I have a bit of a light hearted question for you today. I wonder, has COVID-19 caught you with your business pants down? This whole situation lately has been quite random, completely unexpected, and really caught a lot of us off guard. Some of the things you might...
As they say, if a business is not growing it is dying. Business growth is always the aim for the entrepreneur but often you can find yourself in a plateau that is difficult to pull yourself out of. As you go about with a business process analysis of the day to day of...
These past months have been chaotic, talk about a steep learning curve! We have found ourselves in a surreal time that is sometimes eerie, sometimes exciting, and sometimes downright scary. Yet the spotlight on learning is shining brighter than ever. There is so much...
In this day and age, it’s more important than ever for businesses to have happy and productive employees. When employees are loyal and engaged in the company, profits are higher. On the other hand, when people feel unmotivated or not appreciated, the business suffers....
Today we’ll be looking at seven essential systems you need to build up your business, even if you’re working from home. The thing I love the most about building a business is that it’s so raw and real. By developing better ways to help and serve people, every business...
Isn’t it exciting to burst out of the business start-up blocks with a bang? When that first burst of growth hits it is truly thrilling. Booming sales. Rave reviews. Customers coming back for more and bringing their people with them. In the perfect world of your...
The business landscape is very challenging for business owners and their teams right now. A lot of business owners are facing unavoidable losses that simply cannot be helped. The stats that I’ll quickly share here paint a particularly worrisome picture. Two-thirds of...
It’s easy to emphasise accountability with your team, but not so easy to tell them how to be accountable. It’s even harder to make them want to be accountable — especially since many business leaders forget they are the role model for accountability. Many owners don’t...
Building business in crisis is something few of us would volunteer for, but all of us need to be able to do. If you want to be truly successful in business, you will undoubtedly face times of hardship that you need to work through. There will be seasons, in business...
What can I do to get my team to perform consistently well? In the never-ending search for improvement and excellence in your workplace, you will come across various programs aimed at making your organization faster, better, and stronger. This only means you’re going...
We all know we are experiencing a crazy time in the world right now. Lately, I’ve been speaking to lots of owner-operators who are literally in a panic. Some have needed to put off staff, some are in a financial breakdown. Some are even questioning whether they can...
As the leader of the workplace, you need to set expectations and hold your team members accountable for results. It is truly hard work requiring focus and clarity. It’s not so comfortable with difficult people, but accountability is an essential leadership skill. The...
A lot of businesses are working from home right now, and if this transition is not managed well, it can create problems with leadership and connectedness. It’s really important that we care for our staff, even when they are not working in-house. As leaders, we must...
I caught up recently with a business owner friend who is doing well for herself. Running a service-based business from home suits her lifestyle perfectly. From here she can manage her business and her family with ease. She loves being able to fit her clients in around...
It is really important to study ourselves, particularly as business leaders, and remember that uncertainty is actually a normal, natural part of the world. We can always expect the unexpected will happen, in fact, it’s the only thing that we can guarantee will happen....
We are all looking for ways to make more with less. Generate more money with less expenditure. Get more work done without adding staff. Make more out of our time because we certainly can’t create any more of that. Here are some super easy processes you can set up in...
Lately, there has been so much upheaval, so it’s little wonder that business owners and staff alike are feeling really unsettled. Certainty always makes us feel comfortable, safe, and secure, but these are tumultuous times and there are so many things that are...
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in business and life, it’s that nothing ever stays the same. The only certain thing you can rely on is that even in the best of times, change is just around the corner. Sometimes the change comes out of the blue, but in all things,...
Business is an exciting playing field for the entrepreneur who wants to build a business that’s bigger than themselves. Yet when trying to delegate effectively there are some little games that it’s very easy to get trapped in playing. Here are five business games that...
You will always hear me singing the praises of the business owner that manages their business by delegating the right tasks. Effectively delegating means you clear the work off your desk, clear your headspace, create time, and grant the opportunity for growth. In her...
It was reported in a 2019 study that 83 per cent of business owners have experienced real stress in the past six months, with almost half (49 per cent), saying they have been more stressed than normal, and 17 per cent admitting they are ‘highly stressed’. One survey...
