Post covid, the idea of starting a small business has become a popular trend. However, what many people do not realize is the amount of hard work and dedication that goes into making a business successful. It is a common misconception that working smart is enough to build a successful business, but the truth is …
What is Leadership Training? Training and development in leadership help determine those who are likely to be leaders. It also expands the skills and expertise of those already in leadership positions. Based on the business’s needs today, leaders might need to be trained in both hard and soft skills. For instance, up or upcoming leaders …
There is so much content available on achieving your goals in online videos, books, podcasts, or other sources and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. While all of these resources are valuable and should be used as you progress in your journey, there are some really small steps you can take now to get the momentum …
Beginner Strategies For Making Your Goals A Reality Read More »
There’s a plague that haunts retail small business owners. It ties up cash, wastes floor space, and can leave a store looking cluttered and stale. It’s one of those problems that every retail shop owner or manager faces at one time or another. Sooner or later, it must be dealt with. The problem is the …
How to Solve the Slow-Moving Inventory Problem Forever for the Retail Small Business Read More »
You’ll need to work hard to succeed as an entrepreneur, but that hard work and passion comes at a price. Burnout is a kind of psychological stress, one that kills any love and passion you may have for your business. If you’re lucky, it’s temporary. If you fail to identify its onset or presence, you …
How Entrepreneurs Can Identify Impending Burnout Read More »
As any entrepreneur or business owner knows, there’s no shortage of business coaches out there. It is hard to ascertain the precise number of business coaches in Australia, but according to the various Coaching Associations, the number is in the vicinity of 3000. If you include business mentors and life coaches, the figure is likely …
Ensuring that Your Business Coach is the Right Fit for You. Read More »
Knowing is fun – learning, much less so. For a small business, it’s often costly. Here are a few lessons you should get to know early: Care for Your Employees Successful small business owners are known for their ingenuity and their willpower. What they’re not as known for is for how they treat their employees. …
5 Important Lessons Small Business Owners Should Learn Early Read More »
The quality of your customer service will determine much of your startup’s success. Treat your consumers well and not only will they come back for more, they will be more willing to overlook the inevitable hiccup in your service. Fortunately, there is much you can do to refine your customer service program. Here are 9 …
9 Tips Any Entrepreneur Can Use to Improve Their Customer Service Read More »
Interviews are hard for business owners. In my business coaching sessions, it comes up often with clients, and rarely in a positive way. Business owners value the fact they need to employ more staff, and the growth of their business is a validation of this. However, they view the whole interview and hiring process as …
The Problem with Hypothetical Questions in Job Interviews Read More »
While not all employees are chronic procrastinators, many businesses might boast their fair share of them. As an owner or manager, you may already understand that procrastination is not emblematic of laziness or even a lack of motivation, but it can feel that way when your business faces important deadlines. Procrastination in its elemental form …
Small business owners tend to find social media useful as a way to stay in touch with their customer base. Social media engagement, however, often leads to stress. Many business owners take care of their social media on their own and tend to feel inadequate, or not fully capable in that capacity. Managing social media …
5 Tips to Help You Escape Social Media Anxiety as a Small Business Owner Read More »
Covid-19 has forced companies to change the way they motivate their employees. Lockdowns all around Australia have pushed us into our largest recession in 30 years. As a result, many small businesses have had to cut many operational costs, including salaries. Predictably, this has not been met by employees with much enthusiasm. Fortunately, this provides …
Becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own business is like a child taking their very first steps. You will make mistakes, have downfalls, and experience hardship but whilst this may cause immense stress, it is not all negative. With perseverance and a major positive attitude, you may very well push past these issues and thrive. …
Why Starting a Business can Create Strain on your Mental Health Read More »
The best leaders are constantly changing their leadership styles to adapt to their ever-growing and/or evolving businesses. The longer a leader is in a position of authority, the more you will learn about which methods of leadership best suit you and your organisation. There are many ways to lead a business, some of which are …
While it’s still important you take a well-earned break to recharge and refuel this holiday season, there are plenty of things you can also use the quiet time for, such as improving business processes, researching new markets or nurturing fresh business ideas. We spoke with some Aussie small business experts to get their advice on …
5 ways to use the EOY downtime to your advantage Read More »
Setting up a physical storefront can be a stroke of genius or a sign of madness. The whole world is caught up in the current COVID pandemic and the economy is experiencing unprecedented ebbs and flows – is either a stroke of genius or a sign of madness. A genius understands that some customers enjoy …
How to set up your business idea online before setting up a physical storefront Read More »
Strong and effective leadership gives companies the extra edge that helps them carve out a niche and succeed. While just about anyone can be a leader, a select number of people go on to become great leaders. Leadership is not easy and while there is a lot of work to do, leaders are always racing …
