The Secret to Freedom – Systemize Your Business, Part 2

As discussed in the previous post, the true path to freedom for the business owner is learning how to systemize their business. So, how does one systemize their business? It is definitely not a quick process to be sure. However, it doesn’t have to be complicated, nor does it require someone with a graduate degree. There are some simple steps in this process that I will highlight now.

Step 1: Have a clear vision of where your business is headed to.

This is key to the whole process since you can’t build a system around a floundering venture. Be clear on what you want the business to accomplish.

Step 2: Develop and publish your Mission Statement(s).

Mission statements describe to everyone (both inside and outside the company) how you will reach your vision. Many vision statements include levels of customer satisfaction and service, product quality, reliability and scope of operation (regional, national or global).

Step 3: Develop and publish your Points of Culture.

This sets the tone for the members of your company and are the “Rules of the Game” by which your company will adhere to. Note that this is also a key factor in bringing on awesome employees.

Step 4: Break down your business into every task that must be accomplished for your business to run efficiently and effectively.

This is the most time consuming part of systemizing your business as you need to be very thorough and complete down to the last detail. The more you drill down and the greater the detail, the easier it will be to create a dymanic system for your business.

Step 5: Organize your tasks into groups, then develop your Organization Chart.

Here you will need to spend time deciding how the work flows within your business and who will accomplish the tasks listed in step 4 in the most effective and efficient manner. Be realistic about how much work one person can do and still meet your expectations. it is important to see that you will fill slots on your Organization Chart with qualified people rather than build a position around an individual you have on board now.

Step 6: Create detailed job descriptions with performance standards.

This is almost self explanatory.

Step 7: Create Key Performance Indicators.

Set standards for jobs, departments and the company by which you can gauge the success of your systems.

Step 8: Create How-To Manuals, Charts, and Videos.

This is the final brick in the systemization process. Here you will break down how things are to be done so that integration and training can be facilitated quickly for your entire organization.

In the next post, I will break down some of these steps in greater detail. For now, you can start by doing the first three steps if you haven’t already.

The Secret to Freedom – Systemize Your Business! Part 1

It is a pretty common occurrence for me to run into business owners that are frustrated and burned out because they are working long hours in their businesses and often feel like they are on a never-ending hamster wheel. It seems as though they are pulled in fifteen different directions and can’t get much accomplished. Yet, there are those business owners that seem to be doing very well, and don’t spend much (if any) time in their businesses. How do they do it?

They systemize!

Running almost any business can be a fairly complex and monumental task. In his book, The E Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber talks about how most people decide to get into business for themselves. Typically, they are very good at the job they do, and feel that they can be more profitable and enjoy life better if they run the show themselves. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize how much is involved in running a business. The tasks start to pile up and the frustration sets in and gets worse over time.

The trick is to break the complex task of running a business into many smaller tasks which can be easily accomplished, either by you, or the people that work for you.

Two good examples of this are McDonald’s and the U.S. Military. McDonald’s typically employs teenagers and people without a college degree. How does a multi-billion dollar, global company survive with teenagers running it? Simple…. they have some of the best systems in the fast food industry. Tasks are broken into easy steps that can be quickly trained and taught to the staff.

The U.S. Military has managed to break the complex tasks assigned to it, to include the operation of some complex equipment, into a series of simple tasks that increase in complexity as the unit size increases. Each person has a function to perform that, when put together, allows them to accomplish some amazing things.

Think about how you can break up your business into simple tasks and how you can group those tasks to accomplish more than you do now. In the next few posts I will discuss how you can systemize your business and get your life back.

Finding Great Employees: Is it Magic or Method?

In talking with business owners, I often hear a familiar complaint: “I can’t seem to find any good people to work for me!” This is often followed by the remark, “Young people these days don’t have the same work ethic that we did when we were coming up.” So, is this true? Are we doomed to never find good employees that are hard-working, dedicated and loyal?

The good news is that there are good people out there! I have worked with many business owners and managers that have one or more employees that are exemplary and cherished. This being the case, why is it sometimes so hard to find a great employee. Let’s examine a few ideas.

One of the most important prerequisites to finding great employees that we must consider is what is the mindset of the employer? Believe it or not, attitude and atmosphere come from the top. If you are a person of high moral integrity, hard working and organized, then your organization will tend to follow suite. If, on the other hand, you are a person that is out for a fast buck, selfish, and unorganized, you can rest assured that your organization will have lots of issues along those lines. As a business owner, you need to do a “check up from the neck up” to ensure you have the right mindset and display it accordingly.

The next prerequisite is in addition to setting the tone for your business, have you determined the direction? To say you exist simply to make money is vague indeed. Does your business have a compelling vision? Have you articulated the mission statements of your business? Are your unique points of culture published? Employees tend to function much better when they know where their company is going and how it is that they are supposed to get there. Along these lines is the writing of a complete employee handbook that covers general policies applicable to everyone in the organization.

