How to Fail Your Business

Sure, businesses fail -- but are you failing your business?

Here are six ways you could be failing your business:

Your eye has started to wander. You're bored with your business because, well, things have gotten a little stale. You don't want to necessarily leave your company, but you've started to look for a little variety: You're thinking about forming other companies, or starting a side venture, and you pay less and less attention to your primary business. In the process results, relationships with customers and suppliers, and employee morale all suffer.

You focus on the wrong line. When revenue is down it's natural to focus on cutting costs, especially if, like me, you don't come from a sales background. Instead of focusing on the top line and growing sales, you cut and cut and cut until nothing is left. Sometimes it is impossible to save your way to profitability, and focusing on top-line growth is the only long-term answer.

You use "we" at the wrong times. You know there is no "I" in "team" so you try to say "we" -- but at the wrong times. "We worked straight through the weekend," sounds good -- unless you stayed home while your employees were at work. "We need to cut down on errors," sounds good -- unless you're the only one who made the mistakes. Use "I" whenever you personally make a mistake, and use "we" whenever you do something positive.

You network rather than sell. Networking is like sowing seeds. Selling is like harvesting crops. To survive, your business needs sales, not business cards and handshakes. Spend all your time networking on the golf course, at restaurants, and at social events instead of getting out and selling and revenue suffers. Network some of the time -- sell all the time.

You're in it for glory. Does your business serve as an extension of your ego? Is your business just a status symbol? Is your business on display for the greater glory of you? You should serve your business. Your business should not serve you -- and especially not your ego.

You can't stop searching for that one big idea. Innovations and breakthroughs do sometimes build great companies. Innovations and breakthroughs are hard to develop and even harder to deploy, though. Most companies succeed through hard work, attention to detail, and consistent execution. Ignore ideas and small improvements while you search for that one incredible breakthrough and your company will fail. A big idea is unlikely to transform your business; executing lots of small ideas can build a great business.

I would love to hear your comments and opinions.  You can publicly display them on my Blog: http://businessmanagementcounselingservices.blogspot.com/

Or e-mail me in private: stevehomola@gmail.com

Your opinion is always highly regarded and respected!

How to get fired!

Whether you love or hate your job, you probably don't want to put it in jeopardy because of some behavior you weren't consciously aware was a career hazard. And there are a slew of risky behaviors out there -- you don't have to send your boss an angry email to get on his or her radar in a bad way. Here are some behaviors to watch out for:

1. Abuse your sick days. Yes, you have an allotment of sick days at your disposal, but if you read HR's fine print, you'll see that they're not just some sorts of wildcard vacation days. If you always use every vacation day to which you're entitled every year, or have a habit of calling in sick on Mondays, you are flagging yourself as someone who lacks personal integrity and abuses the system.

2. Throw bombs. You've probably heard that it's fine to ask questions, challenge conventional wisdom and say "no." But that doesn't mean it's okay to be confrontational or rude. You can quickly flag yourself as anti-collaborative or difficult to work with if you throw bombs in emails or in face-to-face meetings. Find constructive ways to ask questions and disagree, or you'll be "the guy" no one wants to work with.

3. Undercut your own team. Know the right time to discuss sensitive issues. If you are concerned with your own team's ability to meet a deadline or worried about a decision your boss made, make sure your partners aren't a part of the email thread where you express your reservations. Otherwise, you become the guy that undercuts and undermines your boss and your team in front of partners, and there's no faster way to the bench than that.

4. Evade transparency. Be honest and up front. It's the rare boss who has patience for people who misrepresent reality. In the modern age of email, messaging and metrics, it's difficult to disguise an off-track project for long.

5. Be anonymous. In principle, you might think it's a good idea to keep your head down and do the work you're assigned. But most organizations actively try to grow their next generation of leaders from today's individual contributors. In fact, many companies have an implicit "up or out" policy that requires an employee to participate collaborates, grow and advance. You need to be seen and heard.

I would love to hear your comments and opinions.  You can publicly display them on my Blog: http://businessmanagementcounselingservices.blogspot.com/

Or e-mail me in private: stevehomola@gmail.com

Your opinion is always highly regarded and respected!

Are you an Entrepreneur or Leader?

Entrepreneurs and business leaders each have their place in the business world. It's the entrepreneur that forges the path and the leader that turns it into a highway. Even more rare, is the entrepreneurial leader that changes our world. Think Steve Jobs (Apple), Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia), Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Henry Ford (Ford Motor Co.), Sam Walton (Walmart), and dozens of others. Those entrepreneurs not only changed our lives but changed life, as we know it.

So how do you join the ranks of entrepreneurial leaders? First, let's look at the difference between leaders and entrepreneurs. Answer the following questions and see how you stack up. Remember, there's no right or wrong.

Is it easier for you to make promises or to keep promises?

Entrepreneurs are visionaries. They make lots of promises, and by the skin of their teeth and seat of their pants they keep most of them. Reaching beyond their grasp allows them to stretch further which often leads to break-through innovation. Unfortunately, this comes with a cost: Not all promises are kept. Execution sometimes takes a back seat to innovation. Bright shiny metal objects can lead to the next powerhouse idea but can also cause today's priorities to drop faster than the Time's Square ball on New Year's Eve.