Curiosity is an attribute that is critical for leaders to succeed in a disruptive world. Agile leaders are those who are highly motivated, have the drive to learn new things and explore. Curiosity is the precursor to these desirable attributes in leaders. What does curiosity mean? Curiosity is an element of cognition. An early definition …
Is your company slow to react to change? Does your company have many ‘layers/section’ so that your employees feel stifled and don’t have a voice or a say over what goes on within its walls? Are only a few in charge of the decision-making process? Do you often find that there is a conflict between …
The uncertain times brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 poses unique and new leadership challenges to public health specialists and business leaders. Clearly, the right kind of leadership determines the success of nations and humanity in times of multi-dimensional and complex crises. Leaders are expected to provide exceptional leadership even as socio-economic foundations are being …
Communications is an intricate skill – it’s not only about what you say but how you say it. There are several critical components of communication, and body language is one of them. Communication includes both verbal and nonverbal cues. While most of us train ourselves to be adept at using verbal cues (words), we forget …
Let us accept this statement – “the business world has changed dramatically over the last few years”. Gone are the days of giant corporations, foreign invasion of large MNCs or monopolistic economic structures being the sole influence in business and on the consumer. We live in an era which is characterised by disruptive business models, …
Four business trends to keep you ahead in the game Read More »
Developed in 1964, Vroom realized that performance in the workplace was based on factors impacting the individuals. These included knowledge, abilities, experience, and personality. However, regardless of these factors if the three crucial variables were fulfilled each employee would be motivated to perform at a higher level to make things better for themselves. The first …
How to Motivate Staff – Insights in to Vroom’s Expectancy Theory Read More »
George Bernard Shaw pointed out that “the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Communicating is an integral part of our everyday life. We talk for several hours to people each day while we also communicate through emails, texts and video calls. A study shows that we spend more …
Bring People and Ideas Together with Conversations – Real Conversations Read More »
Fact: The next few months are going to be testing for SME’s and their owners.. It is understandably hard to stay calm and focussed, particularly for those around you, when you (owner or leader) are trying to adjust to a very new and fast changing environment. When we are put in this position of vulnerability, the natural tendency is to …
Others are Depending On You – Leading while Adapting Read More »
How are you making use of your values? Do they enhance your environment? I’ve been writing about leading by your values in my recent posts. Part 2. Leaders who follow their values are seen as authentic, and are appreciated because they’re genuine and trustworthy. They set a vision based on value-oriented choices and hone in …
Larsen also states that leaders whose roles are misaligned with their values experience inner conflict, stress, or frustration. It is fairly common in my work as a business coach to come across leaders and business owners who are facing hardships without recognising the reasons. It would be advisable to assess and have an ‘inner look’ …
As a leader, the most effective (and many would argue, perhaps the only way) you can direct your life and the lives of others is to truly know what you stand for. Your personal values – the way you choose to conduct your self – direct your thoughts, priorities, preferences, and actions. In other words, …
Giving Back the Monkey People don’t need to be managed; they need to be unleashed. ~ Richard Florida, Professor of Urban Theory In 1974, William Oncken wrote one of the two bestselling articles in Harvard Business Review: “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?” The piece compares an employee’s dilemma to a monkey. When the manager …
I’ve been writing about the need for managers and leaders to improve performance (this post) by helping employees to think better and improve their abilities to problem solve. Until managers learn to do this, they will continue to contribute to employee disengagement. Starting a coaching conversation is an ideal way to encourage self-directed learning. How …
Teaching People to Think Leadership practices need to keep up with the realities of organisational life. There’s an increasing gap between the way employees are managed and how they want to be managed. One cannot teach a man anything. One can only enable him to learn from within himself. ~ Galileo Galilei With so many …
Hand on your heart – ask yourself -are you totally satisfied with your job? You are not likely to be all that dissatisfied, after all, the job pays the bills and most of the people who you workd with ‘ok’. However, you are unlikely to be ‘super happy’. A study by Deloitte revealed that meaningful …
The true value of a owner/manager lies in their team. (Besides, the more productive and proactive the team, the better the manager looks.) If you run a startup, one of your primary responsibilities is to get your team working at its highest efficiency. Here are four ways you can encourage your employees to be more …
Four Ways to Encourage Your Employees to be More Proactive Read More »
One of the common challenges that all businesses must navigate is how to deal with irate or upset customers. It is, after all, a mantra that businesses should always try and please the customer. (Whether this is necessary true is an article for another day.) The scenario where unhappy customers come ‘barging in at the …
Resilience is a crucial trait for successful businesses of any size, but smaller endeavors are at higher risk of being negatively impacted by changing market forces or unforeseen events. How you structure and manage your business will be the primary factor in how it reacts to and recovers from, unexpected incidents. These tips, which no …
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Leigh Johnston from Employsure as to how small business owners can recruit, manage, and retain millennial employees. It is called “Managing Millennials with …….”. My interview is 2nd and starts at 18 minutes. You can listen to it below.
