Restructuring by Rachid Sefrioui

How to Increase Your Business Profits

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 11:30:00 +0000

Many business executives feel that today’s economic environment is not conducive to increasing business profits. Of course that would be the organizations not doing so well, but there are in fact many organizations that indeed are making good profits today. Those that are making good profits are probably using a strategic cost management System.

To better understand how you can increase your profits an organization’s executives need to understand only one thing, “Costs are the most controllable part of the profit equation.” This of course sounds too simple but it is often overlooked. To take it a step further you have to dig a little deeper to truly understand what your ‘direct and indirect costs’ are so you can control them and increase your business profits.

Slash and Burn Equals Profits

Slash and burn might have been the way to maintain profits in the old days, but today’s economics and accounting have matured and offer much more effective ways to maintain your organizations economic profitability. Cost management used to be about locating where an organization’s most expensive costs were and trimming that function back. In fact it was the ‘old ways’ that helped bring about the economic shortfall we have seen in recent years. The smart way to increase business profits and manage costs is with Strategic Cost Management.

Strategic Cost Management Equals Profits

What in the world is Strategic Cost Management? It’s the process of integrating and aligning cost management within the organization’s strategic plan in order to ensure that cost management is part of a company’s operating procedures. A strategic cost management plan should be developed so that it will mirror the company’s life cycle as defined by the company’s services/products, markets, human resources and technologies. It’s a cost management plan that ensures your organization can maintain and sustain its economic profitability in any kind of market or economy.

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Turnaround Strategies for Troubled Businesses

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 11:26:00 +0000

Troubled businesses often look doomed to either fail or get bought up by successful competitors, but turnaround strategies can help a business return to a more profitable and stable position. Implementing business turnaround strategies requires making a number of painful decisions, but you need to remain focused on the fact that the decisions represent a path to rebuilding a viable business.The following are a few frequently utilized methods of a business turnaround.

Downsize

Troubled businesses often keep employees on the payroll that the business does not actually need or that no longer serve a function. Cutting down on the number of employees you must pay every two weeks can create a major cost savings. You can also consider pay cuts or reduced hours for all employees as an alternative to straight layoffs. No matter what strategy you choose, you will meet with resistance and, likely, anger from employees. Provide employees a straightforward explanation of the financial situation and that the business must cut back on staff and wages or close its doors.

Drop Deadbeat Customers

Many businesses must cope with customers that place big orders, but ignore invoices. Make it a priority to collect on any outstanding invoices from these customers to help shore up the business’s finances. Once you collect on these past due accounts, advise the customers that they need to find a new service or inventory provider. Dropping deadbeat customers lets you devote precious resources to paying customers and new customer acquisition.

Drop Non-Critical Projects

Even small businesses tend to accumulate ongoing projects that suck up employee time and capital. Conduct a review of all ongoing projects and drop any projects that are not business-critical. Dropping projects lets you devote that money and employee time to operations or critical projects.

Cut Expenses

How to turn around a small business that is failing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 11:24:00 +0000

Starting a small business can be an exciting thing. Unlimited money making potential and the ability to be your own boss and set your own hours drives many people to start small businesses every day.

However, many people don't realize the amount of knowledge and work it takes to start a small business, or they fail to properly research their market before they start the business. As a result, almost half of all small businesses fail within the first few years

If you feel like your business is failing, don't lose hope. There are a number of things you can do to bring it back. The following are a few suggestions for helping to turn around a small business that is failing.

Reevaluate your products or services.

The first thing you will want to do is take inventory of your produces and services. From there, determine which ones are the most profitable and which ones are costing more money to produce than you are making from sales.

In doing this, you may find that your most profitable services or products have nothing to do with your core business idea, or they are not your flagship product. For example, let's say you have a skincare business that sells mainly lotions and creams, which you market the most. But you also sell a few hair care items as well and you find that your hair care products are outselling your skincare products by a long shot. In a case such as this, you would be better off marketing and producing more hair care products and eliminating some skincare items.

Consider market research.

One thing you may want to do is conduct some market research. Market research collects and analyzes various information about your target market, potential customers, and your competition, among other things.

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Five steps to achieving a business turnaround

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 11:15:00 +0000

Why do businesses fail? Excess leverage, management shortcomings, technology changes, loss of market share, an ineffective board of directors and overall economic conditions are some of the leading causes of business failure today.

A lost contract coupled with product distribution problems may initiate a downturn. For business owners, it may seem easy to overlook difficulties at first. However, if an organization does not immediately address looming problems, it will hemorrhage key employees, cash and customers. Revenue sources will dry up, and the once rosy future becomes dim. An overall sense of fear, panic and despondency sets in.

Smart business owners seek ways to maximize the profitable good times as well as strategic guidance and expertise to curtail and remedy potentially lean periods. Surprisingly, though, many owners do not ever expect their organizations to perform below average or worse. They do not plan for fallow periods or even periods of distress. Like an ostrich, management may bury its head in the sand, not wanting to know the extent of the difficulties. The wake-up call usually comes when a company hits a cash crisis and owners are required to call on its bank or investors, and panic is set into motion.

Management’s initial reaction to crisis often gives an indication of the longevity of their organization. Those leaders who seek council early tend to prosper in the future. Further, these owners realize the importance of keeping clear and open channels of communication with all stakeholders by providing key information on a timely basis.

