Welcome
To the blog for small and medium sized business (SME) owners.

Friday, March 28, 2008

What benefits can be gained from working with a business mentor?

Some examples of working wih a business mentor are:

• Learn from the knowledge and experience of the business mentor
• Receive good advice
• Be motivated
• Be challenged
• Gain confidence
• Receive support – ‘a shoulder to cry on’
• Discover how to control environments – become empowered
• Develop into a better business manager
Remove the loneliness

Thursday, March 27, 2008

A Business Review

Why is a business review important?

The business will be continually changing - either creating more wealth or not. Staff may change, new customer accounts won or existing ones lost, new products introduced and so on.

The impact of the continual changes in business and the management of those changes should be understood.

A business review will provide the opportunity for the business owner to assess the current business position, determine if the business goals will be met and to set revised strategies if necessary.

Learn more: What is a Strategic Business Review?

Saturday, March 22, 2008

What Plunges the Business Owner Into Crisis Management?

Is it:
• A sudden unexpected event that will devastate the business unless corrective action is taken
• Or the cumulative impact of small insignificant adverse events that at the time were considered unimportant to receive great attention?

Often the business owner is unprepared for either type of catastrophe and perhaps in a well meaning but unplanned, ill defined manner attempts to take remedial actions without understanding the impact those actions may have on other areas of the business.

The end result being ‘problem shifting’. The original concern is corrected in the short term but re-appears or manifests itself in another aspect of business life at a later stage.

Unless well skilled in financial management, change management, business turnaround or the like, the business owner will experience difficulty in implementing the necessary robust solutions and often aggravate a problem, resulting in a continued business downturn with the prospect of a short term solution less likely.

To protect your business employ experts who have the necessary skill sets to help you – the skill sets that may be missing in your business.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Successful Business Turnaround or DIY

Many SME business owners are enthused at starting a business and may enjoy initial success. Others may be good at taking over and managing businesses that have been long established and require little change.

Whilst the business owners remain in their ‘comfort zone’ their new business may thrive and bring rewards. However, when the owners are challenged by a downturn in business fortunes many are found wanting, unable to manage the situation and find their businesses perhaps spiraling out of control.

What action should be taken?

It is not uncommon to find the business owner, who may be unskilled in turnaround work, attempting to take actions the consequences of which are not fully understood until too late or recruiting generalists who are not experienced in all aspects of business.

Do not risk losing your business engage a business turnaround expert early in the process.

If the owner is too close to a situation, often the obvious is missed or deliberately ignored to avoid embarrassment. Not many business owners willingly admit to mistakes until matters are critical, so it should be no surprise that business owners who manage their own turnaround without reference to business turnaround specialists often repeat the mistakes of their past with similar results.

If you want a gourmet meal you go to a top restaurant not cook in your kitchen. The analogy with employing a business turnaround specialist is no different.