Congratulations to those of you who wrote to me after my last article and requested the 100 Strategies to Increase Your Number of Prospects document. I am sure you will find it insightful.
To those who thought about writing but did not – Hello? Wake up? This is a symptom of you being too busy in your business to put your head up and take stock.
Let me ask you a few questions:
1. Why did you get into business in the first place?
2. Has it worked out the way you thought?
3. How many hours do you work each week?
4. How much would you have to pay a professional manager to do your job?
5. Do you pay yourself anything like that amount?
6. Given the time and effort you put into your business, is it returning you sufficient profits?
7. Would you like to gain better results over the last 12 months?
8. Are you open to new ideas on how to do that?
How’d you go?
Did you get some insights into where you are at?
Please finish this sentence …
“Remember to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of … ” (see bottom of article for the answer if you do not know)
This brings me to the matter of CONTROL.
Many small business owners struggle with an appropriate balance of control. Consequently they keep getting pulled back into the business because of one or more of the following factors:
i) they have not put systems in place and so they are the magic in the mix
ii) the staff have skills and/or competency gaps which have not been addressed. More often than not the business owner has not taken the time or invested the money to train their staff properly
iii) the business owner is a control freak and has trouble staying hands off and giving room for others to develop. Rather, the focus is on micro-management and this can be a good way to crush the enthusiasm and drive of good people and to ultimately lose them because they are not given room to develop.
Any of this sounding familiar?
If so, you need to seek help from an accredited Business Growth Specialist. (That’s us – we are accredited to use the RIBI Coaching Methodology powered by Profitune – a proprietary system developed to increase the profitability, productivity and asset value of small-to-medium sized businesses.)
C’mon don’t be shy. Hiding your head in the sand won’t fix the problems, in fact they may only get worse and take the business beyond the point of no return - and nobody wants to see the banks own yet another small business person’s home/farm/other assets as a result of a failed business.
Now, a couple of very interesting sites you may like to bookmark:
1. http://www.trendsresearch.com/
This is the site of world renowned trends forecaster Gerald Celente. The guy, while not infallible, (after all, he is not God) does have an amazing track record.
2. http://www.warc.com/
This is the site of the World Advertising Research Centre.
You will find all sorts of good stuff here that will inform and educate you on
what’s happening with all things advertising. For fun, let’s say you were interested in Youth Marketing. Do a search, you will be fascinated with the results!
Have a productive (as distinct from busy) week.
Until next time.
PS: the word missing from the … above is “insanity”. | 
