The World Business

Archive for May, 2010

I started my company (ABC) from the trunk of my car (and it was a small trunk so that’s a small business). I grew ABCto $375,000,000 in sales prior to selling it to XYZ. I am now CEO of a $1 billion business.

Many of our most important customers are small business people. I make a study out of what makes them successful and what pitfalls they need to avoid. From this study, I came up with the following list of the Top 10 Ways to Grow your Small Business:

1 – Know yourself. Do a SWOT analysis. What are your Strengths, your Weaknesses, the Opportunities and the Threats? Examine and understand each. In every strength there is a weakness and in every weakness there is a strength (e.g. you are small so lack financial clout, the advantage is by necessity you will be more creative). The better you know yourself the more successful you will be. By knowing yourself you not only know your areas of opportunity, you know what areas to avoid.

2 – Set goals. This sounds almost too simple but many people and businesses do not set goals. Goals can keep you focused on where you want to go and how you need to get there. Set specific measurable goals with timelines and track progress towards them. Set goals in areas that you know you can win (if you did the SWOT in 1, you will know those areas).

3 – Grow within profitability. Often I see companies who set the goals like I speak about in point 1 and grow their expenses in anticipation of sales only to find the sales do not materialize at the level they thought. Sell first then add overheads.

4 – Sell more to your existing customers. Look at what they buy from other sources that you might be able to sell them. You already have the relationship with your customers. You are already spending the time to service them so your incremental cost is quite low. For example, if you supply them with toner cartridges, it is easy to sell them some printers or other hardware or software.

5 – Sell to more customers. You obviously have something worth buying or you would have no customers. What other customers might use this service. Then market and sell to that audience – email, mail, fax, advertise, call, visit, etc. Ask your existing customers for referrals. Sell in a larger geographic area. Take the knowledge and systems you have to broader areas. Warning on this – the grass is not always greener. It costs more to sell in markets further away. You can lose your advantage.

6 – Grow your people. What I have consistently done is to look at what I do and figure out who can do it (in many cases better than I can). By learning to delegate, I have been able to not only grow myself but grow my people and my company.

7 – Create a change culture in your company. People need to be told that things change. Yes, I wish for the good old times but without change, we would not grow. There is an expression “if you do what you always have done, you will get what you have always got”. The Jim Estill variation on this is “if you do what you have always done (even if it was successful), you will go bankrupt”. Set a goal to do something new every month.

8 – As one of my heroes, Thomas Edison said, “good things come to those who hustle while they wait”. In business, speed wins. Companies and people with a high sense of urgency win. If you do not have this in your company – create it. Set deadlines. Set goals. Do it now. This can be one area that small business can beat big business.

9 – Focus on learning. People and companies that learn, win. This ties into point 7. You need to be a life-long learner. Spend part of your time on learning. Develop a habit of constant learning.

10 – I am a big believer in the good use of time. If you know your goals and focus your time appropriately, you will grow. I study time and constantly polish my time systems.

Food is one of the basic necessities of life. You need to eat to survive. For some, it is just that – but for most of us it is more than just survival. Food is a celebration – of being alive, of taste and of our fruits of labor. Although this celebration is most of the time confined in the home kitchen, with the fast-paced world and less time that we have to cook and then to eat – the restaurants serving a wide array of delicious food are increasingly becoming the stop-over for the urbane society.

In most parts of the world – the smallest snack cart to the suave seven starred restaurants – food is available for the consumer in ways that were incomprehensible even in the last century. Eat while floating in air – the hanging restaurant – or eat under water amongst the swimming sharks – how about eating aboard a tram or a train or cruise – exclusive restaurants on wheels or on water – celebrate the way that best suits your taste.

The business of restaurants hence is a very lucrative option for many entrepreneurs. From small start-ups, family joints to mega food chains – restaurant business is making its mark in the consumer market. Although it seems quite simple to just walk in a restaurant, order the food, eat, pay and leave – running a restaurant and staying on the market when restaurants are mushrooming at almost all the corners of your street – is not quite easy. Starting up a restaurant and keep it running with profit needs meticulous pre-planning and management.

The most important points that one should keep in mind while starting a restaurant are:

The location of the restaurant – ensure that there is traffic where you are opening up the restaurant. It is not necessary that you have to open one only at the established areas. You need to identify areas that would develop soon as well.

Great food, great ambience, great service – the three keys to keep customers loyal to your joint. They should not just visit once, but keep revisiting.

There is no great food unless there is a reliable and regular supply chain to support it with. So before you get in to opening a restaurant, remember to invest money and effort in building up the supply chain.

Once you have your restaurant all set up, in order to keep it running – remember the following:

Don’t over promise and under deliver! You may find a number of exotic menus available, but offer only those that your kitchen can deliver.

