When I ran my multi-million company (which I sold) there was a lot to do and mostly I loved it.  There was one time where I stopped and thought what my purpose was and how can I get to the next stage in my business.  I then called a mentor of mine who said “Sit back in your chair and put your feet up on your desk then your hands behind your head and just think”.  He also asked me to do this once every week for an hour and then document my ideas. 

I tried this and came up with some great ideas on how to increase efficiency, productivity and most importantly billable time.  I then documented my plan and presented it to my staff along with some training in line with the objectives.  The results were outstanding and generated over $10,000 additional revenue in the first month. 

Now that you are reading this I want you to make a list of the top 5 business issues that you have.  Just jot them down on a bit of paper. 

The next step is to prioritise them in order of importance and we’ll just work on the top two for now. 

Now get two pieces of paper and write the issue at the top of the page.  Draw a line down the centre of the page and make two headings.  “Change Benefits” and “Change Threats” 

Now list down the benefits of making the change.  Do the same with the threats but also write down the consequences of not making the change in this column.  Be totally honest. 

If you really wanted to address the issues then you will have more benefits than threats. 

It’s now time to take action, so make an action plan on how and when (set a date) the plan will be implemented.  Communicate this with your staff members or customers and reap the rewards. 

I did this with the objective of working less and taking lots of holidays.  After implementing the plan and seeing the results I booked two trips away, each of them 3 weeks apart.  My business ran extremely well when I was away so my plan worked.  As it worked so well I was then able to take another six weeks leave over the year which once again gave me time to think so the cycle continued. 

Your feedback would be appreciated so please leave a comment.

Even successful businesses have a business coach. In fact, companies or individuals looking to improve will employ the services of a coach to make them accountable for things that need to be done, after all, who keeps you on track and holds you accountable? 

Do you need to take action?  Then you need a business coach. 

Business coaching can help you with; 

• Measuring success
• Helping you implement what you already know but are not sure on how to do it
• Getting new customers and keeping customers
• Gaining control of your financials
• Setting direction
• Defining your competitive edge
• Increasing profit
• Have a work life balance 

A lot of business coaches don’t hold you accountable for your actions.  Coaching with outcomes and action items to implement are imperative for your success. 

It is estimated that less than 50% of businesses seek outside assistance.  Having a business coach provides you with an outsider’s view of your business which often you cannot see yourself. 

Take a look at this video – If Google uses a business coach then should you?  This is a compelling reason to have a coach – just wait for the advert to finish – it’s worth watching.

http://money.cnn.com/video/fortune/2009/06/19/f_ba_schmidt_google.fortune/

Check out this article from Articlesbase 

http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/business-coaching-statistics-is-it-worthwhile-730433.html

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www.businesscoaching.com.au

Things you should consider doing right now if you don’t already have them in place. 

• A detailed business plan.  This can be as little as two (2) pages but clearly defines your business goals.
• A sales and marketing plan.  Again, this can be as little as two (2) pages but clearly defines how many sales you are aiming for both in units and dollars as well as the methods you will implement to get there.
• Breakeven model – This tells you how many units or dollars you need to sell to break even.
• The revenue model – The easiest way to increase profits is to increase revenue.  There are many effective, low risk, low cost methods you can implement to achieve this.
• The profit model – increasing revenue should lead to increasing profit.  This is not always the case so you have to get control of the numbers.  That is, budget for your gross profit margin, gross profit dollars as well as fixed and variable costs.  Gross profit can be improved using a number of tactics which include raising prices, selling more value add products/services, cutting waste and negotiating better supply costs.
• Have a cash flow model. In business cash is king.  Profitability and cash are not the same thing.  A lot of businesses run out of cash but with strategies in place this can be avoided.
• Create a financial dashboard where all the above are reported on one single page.  Updated weekly and controlled monthly will get your business where it needs to be.  This is a recipe for success.

All the above are important components in running your business and are easily implemented.  Once you have control of your numbers and have your staff committed then you can start to grow and make more profit.  After all, you are in business to make more profit. 

So how do you do this?  Well, you can work on this yourself or get help.  An accountant can help with most of this but you also need strategies that you accountant may struggle with or be reluctant to help you with.  This is why you need a business coach and mentor. 

Visit my web site for more information www.businesscoaching.com.au