EXCERPTS from
the book:
What
It's Like to Own a Business
Starting Up We bought an operational mess... We hadn’t
a clue as to running the business, and everything was seat-of-the-pants... We thought we were making oodles of money
our first month, but were just accumulating cash for end-of-month bills... Handling employees was our biggest challenge and that’s what led to seeking Ken’s
help...
Best Things About Owning a Business
Flexibility is tops, but it wasn’t always so. I used to be a slave to the business,
now it frees me to do what I want, when I want ~ vacations, business travel, taking lunch, or watching my kids play sports.
It’s also great to run the shop the way I want, confident most of the time, not by the whim of an owner who’s
got no clue...
If you love learning, believe
me, owning a business can be a dream come true. You’ll learn some things you thought you already knew, and others
you couldn’t imagine. Beyond the technical or “hard” stuff like project plans and P&L’s,
I’ve learned invaluable “soft” skills, as Ken calls them ~ understanding people’s emotions and motivations,
managing myself better, and coping with life’s challenges. And I’ve been able to charge it all to the business.
What Would You Do Differently?
(As the owner of a newly-purchased
business.)
• Self-Management
(Being effective,
boosting your quality-of-life.)
First, manage your time well. That was my biggest self-management
problem. Early in business development, I kept a time log and recorded everything I did for a week. Wow, what
a revelation! I averaged only three minutes on each task, with constant interruptions…
One other thing. Once you’re in better control, make sure to build
some fun into your schedule. Take an afternoon off here and there. Play a tennis match or round of golf...
Remind yourself that you deserve the break for your work in building your business.
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(continued from
previous column)
• General Management
(Coordinating
departments, planning the future.)
Initially, the most important things were building our organizational
chart and writing position contracts. Once our employees understood their jobs and whom they answered to, things were
far less confused and we had a base on which to build...
•
Marketing and Sales
(Finding prospects, converting
them into customers.)
Once we got better coordinated, we saw that we did indeed need more customers. That led to
our USP, or universal selling proposition ~ Where Caring Makes the Difference ~ an emotionally targeted motto on which our
marketing is based...
• Operations
(Delivering products and services.)
The most important thing was to systematize
our service process from point-of-sale to completion… Each (of our steps) was fraught with potential miscommunication,
and one misstep could alienate the customer. With the sale-to-completion process systematized, we worked on coordinating
workflow…
• Finance (Managing money and internal operations, such as Admininistration and Human Resources.)
(Before business development...) We paid all our bills, though not always on time due to “losing” some in the
mess. A bill-paying controlling calendar helped to solve that… As soon as you’ve got your bills under
control, make sure to pay yourself. Give yourself a raise, however small, in recognition of the business-building work
you’re doing because you’re filling a new slot, that of Business Developer.
To get your copy:
1. Call us at 866.396.2626 -or-
2. Visit our Purchasing page.
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