Every successful entrepreneur reaches a point where they need help. The obvious way of getting this help (if you can afford it) is hiring an employee. However, hiring and human resources is not on the average entrepreneur’s resume. It can be an easy enough skill to learn (considering that entrepreneurs tend to be fast learners anyway) if you know the dos and don’ts of the hiring process.

DO: Know what you want.

This may seem overly obvious, but consider: how many employers hastily jot out an ad without ever thinking about what they really need? You need to look around your business and do some serious thinking before even beginning the hiring process. If you are hiring for the first time, think about what duties you really want to hand off. What strengths and weaknesses will best complement your own? If you already have employees, you should think not just about what skills will enhance your team, but about what type of personality will fit best. You cannot put out a job ad with “bubbly and fun” or “thick-hided with an ironic sense of humor”, but you certainly can screen for these traits in employees.

DON’T: Write a garbage ad.

In case you have not flipped through the want ads lately, many businesses have very bad advertisements for open positions. They do little to market themselves to available talent. While there are many workers looking for jobs right now, the most capable employees are very much in-demand. The only way to get to them first is to make your want ad a way of marketing your business. Don’t give a dry list of demands and qualifications; focus on why the right person would want to work for you.

DO: Ask around.

If you were looking for a doctor, would you check the yellow pages? Most people would ask family and friends until they found the right person. You should approach hiring in the same way. Tell friends and family that you are looking for someone with a set list of qualifications and let them do the work for you. If you already have employees, be sure to ask them if they have acquaintances in the field. Often, word of mouth will bring in better qualified employees who are a better fit for your company.

DON’T: Make the hiring process too difficult.

Many employers impose huge amounts of challenges on would-be employees. The idea is that this gets rid of the people who are simply not motivated and leaves you with the most hard-working, qualified employees. In reality, this may leave you with just the people who have no respect for their own time. Make it easy for people to apply for a job, and you will end up with a more impressive pool of people to choose from when it comes time to pore through the resumes.

DO: Impose “smart gates”.

Smart gates are tasks that potential employees create in order to show you their abilities. We are not talking about a stupid English test; rather, ask something like: look at our website and tell us how you would improve it. This example may not work so well for you; a smart gate is only really smart if it is testing abilities and traits that will be the most important on the job, and if the average potential employee will not view it as a barrier.

DON’T: Disqualify people for the wrong reasons.

I have talked to many human resources people who had appalling rules. Whether they only hire people with good handshakes or never hire someone who has a colored resume, many have some way of narrowing down their candidates that has nothing to do with their ability to do their job. You should be hiring based on qualifications, interpersonal skills, creativity and other needed traits, not for their taste in shoes. Don’t cut people out for stupid reasons if there is a good chance that they would make great employees despite failing whatever silly test you have devised.

DO: Look for intelligence and common sense.

When I was in school, I was hired for a service job despite having no experience in the field. The manager’s reason was that I had people skills, which she could not really teach, while the other skills could easily be learned. I excelled in that job and stayed with the company until I graduated. When hiring, think about what you really need. Some jobs will require people skills, while others might need a good grasp of common sense. Look for these traits specifically, and don’t be afraid to give up some less desirable qualifications in favor of the ones you really need.

DON’T: Look for qualifications that you cannot afford.

One of the major mistakes in this economy is assuming that you can afford much more employee than before. This may be true on a temporary basis—you certainly may find someone who is out of work and simply wants a job—but in general, these people will leave as soon as something better comes along. You need to be very realistic about what kind of employee you can afford, not just to hire but to keep. Hiring is time-consuming and expensive; don’t set yourself up for having to do it again in a few months.

DO: Practice interviewing.

When you are interviewing, it is important to ask questions. However, you should not do all the talking. How can you find out anything about your potential employee if you don’t listen? Try to stick to questions and simply let the employee determine the direction and tone of the interview. This will allow you to get a really good idea of who the candidate is as a person.

DO: Train with a brain.

You have already decided what this employee will be doing, so design a training plan that maximizes their exposure to their job duties. Include specific goals, daily routines and more. Make sure you teach the employee everything that they need to know for their job, but not a whole lot more.

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It seems that everywhere you turn nowadays, there is another customer loyalty program. I can’t fill up my car, pick up my  dry cleaning,  or even grab some milk on the way home from work without having to whip out a loyalty card. Yet I’m not really loyal to any one of these businesses.

I’m not the only one dealing with an increased number of customer loyalty programs. A recent study found that more than three-quarters of American consumers have at least one customer loyalty card, and that US business spend more than one billion dollars per year on these programs. Are they getting their money’s worth? Are customer loyalty programs worth the time and trouble? That is what we are looking at today.

Customer loyalty is a very important thing for a business. Loyal customers cost less per sale, lowering your overhead while increasing your profit. They need no advertising to keep them coming into your store (or clicking on your website) and they are highly likely to tell others about you, creating positive buzz. It’s no wonder companies are willing to spend so much to woo this almost intangible element, but it is worth the cost?

We don’t think they are in many cases, and here’s why: customer loyalty is built and earned over months and even years of repeat sales. An occasional card or perk that will quickly join maybe twelve others in a person’s wallet won’t buy that kind of history.

However, there are a few ways you can build loyalty among your customers. Here are just a few:

• Stay loyal to your brand.

  Yes, it’s obvious, but many people break this rule. Always give your customers a consistent brand experience.

• Know your audience.

  Why do your repeat customers continue to patronize you? Knowing the answer to this question will help you understand what you need to attract more of these people and keep them coming.

• Be original and give them something to talk about.

  This will encourage the positive buzz that you are seeking while encouraging repeat visits.

• Reward long term customers with better service and card-less perks.

  The tendency is to reward new customers and use perks as a way of luring people into your store, but the older, more loyal customers need treats as well.

• Hire people who know customer service.

  One rude employee can undo years of smiling service. Don’t let these people anywhere near your store. You can teach anyone how to complete a task, but friendliness and a great attitude are priceless.

• Be a good communicator.

  That personal touch is what makes small businesses so attractive to Americans. Talk to people when they come in your store and try to remember names and faces. Send Christmas cards and other written communications. Let your loyal customers know that you are a person and that you appreciate their business.

Building customer loyalty is no easy task, but these six tips should help you get started. You don’t need a card or a huge incentive to show your customers that you appreciate their loyalty. Sometimes it’s the little things that count the most.

Related articles

• Tips for Closing the Sale
• 5 Rules for Customer Service Success
• 5 Ways to Get More Clients Today
• Who Are Your Biggest Brand Fans?
• Customer Relationship Management and You

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Millions of words have been written about using the internet to market and brand your business, but these often seem a little inappropriate for certain small business owners. If you have a location-based business that serves a narrow geographic area, it might seem a little silly to put your name and reputation out there for people who will never get within one hundred miles of your store.

Indeed, many companies overextend their time and resources marketing themselves on the internet with no success. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. A new crop of web applications make it easy to find and reach customers in your own neighborhood. Here are a few of these useful web tools.

1. MeetUp.

   MeetUp is specifically designed to bring the internet into local lives, so it is an ideal tool for small businesses looking for a way to ‘meet up’ with local customers. If you buy a membership at less than one hundred dollars per year, you can organize a Meetup on the topic of your choice. People in your area who select this interest when they join the website will then receive information and emails with information about your group and its events. Because Meetup is relatively new, you can hold a virtual monopoly in your topic within your geographical area. However, it is not so new that you won’t find interested customers; the website currently has half a million new users every month.

2. Twitter Search.

   If you haven’t used Twitter Search, you are in a dwindling minority. This search engine is the second most used search engine on the web. However, most of these users don’t notice or use the Advanced search option. This option will allow you to select and search tweets in your area from people using terms related to your business, identifying potential customers in one easy search.

3. FourSquare.

   FourSquare may be viewed as a game, but it is one with growing popularity and a huge presence in local markets. Players visit local businesses and use their cell phone to “check in”. The player who checks in the most at a location is named the Mayor. While it seems like a simple and not exactly entertaining premise, more and more businesses are catering to players simply because they comprise such a quickly growing group. Best of all, you can see who is checking in at other local stores, giving you access to your competitor’s potential customers. If you reach out to these people, you just may tap into a whole new customer base. Even if you don’t follow the game that closely, you can offer incentives and special deals to FourSquare users, who tend to be users of other social networking sites as well.