Your employees are the core of your business. Proper management and leadership is key to ensuring they offer their best in the smooth running of your business. Regardless of their individual, or combined skills, when staff are not well served by good management, they cannot perform at their best. Consider the following: Establish a Strong …
5 Ways In Which To Better Manage Employees In Your Small Business Read More »
A lot of things are more fun with friends, and small businesses are no exception. There’s nothing like going to the office and working with people you’ve known and trusted your whole life. Unfortunately, a small business is a stressful endeavor, one that can damage relationships irreparably if you’re not careful. There are a few …
You’ve decided to purchase an existing business. You have fresh ideas and plans to make your new venture a booming success. Before you jump in with unbridled passion, it is imperative you check your ego at the door and consider the costly mistakes your enthusiasm might be leading you towards. Following are five don’ts you …
5 Crucial Mistakes Entrepreneurs Should Avoid When Buying an Existing Business Read More »
The daily grind is the great equaliser. Young or old, strong or weak – all eventually fall to the grind, and nothing has as much of a grind as running a small business. There’s tons of daily minutiae to worry about, and if you don’t approach it the right way, it will wear you down. …
5 Ways Small Business Owners Can Make the Grind Work for Them Read More »
Success in business demands that you give a lot of dedication every single day. You need to ensure that the clients are satisfied in order to propel to the next level. Therefore, most of the time, you have to push yourself beyond the limits and this could have a negative impact on your lifestyle. So …
Best Practices to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Well-Being Read More »
That tiny voice in the back of your head is growing louder. Those aspirations of building your own business are becoming too hard to ignore. If your heart, or head, is telling you the time is right to make the leap into entrepreneurship, there are a number of factors you need to contemplate first. Consider …
5 Factors Entrepreneurs Need to Face Before Making the Leap to Entrepreneurship Read More »
Decision making is as much art as science. The goal, if we have one, is not to make perfect decisions but rather to make better decisions than average. To do this we require either good luck or better insight. And since luck isn’t really much of a plan, we should probably focus on better insight. …
If you’re a small business owner, you know how crucial your workforce is to success. When your operations begin to expand, and your employee numbers soar, this can really bring a new dimension of pressure to the business owner…and often results in a drop in employee motivation. Most of us have dealt with a …
Five ways to motivate your employees towards excellence Read More »
Have you been operating your business for a while now, and have the lingering feeling that things could just be doing better than they currently are? I often talk to people just like you, and it’s all about making a decision to really be strategic with your business operations. If you’re ready to take the …
What happens when a business owner has self-destructive or business harming leadership behaviours? What happens when family members don’t get on well in business? What do we do? How do they change? It makes me think of my favourite skit of all time (watch here), starring Bob Newhart. (Younger clients might struggle to recognise that …
Delegation is good but empowerment is better. Building a business is like one big project in delegation. In the beginning you wear all of the hats and as cash flow allows you methodically hire and train others to do things you no longer have time to do or need to be doing. It’s arguably one …
The vast majority of businesses in Australia are small businesses and many of those are family owned operations or partnerships. Unlike large companies, small businesses and partnerships without solid succession plans often fail when the owner or a senior-level partner retires, becomes incapacitated or dies. What’s more, problems can arise when partners no longer get …
Most small-business owners aren’t planning ahead Read More »
As an entrepreneur, your personal integrity is critical for getting and keeping the support of investors and team members, and your company’s integrity is critical for getting and keeping customers and vendors. But in a practical sense, what does that really mean? Most definitions of integrity include something like “the quality of being honest and …
5 Ways to See If Your Business Integrity is Showing Read More »
Trying to satisfy a wide range of different needs is rarely effective. Splitting your customers into different groups of similar people will enable you to market your products or services specifically to the ones that will be most profitable to you. Identifying your target market Start to identify the different segments among your existing customers …