The next area to consider is have each of the positions you want to fill been thoroughly described? Do you have a detailed job description for each position in your company? Have you set written performance standards and attached an incentive plan for exceeding the standards and explained what will happen if they fail to achieve minimum standards? This is very important and an area which is regularly forgotten. Many employers seem to think that the people that they hire should “already know what to do”. This is really an unrealistic expectation as every company is different; even in like positions the expectations from one organization to another can be wildly varied. Even subtle differences can be major when it comes to employee relations at your firm.

Finally, have you really identified the type of person that would be ideally suited to the position you are trying to fill? There are certain personality and thinking styles that tend to perform better than others in a given position. It is well worth the time, money and effort to research the best qualities that each position in your firm requires. There are a variety of ways to gauge this, such as DISC profiles, Meyers-Briggs testing, and behavior profiling (ProfileXT comes to mind) to name a few. Remember that profiling cannot be the sole basis of a hiring decision, but it can be an important factor.

All of this may seem like an incredible amount of work just to find a great employee, but can you really afford not to do it? Each year, companies spend millions of dollars hiring and training employees. When you factor in government mandated requirements, benefit plans and office space and equipment needed for your people to do their jobs, the stakes get much higher. Consider how much money you could lose in lost sales, customers that won’t return or stolen merchandise and embezzled funds that a bad employee can cost you. Perhaps now you see that a good bit of forethought, some excellent preparation and a commitment to finding great employees is something you simply can’t afford not to do.

Take hiring employees as serious as you do selling your products and services and you will find the payoff to be wonderful!

Marketing Fundamentals You Should Know

In dealing with hundreds of business owners, I often find that the word “marketing” is a strange and scary term. Many believe that marketing is the realm of advertising agencies and professional consultants. Indeed, many of these people would encourage such thinking. The good news however, is that marketing is something anyone can master if they take the time to learn about it. It is with that thought in mind that I write this post.

We will examine four essential fundamentals to consider when developing your marketing strategies. They are: Targeting, Planning, Integration, and Consistancy.

Let’s examine Targeting first. It is vitally important that you clearly identify all the explict (obvious) and implicit (not so obvious) needs that your product or service fulfills for your client and/or customer. Next, identify who would need these needs fulfilled the most (your target markets). This really involves some careful consideration as everything you do from here on out depends on your target market.

Next, let’s talk about Planning. This is the part many people forget, ignore, or shun in the small business arena. Successful business people have often told me how they would conduct successful marketing campaigns or implement a successful strategy, yet sales remain erratic. Once they start realizing that deliberate planning and execution can result in increased and steady sales, the light comes on. That is what planning is all about… a deliberate process by which you will execute a series of marketing campaigns and strategies. Once you have your marketing syncronized, your results will be profoundly better. You can also plan to properly measure and test the results of your efforts and discover where you are getting the best returns. Additionally, you can prepare your sales team and distribution staff to handle increased inquiry and demand. A simple way to manage this is by using a marketing calendar that will lay out what, when, how, and to whom you will market.

That leads me to Integration. Integration is ensuring that your marketing strategies and campaigns are interlocking and mutually supportive of each other. An example would be to have a special offer that you place in the newspaper, send direct mailers out on, flash on your website and that you mention in your networking meetings. Each strategy supports the offer and sends a continuous message to the prospective consumer.

Finally, we will discuss Consistancy.  The biggest killer to successful marketing (other than simply not doing it at all) is inconsistancy and impatience. Over a hundred years ago, an author described the reader of a print ad’s reaction each time he read the ad. On the 21st time the reader bought the product. Recent studies have shown that it takes 7 touches for someone to do business with you… however, they only process every 3rd message. 3 times 7 equals 21. Interesting that not much has changed in over 100 years. The moral of this story is that you need to send out your marketing message consistantly if you want to achieve long-term consistant sales results. Most marketing consultants will readily and heartily back this claim.

So remember to practice these important Marketing Fundamentals: Targeting, Planning, Integration, and Consistancy.

About This Blog

Greetings to all that may read this Blog! This will be a blog for aspiring and current business owners. My intent is to provide hints, tips and words of encouragement to the brave of heart that are participating in the Free Enterprise system by operating their own business. I encourage commentary from business owners, managers, professional business consultants, coaches and advisors.

Today’s thought is:

You can only truly fail if you refuse to participate.  

Even when things don’t go according to our plans (we lose money, profits, employee issues, etc), we learn valuable lessons that can never be taken from us. From these experiences, we learn how to run our businesses successfully in the future. We can also use these lessons to teach our employees and family how to run a successful business. Some of the best learning comes from our failures (After all, if everything we did worked, we would have nothing to learn).  Just remember to look for the lesson when things aren’t going your way!