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The Four Factors of Small Business

Guest post by: Zeeman Haus

Article Overview: We can banter back and forth about numbers and sales approaches for hours, maybe even days, on end and never reach a general consensus as to what the absolute best approach is. True there are many tactics in small business that have worked over and over again, but the real thing boils down to proper management and these four simple rules:

The Four Factors of Small Business

We can banter back and forth about numbers and sales approaches for hours, maybe even days, on end and never reach a general consensus as to what the absolute best approach is. True there are many tactics in small business that have worked over and over again, but the real thing boils down to proper management and these four simple rules:

The first thing to think about is goal setting. Without a set of goals in place, it is hard for you to gauge your company's productivity on a weekly or even daily basis. Set realistic goal out loud, but keep some very high and unrealistic goals to yourself. When discussing your goals with your employees avoid any "if" statements and stay positive.

This brings me to the second factor; communication with your employees. Let them know the goals you have set for the business and make them an active part in goal setting and achieving. Sometimes a round table meeting is a good idea on goal setting.

Your leadership role and how you chose to play it is a critical factor. I have harped on this over and over again, and I probably will not stop anytime in the near future; bad attitude begins at the top. If your outlook is dour you can take it to the bank that your employees will feel the same way. You are the attitude leader. What you put into your business work wise you might not always get out of it, but you can expect a tenfold return on your attitude investment.

Finally you need to look at direction. With most small business ventures things tend to swing one way or another; you either find your business being ran by its employees as far as policy goes or you rule with an iron fist. Allowing your staff to take ownership of their specific duties is a very good idea. Making sure they have the tools needed to do this and the training is a must. To not encourage ownership is to set yourself up to spend a lot of time making decisions for your staff thus killing a majority of the time you could be spending on other tasks. Allowing them ownership of their duties is not the same as allowing them ownership of your business. The line has to be drawn, and drawn thick.

These are all good, general business tactics that will help your small business grow. The best thing about small businesses is simply that everyone feels like they are a part of something with growth potential. This in turn leads to a feeling of adventure and when spun right by you, the owner/operator you will get more out of your staff than they would have put forth in another job.

Like I said, numbers and marketing tactics aside, these four factors are something that can be applied to every single small business with more than mom, dad and a teenager behind a till. Now that I think about it, maybe these apply even more so in that situation.

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Article Tags: consensus, proper management, sales approaches, small business
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