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It’s Time For The Small Business Owner To Get Back In The Game

Written by: Gary Silverman

Article Overview: There is no doubt that market conditions have deteriorated over the past few months regardless of the industry. Business leaders and owners have acted quickly to cut unnecessary personnel and expenses to protect the bottom line. That’s a good thing for the survival of the company even though it doesn’t do much for the overall economy. There is an important bi-product of this activity. It forces the owner or executive to get more involved in the day to day activities of the business and in the case of a small company, forces them to “go back to work”.

It’s Time For The Small Business Owner To Get Back In The Game

As business improves and becomes more profitable, owners and executives had a layer of personnel between them and the business. It was more enjoyable to play golf, enjoy other leisurely activities, and travel when there were others running the show. Over time your business has evolved. The customer demographics, technology, competition, products, software, and a host of other things about the business have changed. You are at risk of being an outsider in your own company, possessing the least amount of knowledge. This is a real wake-up call. Your job is back to being more entrepreneurial rather than semi-retired. Take this time to relearn your company, find the waste, reinvent job descriptions and responsibilities, and plan your company’s emergence into the “new” economy. It will be difficult at first, but you will regain the passion you had years ago. You are looking at the world through a new set of eyes and with it comes a new respect for your staff and the daily challenges they face. This is also a time to reconnect with your best customers and vendors. Businesses are built on relationships and now is the time to evaluate and capitalize on them. With your bat in the line up you will see greater employee productivity, and that’s always good. Don't lose sight of the fact that there is much to be learned from your staff. They will be your greatest asset when you make the transition.

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Article Tags: challenges, competition products, customer demographics, emergence, employee productivity, job descriptions, leisurely activities, looking at the world, new economy, outsider, passion, relationships, risk, technology competition, transition



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My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
9 Lies that are holding you back - I've picked up this book to assist me with my conversations when coaching business clients and I've found it to be quite enlightening as distinctions are made. The book is titled "9 Lies That are Holding Your Business Back..." by Steve Chandler and Sam Beckford (aka Small Business Millionaire). I'll use this post in two ways: 1. To highlight A Lie 2. To help me internalize the concepts by writing about it in my own terms/understanding so that I can use it in future conversations (yes, I'm feeling a lil selfish and want to take you guys along with the journey) first post to arrive shortly on the First chapter: Lie#1: I Just Need to Know [i:23sag391]How[/i:23sag391] to Do This"
Job titles - [quote:3shpwvxj]In fact, I've had friends tell me that "Founder" is better than "Owner" since it's less possessive.[/quote:3shpwvxj] For myself, I don't care for the term "Founder" [i:3shpwvxj]because [/i:3shpwvxj]it's not possessive. You can be the founder of a company and have sold it - so it no longer belongs to you. However, if you call yourself "Owner" - people know the company is still in your hands. But I don't like Owner, either. I'd prefer President or Director, because one can be an absentee owner, whereas if one is a President or Director, people assume you're involved in the day to day activities. Manager, on the other hand, wouldn't work if its your business, because (to me, anyway) that implies that you "manage" for someone else - like at a restaurant.
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Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.


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