Thoughts on Building a Business

This is an oldie but a goodie. If you've been receiving my Newsletters for a while, you would have received this before. But I thought, given the previous article, it was worth repeating. Afterall, if you downloaded the previous article, you would have read that one of the keys to the Cashflow Quadrant was to surround yourself with a great team of people who will run your business for you.

But how do you get that great team?

There are 6 key requirements to developing a Champion Team. These are:

1. A Good Leader
2. Common Goals
3. Rules of the Game
4. Code of Honour
5. 100% Participation
6. Support for Risk Takers

To learn more about what each of these entail, simply download the info sheet on Building Champion Teams.

With our busy lives (particularly in running a Small Business), we quite often forget about key concepts or strategies that we know are important to our business. It just takes someone or something to remind us of it, to get us refocussed again.

This happened to me recently at a Networking Event when the Guest Speaker very quickly brushed over the Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki (Author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"). For those of you not familiar, the Cashflow Quadrant is:

This essentially shows you the normal stages of someone starting their business and growing it to its full potential. It is also a powerful concept when you think about what you want to acheive with your business.

Now this is something that I used continually as a Business Advisor to help explain the importance of growing your business beyond yourself. It shows how by doing this you can open up unlimited streams of income from your business as well as improve your overall lifestyle. On top of this, it also explains why growing a business beyond you is not easy and can lead to a lot of pain before you get there. But the journey is well worth it, because the destination can be so good.

If you would like to hear my take, simply download my Cashflow Quadrant info sheet.

Twitter is the latest thing in the Online Social Media Networking field. In the Neilson’s Media Service in October 2008, Twitter was the fastest growing Social Media Application and grew a staggering 343%. It was also heavily used by Barack Obama in his Election Campaign.

But what is Twitter?

Twitter is often known as "micro-blogging". In other words, it is like a BLOG, except the posts have to be under 140 characters. This means that you can't be long winded (like some of my Posts can be). It was originally set up for Gen-Y so that they could keep each other informed of what they were up to throughout the day. Now why you would want to do that is beyond me, but then I'm only just starting to try and use SMS more.

So what does that have to do with Business?

As I mentioned earlier, Twitter was used extensively by Barack Obama in the recent US elections. In fact, at this point in time, he has 279 521 people following his Twitter Posts. Now Barack wasn't using this to let his mates know what he was up to throughout the day. He was using this to keep prospective voters informed of where he was and what he was working on.

This is how you use Twitter in your business. You build yourself a list of Followers (think database) and then keep them informed of what's happening in your business. You might let them know when you have a particular special or workshop date. Or maybe you use it purely to help build loyalty by providing them with useful information and links to useful information.

The key thing here is that this is relatively new (it's been going for 2 years). Now is the time to get on board and start working on building that following. That way, as it grows (and all indications are that it will), you will be in at the beginning. Some of the improvements that I see coming our way, will be the ability for your followers to get your posts on their Mobile Phones. So forget about signing up for that SMS package that allows you to SMS your database.

The best bit is it's FREE!

If you would like to view a good video on how to set up Twitter and start building a following, go to http://www.becomeablogger.com/blog/x-factor-twitter/.

So get twittering by tweeting to your tweople! (Sad I know).

I recently joined Facebook, purely as a Business Marketing exercise. With Social Media becoming such an important part of an Internet Marketing Strategy, I thought I should start to seriously look into it. Afterall, I can't sell Online Business Websites and promote the use of the Internet to grow your business, if I'm not doing it myself.

From what I can see, Facebook is no different then going to Networking Breakfasts, except it's easier, cheaper and better for your Waistline. Basically once you have signed up, you can then join the various Networking Groups that are already set up. These have titles such as "The Brisbane Small Business Group" or "Brisbane Networking Group". Or perhaps you might like to join an International Group.

Once you have joined a Group, you can then post messages to that group, but more importantly, you can approach other members to see if they would like to become a friend. Now I know many of you will cringe at the whole "become a friend" thing, but in business terms, it basically means that they are willing to go onto your Database so that you can communicate direct with them. Better yet, many of the members of the group will contact you to see if you want to become a "their friend". Whenever this happens, it's reciprocal. So you start building your database of contacts.

Now the rules of Networking on Facebook is the same as Networking face to face. That is, you don't go in there and start flogging your Products and Services. You go into there to build relationships. Once you have developed that relationship, you can then start promoting your products.

Now if you are like me and much prefer to meet face to face with someone, then this is possible too. Many of these groups will organise get togethers, so that the Members can meet.

If you want to be really pro-active, why not start your own group. This can be based around anything, as long as there are other Facebook users with a similar interest.

Lastly, the other advantage of joining Facebook is a personal one. This is something that I never contemplated when I joined. Since joining 2 months ago, I have been contacted by at least four people that I haven't heard from for over 20 years. Simply by putting my education info on my profile, I am getting contacted by my old class mates. Some of these were great friends that I just lost touch with after School (the problem with growing up in a small town and moving away).

So why not take a punt and join up. At the very least, you might connect with someone from your past that you'd forgotten all about.

The start of the year is a great time to take some time out to review your business and set some goals for the year ahead. Even though my business operates on the Financial Year, I find that the first week of January is a great time to do my Budget and Cashflow Forecasts for the year ahead. The trouble with trying to do this at the start of the Financial Year is that we are normally flat out. For this reason, I simply use this time to review and correct what I put in place in January.

So how do I do this?

Firstly, I take some time to revisit my overall Business Vision. This helps me get re-inspired and reminds me why I got into business in the first place. In some years, I may even rejig it a bit, depending on where I am at.

Secondly, now that I am inspired, I start to set some overall goals for the year. These might be Sales, Profit, Staff Numbers, Markets, Products or maybe even how many hours I want to be working. Just remember to make these goals, Smart Goals.

If you want to know more about Vision, Mission and SMART Goals, download here.

Thirdly, I now fill out my Budget/Cashflow Forecast spreadsheet to set clear monthly Financial Targets that I can then measure on a monthly basis. It also helps me make sure that my Goals are realistic.

Lastly, I compile my first 90 day plan for the year. This sets out the Actions I will be taking for the first quarter to ensure that I reach my Goals.

So what have you done to make sure that 2009 is a great year for you and your business?