How has 2022 been for you and your business? Did you achieve everything you had set out to at the beginning of the year or did the scourge of Covid or any other external factors derail your plans? One thing’s for sure, New Year’s Eve resolutions don’t cut it. Statistics show that your chance of success in achieving a New Year’s resolution is around 10%, i.e. there’s a 90% chance of missing it!
Read MoreSo let’s assume that the past few months have taken quite a toll on the business and you have a responsibility to increase company revenue. Where do you start? In many companies, I often find that the first place sales people look to increase revenue is by acquiring new customers but think about what this entails: finding new prospects, meeting with them and starting to build rapport, understanding their business, appreciating their specific challenges, analysing how your products or services can address their issues and then finally convincing them that you have the right solution at the right price. Yep, no doubt about it, sales can be a tough place to be especially since this will need to be done multiple times to achieve the desired income levels. Whilst attracting and acquiring new customers has to be an integral part of the sales strategy for the business, there are in fact easier ways to do this which are also worthy of consideration.
Read MoreWhy is it that some people seem to be able to squeeze much more into their lives than others? Afterall there are 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week for all of us, but when you reflect on the achievements of people like Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Gandhi and Winston Churchill, you have to wonder how on earth they managed to squeeze so much in?
Read MoreWhat was your least favourite subject at school: English? Physics? Music? Chances are that many of you will have said Maths which is a pity since not only is this a fascinating subject, it also lies at the heart of much of what we need to do in day-to-day living, e.g. paying bills, budgeting etc. Since many people naturally shy away from mathematics these things are often avoided but in business, it is essential to ‘know your numbers’ if you are going to make your business a success. Still, I do hear some business owners say that they don’t worry about their financials, they leave this to their accountant or their bookkeeper, but as a business owner, you simply cannot outsource this important function. Good bookkeepers will be able to record your financial data, reconcile your accounts and assist you with BAS and IAS payments and good accountants will ensure that your business complies with your legal obligations and minimize your tax liabilities, but neither can actually manage the financial decisions that affect the growth, development and profitability of your business.
Read MoreAre you an entrepreneur? Perhaps you know one and if so, what separates an entrepreneur from any other business owner? What are the key characteristics required to be an ‘entrepreneur’? Search for a definition of the word and you will find something along the following lines:
Read MoreA former client referred me to a book by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang called “Rest”, subtitled “Why you get more done when you work less” which presents an interesting perspective on the apparent ‘busyness’ of our current lifestyle. The ‘always on’ lifestyle that we lead and the increasingly high number of hours that we work as a nation is taking a toll not only in terms of the impact on our relationships and time for leisure activities, but also apparently on our personal effectiveness.
Read MoreOne of the first things I look for when working with a new client is their organisational chart and specifically which roles are responsible for what within the business. Very often this doesn’t exist and if it does, it is not always clear who reports to whom and who is responsible for what. However, clarity here is essential since if changes are to be made in the business, it is clearly important to know who is responsible for owning and managing these and unless the business is a sole proprietor, the CEO cannot own them all.
Read MoreWhat is marketing? These days the term gets mixed up with Public Relations, digital marketing, social media etc and so it is not uncommon for many businesses to believe that marketing means a flashy website and/or a social media presence on one or more platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram to name just a few. Whilst these mechanisms certainly all have a place, there really is no one size fits all solution here and to be effective, it is important to understand four key things:
Read MoreDo you consider yourself to be a perfectionist? If so, do you see this as a strength or weakness? Certainly, striving for the best result possible is an admirable quality to have but as is the case for most strengths, too much focus in a particular area can lead to less favourable outcomes. There are definitely areas where perfection should be sought such as aircraft systems (if aircraft systems were just 99.99% reliable, then there would be about 10 aircraft a day falling out of the sky so clearly, they are much more reliable than this!) and telephone exchanges where the reliability requirements used to be something around less than 10 minutes downtime in 40 years! However, in business, being a perfectionist tends to be more of a weakness than a strength.
Read MoreAre you a Victor or a Victim? Most of us would prefer to associate with the former rather than the latter! In business this is especially important since your personal mindset has a dramatic effect on your ability to achieve (note Henry Ford: “whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right”), so what are the characteristics of each?
Victors are “Above the Line”.They take ownership, responsibility and accountability when things go wrong as well as when things go right.These are the people that get things done, you can probably think of people like this.
Read MoreThere are a seemingly infinite number of ways for us to improve our personal skills and acquire new knowledge but what really determines whether we succeed or not? The difference is in those individual characteristics that we apply to achieve a particular desired outcome. These attributes are typically not taught anywhere and include things like: empathy, commitment, quality orientation and the one I want to focus on in this article - persistence.
Read MoreIf you have been struggling to cope with the self-isolation that the Stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions have imposed, then there are understandable reasons for this and you are certainly not alone. While there is good evidence to suggest that the necessary measures put in place are now contributing to a drop in new cases of the virus and hopefully will enable Victorians to emerge from this crisis on September 13 when they will be reevaluated, this has however come at a high price.
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