There are good reasons to market your business on the internet, one major one being the hundreds of millions of people using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. These tools make it easier than ever to sift through these people and reach out directly to the ones that matter, increasing the return on your investment in internet marketing. You may not be able to outspend the big guys, but you can reach out to them in a way that is all your own.

Logo Design Works is at cross roads now. We have stayed small for a very long time and offered personalized logo design services to clients from all over the world. Even though this meant we could not take on too many logo design projects, it allowed us to be in control of the process and the deliverable that we offered our customers.

For the past two months, we have had an increase in sales and the trend seems to be accelerating. This despite the slow down of the economy. Now, our small team of 4 lead logo design team and a small number of junior designers (you can count them on your fingers), is not able to cope with the increased projects.

We know we need to increase our work force to handle all the new sales, but the question is: what happens if the sale start to slow down? For small design firms I guess this question is not easy to answer. Do we start recruiting a new logo designer? If we do then we are stuck with salaries that have to paid no matter what happens to the sales.

So do we go for freelancers? The problem with is that freelancers are not reliable any more. At least in the logo design industry. When your core service depends heavily on the quality of logo design concepts you provide, you can not risk placing that responsibility in the hands of unknown and untested logo designers.

We are now thinking of taking on partners or angel investors who would be able to provide us with the management know how and the resources to be able to bring on full time logo designers and be still able to wither any turn in the sales cycles. I will update this post as and when we have had major changes to our situation.

Finding good people to populate your small business or startup is crucial. Without a pool of sharp, productive workers, your business is doomed. Payroll is one of your biggest ongoing expenses. This whole area of human resources is full of hidden opportunity costs as well as the hidden expenses of losing a key worker. You must not only find suitable candidates, you must be able to attract them to the point where they choose to work for you. Only then does the really hard work begin of retaining your most valuable people.

Business owners are naturally attracted to younger workers, even fresh graduates. After all, they have a fresh education and it’s possible to get productive results based on sheer talent rather than experience, which costs more.

On the other hand, the more experienced you become, the more you realize how valuable it is. As the bulging baby-boomer workforce ages, yes, they are older, but by now, they have acquired 20 to 40 years of experience. Here is an excellent article that makes the case for considering mature workers for employment in your company. Sure, there’s a fine line between “mature” and “geezer,” but many companies discount recruiting older workers because they think hiring the experience is too expensive. But, when you take a closer look, you just might want to reconsider your priorities.

Some entrepreneurs are afraid to take bigger challenges because they can’t handle the idea of failing. To make matters worse, some say “no” even without even trying. In case you are in this same situation, you might want to do some attitude adjustment. Here’s how:

1. Impossible is Nothing. This famous Adidas advertising slogan is the first step towards better attitude. When faced with a difficult task, you should not give up easily. Explore your options and ask other people for advice.
2. Think big. You should start a business with the dream of becoming a big company in the long run. Combining your think-big mindset and hard work, you can take on challenging projects without fear.
3. Prepare all the time. Instead of dreaming of overnight success, start sharpening your skills and learning new ones. When the big opportunity knocks on your door, you are more than prepared to seize it.
4. Focus on your strengths. Some entrepreneurs spend their time focusing on their weaknesses until they reached a point where they can no longer appreciate their strengths. Find your key skills and learn how to use it to your advantage.

There are many temptations hindering the success of small businesses across the globe. These are the things we should not do but for some reason, many entrepreneurs keep doing it. Here are some of the fatal temptations in running a small business.

1. Cutting corners. Some entrepreneurs offer substandard products or poor service just to minimize expenses. They are tempted to buy cheap raw materials or accept bargain deals without regard to quality.
2. Forgetting the basics. Every business has essential parts like special equipment, unique business skills, or secret formula. However, we sometimes take these things for granted because we focus on new but less significant matters.
3. Listening to everybody. Starting a business can be very confusing so we solicit advice from experts in different fields like finance, accounting logos, marketing and leadership. Although there is nothing wrong with that, we should learn to evaluate every advice and uncover any hidden agenda if there’s any.
4. Not assessing your business skills. There are some entrepreneurs who believe that common sense and luck are the main ingredients of success. It is important to know your limitations so you can identify what skills to work on and the people you need to hire.

It is a common knowledge that employees who have fun at work are the most productive. It means part of our responsibilities as entrepreneurs is to make our company a happy place. Today, it is not enough to celebrate holidays and birthdays to have fun in our office. We should take a step further by doing some of these things:

1. Engage in social events. Movie nights, bowling, or even a simple coffee session are good for bonding sessions. Discourage any conversations about business and focus on personal matters.
2. Create a “happy” team. Gather your fun-loving employees together and come up with different creative activities to add more laughter in your company.
3. Review your office practices. There are some annoying activities in your office like soliciting money among employees that negatively affect other co-workers. You should correct these things as soon as possible.
4. Maintain a positive attitude. Employees usually mimic the attitude of the business owners. Lead your team towards a more optimistic life by starting within yourself.
5. Adopt flextime. Some employees have other personal matters to attend to like children or sick relatives. Giving them a flexible schedule will not only ease their stress but build loyalty to your company as well.

Discrimination against employees has been an ongoing problem in many businesses nowadays. In Salt Lake City a young employee has accused Park City for pervasive race discrimination and a hostile work environment for Latinos. While in the UK, 3 women has alleged that a culture of gender discrimination was fostered by top managers in Bloomberg. This case could result to $145 million in damages.

Entrepreneurs must learn the dangers of discrimination and its impact to the business. While race and gender issues are very rampant, there are 9 different types of discrimination according to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):

1. Age
2. Disability
3. Equal Pay
4. National Origin
5. Pregnancy
6. Sex
7. Sexual Harassment
8. Religion
9. Retaliation

Recently, EEOC has released a revised guideline focusing particularly on unlawful discrimination against workers with caregiver responsibilities. These are the people who take care of their children or relatives who are very sick and old. While this is composed mostly by women, the number of male employees with caregiver responsibilities has risen recently. Under this new law, businesses will be penalized if they do the following:

1. Refusal to hire an employee who takes care of disabled relative because this might affect his or her performance.
2. Unwillingness to adjust the workload and schedule of a pregnant employee
3. Not allowing fathers to leave to take care of their babies
4. Not hiring mothers with young children because they might take many leaves to take care of their children.

The ongoing Campbell’s soup recall of more than 72,000 cans is a wake up call for many entrepreneurs to have stricter quality evaluation procedures. More importantly, it prompted us to prepare in case we experience this same problem. Speed is very here because a defective product can trigger serious damages to your customers. Here are some of the important steps you should do when recalling a product:

Step 1. Assign a responsible person in your company to oversee the entire recall activities.

Step 2. Gather info about the product you want to recall such as bar code, description, size, manufacturing date or import date.

Step 3. Track the customers who received your defective product, inform them immediately stop sellingor using it. Depending on the problem, a product can be repaired, disposed, or returned to your company.

Step 4. Inform the public about your recall, no matter how small your business is. Don’t just rely on your customer service and learn to use all your employees to spread the word as soon as possible. Get in touch with the media to help you out.

Step 5. If you have a website, create a “Recall Safety Information” in your homepage and make sure it is very conspicuous to your readers. Maintain this information even after the actual recall. There might be some customers who don’t know about this yet.

Step 6. Assist your customers for any refund, repair or replacement caused by the recall. Prepare your team to deal with angry customers and ask them to be more patient.

Step 7. Be prepared to spend additional money for the recall to be effective. This is the price for being lax on your quality inspection.

Business intelligence is about gathering information on current market situations, upcoming trends, and competitor activities. If you think this applies only to big companies, think again. A new survey has revealed that poor intelligence results to substantial losses:

58% of surveyed business executives admit that business opportunities have been missed or problems have not been spotted as a result of not having access to relevant information at the right time;

The survey indicates that the Fortune 500 companies are losing approximately $250 million per year in missed business opportunities as a result of inadequate business intelligence.

