Avoid Personal Flat Battery Syndrome

Small business owners are notorious for burning the candle at both ends as they struggle to meet all of the demands placed upon them as they build and develop their businesses. Eventually, the constant demands on one’s time, the lack of sufficient rest and respite, and the constant pressures of making the weekly payroll, can take their toll and the business owner may find themselves ending up with a very flat battery.

The temptation to simply soldier on and hope for the best, regardless of the price paid personally, is generally overwhelming for most small business owners who find themselves in this difficult situation. Unfortunately, for most who reach this point, it is hard for them to see that they are fighting against themselves in a battle they can’t, realistically, ever expect to win.

The Problem

The problem for a business owner of soldiering on without the necessary battery power to provide forward momentum, is that they will find that at very best their business slowly grinds to a standstill, and at worst, they will find themself operating a business that is actually sliding downhill fast.

Prevention is Easier than the Cure

As with most ailments that develop over time, prevention is usually far easier than the cure. As a business owner, it is most advisable that you ensure that the energy level in your personal battery never dips below the level where it can fire you up each morning, full of energy and enthusiasm for the challenges of the coming day.

So what can a business owner do to avoid their energy levels dropping to the point where their battery is absolutely flat?

Firstly, understand and accept the following;

• The human body was not created to function 24/7 and perform effectively under constant stress, and the body itself requires adequate rest, exercise, and appropriate fuel to operate at its optimum level.
• The human brain needs strong blood flow to deliver the oxygen it needs, and deep breathing whilst not stressed out, is a good way to deliver the oxygen needed to enhance the brains ability to reason, exercise sound judgement, and make effective decisions.
• If you don’t give your body and your brain what they need on a regular and consistent basis, they will both adjust to lower levels of performance, making it much harder for them to be encouraged back to peak performance in the future. The longer this situation is allowed to continue, the harder and longer the recovery period will be, and the less likely a return to full peak performance, will be achieved.

Secondly, consider the following business truisms, and take appropriate action;

• Doing everything that you can possible do yourself, rather than delegating or outsourcing non critical activities, is never going to make the best use of your time, skills or energy.
• No business plan ever properly formulated, had a key objective of killing or destroying the mental or physical health, of the business owner.
•  Working on the business itself is as important, if not more important in most cases, than working in the business.
• No business owner ever got wealthy or lived to a ripe age through flogging a dead horse.
• Without sound foundations, good support mechanisms, consistent and regular cash flows, competent and committed staff, sound business policies, procedures and practices, and good leadership, the chances of long term business success are minimal.

Thirdly, a separate focus on a range of activities outside the business itself is necessary to provide;

• A sense of balance and a mental break from constantly focussing on the business.
• Alternative experiences to encourage development of different perspectives of problems and issues, new perspectives which can be applied back in the business.
• Self development both personally and professionally in an environment more conducive of delivering the required learning outcomes.
• Activities which involve socialising with family and friends and letting them know that their support helps both sustain you in your business, and provides the reasons to continue.

Finally, make time just for yourself to;

• Regularly sit quietly alone and uninterrupted and reflect on your own contributions to your business and the effectiveness of those contributions, and note any adjustments you can make to reduce the personal impost, that the business places upon you as the owner.
• Reward yourself with a bit of regular personal pleasure, be that a massage, a long walk, a hard run, a quiet drink in your favourite bar, an afternoon nap, a bit fishing or gardening, or any other activity that is for your pleasure alone.
• Contemplate what life after your business life will look like (assuming the business doesn’t kill you first).

Self Protection

There you have it, four areas in which you can take appropriate action to ensure that your personal battery never goes flat and causes your business to grind to a standstill, or rapidly go downhill.

Ask Yourself

Are you finding that you are rapidly approaching the stage when you might end up with a flat battery?

Are you aware of the needs of your body and brain for adequate rest, exercise and fuel?

What are you going to do to ensure that your battery never goes flat?

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If your business is based in Melbourne Australia, and you need assistance to develop and grow it in order to provide you with a certain level of future prosperity, check out our website http://www.rhodan.com.au and, if you think we can help you, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Gain Business through Promoting your Expertise

One of the toughest tasks for a SME business owner is generating new business. This may be necessary to either replace lost business, or to grow the business itself on the back of consistently increasing the volume of new business, whilst simultaneously minimising the loss of current business.

A common reason why many business owners find the going tough when it comes to new business acquisition, is because they are doing the all of chasing to find the new business, rather than new business seeking them out, to provide the products or services, required to satisfy their needs.

We all know that the cost of acquiring new business via promotions, advertising, direct selling or indirect sales activity can be quite high. We also know that often the budgets available to SME business owners, are not as extensive as usually required, to fund the costs of acquiring a constant flow of new business from such activities.

An alternative way of acquiring new business, is to get the new business to come to you as a consequence of the recognition of your expertise, and the reputation you have established in providing that expertise, to the market.

Unfortunately, as good as your expertise and reputation may be, unless the wider market that you wish to serve, is made aware of how good your expertise is, and you then continually reinforce this message at every opportunity, you will forever be chasing new business to maintain momentum in your business enterprise.