One of the most challenging things that business leaders need to learn is how to let go of workload. If you’re building a business that’s bigger than yourself, it’s absolutely vital that you get proficient and comfortable with letting go of jobs. This can be quite...
Sometimes I run into people who are cautious about developing their systems and processes to streamline their business operations because they have this idea that it will create a stifling environment, and they want to continue enjoying a flexible and creative...
Often business owners can have a mindset that investing in finding a better way of doing things is simply an expense. They don’t realise how much of a difference it can make to gain more efficient ways of doing things in the business. This can mean that chaos is...
Being a business owner can be a little overwhelming. Setting goals for your business is a great way to break down your work into more manageable pieces. Amazingly, those businesses that have set themselves goals are 10 times more likely to succeed. Unfortunately,...
Your short term memory can only hold up to five to seven items but typically people operate better, remembering only three or four things at any given time, your short term memory also has a limitation of about 20 seconds, which means that if you remember you need to...
There are a lot of urgent priorities that come with being self-employed or running a company. Managing and organising resources should be one of them. Bringing some order to your business files gives you increased clarity about what you have (and what you’re missing)...
Ever feel like you’re trying to empty the ocean with a thimble? Like there is always more to do than you can get done in a day? If you are a business owner, you probably know this feeling well. Running your own business often means wearing many hats all at the same...
It’s a simple concept. Take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your clients and customers. Losing staff incurs massive costs for small business owners. Retaining top talent should be a priority as it cuts spending, creates a tight-knit company culture,...
Experienced, knowledgeable employees are your company’s most valuable asset and something you can’t afford to lose. Given that reality, you should be looking at ways to reduce your staff turnover any way you can. Failure to prioritise employee retention is the...
Successful delegation in business is the elusive secret sauce of your lasting business success. If you were asked to reflect truthfully on your business leadership over this past week, how many times would you have to admit that you said something like this to...
As I look around I'm inspired and motivated by all of the other really great business artists, doing an amazing job of building up their teams and making a real difference in the world. Building a successful work team can be tough and challenging because it brings...
It’s interesting to compare the differences between managing the future and managing your people. On one hand, the future is largely predictable, and yet completely unknown. Experts can predict what the market will do in terms of shifting technology, changing consumer...
Customer service is the golden key to any successful business – if you don’t have it, act fast and make it a priority. It doesn’t matter whether you are a product or a service oriented company. It doesn’t matter if you are targeting consumers or businesses. If your...
Chasing perfection can become an addiction that’s unlikely to help your peace of mind or your business. It seems counterintuitive to stop reaching for perfection, especially since we’re often told it’s the only way to achieve success. All the extra time and effort to...
I wonder … from your experience, how have you been able to stand out from your competitors? “If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not, you're putting yourself out of business.” Lee Kuan Yew In a world where the competition regularly claims to...
There is a common trap that many small business owners find themselves stuck in: they feel like they need to do everything themselves. Their business is their baby, after all — so who could manage or understand it better? It’s tempting as a small business owner to...
As the leader of your growing company you are ultimately accountable for everything that happens in and through your business. From finances to branding, sales to site management, even to company culture, the buck stops with you. If you are serious about living up to...
The obsession that business owners have with sales often confounds me. Don’t get me wrong, I love a profitable sale as much as the next entrepreneur, and there are few things more euphoric than closing a big deal. But I sit on the operations side of the equation. I...
The ability to successfully scale a business is the holy grail of entrepreneurship. Research shows that startups who are willing to redesign the way their core business functions can enjoy massive benefits from scaling even in the early days. Techstart.com tells us...
Scaling your business through to exponential growth relies on streamlining your daily workplace operations. If you are ready to level up in your business, it’s time to step back to get a clear view of exactly what is happening in the current day-to-day. Your...
One of the most common things I hear business owners say about improving their processes and procedures is that they fear the resistance they think will come from their team if they make too many changes. It is not changing itself their teams will resist, but the...
Documenting your core Business Processes has endless benefits, but these are the six headliners: Streamline your workflow by creating procedures that mean you never forget a task, never miss a component of a task, and always minimise the time it takes to switch...
When we came to Kerry Anne about getting help with our systems management, we had a lot of great processes, but they were all inside our heads instead of written down. This made running and growing our team much more labour intensive than it needed to be. We would...