You may not lose thousands or millions of dollars but the point is you will lose lucrative opportunities and might not stay on top if you don’t take business intelligence seriously. The good news is you don’t need to spend too much money on this, if you apply the following tips:

1. Check your competitors’ websites. Most businesses now do have websites and that is a rich source of competitive information. Important sections include “About Us”, “Press Releases”, and “Products or Services”. Don’t forget to check the profile and competencies of its founders or co-founders to gauge how well they know the market.
2. Internet research. A simple Google search will give you tons of information about the market trends and financial data of your publicly traded competitors. If you are looking for annual reports and financial info, check out Yahoo! Finance and SEC Filings & Forms (EDGAR). Also talk to your accountant about any information that they might share with you.
3. Use your network. If you have friends or professional colleagues connected in your industry, why not give them a call or set an informal meeting? This is your chance to collect info not commonly available in websites like hearsays or daily operations.

Do you consider health care coverage important to your business? A recent survey about this subject has some surprising revelations. For one, male entrepreneurs are more concerned about health insurance to employees, compared with the female entrepreneurs. According to USA Today:

The American Express survey of 627 small-company owners and managers found that 67% of men vs. 59% of women feel such coverage is important. The results, out today, are surprising to authorities on female-owned firms who believe women put more emphasis on health benefits.

Moreover, the number of small businesses with health insurance has declined given the rising premiums. Here are some tips to help you minimize your health care expenses:

1. Know all your options. Compare the premiums and perks offered by different insurance companies to get the best deal possible. With so many competitors in this industry, you have a good a chance of getting lower rates. Search over the internet and ask other entrepreneurs in your area about their experience.
2. Be part of a group. If you have less than 10 employees, you can partner with other entrepreneurs to create a bigger group. As your group becomes bigger, your premiums will be significantly lower.
3. Have a wellness program. You should be proactive and create a comprehensive fitness program for your employees to follow. As they say, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It can also include a diet guide and disease management counseling for chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and asthma.

Ever wonder why many families refer to Disneyland as “The Happiest Place on Earth”? Underneath this enchanting place, where fairy tales are real and many childhood dreams come alive, are some hidden treasures for entrepreneurs. If you have a chance, try to visit Disneyland and observe how they operate. Before the day ends, you will learn these things:

1. Find Your Passion. From Walt Disney’s simple ambition to make great cartoons, it expanded to Disney movies and theme parks. As they say, if you love what you’re doing, you don’t have to work for the rest of your life. In case your business is not your passion, Lifehack has an insightful guide on how to enjoy what you are doing no matter what.
2. Embrace technology. From silent short films in the 1920s to digitally-enhanced movies today, The Walt Disney Company constantly anticipates and adapts cutting edge technologies to their business.
3. Create Magical Moments. Give your beloved customers the fairy tale experience they deserve by giving them Disney style customer service – exceeding their expectations and being more responsive to their needs.

Even successful business owners eventually have to let go of their small business and transfer it to family members or sell to interested buyers. Should you decide to put your business up for sale, here are some things you need to prepare for:

Some entrepreneurs say that success is relative. Some small businesses are after market share while others focus more on profitability. Regardless of what your business objectives are, here are 3 helpful tips for succeeding in your endeavors.

Be Water My Friend

You should try to be flexible with your strategies and general direction of your business. If what you’re currently doing doesn’t seem to work, try another way. Learn how to react to new opportunities and adapt to future trends. In the words of the late martial artist, Bruce Lee:

Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it into a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

Love Thy Employees

Don’t be like one of those rotten leaders who treat employees as slaves. There are different ways to instill a sense of ownership to all your employees such as having an employee recognition program or sharing a stake in your company through Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). However, make sure you pay attention to your hiring policies to get those passionate and highly qualified employees.

Choose Your Customers Wisely

Don’t be a one-size-fits-all business to satisfy all people. Instead, take time to find your niche and learn more about your target customers. It’s all about your customers, so offer something they want and not what you want.

If you think project management is intended for engineers and architects only, think again. Although some entrepreneurs don’t have formal training in this area, many of us business owners are constantly juggling several projects, both in our personal lives and business ventures.

A project is defined as an undertaking that encompasses a set of tasks or activities having a definable starting point and well defined objectives. Whether you’re planning a vacation trip or launching a new product, you will need to manage a project. Keith Robinson provides a clear and comprehensive guide on project management.

The first step is planning a project. Here are some of the important questions you need to factor in your planning:

1. What’s the impact to the business? Assess if there is a value for doing this project. It can be reduction in cost, improvement of productivity, or increase in sales.
2. Who are the stakeholders or the group that will be affected by this project? It can be your business partners (if any), suppliers, customers, or employees.
3. What resources are needed? You should know how much money is needed to run this project and see if the benefits outweigh the expenses.
4. Who will be the team members? Usually the stakeholders compose the team because they have the interest, experience, and expertise in the area.
5. What is the timetable? A project has a termination period so you need to set deadlines and milestones.
6. What is your measure of success? Create a report to monitor your progress and document the entire project. This will help you track the problems encountered and see if there is any room for improvement. This might come in handy in your next projects to come.

Sometimes, when we plan for new business strategies, we copy what the big companies are currently doing. On the other hand, big corporations worship Mr. Jack Welch, the legendary Chairman and CEO of GE, noted for having keen business acumen and leadership skills. Managers Realm highlights a lesson from Mr. Welch about being either number 1 or number 2 all the time.

But do you know that Mr. Welch is really a pro-entrepreneur guy and that we should also listen to his teachings? Need proof? I happen to unearth a more interesting lesson from Mr. Welch himself that will surely blow your mind. Are you ready? Really? Here we go. Jack Welch recommends we should:

Behave Like a Small Company. Small companies have huge competitive advantages. They “are uncluttered, simple, informal. They thrive on passion and ridicule bureaucracy. Small companies grow on good ideas – regardless of their source. They need everyone, involve everyone, and reward or remove people based on their contribution to winning. Small companies dream big dreams and set the bar high – increments and fractions don’t interest them.”

It’s very ironic that many entrepreneurs keep following the footsteps of the big players when in fact they envy us small business owners, and they should be following us. In this competitive landscape where niche markets and personal attention are becoming more and more important, the upper hand is on our side. We should learn how to maximize these opportunities before it’s too late.

A positive cash flow is very important to our daily operations. However, a major stumbling block to attain this is the collection of accounts receivables. There are different ways to handle collection, ranging from friendly calls, automated email reminders, warning letters, and referral to debt collection agencies.

Don’t let yourself run the risk of not getting paid. Use a more proactive approach. Below is a simple step-by-step guide to improve your cash flow and reduce uncollected debts:

Step 1. Know the payment policy of the other party. This will help you validate if this is acceptable on your part. Usually it is 30 to 60 days, but in some cases it takes as long as 90 days. Negotiate right away if the terms are not acceptable to you and propose a new one.

Step 2. Request for a deposit. Try to get the other side to make a partial or whole upfront payment. While the percentage varies from industry to industry, you should always try to bring up this matter to help minimize your overhead expenses and ease the stress of having to wait 45 to 60 days for payment.

Step 3. Put it in writing. Make your agreements formal by drafting a legal contract covering the details of any project. E.g., agreed price, delivery lead time. This will serve as your bible for the duration of such projects.

Step 4. Offer discounts for early payment. If you really need payment badly, to shore up cash flow, you could offer a small discount to your clients in return for earlier payment. Some customers might agree to pay sooner if they’re getting an enticing percentage discount.

Have you ever felt that your negative thoughts control you? Running our own business is a can, for some, be a rollercoaster ride filled with challenges, fear, and possibly depression. Some have risked all their savings only to end up in total dismay. Survival is an everyday test. If you find yourself filled with these thoughts, here are some tips to restore your courage:

Prepare and Repair

List the worst things that can happen to you once you failed in your venture. Common fears among us are bankruptcy, as well as putting the lives of our employees at risk. Once you have a list, start crafting your contingency plans. Knowing you are well prepared can help regain your courage.

Relax and See a Movie

Sometimes watching movies is a good courage booster for many entrepreneurs. For starters, try renting the movie 300. Filled with bloody action scenes, this box-office movie exemplifies courage against a seemingly formidable force. Imagine fighting thousands of an opposing force with only 300 well-trained soldiers! Other similar movies include The Gladiator, Braveheart, and The Patriot.

If movie is not your thing, try reading about different courageous personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the simple act of defiance by Rosa Parks.

Telecommuting, also known as working from home using an Internet connection, is growing business trend. Entrepreneur Daily mentioned that 73 percent of remote and home-based workers said they’re satisfied with the company they work for. There’s also a Senate Bill focused on telecommuting for SMBs (Small/ Medium Business).

