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).

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?
 

I believe the obvious place to look at for spending your Marketing Dollars, is the Internet. But then I would, wouldn't I. Afterall, one of the Services we offer is Website Design. But hear me out.

When you look at all the Marketing Channels you can choose from, the Internet is easily the fastest growing. More and more people are now using the Internet to not only look, but to review, Products and Services they want. On top of that, in most cases it is also the cheapest form of advertising - particularly when you take into account it's reach. So why wouldn't you want to be part of that.

Up until about 2 years ago, I knew very little about the Internet. As a Business Advisor, I knew that it was a valid marketing strategy and told my clients that they should not neglect it. But over the last 2 years, I have learnt a great deal and am continually being surprised by the opportunities that can be found. But let's start with the basics.

A simple website is a great way to give additional information to a Prospect and to build credibility. The simplest way to view it is like an online brochure. The advantages though of the website over the brochure is that you never run out and in many cases, you can update it regularly to keep it current. So not only is your website more up to date, but it is cheaper in the long run then those Brochures.

From here, you can look at a more advanced website (latest technology). These take you beyond a simple online brochure website, to a website that allows you to interact with your visitors. This can be something as simple as a Newsletter Subscription Form, or something as involved as a Members Only Area. The advantages of these types of Websites, is that it becomes stickier. By this, we mean that potential customers will come back to your website more often. And research shows, that the more contact we have with a business, the more likely we will choose it over a competitor. Not only will they come back to your website, but you can also email them info.

Then we have the Online Shop. This enables you to sell products on the Internet. The main advantage here is that you can suddenly reach a lot bigger marketplace. If you where a traditional store, you would only be pulling customers from your surrounding area (how far out you go depends on the uniqueness of your product or service). With an Online Shop, you could potentially sell to the world. Better yet, you can automate most processes, so that not only can you sell every hour of every day, but you can minimise the number of staff that you need.

Lastly, you can start looking at the host of other opportunities on the Internet. Examples of this would be: Affiliate Programs, Social Media and Online Communities to name a few. However, these are areas for us to discuss at another time.