BUSINESS BLOGS & INSIGHTS
The Benefits of Family Business
The term "Family business " usually refers to a small or mid-sized company that has a local focus and is plagued with a familiar set of dilemmas such as succession. In spite of that very...
Kanban Flow
If you find yourself overwhelmed with all of the stuff you need to do, here’s a great productivity tool I found on the web that can help you get organized easily. This tool is called the KanBan Flow...
Business Failure
The flipside of "success” is "failure” and it’s the latter that every business owner and manager strive hard to avoid. By definition, the term "business failure” refers to the cessation of a...
Grade Your Website
I recently stumbled across a great resource for getting a benchmark on your website. It a free service from Hubspot.com called "Marketing Grader" and you'll find it at...
Using your iPad for Presentations
Using Your iPad To Make Presentation As part of my role as a Coach, I tend to deliver a range of tailored training programs for my clients. This usually involves a laptop computer, a presenter...
How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Wonder when you’d get the best results with your marketing strategies? Wonder no more – with a new insight by Simon Sinek called The Golden Circle, you are sure to inspire your consumers and...
Tailoring your Marketing to your Consumers
I recently posted about an interesting ad campaign from Canada using Porsches in a wealthy suburb in Toronto. Let's expand on this concept of really understanding your target market and...
The Process of Hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA)
The process of searching for a VA for your business is fairly easy (it worked well for me!) and is similar to recruiting an assistant locally. The only difference is that 100% of the process is done...
Should you Hire a Virtual Assistant?
If your business requires you to be on the road most of the time and/or you find yourself needing assistance to get secretarial and administrative things done then a Virtual Assistant (VA) is what...
10 New Year’s Resolutions for Business Owners
In my latest blog, Planning for Success in 2012, I shared a simple process that can help you think about the importance of taking time to prepare and make a start for the New Year. If you’ve read...
Planning for Success in 2012
There’s no better way to start the year than by thinking about your plans for your business in 2012. With that said, I want to take you through a simple planning process that will help you make a...
ZMOT – How Can you Use This in your Business?
Marketing has always played an important role in the success of businesses. It is one of the essential processes and is the major driver of future sales and profitability. But what does marketing...
Are Meetings Dead?
Meetings are an important part of communication in most businesses but it is a poorly understood discipline. For many people, a meetings is that it is something that is boring, takes a lot of time...
How to Create iPhone Apps – No Programming Knowledge Required
The number of people that I talk with who have a great idea for an iPhone app is incredible. The challenge for most of us in how to make it happen. Too many of the online resources are superficial,...
Must Have Business Technology for the Mobile Exec
As a business coach working closely with business owners and managers in a wide variety of settings, I am frequently out of my office and "on the road". In the last few years, I have found some...
The Lost Art of Management
You know, I think that over the last few decades that “business” has lost the art of managing their people. (I say “business” because obviously there are some great managers out there – but, in...
What are the Barriers to Developing an iPhone App?
The Apple App Store is an amazing marketplace that has changed the way we interact with technology and how we purchase and deliver software solutions. It is a great business model. The strength of...
RSS – What is it? How Do I Use It?
RSS Feeds – What are they? How can I use them in my business? In this day and age, internet and mobile technology play a big role in everyday life. This is especially true for those of us who...
To Tweet or Not Tweet
To Tweet or Not to Tweet Social networking has indeed changed the world. Since its introduction, this modern phenomenon, which is also referred to as social media, has provided a new and faster way...
Getting Some Balance in your Life!
One of the key issues that impacts on most business owners and managers is the issue of Life Balance. This issue is relevant at all times in our lives and if the area has not been reviewed recently,...
The One Page Plan
The One Page Plan covers the key elements of a Business Improvement Plan by summarising the NOW, WHERE and HOW. In the NOW Summary, you need to pull out the key points of your current position,...
Why Plans Fail
There are several other reasons why business managers don’t plan: Traditional business plans are too complex Traditional business planning fails to address many of the current issues in our business...
Getting the Right People
Like so many other areas of good business management getting the right plan in place for management of your human resources can increase profits dramatically if implemented correctly. Getting the...
Reducing Waste in your Business
Waste in most organisations accounts for between 15% and 30% of the total operating cost of the business and is often higher than this in service industries. Therefore if your business has costs of...
Getting the Structure Right!
People: Some people want to change, others resist it. Its sometimes necessary to admit that some team members have become a liability. If such people form the major part of a team, the team is...
3 Stages of Improving your Business
The 3 Stages are illustrated in the diagram below. Stage 1: Structure Most people are aware the first stage in a business improvement process is to get the business structure right. The right...
The Neat Analysis
NEAT Analysis We have developed a simple methodology for looking at our marketing and business development options and have called it NEAT, which stands for: Number of Customers Efficiency % Average...
Marketing for Tough Times
What is Marketing? Marketing is a term used to define a whole range of functions within a business and is expressed in a whole range of contexts. So exactly what is marketing? If we pare back the...
Lifting Sales Performance
For many businesses, the period of strong growth that has preceded the downturn, meant that sales skills and management did not get the attention that they deserved. As the economy slows,...
What Makes a Great Leader?
The first list is from Warren Bennis, a professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California and the best selling author of "On Becoming a Leader" and many other books on...
Improve your Delegation Skills
How to build trust, initiative, responsibility and ownership Many people refuse to delegate to others because they feel it takes too much time and effort and they could do the job better themselves....
Who’s in Control of your Business?
What makes the difference between a successful business person and one who struggles to get by? Of course there is no single factor as there are many skills that a business owner must possess if...
Using Improved Communication Technologies
Are you working with clients, suppliers or staff at a distance? How can you improve the interactivity of your distance communications? Broadband speed internet access can revolutionise the way that...
Maximising your Change Potential
Most businesses know that they need to change the way they operate in order to achieve maximum profit and/or revenue growth, however most fail to actually do it. Most Business Managers know that...
Developing a 20-Year Life Plan
Introduction Developing a 20 year life plan is one of the most powerful actions you can take to focus your energies in your personal and business lives. The key to business success is developing a...
Managing your Cash Flow
What are the Cash Drivers in your Business? There 3 primary cash drivers in any business and 3 secondary drivers. The primary drivers are responsible for the overall amount of cash that you...
You’re Selling “WHAT”?
What is your strategy, again? Or You're selling "what"? One of the key problems with this current financial crisis is that much of the problem has been created because of flawed strategies. For...
Globalism Requires a New Paradigm
If nothing else, the current crisis has clearly underlined the global nature of our economy. We are now, more than ever, influenced by the actions and reactions of our international partners. The...
The Machine that Changed the World
What is Lean Production? The best way to describe this innovative production system is to contrast it with craft production and mass production. Craft production uses highly skilled workers and...
Panic Now & Avoid the Rush!
Panic now and avoid the rush! With a pending meltdown of the global financial system, a looming global recession, fuel and interest rate pressures and the day-to-day worries of managing a business -...