The question is, are you ready to implement this system in your own small business? To help you answer this question, let me lay down the advantages to your business of telecommuting:

4 Major Advantages

Who Should Telecommute?

Not all employees in your business can take this option. Commonly, this system is applicable to writers, salespeople, researchers, public relations professionals, and architects. With the use of VoIP technology, even phone-based tasks can be outsourced.

Qualities Needed

Even if your employees are technically qualified, you should assess first if they have adequate self-discipline to deal with any distractions at home, the ability to make their own decisions on small matters, and enough drive to deliver results.

Who’s the man behind the success of Apple Inc.? Maybe 9 out of 10 will answer Steve Jobs. It is very reasonable because Mr. Jobs is in charge of overall marketing. Business Pundit, however, mentioned Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, and how he is such an inspiration to entrepreneurs.

What struck me from that short but very insightful post is the idea of trying things you’ve never done before. How about you? Have you tried something different in your small business lately? Or are you afraid to change what you’re doing right now? Maybe it’s time for you to expand your business by stretching outside your comfort zone.

The longer you are in the business the more you become careful not to make any mistakes and stick to the conventional methods. However, it will be very difficult for you to gain new customers and expand further. In case you find yourself in this situation, just follow the valuable lesson from Carly Fiorina, one of the most powerful women in corporate America:

In bullfighting there is a term called querencia. The querencia is the spot in the ring to which the bull returns. Each bull has a different querencia, but as the bullfight continues, and the animal becomes more threatened, it returns more and more often to his spot.

As he returns to his querencia, he becomes more predictable. And so, in the end, the matador is able to kill the bull because instead of trying something new, the bull returns to what is familiar. His comfort zone.

Running your business involves different types of planning. The Biz Class mentioned that every growing business encounters 4 types of plans. A bigger question now is HOW do you plan the future of your business? Let me introduce to you the business concept called Gap Analysis.

Don’t be intimidated by this seemingly corporate jargon. In basic terms, it is a comparison of your actual performance versus your goals. It works like your actual-versus-forecast analysis. What you will find after using this tool are your weaknesses and areas for improvement. All you need to do is answer these 3 simple questions below:

1. Where are you now?
2. Where do you want to go?
3. How do you get there?

Looks simple, right? You might be surprised how much insight you can generate by asking these 3 easy questions. Once you get the answers, you should translate these questions to a strategic planning tool called OGSM:

Objectives or what do you want to accomplish or where do you want to go.
Goals are the specific results to meet your objectives.
Strategies are key steps to achieve your goals.
Measures are important to know if your strategies are effective.

Hey, it’s not yet the end of the process. What’s missing? You haven’t looked at the market yet! Try asking yourself this one question:

• How will competitors react to your strategies?

It’s very difficult because you don’t know what the other players are thinking. Try running different scenarios and come up with contingency plans for every reaction.

What you have at the end of the day is a well-formulated plan that will guide you in the years to come.

Office politics is an inevitable incidence in every office, small or big. It corrodes decision-making, teamwork, relationship, and overall productivity of your business. Not to mention the stress it brings and numerous rumors ignited. As the overall leader, here are the things you can do:

Implement Performance-based Measures

You should set evaluation policies based primarily on the performance of your employees, both as an individual and team member. Without any formal system, you run the risk of rewarding the wrong employee and eventually trigger terrible office politics.

Stay in the Loop

As your business expands you will need extra hands to run the daily tasks. Given your busy schedule you may not have enough time to bond with your employees and monitor any tension in your office.

There is an interesting story I read in the book entitled The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, about staying connected with your people. Louis XIV, better known as the Sun King of France, had created a palace where his room is the literal center and surrounded by other members of his kingdom. In this way, he was updated on every single event happening in the palace.

The lesson for entrepreneurs is simple: openness must not only be encouraged, it must be formally organized and channeled.

Rumors go hand in hand with office politics. Learn how to diffuse them properly, because as Leadership Turn points out, rumors never die.

If you want to focus on your core activities, outsourcing your not-so-confidential tasks like administrative jobs or customer service is a viable option. Recently, we cited the benefits of outsourcing. This time let’s go deeper and find out the important factors to consider before outsourcing:

Choose the Right Partner

Finding the right firm or people is very important because you are, in a way, allowing them to take control of your business operations. Brand Curve cautions entrepreneurs to watch out for subcontractors who can destroy your brand reputation. To avoid this situation, you should first look in your own personal network. Don’t hire people because they are your friends. Be objective and consider their expertise always.

In case your personal network leads to a dead end, the internet offers a large pool of talents across the globe. Pay a visit to business networking sites like LinkedIn, Craigslist, or Indeed. Make sure you thoroughly evaluate the references first and as much as possible, run a test to validate their claims.

Make it Binding

In business, being paranoid is better than being too trusting. Don’t believe people when they say their word is stronger than oak. Make it formal through legal contracts and specify all the responsibilities included in the agreement. This will give both parties protection against fraud.

Inspect Quality

Even if the other party has a proven track record and you’re protected by a legal contract, you should still monitor their performance from time to time. You have a lot to lose if they don’t do their job because the whole company identity might be severely compromised.

As entrepreneurs, we deal with business problems often. They can be complaints from angry customers, delayed payments, unreliable suppliers, and many other issues to deal with. Our role is to be the problem-solver in the company, together with our dependable employees. While there are many complicated ways to solve problems, you might to go back to basics:

Identify the Main Problem

Seems pretty obvious? Not quite. Many entrepreneurs confuse the effects of the problems with the real problems. Poor inventory planning, for instance, could result in late deliveries or cancellation of orders. While this is the root cause, some may blame the logistics guys for not sticking to schedule or even your customers for being so impatient. You should retrace your steps to identify the main issues.

More importantly, Software Project Management reminds us not to look back to find who is guilty. Instead, let’s focus on fighting the problems.

Generate Alternatives

It’s time to brainstorm and find all the possible solutions. Follow the advice of Chess Grandmaster Emanuel Lasker: “When you see a good move, look for a better one.” Don’t scrap any ideas yet.

From that pool, start selecting the most practical solutions. You might want to set some criteria for your evaluation. For instance, speed might be more important than cost or vice versa.

Implement

Create your action plans, emphasize accountabilities, and set your timetable for implementation. You will realize that your plan is not 100% accurate and there are times you need to adjust or even abandon your plans. That’s why it’s important to have several options.

Part of implementation is monitoring the progress and impact of your solution. If you are still not satisfied, you can rework again.

While there are multitudes of factors contributing to the success of any startup, it always starts with YOU. In any case, the poem called Invictus says you (and only you) are the captain of your soul and master of your fate. One of the ways to master yourself is to build your self-discipline.

Succession Consciousness defines self-discipline as the ability of an individual to stick to actions, thoughts, and behavior, which lead to improvement and success. Also, it’s the giving up of instant pleasure and satisfaction for a higher goal.

There are different ways to improve self-discipline, depending on your personality. Some entrepreneurs undergo hypnosis while others meditate. It can be as simple as giving up desserts every night. Here are some tips you might want to try:

Engage in Sports

Competition is a good teacher of self-discipline. You’ll appreciate the value of goal setting, teamwork, elaborate planning, and composure under stress. Sports also highlight the need to practice, practice, and practice some more in order to achieve your desired goals. More importantly, it will help develop the winning attitude in you.

Learn from The Last Samurai

You may not like Tom Cruise but his movie The Last Samurai captures the essence of self-discipline:

They are an intriguing people. From the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seen such discipline. I am surprised to learn that the word Samurai means, ‘to serve’…

No wonder the Japanese created some of the best business concepts like kaizen or continuous improvement and just-in-time. Dedicate your working hours perfecting your craft by improving your system regularly, communicating with your customers daily, and spying competition all the time.

Most of us love security and a sense of safety in our lives. However, these emotions obstruct us from taking calculated risks and sometimes lead to fear of change. This very fear stops us from reaching higher goals and conquering greater challenges.

Undeniably, change is very important to our business. The cliché nothing is constant but change remains relevant until today. Slacker Manager profoundly expounds the 3 important things one can learn from change. Below are some of the things to consider in managing changes in your company:

Is it Necessary?

Do not change for the sake of changing. Every change should have strong justifications based on customer feedback or planning sessions. Since your business exists for profits, changes should result in profitable gains over the long haul. More importantly, it should create additional benefits for your customers.