Leaders execute. They keep their promises but they don't do it alone. Here's one of the secrets of both great entrepreneurs and leaders: They rely upon these three people:

1. The operations manager or COO to keep the company’s promises
.

2. The financial person (CFO, bookkeeper, controller, etc) to pay for their promises through receivable collection, pricing, and financing.


3. The administrative (executive assistant) to help them keep their personal promises.

Speaking of counting on other people…

Are you a lone wolf or a top dog?

Many entrepreneurs start their businesses, because quite frankly, they don't play well with others. They get an idea that often bucks the system. The idea becomes a passion, the passion takes form and, voila! There is a business.

The entrepreneur typically measures his or her success based on the impact of their ideas.

However, for that business to continue to grow and stay relevant it takes people - a lot of them. Customers, vendors, employees, associates, even competitors are people and require a human connection to manage them.

The leader measures his or her success based on the quantity and quality of their relationships.

Is creativity in your nature or something you nurture?

In his latest book 11/22/63, Stephen King wrote: "Artistic talent is far more common than the talent to nurture artistic talent. Any parent with a hard hand can crush it, but to nurture it is much more difficult."

Nurturing talent maybe more difficult but it is no less important than entrepreneurial talent. Steve Jobs was a "design maniac" who, even while in the hospital, tried to redesign his oxygen mask and finger monitor according to Walter Isaacson in his biography on the man. Such was his passion and creativity.

So here's your final question: If you inspire, you are a leader. If you are inspired, you are an entrepreneur. Still not sure, ask the people around you.

I would love to hear your comments and opinions.  You can publicly display them on my Blog: http://businessmanagementcounselingservices.blogspot.com/

Or e-mail me in private: stevehomola@gmail.com

Your opinion is always highly regarded and respected!

The Fundamental Roles of a Great Business Manager

Great business owners become great based on their actions. Intentions are meaningless. Words are important. Results are everything.

But probably not the kinds of results you might have in mind. Consistently accomplish these five functions and you, your company -- and most importantly your employees -- all reap the benefits. Fail at these five functions and no matter how hard you work, you and your business will eventually fall short.

1. Develop every employee. If your sole focus is on hitting targets, achieving results, and accomplishing concrete goals your leadership cart is well before the horse. Without great employees, no amount of focus on goals and targets will pay off. Employees can only achieve what they are capable of achieving, so it's your job to help every employee become capable of achieving more.

Plus, even the most self-starting employees can only do so much to improve their skills. As a manager you owe it to your employees to provide the training, mentoring, and opportunities they need and deserve. In the process you listen, guide, and develop loyalty and commitment. Reviewing results and tracking performance is transformed from enforcement into personal progress and improvement -- both for the employee and for business.

Employee development is your primary responsibility as a boss. Spend the bulk of your time developing the skills of employees; goal achievement becomes a natural, long-term result.

2. Take care of problems immediately. Nothing kills team morale quicker than issues that don't get addressed. Interpersonal squabbles, performance issues, inter-departmental feuds all negatively impact employee motivation, enthusiasm, and even individual work ethic.

Small problems never go away. They always fester and grow into bigger problems -- and when you ignore an issue, employees immediately lose respect for you. Without respect you can't lead.

Never hope a problem will magically disappear (or someone else will deal with it.) No matter how small, deal with every issue head-on.

3. Rescue a struggling employee. Every team has an employee who has fallen out of grace: Publicly failed to complete a task, blew up in a meeting, or just makes particularly slow progress. Over time a struggling employee comes to be seen by his peers, and by you, as a weak link.

When that happens it's almost impossible for the struggling employee to turn a corner on his own. The weight of team disapproval is just too heavy for one person to move.

But that weight is not too heavy for you to move.

Before you remove a weak link from the chain, put your full effort into trying to rehabilitate that person instead. Step in and address the situation, but do so in a positive way. Say, "Tom, I know you've been struggling. I also know you're trying. Let's find ways we get you where you need to be." Express confidence, be reassuring, and most of all tell him you'll be there every step of the way.

Don't relax your standards, though. Just step up the mentoring and coaching you provide.

Granted, sometimes it won't work out, so see the effort as its own reward.

4. Serve others -- never yourself. You can get away with this once or twice, but that's it. Never say or do anything that in any way puts you in the spotlight, however briefly. Never congratulate employees and digress for a few moments to discuss what you did. Never say, "This took a lot of work, but I have finally convinced upper management to let us..." If it should go without saying, don't say it.

Your glory should always be reflected, never directed. When employees excel you excel. When your team succeeds you succeed. When an employee rehab project turns into a superstar, remember they should be congratulated, not you.

You were just doing your job the way a great manager should.

Consistently act as if you are less important than your employees and everyone will know how important you really are.

5. Stay humble. As a business owner, you've reached a level many of your employees also hope to someday reach. Some admire what you have accomplished; most respect you for your hard work and achievements. So sometimes an employee will just want to talk or to spend a little time with you.

When that happens you can blow that person off, or you can see the moment for its true importance: A chance to inspire, motivate, reassure, or give someone hope for greater things in their life.

The higher you rise, the greater the impact you can make, and the greater your responsibility to make that impact.

I would love to hear your comments and opinions.  You can publicly display them on my Blog: http://businessmanagementcounselingservices.blogspot.com/

Or e-mail me in private: stevehomola@gmail.com

Your opinion is always highly regarded and respected!