Keep it changing, but don’t forget the old! It’s good to jazz up your joint once in a while – the décor, the menu. But remember, you’ll also have loyal customers who come to your place to relish the signature dish or enjoy the old ambience. Ensure that your change does not make the most loyal customers uncomfortable.

Most importantly – times change, markets go up and down – but always ensure that your customers get value for their money.

Everyone, at some point of his or her life, has dreamed of being somebody special, somebody big. Who hasn’t fantasized about being the one who hits the game-winning homer? Who hasn’t dreamed of being the homecoming queen? And how many times have we dreamed of being rich, or successful, or happy with our relationships?

Often, we dream big dreams and have great aspirations. Unfortunately, our dreams remain just that – dreams. And our aspirations easily collect dust in our attic.

This is a sad turn of events in our life. Instead of experiencing exciting adventures in self actualization, we get caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day just barely existing.

But you know what? Life could be so much better, if only we learned to aim higher.

The most common problem to setting goals is the word impossible. Most people get hung up thinking I can’t do this. It’s too hard. It’s too impossible. No one can do this.

However, if everyone thought that, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.

Remember that scientists were baffled when they took a look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Unfortunately for the bumble, bee no one has told it so. So fly it does.

On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. The result? Broken dreams, and tattered aspirations.

If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream.

Try this exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down some goals in your life. Under one header, list down things ‘you know you can do’. Under another header, write the things ‘you might be able to do.’ And under one more, list the things that that are ‘impossible for you to do.’

Now look at all the headers strive every day to accomplish the goals that are under things ‘you know you can do’. Check them when you are able to accomplish them. As you slowly are able to check all of your goals under that heading, try accomplishing the goals under the other header-the one that reads ‘you might be able to do.’

As of the items you wrote under things I could do are accomplished, you can move the goals that are under things that are ‘impossible for you to do’ to the list of things ‘you might be able to do.’

As you iterate through this process, you will find out that the goals you thought were impossible become easier to accomplish. And the impossible begin to seem possible after all.

You see, the technique here is not to limit your imagination. It is to aim high, and start working towards that goal little by little. However, it also is unwise to set a goal that is truly unrealistic.

Those who just dream towards a goal without working hard end up disappointed and disillusioned.

On the other hand, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for man to be on the moon, they would laugh at you. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, they would say you were out of your mind. But, through sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities.

Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Nothing could be truer. For one to accomplish his or her dreams, there has to be had work and discipline. But take note that that 1% has to be a think-big dream, and not some easily accomplished one.

Ask any gym rat and he or she will tell you that there can be no gains unless you are put out of your comfort zone. Remember the saying, “No pain, no gain”? That is as true as it can be.

So dream on, friend! Don’t get caught up with your perceived limitations. Think big and work hard to attain those dreams. As you step up the ladder of progress, you will just about find out that the impossible has just become a little bit more possible.

While many business deals are made outside the office, it is important to furnish one’s office with the proper equipment and furniture. This is important because the office is where you make most of your initial deals, and it is the place you use for planning out and implementing business strategies.

One of the most important furniture a home office can have is the office chair. There are a variety of office chairs to choose from, depending on the purpose for which they would be used. There are office chairs simply to be sat on and to make your guests comfortable. On the other hand there are office chairs that are intended to keep the user awake and alert while working.

The first rule to remember when choosing office chairs is to not buy office chairs without first trying its fit. This means you have to try sitting on the office chairs you intend to purchase. This way, you make sure that you are comfortable sitting in that chair and you fit in it.

There are people who buy chairs with their eyes only o find out later that the chair does not fit their bottoms. Find office chairs that are not only aesthetically built, but most importantly, find office chairs that are very comfortable to sit in whatever your purpose in buying that chair is.

You also have to consider the build of the people who will be sitting on those office chairs. There are people who buy office chairs for their office staff only to find out later that the chair is too small for a bulky office worker. Make sure you buy office chairs that are suitable for everyone even if they come in only one size or adjustment.

Another thing to consider when buying office chairs is their ability to support the lower back of the people who will be sitting in it. There are ergonomic office chairs that can provide maximum comfort and safety to the user. However, make sure that your office chairs are not too comfortable to be slept in or else, you may find workers sleeping during office hours at your expense.

If you need to purchase office chairs for an office with many employees, it would be best to contact companies or dealers who can make office chairs at discounted prices. Aside from the discount, you can also choose the fabric you want and you can have them made according to your specifications. Also make sure the dealer offers a warranty.

While the physical looks of an ergonomic chair matters, it should be the least concern because the reason why you are buying office chairs is to make your stay in the office more comfortable, safer and healthy.