Comprehensive Plan

Some changes in your business might result in temporary setbacks and customer dissatisfaction. That’s why you should have a very solid plan to begin with. If you are shifting to another reliable supplier, for example, you should build up buffer stock to support your business during the transition phase.

Involve Your People

Any change will be a failure if your employees will not adopt the new system. It is important that you involve them in your plans by seeking their opinion. It is unavoidable that some might be inflexible and stubborn. Your job is to motivate them and help them visualize your goals.

A time may come for some entrepreneurs to say goodbye to their family business and turn over the turf to the next generation. Some major concerns for many outgoing founders deal with effective transition and ensuring the continuity of the business in the years to come. In case you are just starting your family business, you might want to read some practical tips from BootStrapMe.

If you are looking for an inspiration about effective transition, maybe you can watch the Godfather movie and observe how the great Mafia godfather Don Vito Corleone guided his youngest son, Michael Corleone, to become a more powerful godfather and carry the familia to the next generation.

While you don’t need to spill blood and practice the omerta (code of silence) to be effective, the key to smooth transition is careful planning. Here are some practical tips you might want to apply:

Start Early

You should not wait for your children to finish their studies before getting them involved in your business. Expose them as early as possible by giving them small errands. This is also a good gauge of their interest, commitment, and skills about running the business. Still, it is important they finish their schooling before going full time with the family business.

As they grow older, assign them to different departments to fully understand the importance of each unit and learn the day to day operations. More importantly, this will forge a good working relationship between your employees and your children.

Talk with Your Employees

The other side of effective transition is preparing your employees for this big transition. Some employees are afraid that new management might affect their salary or even future employment. Share with them your transition plans and solicit their full cooperation.

Many business experts warn entrepreneurs not to use price as the main competitive advantage. Even if you can offer low prices, once you engage a big player in a price war, your chance of winning is nil.

A good example is the ongoing price war between online video rental sites Netflix and Blockbuster that will result in lower profitability or possible losses for both players. Even big players like Samsung lose money due to price wars. Nevertheless, the biggest winners are the customers.

So what happens when a competitor engages you in a price war? Will you fight? The answer is both yes and no. Yes, because you have to do something about this situation or you will suffer. No, because you don’t need to lower your prices to compete. Here are your options:

• Focus on building a powerful brand. Powerful brands like Nike don’t need to lower their prices even if the prices of athletic shoes went down by 50%.
• Build value-added services. Don’t just over promise to your customers but make sure you over deliver as well.
• Talk to your customers. A creative way of handling this situation is to paint a grim picture of this price war over the long haul. Tell them that if you lower your price, you will have to shut down your business. If that happens, there will be lesser options and your competitor can dictate higher prices once again.

Most entrepreneurs find it difficult to think of innovative ideas. In the past months, we already discussed some practical innovation tips you can apply to your businesses right away. If that’s still not working, you can try the following during your next brainstorming sessions:

Utopia Technique

In the absence of a plausible term, I like to call this tip as the Utopia Technique. Utopia is defined as the perfect place. Ask yourself this question: If you can create a perfect product or service for your customers, what will it be like? This will free your mind, for a short time, from limitations like budget, patent infringements, and other technical constraints.

Vertical Thinking

When looking for fresh ideas, you can either think of vertical solutions or proven methods used by your competitors or any other businesses. There are plenty of white papers, articles, and surveys you can read over the internet for reference.

Reversal Method

If you already have an existing product or even a concept, try doing the complete opposite of what you are doing now. What you might uncover is a new market segment waiting to be exploited. Also, you can do role reversals where your marketing guy will be your R&D chief and vice versa. This will help all parties to understand the perspectives of other members.

To make this session very effective, it is very important for members to assume different roles. Visit Innovate on Purpose Blog for a list of innovation roles.

Networking can do great things for your small business. As you enter into several challenges in your startup, sometimes who you know is more important than what you know. That’s why you need to take a time off from your busy schedule to network with your competitors, suppliers, and customers. Below are some key pointers about effective networking:

No Selling

The purpose of networking is to train people who matter in your industry to be your indirect sales force through word-of-mouth marketing or recommendations. During conversations you should focus on building your company identity, highlight your competence, and refrain from boring them with your detailed product features or discounts.

Meet One on One

If you are in networking sessions like tradeshows and association meetings, try to get away from the crowd and engage in a one on one conversation with your network. Try to deepen your relationship by exploring business opportunities or sharing best practices. Strive to get few but high quality networks instead of collecting 100 corporate business cards from people you don’t really know.

For a deeper discussion about business networking you can visit PowerHomeBiz to understand the six networking essentials.

One of our tasks as business owners is to engage in productive and meaningful conversations with our customers and employees. Every small talk is an opportunity to strengthen our relationships and hopefully build loyalty. Given the importance of communication, you should learn how to communicate effectively. More importantly, you should also teach all your employees to do the same. Here are some tips:

1. Listen before you talk. You will learn more by listening to what people have to say about your business. You should focus on the needs of the person you are talking with. If you have time, you may also want to learn more about your customers and employees so you can relate in a more personal manner.
2. Find the real issues. We talk for a lot of reasons and sometimes for no apparent reason at all. You should learn to read what is on the other person’s mind by observing his or her tone and non-verbal gestures.
3. Establish 2-way communication. Striking a good balance between talking and listening gives you the power to ask more questions and gather more insights about your customers and their experiences with your competitors.

There are certain words and phrases that can easily irk other people and you should avoid saying these things. Edith Yeung has a good list of disempowering phrases successful people never say.

Some entrepreneurs lead by listening while others rule like tyrants. While there are pros and cons regarding each leadership style, Leadership Turn is quick to point out that at the end of the day, leaders are always recognized by their results.

No matter how minor the arena it’s results that count. And don’t expect brilliant rhetoric to make up for mediocre efforts. You can talk all day about who, what, where, when, why and how, but unless your walk matches your talk there will be no results—at least not the ones you predicted!

When it comes to measuring the results of your business, you should look into your financial ratios. These are mathematical computations to help you monitor the overall health of your business, identify possible problems, and plan your future. More importantly, financial institutions always review your financial ratios before they approve your loan applications for your business.

If you want to further understand the different types of financial ratios and how they are computed, you can visit NetMBA Financial Ratios. You can also visit Bankrate Small Business Ratio Calculators for easy computation.

Business experts are one in saying that your employees are your greatest assets. They are the movers of your ideas and contributors of great insights. That’s why selecting and hiring new employees are very important tasks for many entrepreneurs.

Equally important is measuring how well they are faring compared to their assignments as well as their relationship with other employees. Also, employee performance reviews offer a glimpse of their satisfaction level with your company. To make each review more productive, here are some things you should do:

• Be ready. Gather all information you have and read it carefully before talking with an employee. This will give you enough time organize your thoughts and handle the discussion.
• Criticize the performance not person. Avoid any personal attacks and do not provoke your employees. Be objective and highlight both their high points and low points.
• Probe on the job satisfaction level. Most of the time, poor performance is strongly related to poor job satisfaction level. Make the evaluation a two-way communication and find out what you need to improve or change to improve satisfaction.

It is advisable that you have a formal system to evaluate your employees. You can read a comprehensive guide from Seeds of Growth on how to implement a performance management system.

After carefully assessing your startup ideas, the next step is effective implementation. However, some entrepreneurs are stuck in the market research and idea-generation stage. This is what we call analysis paralysis or over analyzing a situation without taking any action. If you want to start earning then it’s time to start working. Here are some starter tips:

Write Your Action Plans.

Nothing is too complex once you break it down into small pieces. While micromanaging is strongly discouraged, this is a situation where attention to details is very much needed. Getting a 20 percent market share, for instance, seems like a very easy task. If you work backwards and start outlining the things you need to do, you’ll soon realize how much effort is needed to achieve this goal.

If you are a solo business owner, you might want to identify the tasks you can outsource so you can focus on the essential matters.

Establish Accountabilities

In some cases, you cannot do all the things you’ve included in your action plans. You should start dividing the tasks according to the competence and experience of your staff. Commonly, we are the designated project leader but if you have a more qualified staff, do not hesitate to turn over this task.

Implement and Monitor

Stop procrastinating and start working once all tasks and accountabilities are in place. Identify and celebrate all milestones to easily monitor your progress.

As a guide, you might want to use the Action Method tools recommended by MarketingProfs Daily Fix to make your ideas happen.

