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August 2023 News of the day - words of wisdom from a jeweler We heard from a jeweler who attended a conference I spoke at this spring. Well known in his industry, Diamond Jim Mills, owner of Pineforest Jewelry in Houston, was very gracious in sharing his years of experience and expertise. Over the next three months we are going to share Diamond Jim's pearls of wisdom. Jim's first pearl; Do not go into business for yourself unless you love what you do and are willing to give it your absolute ALL 24/7. Is what you do a "calling" or just a business or job? There is a difference in being an owner and an entrepreneur. The second pearl; If you make the decision to “go into business for yourself”, do not do it “because you just can’t work for the other guy.” Look inside yourself. You may be that other guy. I’ve heard this from many wannabe business owners who have failed…and from nearly every job applicant who never holds a job more than 6 months. Do you have the personality it takes to be an owner? We easily see the difference in a person who loves their business and their customers. And then we have seen the owner who thinks they can sit in an office and just manage the business from there. The third pearl from Jim is to take inventory of your own abilities. Determine whether you are truly capable, disciplined, focused, responsible, and dedicated enough to actually be cast in the role of the person in charge. You may want to engage the help of someone who can give you an impartial observation of you and your skills. Jim's fourth and final point for this month is to align yourself with winners and positive people. Shy away from losers and naysayers. Keep a positive attitude. I will add that you aren't going to find a positive attitude by watching, listening to, or reading the media. Invest your time in reading books that will help you and your business. Aren't these some amazing insights. Thank you Jim Mills for sharing. Next month, we are going to have four more of Jim's pearls of wisdom as a part of the monthly news. Article of the Month - What's in your wallet? Surely I am not the only one who finds a lesson for our businesses in most everything you see and do. The title of the article tells you where I got the idea. However, the content of the article deals with the spending of essential and discretionary income with the focus being your customer and their discretionary spending. Most all of us sell products and services that involve discretionary income. The key for our businesses, and the focus of the article, is your efforts to keep the customer attentive to what they spent that money on. Who is visiting Small Business Conversations this month? Jacob Curtis Once again we have found our guest by way of a fascinating article they wrote for a trade magazine. The subject of the article is assessing opportunities for your business. Is this really an opportunity for you and your business? Or, is it a trap that will cost you time and money? What peaked our interest is that the author approaches the idea from their well grounded perspective of being a Certified Public Accountant. Join us this month as Jacob Curtis, CPA shares ideas of how you can determine if a new opportunity has the potential of making more money for your business as compared to your "losing your shirt". Book of the month - Start with Why by Simon Sinek Surely all of us as small business owners and managers have learned the lesson that you are not going to better engage an employee by increasing their pay. Money only goes so far in engaging an employee. The title of the book offers a great solution - Start with Why. The author, Simon Sinek, will share his expertise in getting the results you are looking for. Internet Tool for Your Business - thoughts for improvement Starting many years ago, I started a tradition of ending each of the presentations I give with an expression of wisdom or encouragement. Some of the expressions came from signs that were in our business and were directed at our staff. As I have watched many people take pictures of these final slides, the decision was made to make them available to everyone by putting them on the Profits Plus website. Follow the link below and choose from 50 posters. When you print, you will have a 8 1/2 x 11 poster you can put in your business. The list of posters is at the bottom of the page that also contains the book referral list. Each month we highlight one of the 47 free tools on the Profits Plus website; we call them "calculators". While some provide analysis by numbers and ratios, some are assessments and others are self-examination questions. Many are downloadable while others, because of the complexity of the calculations going on behind the scene, are a part of the website and allow you to print your answers. None of them require you to give any personal information nor are there any "cookies" tracking you or your information. Internet Tool for Your Business Staff Incentive for Your Business Our business had a double incentive program. In addition to an employee receiving double, there is an additional bonus for you. The idea works because of the challenge we often face in hiring someone and then losing that same employee within a short time. That gets expensive for you, both in time and money. When you hire someone new, they are assigned a mentor who is chosen from among your existing employees. To be chosen as the mentor, you establish guidelines and baseline requirements of your existing employees. Having seniority in your business is not a consideration as you are selecting the mentor based on how long they have worked for you. Instead, the mentor is chosen because of the quality of their work, their engagement in your business, and their creativity. The mentor receives a reward (We suggest something like a four day paid vacation) when they get the new employee past a specific date of employment (perhaps three months) and the new employee has met certain recognizable measurements of their work. The mentor has received a recognition of being selected as a mentor as well as receiving the reward (four day vacation) when that new employee meets that level of measurement. We have heard people say the idea of a four day vacation is expensive. We say the four day vacation is not anywhere near as expensive as hiring someone and then losing that employee within a month or so. Then you have to start over with finding another employee. There is the reward for you and your business when you now have an employee who is working to retain employees and there is a baseline established for new employees. We have seen this work in multiple businesses; it can work for you! We want to recognize A Carrot A Day by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, whose book provides the basis for each month's incentive idea.
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MAY 2024
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With over 25 years of frontline experience Tom Shay is America's leading Small Business Management Expert. He's a "Must Have" for your next event.
Small Business
The May Small Business Advisory is titled "Planning for a successful accountant" and is appropriate for many with the April 15 tax deadline having passed.
Did you work with your accountant? Or, did you just give them a bunch of papers and wait to receive a completed tax return?
Successfully working with an accountant requires a partnership. This month's Small Business Advisory gives suggestions of how to make this happen in 2024.
Small Business
We see that many small business owners have too much of a focus on the "top line" of their income statement.
Increasing revenue is great, but it is not a cure all for any challenges your business is facing. And sometimes, incresing revenue can create a challenge.
Who is your customer? Some small businesses have no focus. Their customer is whoever calls or walks in the door.
And some small businesses have determined which customers, in sufficient numbers, they should spend their efforts to attract.
The article of the month shares an old Southern rhyming couplet about business; "The bertter you niche, the more you get rich."
Lean Startup by Eric Reis is our suggested book for May.
As the title suggests, the reader of the book would be someone that is starting their business. However, we see more value than just that.
Perhaps you have been in business for many years. We think this book could give insight to items, and methods, that a small business owner should think about with their business today.
