Hey! Continuing from Part 1 (and if you haven’t read Part 1, please do so before reading this section) after you have completed your Business Plan, analysed your Internal Processes and ensured that your Internal Culture is positive and healthy, the next step is to look at who is doing what within the organisation. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Every department activity needs to have an appropriate person responsible.
Now, as you go through your numerous business activities and you find that you, the business owner are responsible for everything, then I need to tell you that you have a problem. What’s the problem, you ask? It’s you and your thought process…. You might be shaking your head, saying no, it’s not me! But, believe me, you created this business, how can it not be you? My bet is that you need to modernize your thinking and decision making process.
Don’t worry, it’s easy to do this!
Let’s get in to it!
One thing that we have found to be true with small business is that owner and employee positioning (or repositioning in most cases) is not seriously considered when looking to improve a business.
Let’s be clear about this. If you have the wrong people in the wrong positions within your organisation then how can you expect to generate a positive outcome? This situation is usually easy to identify and often does not end well for the employee, as well as being very costly for the owner.
A less straight-forward situation is employing the right people in the wrong positions. This is often the problem that most small business owners really struggle with because they rarely see that there is a problem to begin with and when they do, many react to it in the same way as they would when employing the wrong people in the organisation. Hence, quality people are let go or made to feel like they have no other alternative but to leave the organisation on their own accord.
This is a huge mistake to make but we see this happen so regularly that it could almost be considered as ‘normal’ business leadership. Small business owners, in general, have the attitude of ‘just get it done’ and this way of thinking is short term and damaging.
It is common to see organisations employ the right people, then subsequently let the business down by placing those people in inappropriate positions. This often leads to all sorts of problems that include high staff turnover and burnout for both employees and owners.
We have found that once business owners gain the necessary education and start to open their minds to what they truly intend to achieve through the entire internal process, rather than simply just ‘getting it done’ and concentrating on the end result, only then will they begin to realise that the end result is just that, it is the result of whatever system you are leading.
The end result is not simply how much money you make, it is also about the level of stress that you and your team are under on a daily/weekly basis. It is the sleepless nights or the fact that for whatever reason, you cannot afford the time or the money to take a holiday.
The real judge of the end result is the amount of time you have to spend each week with your friends and family, doing things you like that make you, you! It is your energy level on your days off. Are you simply recovering from work on those days or are you actually enjoying this time, like you should? In short, the end result is the level of happiness, contentment and satisfaction you possess when you think about your life.
The above are all examples of an end result. Don’t just think of an end result as your client conversions, turnover, profit, cash flow, how much you personally make and what possessions you can afford or any other number on a piece of paper.
Taking the above into consideration, I’d like you to honestly answer the below questions:
There’s one thing you can do today that will propel you forward on the topic of modern technology and thinking, and it’s very simple. Go to Facebook and follow Gary Vaynerchuk. If you have never heard of Gary Vaynerchuk before, then do yourself a favour and watch his videos, all of his videos. Read his bio and do a bit of research on him. Most of all, listen to what he has to say.
He is the epitome of modern thinking and shows how modern technology, with continual learning and development and a positive attitude can help you achieve your goals.
“People are chasing cash, not happiness. When you chase money, you’re going to lose. Even if you get the money, you won’t be happy.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
There are so many applications nowadays that can help you do the most mundane tasks however, the average business owner still operates their business like it’s 1950!
One example, comparing the old way of thinking and the new way, comes from my eight-year-old son. The other day he was playing FIFA 16 (a soccer video game) on Xbox and for some reason, the game’s language changed from English to French. Since we don’t understand French, this was a problem.
So, my son asked his grandad — who was visiting at the time — to help him fix this problem as I was unavailable. My dad was nice enough to try and help change the game’s language back to English. After about 25 mins of my dad sitting on the couch and getting frustrated at not being able to fix it, my son came to me and asked for help.
Now, I am in no way an expert at fixing computer games. As I came into the room I wanted to see what my father’s strategy was for trying to sort out the problem.
Basically, his strategy was to press buttons and hope something would happen. I thought there probably was a better way to sort out this problem, and there was.
I simply went to YouTube and typed in, ‘How to reset FIFA 16 language on Xbox’.
It literally took me 2 minutes to fix the problem, compared to my father’s 25-minute attempt with no result. One minute to watch the video and the other minute to click what I was told to by the person who created the video. Problem solved, and all because I used technology and sought help from someone who knew more than me. I used technology to connect to that source.
What I remember most, is my son’s reaction after I fixed the problem. My father, by this time, had lost interest completely and was a little upset that he had been slogging away for 25 minutes with no real strategy and, therefore, no result.
My son asked me, “But, how did you fix it so fast, what did you do?” My reply was, “I just asked someone who knew what to do.”
I thought that this was a great example because it really touches on a couple of key points worth mentioning.
Most small businesses are like my dad in the above story. They usually know what the problem is, but they have no idea how it came to be or how to fix it.
As they try to work through the process, inputting valuable resources such as time, money and emotional energy, it should become clear that now there are two problems. The original problem that has still not been fixed, but also a second, of not knowing how to fix the original problem.
One of our many strengths at Conqa Business Solutions is helping to navigate our business owners through this process. As per the story above, I sought advice from a more knowledgeable source in order to fix the problem I had. There is nothing wrong with seeking help, in fact, it shows that you are a good leader and business owner.
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