A fatal business mistake committed by some entrepreneurs is pretending they know everything there is to know about running their business. Maybe it’s pride that’s keeping them from asking “stupid” questions. Leading your startup means relying both on your expertise and consulting with your employees as well.

I have stumbled upon an interesting management style from Jim Collins, author of the renowned book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t and it’s called “lead with question”:

Leading from good to great does not mean coming up with the answers and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic vision. It means having the humility to grasp the fact that you do not yet understand enough to have the answers and then to ask the questions that will lead to the best possible insights.

This is a good combination with another management style discussed previously, leading by listening. You can call an informal forum with your trusted employees and open the session with a general question like, “what should we be worried about?”

In case you are wondering what specific questions you can discuss about, Write to Right provides 10 questions to answer your business direction.

Knowing how to communicate effectively is very important, both in our personal and professional endeavors. When dealing with your customers, you should learn to deliver your message in a very informative yet personal manner. Below are some things you should know about effective communication:

Establish Two-Way Communication

Some of us are so passionate about our business that we end up dominating the entire conversation. As Common Sense PR adequately states, the more you talk, the less you communicate. Learn when to stop talking and start listening. You will miss a lot of insights if you don’t let your customers’ voices be heard.

Keep it Short and Sweet

Simple and clear answers to customers’ complaints and inquiries improve responsiveness and lessen miscommunication. If you are sending e-mails or snail mails, do not bombard them with so much information by focusing on the important points only.

Repeat, Repeat, and Repeat

A good way to help your customers understand the important points of a message better is to repeat the information from time to time. Aside from being consistent, it will also prompt some customers to know more about your company and hopefully you can encourage them to buy more.

As business owners, you might have a tendency to micromanage or put too much emphasis on details, often resulting in a waste of time and resources. If you feel that you are committing this fatal mistake, you should learn to delegate effectively. Here are some steps you should apply:

Know What to Delegate

Delegation begins with knowing yourself and your abilities. Bring out your organizer, if you have one, and analyze how many hours are allotted on each activity. From these activities, pick what can be given away and what must remain under your turf.

Some factors you may want to consider are confidentiality level and your expertise in these business activities. If you are a marketing person, for example, you might want to get rid of some accounting logos tasks you are currently doing and focus more on building a great brand.

Get the Right Person for the Job

Once you pinpoint the tasks you need to delegate, select among your employees or interview candidates. Which person has the right skills and determination to take over these activities? If you are running a single person business, you may want to consider outsourcing these tasks. Always check that what you are outsourcing has low strategic importance or not confidential such as data entry and customer service.

Monitor and Measure

Discuss with your chosen employee the expected output of these delegated activities. Be reasonable, specific, and very clear with your all your expectations to avoid any mis-communication along the way. Also, it would help if you can set regular meetings to check how they are performing.

Try these steps in your small business and hopefully it will help you become a more productive entrepreneur. You can also get more insights on delegating responsibility at Blog Business World.

No matter how compassionate you are with your employees, a time may come when you have to pull the trigger and fire some of them. There are different reasons to terminate employees. The common issue is very poor performance. If you are operating at a loss, however, you have no choice but to fire some of your employees, even if they are meeting your expectations. The Change Revolutions explains that although firing is very tough, it might be necessary. Here are some things you need to do before pulling the trigger.

Document Performance

Have a formal system to keep track of employee performance and do not be subjective in your decisions. Your report should include previous memos or warnings received and all violations committed by the employee. Be careful about involving other employees, questioning them, as it may cause fear and tension in you workplace. Follow a chain of command, if you are not the immediate supervisor/ manager of the person who might be fired.

Forgive but Don’t Forget

If a particular employee is exceeding the memo quota, talk to that employee and explain the possible consequences if the sloppy performance continues. In some situations, an employee might be experiencing major personal setbacks or tragedies, so it is better to understand the whole picture and be lenient if possible.

Ready, Aim, Fire!

If there are no other compelling reasons for keeping an underperforming employee, it’s time to end your professional relationship. Asking for a resignation is often a more graceful way for both parties, and does not show up on the employee’s record. This is important if they intend to be hired again elsewhere. If a resignation is not forthcoming, be sure that you follow the specifics of local labor laws when firing. Some US states have none, and you can fire an employee without reason.

Conflict is unavoidable in every business, for we have different perspectives, working styles, and behavior. To some extent, many business experts encourage conflict to spark creativity and spur friendly competition. Unfortunately, situations can get out of hand.

As the business owner, part of your responsibility is to know how make a team run like a well-oiled machine and maintain conflict within the acceptable level. Below are simple tips on resolving team conflicts:

Feel the signals

Sensing any animosity or hostility among your employees is very important in preventing big conflicts to happen in the near future. Some of the signals include absenteeism, withholding information, finger pointing, and not attending team meetings.

Identify the Root Problem

The signals mentioned above are like symptoms, but your objective is to cure the disease. Otherwise, it will just be a firefighting or short-term solution to the problem at hand. In most cases, conflict arises due to personality issues and lack of clear objective or responsibilities.

Implement your Solutions

To resolve clashes quickly, you can arrange for a face-to-face discussion with all the conflicting team members to air their opinion and help direct the team towards finding a common ground. You can visit the Conflict Resolution Blog for a more detailed discussion on managing team conflicts.

Some entrepreneurs want to be a remarkable leader in the eyes of their employees and colleagues. To do this, you need to assume different roles and management styles every single day. Today, you are the creative director and tomorrow you might be the inspirational speaker. As the front of your business, here are some roles you need to project:

The Oracle

Don’t let your employees, customers, and competitors know that you don’t know where your business is heading over the long haul – it will decrease their confidence level. Make sure you are familiar with the ins and outs of your industry. It is highly expected that you understand the future challenges and the market outlook for at least three years from now. Take time to read relevant journals or industry magazines and breaking news to stay updated.

The New Herodotus

If you can see beyond the future, make sure you know the past just like Herodotus, the father of history. It is great for public relations and establishing emotional connections with your customers. By sharing your struggles to succeed and all the hard work rendered, history creates the human aspect of your business.

The Charismatic President

Observing how former U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton had exuded powerful charisma, even in times of controversy, is something you should master. The Trump Blog offers 12 key moves to develop your charisma.

Why stop at this level if you can be a great business leader? Take time to read Leadership Turn’s very insightful post about the competencies of a remarkable leader.

Paying your employees their regular salaries and giving away some bonuses will not guarantee that they will be highly motivated and loyal to your company. You should find ways to recognize their efforts and praise their accomplishments. Ideally, you should allot additional 3% on top of your payroll budget for employee awards and milestone celebrations.

While the impact of this effort is very hard to quantify, a pat on the back or simple thank-you notes are proven to increase motivation and commitment of your employees. In psychology, it is called positive reinforcement. Here are some simple ways to do this:

Award Your Star Performer

Recognizing top performers works both ways. It encourages the top performer to work harder at the same time inspires other employees to get that much-coveted title. To avoid any office politics, make sure you have a clear policy on choosing the top performer.

Reward the Team Not the Person

Depending on the nature of your business, you should reward the whole team instead of highlighting individual performers. This will further strengthen the concept of teamwork in your organization and minimize credit grabbing.

Celebrate Every Milestone

As the head of your business, find reasons to celebrate every small victory and big contributions of your employees. You can bring some pizza in the office or drink a couple of beers after office hours. The important thing is to make them feel you are grateful for a job well done.

An interesting twist on this management style is the public shame/praise model discussed at Service Untitled.

After you read Seriously Business’ post about how Body Shop’s Anita Roddick succeeded through hard work, you might be more energized and inspired to turn your dreams to reality. On the other hand, how can you really tell if you are a hardworking entrepreneur just like Ms. Roddick?

A typical hardworking entrepreneur is the one who spends countless hours in his office. You might want to rethink that notion and redefine the concept of a hardworking entrepreneur. You should focus now on business results rather than the number of hours you devote to your small business. Always strive for work/life balance by finding ways to work efficiently. Here are some tips you can apply:

Monitor Your Performance

Aside from evaluating day to day operations, you should be aware of your work habits and identify areas for improvement. Try to make a list of activities you’ve accomplished every single day and you will see how much time is wasted on doing unimportant tasks. You should end micromanaging and empower your employees to make business decisions.

