Best Small Business Idea -- It's All About You

Summary:

We've all heard that the key to success in business is to focus totally on your customers.

Article Body:
Getting More Focused --  It’s All About You

Jeanna Pool from Catalyst Creative writes a great ezine on marketing each month.  In January she shared 5 Great Marketing Tips for 2006.  Number 1 was “Stop Focusing on You”.  She declares 2006 the year of the client and exhorts you to focus totally on your clients and their needs.  I think she’s right on.  And I think she’s completely wrong.  Why right and wrong?

Because if you’ve been in business for awhile and have great products and great services and aren’t getting the results you want, you may be too focused on your clients and not focused enough on yourself.  Last week, I encouraged your to revisit your vision of your business and ask yourself why you started your business in the first place.  Now I want you to focus even more on what you want.  What exactly do you want out of your business?  Do you want more money?  If so, how much?  Write down a number.  Do you want more flexible hours?  If so, write out exactly the schedule you’d like.  Do you want to change the world?  If so, write out specifically how that would look.

Why all this focus on you?  Because if you aren’t absolutely clear on what you want, how are you going to know if you are successful?  How are you going help your clients if you aren’t taking care of yourself as well.  Maybe you need to be making $150,000 a year to provide your family with the life that you wanted.  You want to send your kids to college.  You want to retire while you are still in active and in good health.  Or maybe you want to just make an extra $20,000 a year working part-time while you take care of your children until they are in school.  Or perhaps your goal is to make a million dollars a year and live a really incredible life.  Defining this is very important.  Why?

Because what you want will shape your business.  It will determine who your customers are and how you will help them.  If you want $5,000,000 in sales, your products and methods are going to be a whole lot different than if you want $50,000 in sales.  If you want to work only afternoons, that is going to shape your business as well.  If you want to sell your business and retire in five years, that’s going to affect your decisions as well.  So right now, get out a paper and pen and get ready to write.

Did you get your pen and paper out?  Answer the question, “What do I want out of my business?”   Write in as much detail exactly what you want your business to give you.  Be as specific as possible.  Write as much as you can.  Think income, lifestyle, schedule, partners, travel, location, employees.  What exactly do you want?  Throughout the week, add to this and revise it.  Compare where you are right now to what you really want.  How large is the gap?  Next week, I’ll help you create a plan to narrow the gap with:  Why Business Plans Don’t Work  -- How to Create an Effective Action Plan

Awareness And Mastery – Two Essential Keys To A Successful Small Business

Summary:
At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path."
~ George Leonard
US pioneer in human potential


We often hear managers complaining that their employees aren’t productive, don’t listen and just can’t consistently get the job done. As a youth sports coach, I hear coaches with similar complaints—the kids don’t listen, don’t know where to go and don’t try very hard. I can’t relate. The boys on my team are usually focused, do what I ask of them, and w...






Article Body:
At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path."
~ George Leonard
US pioneer in human potential

We often hear managers complaining that their employees aren’t productive, don’t listen and just can’t consistently get the job done. As a youth sports coach, I hear coaches with similar complaints—the kids don’t listen, don’t know where to go and don’t try very hard. I can’t relate. The boys on my team are usually focused, do what I ask of them, and work hard. As a business owner, my employees are focused, do what I ask of them and work hard. What am I doing that is different from the rest? And what can this teach you about running a successful small business?

As a coach, I make my boys’ jobs very simple. I ask only two things of them. I ask them to master one shot and I ask them to be aware of what is going on around them. Of course we work on defensive and offensive strategy, but both of those revolve around the two keys that I gave them for success—awareness and mastery.

I teach awareness by constantly asking them to be aware of where the ball is and at the same time to be aware of their teammates are and where their opponents are. I teach them how to see the ball and their opponent when he doesn’t have the ball. Sounds simple, but for ten year olds this is work.

I teach mastery by assigning homework to each boy. The second week of practice, they have to show me a spot on the court from which they can make a shot every time. I don’t care if it is from just two feet under the basket. I want them to know they can make it every single time. As the season progresses, they may gradually move their spot further and further out, but I still ask that they be able to make their shot every time unguarded in practice.

These two simple concepts have a tremendous effect on the boys during their games. They have incredible confidence in their ability to make shots because they “know” that they will always make it. I don’t need to yell at them like other coaches about where they should be on the court because they have developed awareness of what they are doing and seeing. Now let’s see how you can use this in your successful small business.

As a business owner, I put these two key principles to work in training my employees. From the first day on the job, I work with them to be aware of what tasks are needed, what I expect of them, how I want customers treated, etc. And I ask them to master tasks and customer scripts. Once they are mastered, I open it up for them to adlib just like with my players. When correction is needed, it is usually in one of these two areas. They are either unaware of what is needed or they haven’t mastered the task at hand.

Not only does following these two concepts make it easy for me to get results with my players and employees, it also brings incredible results. My first team lost only one game all season and my employees rarely lose a sale. My businesses and products win awards earned by my employees. And, as a bonus, everyone enjoys themselves with this simple structure. I knew I was doing it right when the father of one of my boys told me that his boy enjoyed practice so much that he chose to come to practice instead of going to see our professional basketball team play one night. And I know it works with my employees because they show up on time happy, focused and ready to work. Remember, awareness and mastery are two essential keys to a successful small business.