|
|
Building
Your Business
- Have a plan.
Know where you want your business to be in six months, in a
year, in two years. Know what steps you must take to get
there.
- Watch your cash flow.
Many businesses, viable in the long term, fail because of
short term cash flow problems. Keep a close watch on this.
- Learn from others.
Learn from those who have created something similar before.
Imitate their successful methods - and then do it better. Do
it with an unique twist of your own.
- Listen to your customers.
They are your lifeblood. If you can keep them happy they
will keep buying from you.
- Don't be afraid to take
risks.
Do it within reason and in a calculated way, but do it.
Risks are what bring rewards.
- Enjoy it.
If you are not enjoying your business and motivated by it
you will not give it your best effort. If you don't like it,
find something else to do.
(back to top of
page) |
Business
Writing
- Keep it simple.
Remember that the aim is to communicate and not to write a
piece of literature.
- Keep it short.
Businessmen are busy people.
- Break it up.
Use lots of headings, subheadings, and bullets. The document
will be scanned for these first to see if it is worth
reading.
- Provide a summary.
Always provide a management summary that contains the
essence of what you want to say. This may be the only part
that is read by some people.
- Lay it out clearly.
Don't make it difficult to read. If it is, it won't be read.
- Correct all errors of
grammar or spelling.
You won't be taken seriously if you don't.
(back to top of
page) |
Interviewing
Job Candidates
- Be absolutely clear what you
are looking for.
Agree this in advance with all other interested parties.
- Study the candidate's CV in
advance.
Be totally familiar with its contents before the interview.
- Prepare your questions in
advance.
Know exactly how you plan the interview to progress from
start to finish.
- Keep control of the
interview.
Don't be fobbed off by incomplete or evasive answers.
Persist.
- Terminate the interview as
soon as it is clear the candidate is unsuitable.
Don't waste any more of your (or his) time.
- Be decisive.
After the interviews are all over make a quick decision. Let
your candidates know the outcome as soon as possible.
- Don't accept a dud.
You will regret it. Don't offer the job to someone
unsuitable just because he is the best of a bad bunch.
Reconsider your criteria, cast your net wider, and start
again.
(back to top of
page) |
|
Management
-
Show a lead.
Show that you are clear about where you are going and where
you want your staff to follow. Demonstrate your mastery of
the situation.
-
Communicate.
Keep your staff informed. Tell them what is going on in the
company. Explain the strategies. Give advanced warning of
major changes.
-
Delegate.
Keep yourself free to make the major decisions. Don't do
things that would better be done by one of your staff. Don't
overload yourself with trivia.
-
Encourage.
Encourage your staff to show initiative and take decisions
where appropriate. Encourage them to study and improve.
-
Reward.
Reward those who have done well. Reward with praise, with
recognition, with money, with advancement. Do everything to
encourage a good worker.
-
Set deadlines.
When giving out tasks always set a deadline. Jobs without
set time limits tend to take forever.
(back to top of
page) |
|
Motivating
Yourself
-
Have a dream.
Have a goal. Have an vision of where you want to be.
-
Have a plan.
Turn your dream into a specific plan. A step by step, well
thought out, realistic route to achieve your dream.
-
Get rid of the
negative.
Don't spend your time with negative people. Don't listen to
doom mongers. Don't listen to those who say 'you can't do
it', 'its impossible', 'give up', 'take the easy way out'.
-
Develop a
positive attitude.
Associate with positive people. Listen to those who have
already succeeded. Take notice of what they have to say.
Learn from them. Imitate them.
-
Take action.
Make a start. Do something. Don't just listen and learn.
-
Treat setbacks
as a learning process. Take note. Analyse what went wrong.
Learn lessons from it. Then forget it and move on.
(back to top of
page) |
|
Motivating Your
Team
-
Don't take
your team members for granted.
Take the time to say 'hello' and 'goodbye' and to ask about
their well being. Take an interest in them as individuals.
-
Give your team
credit for a job well done.
Don't grab the glory for yourself.
-
Don't ask
anyone to work harder and longer that you do yourself.
-
Always defend
your team from outside attack.
Keep your own criticisms and rebukes between you and your
team or you and the individual.
-
Make sure that
good work done by your team is recognised by the company at
large.
Keep your team in the company's eye.
-
Look after the
careers of your team members.
Don't hold them back. Give them training. Encourage them to
take responsibility and advance in the company.
(back to top of
page) |
Negotiating
- Never underestimate the
strength of your own position.
- Always start by assuming
that the weaknesses in your position are unknown to the
other side. If this is not true it will soon become clear.
- Don't be afraid of reaching
an impasse. You can always make a concession to get things
going again.
- Set your sights high at the
outset. It gives you room to make concessions, but you may
still achieve more than you hoped for.
- Never accept the other
side's first offer.
- Make the other side fight
for every concession. Points given away are not appreciated
as much as something fought for.
- Don't be fobbed off if the
other side doesn't want to negotiate a particular point 'on
principle'.
- Make a note of all the
points you have conceded. Remind the other party when
necessary.
- Don't concede anything until
the whole picture is clear. Concede only when unavoidable.
- Take back a concession and
exchange it for another if this proves to be more advisable.
(back to top of
page) |
|
Public Speaking
-
Prepare.
Prepare your facts, your delivery, your visual aids. Know
your audience. Check the room. Prepare for every
eventuality.
-
Practice.
Try out your speech in advance. Check that it flows well.
Check the timing.
-
Relax.
Carry out body and voice relaxing exercises if you feel
tense or nervous.
-
Start on a
high.
Start with something to grab your audiences attention - a
story, a joke, a challenging statement.
-
Relate to your
audience.
Look at them. Make eye contact. Look for signs of interest
and play to them.
-
Don't waffle.
Make your talk as long as it needs to be, and no more. Say
what you have to say and then stop. Your audience will
appreciate it.
-
End on a high.
Send your audience away happy. Send them away with a
powerful statement or challenge. They are most likely to
remember the last thing they hear, so make it good.
(back to top of
page) |
Small
Business Marketing
- Listen to the experts.
Marketing is the key to your business, and it is not an
obvious skill. Pay attention to the advice of experts.
- Don't flog a dead horse.
If what you are doing isn't working try something else.
Don't just do more of the same.
- Test and measure.
If you cannot measure the response of an advertisement how
do you know if it is any good? If you don't test one sales
letter against another how do you know which is the best?
- If it works, stick with it.
Once you have a marketing approach that works as well as you
can get it, leave it alone. Don't tinker with it. Accept
that nothing is a hundred percent perfect and move on to
concentrate on something else.
- Watch your competitors.
See what they are doing. Learn from them. Pick up new ideas
from them. But don't just imitate - innovate and improve.
(back to top of
page) |
Software
Tools
-
Try
them out for free.
Many of the popular tools are available in a free or 'lite'
version. See if they are what you want before buying.
-
Pay for what you really want.
The free 'lite' versions give a good basic function but
often lack that extra that makes all the difference. Don't
be a cheapskate. You can often save yourself loads of time
by investing just a little money.
-
See what others recommend.
Read the reviews. Observe what others are using. There is
sometimes so much to chose from that it is difficult to
distinguish between them all. Take advantage of other
people's research.
-
Don't go mad.
Don't fill up your PC so full of nifty tools that it grinds
to a halt under the strain - or you do. Pick what you need
and get on with your real work.
-
Learn to use them.
Set aside a little time each week to get to know how your
tools work. It is surprising how many bits of software are
only partially used through lack of knowledge on the part of
the user.
(back to top of
page) |
|
|