Set Your Work Hours

Discipline yourself to be like any other employee working 8 hours per day. Learn when to stop working and start spending quality time with your family and friends. A good way to do this is to set a fixed working period and follow it religiously.

There’s a saying that two heads are better than one. That is why teamwork is very important if you want to get things done efficiently in your business. Can you honestly say that you have an effective team now? Take time to visit Leadership Turn first to know the secrets of successful teams.

A bigger challenge now is how you can use your team to help resolve the big problems in your company. You can start by building what I like to call a “Solutions Team” with members coming from the different departments in your company. Do not limit the solutions to a specific department for this is very similar to running a company-wide marketing campaign – you have to involve everybody.

The objective is simple – identify the root problem and find the best solution among many alternatives. Coming from different background, you can be sure that all angles are covered and every perspective is valuable. In the corporate setting, this is called a cross-function team.

Start by choosing your best guys from the departments connected with the problem. Limit the number of members to at most 6 people. To make this team very effective, all members must be considered equal regardless of their current position. This will eliminate the power play, increase motivation, and intensify focus on solving the problems at hand.

Many entrepreneurs do not hire employees until the business starts to grow or expand. Admittedly, employee salary is one of biggest costs in small businesses. But do you know that you can get free employees to save money?

This bootstrapping tool is called internship! Yes, there are many eager high school, college, and university students who love to gain exposure in the actual business environment.

Using interns is a win-win solution. You get to save money while these students learn new skills, gain actual working experience to spice up their resumes, and get valuable study credits. All you need to do is get in touch with reputable schools in your neighborhood by sending emails or meeting with the department involved with the internship program. To filter your applicants, you must make a very concise job description, and clearly list key qualities needed. More importantly, you should convince these schools why it is better to work with your company.

You can also hire interns even if you are financially capable of hiring your own employees. An intern has an outsider perspective to encourage out of the box thinking. In addition, they are more focused in delivering results because most of them do not worry about other matters like mortgage and other expenses, which can cloud the mind and cause apprehension towards making decisions

We all talk about different kinds of strategies in running our small business. But do you have a single, unifying strategy that captures the essence of your business? With so much business jargon now, it confuses many entrepreneurs.

Believe it or not, almost all strategies you learned from reading and listening from business experts belong only to 3 categories. These are called the generic strategies by Michael Porter:

Cost Leadership Strategy

It’s all about providing the best price in the market given its leverage on manufacturing, competitive suppliers, or very efficient distribution channel. When Wal-Mart promises “Always low prices. Always,” it is very clear that they play with this strategy. It is very difficult for a starting small business to succeed in this strategy, but it does not mean you cannot beat low-priced competitors.

Differentiation Strategy

This is the playground of small businesses striving to make a mark in the industry. It is basically focusing on doing one thing better than competition. It can be your superior customer service or innovative products and technology.

Focus Strategy

This is commonly called niche marketing or specializing on a very small segment and dominating it. Your strong focus becomes your core advantage against mass marketing. You can also set higher prices here because of limited competition and your expertise in this area.

Strategy is just one the 13 functions you must act and take action on, according to know EdithYeung.com

Business risk or uncertainty is natural in all businesses, big or small. As entrepreneurs, we must be on the lookout for new trends in customer behavior, technology, and market forces.

One of the best tools to manage uncertainties and spot opportunities in our business is scenario planning. Basically, it is like predicting the future based on different assumptions and trends. A classic case of poor scenario planning is the death of beepers or pagers. A powerful technology called SMS text messaging changed the business environment, making beepers obsolete. Their failure to anticipate and adapt to this trend resulted in their eventual death. Do not let the same thing happen to your small businesses.

Scenario planning can be done in these simple steps:

Develop Scenarios

Set a brainstorming session with your colleagues. Based on your knowledge about your competitors, new opportunities, changes in government regulations, emerging threats, and upcoming technological advancements, you create situations or predictions about the future of your industry. Do not discount even ridiculous scenarios for they might make sense later on.

Prioritize

In your pool of scenarios, identify which will likely happen soon and those that might happen in the long run. Your aim is to limit most possible scenarios where you can focus your efforts and resources

Craft Action Plans

Cover all your bases by planning your next moves if these situations happen in the future. You have different strategies for scenario A, B, and C. The bottom line, there will be no surprise in the future and you will always be a step ahead of competition.

If you want a more detailed scenario planning guide, go visit Small Business Information.

Even though there are many single person businesses today, a time will come for some smart and hardworking entrepreneurs to expand the business and delegate work to other people. Is it time to hire your first batch of employees?

Unknown to many, the process of hiring employees is a very stressful activity, prompting some small businesses to outsource it to employment agencies. If you have to do it, make sure you have all the important tasks included:

Job Interview

Be careful with job interviews for there are some guidelines you must follow. AllBusiness.com has identified some of the questions you should not ask in an interview.

Verify References

“Everybody lies.” This is a very relevant quote from the TV series House M.D. It is very important not to rely on resume content alone. About half of the resumes you will read contain exaggerated or even fictitious accomplishments. Do not forget to partner with a third-party company to handle background checks and fish out accurate info about the candidates.

Medical Exams

Aside from business skills, all employees should be physically fit to perform their duties. The only way to do this may be to institute a physical exam, drug tests, and depending on the nature of the job, psychological tests. Keep in mind that you should follow the labor laws of your country/ district. Some of these tests may require candidates agreement. That is, ensure that making a certain test mandatory is allowed in your area.

Ever wonder why an exit strategy is included in your business plan? Because whether you like it or not there may come a time when you have to pull the plug and end your business.

Aside from financial losses, the emotional aspect of losing your business is very excruciating. In spite of everything, you must learn to control your sentiments and think objectively for the last time.

In case you do not have an exit strategy at this time, read Small Business Info’s tips for planning an exit strategy.

One of the common exit strategies for small business is liquidation. This is used when you do not have enough cash to repay your creditors. It involves selling all your assets to pay off all your financial obligations. If there is any money left, you can divide it amongst your business partners.

In this strategy, you do need not worry about transferring ownership control and engaging in further negotiations. However, do not expect to gain much money out of this approach because you will get the current market value of your company assets. There might be some situations wherein you will be forced to sell lower than market value.

When was the last time you took a vacation? The mere mention of the word “vacation” stresses many entrepreneurs. With numerous pending tasks to do and important decisions to make, it seems that there is no room to take a vacation.

In fact, a new online survey reveals that many Americans now are giving up traditional vacations due to lack of time and money. Don’t be part of this statistic. Understand the value and importance of vacation for you and your family.

Before you take a much awaited vacation to restore balance in your life, you must prepare for your absence. These are some things you can do:

Assign a Temporary Leader

Do not leave without any backup person to take charge of your business. If you have a number of employees this will not be a big deal. If you have a solo business, you can ask some trusted friends or business colleagues to fill in for you.

Inform Your Customers and Suppliers

The last thing you need after a relaxing vacation is a very angry customer. Make sure you inform all your customers about your upcoming vacation and direct them to the assigned backup person. Use technology like automatic response e-mails, voice mail, and even a special announcement on your Website.

Customer feedback is the best way to assess if you are performing based on your expectations and if you are missing some important elements in your marketing campaign. There are different ways to approach your customers. It can be:

Chat with your Customer Service Agents

Your front-line customer service agents engage customers every single day, giving them enough exposure to establish a relationship with them. Train them to be keen on details and sensitive to customers’ opinions. Take time to visit them regularly to gather insights.

Surveys

If the majority of your customers are quite timid to share their thoughts, do a survey to assess how satisfied they are with your products or services. Make it clear that you value their opinion in developing new products or improving services.

Talk to Your Customers Everyday

Get your hands dirty and talk directly to your customers. Better yet, include this in your daily schedule. As entrepreneurs it is very important that you know all angles of your business.

Still, do not believe all the information you are getting. Businesspundit explains why you should get a feedback and ignore most of it.

For a very long time in the business world, saying “no” to customers has been considered bad practice. How can we really say no if we have this policy of “customer is king” or “customer is always right”, right? It is even harder for entrepreneurs who have just started building a customer base. While this is difficult, the Trump Blog says saying no is very crucial to business.

You must say no to demon customers and those who are not considered your target market. It is important to train your employees to apply this policy to avoid any possible problems in the future. There are simple steps you must follow to make this approach effective:

Step 1. Set Your Policies and Priorities

Define the scope of your business by categorizing important activities and those that do no fit with your goals and priorities. This will now serve as your guideline when to say yes or no to customers.

