of Wisconsin and started my seven day trek which finished in Ashland on August 10 with a dip of my front wheel into Lake Superior.  It was a solo trip with my wife in a "support vehicle", and I thoroughly enjoyed all the towns, farmlands, forests and river country that make up this great state.

The other outcome is that I became hooked on biking and since then have logged at least 2,000 bicycle miles each summer.  Pure and simple... I love biking!

What does this have to do with business success?  Well my cross-state ride is sort of a metaphor for three lessons that are critical to success in any venture or business:

1. Success starts with a goal.  Although I can't exactly describe the source of my goal to bike across Wisconsin, nonetheless it was there.  I had the desire, the dream.  It was a clear goal, even to the extent I wanted it to be a north-to-south ride, not the shorter east-to-west alternative.  It was a Big Goal!  I had not done this before, and knew that I couldn't just hop on the bike one day and achieve it without some preparation.
2. A strategy gives direction to the venture.  This ride would never have taken place without planning.  I needed a plan to get into the physical shape needed to ride seven consecutive days.  I needed to map out the route.  I needed a communication plan with my wife in her support function.  Diet; food and water had to be considered.
3. Actions and commitment create the progress.  Most of all, even with the clear goal, I needed to do one more thing, and that was to commit to doing it.  It required that I get up each morning and ride.  It required that I ride on weekends.  It required that I give notice to my then-employer for that week of vacation to do the ride.  It just required that I start.  A goal and a strategy don't mean much without the action that gets results.

Guess what?  In the end, the ride was easy!  At the end I could have easily ridden much farther.  The planning and the preparation made it a fairly simple venture.  And that's the way it is in our businesses, too.  A goal, a strategy, and committed, disciplined action steps gets us to where we want to go, and it turns out to be fairly easy.

Let's go for a ride!