There are many cost effective ways to raise your market’s awareness of your particular expertise in producing something for sale or providing a particular service. The important thing is to develop a specific strategy for increasing your profile in your designated market, and then work this strategy until you see your expertise acknowledged via the avenue of business coming directly to you, without you having to be the hunter all of the time.

Steps you can take to promote your expertise in a cost effective way include;

• Write and publish articles, that demonstrate your expertise, at your own blog site or submit articles to other blogs which cater to your target market,
• Write and submit articles relevant to your industry to your local paper, relevant industry publications, regular newsletters that circulate in your business community, and as many relevant online forums that seek such content,
• Volunteer to provide some of your expertise to local community groups or major charities,
• Volunteer to be a speaker on subjects within your area of expertise at as many local business and local networking groups as you can find,
• Register your business and detail the expertise you offer on as many of the free online business registers that will help people find you in your customer/client catchment area,
• Get well structured testimonials that highlight the key elements of your expertise as well as the quality of your products/services and make these as prominent as possible on your website,
• Ensure that your e-mail signature block highlights your expertise as well as your contact details, and where possible includes a link to the testimonials on your website, and
• Where you have a telephone system that has the capability of putting callers on hold utilise a message on hold system to ensure they are listening to a message about your expertise whilst they are on hold.

The more ways that you can find to promote your expertise in a cost effective way, the more business you will see by way of direct engagement, and the less hunting you will need to do, to ensure that your business consistently generates new customers/clients.

Are you doing as much as you should be doing to promote your expertise?

What is it currently costing you to acquire a new customer/client?

How much more profitable would your business be if you could reduce this cost yet continue to acquire new customers at a satisfactory rate to continue to grow your business?

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If your business is based in Melbourne Australia, and you need assistance to develop and grow it in order to provide you with a certain level of future prosperity, check out our website http://www.rhodan.com.au and, if you think we can help you, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Posted via web from Unique Insights

The Lone Ranger had support; do YOU have enough?

We all know that life as a Business Owner can be tough going. This recognised reality actually works in your favour, as it lessens the competition you face in the market, for your product or service. It also provides you with the opportunity to do well financially, if you are able to surmount the hurdles that you will inevitably face, as you develop and grow your own business.

One of the critical elements, that will determine whether or not you will be successful as a business owner, is the degree of support you can engender from others as you travel along the path to eventual success.

This external support is absolutely necessary to keep you buoyant and focussed on your objectives, despite the difficulties you will encounter on a daily basis. The various types of support you will need from others include;

a) Someone to act as a sounding board for you to bounce ideas off and to assist you to evaluate the validity of your ideas before you act on them impetuously, or erroneously,

b) Someone to help you with brainstorming ideas for problem resolution, promoting and marketing your business, development of new products or services, and effectively managing your available resources,

c) Someone who will provide you with continual encouragement to continue to persevere with facing the daily challenges that need to be met to make your business a success,

d) Someone in the same boat as yourself as a business owner to share information, share leads, share celebrations of the small wins you make each week, share the emotional ups and downs that only a fellow business owner will understand, and share the pain when everything doesn’t go as well as planned.

e) Someone who can introduce you into appropriate networks that you need to be part of to gain the required level of exposure in your market, in order to be highly visible to your customers or clients,

f) Someone who is willing to allow you access to their similar business so that you can benchmark your operations against theirs to determine areas for improvement in your own, and

g) Someone who can act as your businesses financial guardian angel to point you in the right direction and to ensure that you don’t make any terminal mistakes in the management of the cash flow of your business.

It is likely that you will need support from a number of different people to ensure you have the support that you require.

If you are very lucky, you will find two or three people, who between them, can give you the level of support you need to get your business to the stage where it can then afford to engage professional firms or individual professionals, to provide the support systems that every successful business needs, to enable it to continue to thrive and prosper.

So where do you find the people you need to provide the support to you that can make your difficult role a little easier and provide a greater chance for you to become a successful business owner?

The following list highlights great places to look for the people you can turn to for the necessary levels of support for yourself, as you grow your business;

a) Members of your immediate and extended family,

b) Members of clubs, associations and groups that you belong to or have had previous associations with,

c) Programs for business owners established by your Local Council, State Government Instrumentalities and National Government Departments,

d) Networking Groups specifically set up to support SME business owners,

e) Informal networks of non-competing local business owners in your immediate vicinity, and

f) Social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter that have a business focus.

To garnish the support you need you must be passionate about your business and the outcomes you are trying to achieve, and use the right approach when sounding others out for the level of support you require.

You will usually find that if you approach the right people in the right way, even if you have not had a really strong previous relationship with them, most will, within the bounds of reasonableness, go out of the way to help others, especially if there is any form of reciprocity involved.

Are you acting a little like a modern day Robinson Crusoe?

Do you understand the benefits that the types of support outlined above can deliver to your business?

Will you now develop a plan to ensure you get the level of support you deserve and need?

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Posted via web from Unique Insights