Navigating your business through 2024
“Know your numbers and seek help to maintain resilience.” That’s the call from Stacey Martin – Senior Partner, BNZ on 13/2/24 from the NZ Herald article “Navigating Your Business Through 2024” Stacey also asks business owners: “…have you got a good inventory management system? What…
Evaluating new business ideas
People who are self-employed generally like to stay that way. If they sell a business they quickly start another one, and successful owners seem to have a ‘knack’ for coming up with good ideas for new businesses. This ability is based largely on their experience…
Should i sell my business to a staff member?
Over the past few years, more business owners have started the planning process for exiting. Something that has become increasingly common is owners are wanting to offer the business to existing staff. What I have found is there are several difficult things to contemplate when…
Burning Goals
What is THE Burning Goal for your business? In business, as in life, it is very easy to get caught by the trivia of the world around you. As someone wiser than me has said, “in the absence of goals, we become strangely loyal to…
This Is Not My Responsibility
“This is not my responsibility” is unfortunately a sentence which is heard more than it ever should be in businesses. One of the common factors I find when working with underperforming teams or organisations is a lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities. As a…
A New (and Better?) Philosophy
Business consultants spend a lot of time talking to clients about staff issues – and all too often it’s because someone on the team hasn’t acted in a way that the boss would have done “back in my day”. It’s a tough one – often…
A Business Owner with too many hats
They call this a “Dashing Cavalier” hat: When you are at work as an SME Business owner, do you try and wear one of these? The Dashing Cavalier: The person who can do everything? What I am talking about here is that as a business…
Improving Productivity 3 – the Fifty-Minute Block Principle
How much of your day is taken up by responding? Don’t get me wrong clearing your inbox, responding to colleague questions, or texting friends about a catch-up is important, so is getting on with the work that your team and clients depend on you to…
Improving Productivity 2 – the Five-Sentence Principle
How easy is it to sit at your computer, banging out reports, drafting emails or surfing the internet, but come 6 o’clock you wonder what you’ve actually achieved? If you feel like you never have enough time in your workday, there are a few changes…
Improving Productivity – the Five-Minute Principle
How often have you wanted a few more hours in the day? I know I have and without a doubt it is the most common request from business owners. Owning a business is exhilarating but it can also be exhausting, especially if you’re having to…