Step 2. Give Alternatives

It is not enough to say no to customers, you must try to help resolve their problems. A good way is to provide alternative solutions to their problems or refer them to other companies who can fulfill their needs or wants.

We, entrepreneurs, are mostly involved in running the day to day operations. As we continue to grow the business we will need more employees to meet our business targets.

The problem with some entrepreneurs is they resist delegating responsibilities, do not allow employees to make any decision without consultation, fail to listen to sentiments, and somewhat focused on the details of the projects. If you are doing this then you are guilty of micromanagement.

This lack of trust in your employees wastes time and energy, and often leads to business failure. One of the remedies to avoid being a control-freak entrepreneur is to be result-oriented.

Instead of worrying about how your employees will do the tasks, focus on the endpoints or final outcome. If they constantly meet your expectations and their commitments, get off their back and let them handle the tasks at hand.

Take time to discuss with your employees the things that must be done immediately and solicit their thoughts on the matter. You must come up with a definite timetable to accomplish all tasks and must make your employees liable to their commitments.

Additionally, allowing employees to handle situations boosts self-esteem and commitment to the company.

Via Lifehack

There are different approaches when it comes to managing your employees. Depending on circumstances or problems encountered, you can be project-oriented or people-oriented. Hopefully gone are those days when business owners or managers rule by force and intimidation. This is the time to be adaptable to different situations and more sensitive to your employees’ needs.

There are two proven management techniques very applicable to entrepreneurs:

The Team Player

This method requires strong project management skills because you will empower your employees to call the shots and make big decisions. Your role is to motivate them and monitor their overall direction. Listening to your people and allowing them to make suggestions will make them feel valued.

The Director

Some situations call for immediate solution and this is the time to let your employees know you are the “boss”. Get your hands dirty by directing employees what to do and time needed to finish it. You must be clear, concise, and specific to avoid any misunderstanding. This is effective when your employees are afraid to make commitments and reluctant to take control of the situation. By showing that you know the way, you will win their trust.

These methods are very handy once you use it on appropriate situations. Failure to understand the entire issue will lead to disappointing results.

Some of us do not know yet the range of management responsibilities of entrepreneurs. Visit Wally Bock’s Three Star Leadership Blog to learn about what supervisors do everyday. Although this is based on a corporate setting, the duties mentioned are similar to what you must do in your business.

As small business owners, we are sometimes guilty of talking too much or dominating every business meeting. We might be carried away by our passion to delight our customers, or even frustration about our current business performance.

But do you know that listening is a good management style as well as a strong motivator to your employees? Leading by listening is a not new concept although it is not a common practice.

In fact, the 7th rule among the ten rules that worked for Sam Walton, founder of retailing giant Wal-Mart, is about listening to everyone and finding ways to get to talk.

The folks on the front lines — the ones who actually talk to the customer — are the only ones who really know what’s going on out there. You’d better find out what they know. This really is what total quality is all about. To push responsibility down in your organization, and to force good ideas to bubble up within it, you must listen to what your associates are trying to tell you.

So the next time you feel like talking, shut up and listen to what your partners or employees have to say. For starters, check out Tyner Blain’s post about ten active listening skills.

As entrepreneurs, we all dream that our startup business will be an overnight success or how landing one deal can make a big difference in our business ventures. This may be because of our strong orientation towards fairy tales and about living happily ever after.

These dreams also affect the way we view success of our business. We criticize companies who do not earn much within a year or consider them as failure right away.

However, success lies in patience and diligence. Some adjustments are necessary along the way and we must work hard to get our desired outcome. What can be a very inspiring example of this is the struggle of Seth Godin, marketing guru and author of top-selling books like The Purple Cow.

His social networking site called Squidoo was highly criticized because it did not turn out as an overnight success. According to Small Business Trends:

People were quick to predict that Seth would fail. After all, Squidoo was not that famed “overnight” success. Seth paid no attention – he kept working at it. If something didn’t work out, he changed it. In fact, as he notes, most of what Squidoo did at first was wrong, and they figured the right way to do it as they went along.

So, do not be disheartened if your business fails to meet your initial targets. Instead, make some adjustments on your strategy, study competition well, and work hard to improve your operations.

Calling a business meeting is the first thing we do when we want to solve different problems encountered or when we want to inform the team about something big. However, some entrepreneurs and business executives are guilty of abusing this very important business activity.

Every problem now requires a team meeting. But if you evaluate all your past meetings you will realize that most of them are worthless. It’s a waste of time and money. According to The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit, meetings are defined as “Excellent forums for observing the subtle humiliation of various staff members and management intimidation techniques.”

Funny but very true and tragic. There are different ways to cure this rather recurring problem. In addition to Instigator Blog’s 7 ways to avoid pointless meetings, here are some more tips:

1. Think of ten reasons why this meeting is not important. Alternately, challenge the importance of each agenda. If you can think of rebuttal in less than 2 minutes then call it off.
2. Embrace Technology. Some issues can be easily solved via e-mail, phone calls, or personal visits to the people involved. No need to drag the whole team.
3. Set up a Friday Stand up Meeting. If a meeting is needed set it on Friday, 4 PM, and without any chair at all. Since we all want to go home early during weekends and we’re not used to standing up for a long time, members will limit discussions on important topics and avoid any nonsense chitchats.

Small businesses fail for a lot of reasons. You can blame lack of business skills, stiff competition, poor customer service, or even failure to effectively execute well-crafted marketing programs. Undeniably, you can think of hundreds of excuses but you often fail to see the common denominator. YOU.

Yes, it is possible that you are the one hurting or killing your business. Of course that is not intentional, just out of ignorance or lack of feedback from your people.

Entrepreneur.com explains why micromanaging, spending in wrong places, relying too much on employees, and chasing all customers will kill your business.

It’s a waste of resources to put all your time, energy and money into chasing after every possible customer. It’s the “ideal customers” you should be trying to reach, says Michael Lovas, founder of About People, a Colbert, Washington, consulting and training firm that specializes in helping companies and entrepreneurs better understand, attract and connect with their clients.

Among these sins, chasing every customer is very fatal. Good thing Work.com provides guide to target marketing and Analytical Engine reminds us about the basic goals of market segmentation.

From personal to business, planning is always necessary for survival. In the case of starting entrepreneurs, a business plan summarizes the different facets of your business from mission/vision, long-term directions, and financial estimates.

While this is a serious requirement among MBA students, Guy Kawasaki showed a study to validate if there is really a need to do formal business plans.

The analysis revealed that there was no difference between the performance of new businesses launched with or without written business plans. The findings suggest that unless a would-be entrepreneur needs to raise substantial startup capital from institutional investors or business angels, there is no compelling reason to write a detailed business plan before opening a new business.

Despite these recent findings, drafting a business plan remains a very important exercise particularly for starting businessmen. It gives you a checklist of things you need to cover before you can formally start your own business.

There are many things you need to know before you embark in any business undertaking. This includes the nature of your industry, target market, scope of operations, level of technology, intensity of competition, marketing strategy, investments needed, and many more. Using a simple business plan, you can organize all information to serve as a good foundation for your decisions.

Just do not take too much time preparing your business plan. Instead, focus your efforts in the running the daily operations.

When setting up a new business or expanding in other territories, our first logical step as an entrepreneur is to study the strategies and systems of the leading players in the market. We try to identify best practices and incorporate it in our daily operations.

Unfortunately, an effective move set up by your competitor may not work to your advantage. There are many factors to consider like manpower, skill sets, product quality, technology, price, work environment and talking points.

To strengthen your analytical skills, BusinessPundit encourages small business owners to look back to our history books and learn from World War II.

Think about the dead evidence. Don’t look just at winners, look at losers to see if they did the same things as the winners. Don’t just look at what the top companies in your industry are doing, look at what all kinds of different companies are doing. Sometimes you can learn more by looking at failures than at successes.

Yes, it is true! Do not limit your competitive analysis to current business practices of winning companies but also profit from business failures of other startups. Identify things that you must and must not do in your business. If you are already doing something wrong, reboot immediately.

Microsoft Small Business Center explains why failure helps broaden your perspective and attain success over the long haul. The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) created a category of product failures to help educate innovators and entrepreneurs.