Alternatively, some companies see, but ignore, the warning signs. These firms often decline, and then fail without implementing decisive recovery measures.

What many organizations do not realize is how quickly the business lifecycle can shift. Company owners may be too close to the situation to see what’s really going on in their business, or so exasperated that they’re ready to give up.

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Why do you need a consultant for your business?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 May 2014 07:31:00 +0000

While business people typically have a broad range of skills, with perhaps some specialties; changes within the business, in the broader economic climate, or other unforeseen circumstances, can create a need that can't be met with the existing skills within the business. When that occurs, employing a specialist consultant can provide the skills necessary to deal with the situation as well as an objective viewpoint that can help to effectively focus the team.

What could a consultant do for you?

There are nine main things:

1.Provide information

2.Solve problems / issues / challenges

3.Realise latent opportunities

4.Diagnose, and redefine problems / issues / challenges & opportunities

5.Recommend

6.Implement

7.Build consensus and commitment around corrective action

8.Facilitate client learning

9.Permanently improve organisational effectiveness.

And the last three, are the mark of the ‘better’ and more effective consultant.

Why does an organisation engage a consultant?

These are the 12 most common needs for consulting help:

01.Temporary assistance

02.Objective review

03.Third-party request for problem / opportunity identification & resolution / realisation

04.Surviving a crisis

05.Initiating change

06.Obtaining funding

07.Selecting key personnel

08.In-house education

09.Conflict resolution

10.Executive assistance

11.Government regulatory assistance

12.Socio-economic and political change.

And of these each needs, can be broken down into six parts:

We must have specific skills
We require knowledge
We demand experience
We will set a timeframe
It’s necessary for the consultant to have frequently addressed our needs
Objectivity is a necessity.

What’s the role of the consultant?

Having defined a need for consulting help, we then consider the consultant’s role in addressing these needs, and there are five:

1.Coach

2.Expert

3.Facilitator

4.Mentor

5.Trainer.

In practice, the consultant’s project role is typically a combination of #2 (the Expert in the room) plus one of the others.

What type of consultant might we want?

Why Does a Company Undergo Corporate Restructuring?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 May 2014 06:06:00 +0000

Corporate restructuring is the concept of reorganizing a company's internal structure for the sake of some purpose, such as greater profit or greater organizational control and efficiency. The internal structure which is modified in corporate restructuring could include the structure of the company in terms of ownership, as the actual ownership of the company might shift between different individuals to greater or lesser extents, or it could include the legal nature of the company.

For example, corporate restructuring might actually cover the shift from a partnership to a corporation, or vice versa. Corporate restructuring might also cover the shift from a partnership to a limited liability partnership.

Corporate restructuring, as mentioned above, might be performed by a company at any given time for the sake of a particular goal, but it might also be necessitated by other factors, such as a merger or demerger, or a buyout. Bankruptcy is also a common source of the need for corporate restructuring, as a company will likely have to perform corporate restructuring in order to make sure that it can best pay off its debts.

Corporate restructuring might sometimes involve modification of corporate identity, but not always. Corporate identity is the term most commonly assigned to a company's branding and logo and similar elements of a company.

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Growing Your Business? Evaluate The Risks First

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 May 2014 06:04:00 +0000

Sometimes business growth happens naturally. Other times, you have to take a big risk to make it happen. But how do you know if your risk will pay off?

We took a risk recently—after working from home for 10 years, my husband and I just opened a brick-and-mortar shop in an office building. I know—most book stores are closing their doors instead of opening new locations. But we decided to buck the trend, and are very happy that we did.

Before taking this risk, we evaluated why we wanted to grow, how it would affect our current situation, and how it relates to our long term vision for our business. There’s no foolproof way to know, but here are some things to consider when analyzing the risks of growth:

1) Potential to Meet New Customers

Will you have the opportunity to tap into a new or expanding market that you are not currently reaching? Taking on more overhead is always risky, but your revenue will increase if you can grow your customer base. You have to spend more to make more, right? But taking on too much too soon can also be disastrous. Assess your current overhead and how easily you can cover it. How much do you think you could increase your expenses if the new customers never materialize? This will be the hardest thing to predict, so a contingency plan could save you if what happens is your worst-case scenario.

2) Experimenting

It’s often less risky to “spread the risk out” over several different operations rather than one big (expensive) one. You can experiment with different types of growth– offering new products, expanding into a new market (see above), networking with other businesses, traveling to meet new customers, or hiring new employees. It’s not all about revenue– these are ways that your company can grow in size, power, and stability.

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How to turn around a failing company

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 May 2014 05:53:00 +0000

Four businesses which have streered their way through troubled times share their turnaround tips.

FIND YOUR PLACE ON THE MAP

Many small businesses that fall on hard times can’t work their way out of the mire simply because they’re not sure how they fell into it in the first place.

That’s the view of William Kendall, who sold Green & Black’s to Cadbury. The organic chocolate maker, and the New Covent Garden Soup Co, which he ran for nine years, both “look like growth stories”, he says, but were, in fact, turnarounds.

“In both cases, we needed to dramatically change how we were operating. The classic is the business that has done the sustainable stage and lost its way.”

The soup business “almost went bust” because it achieved ambitious sales goals the wider company wasn’t prepared for, he recalls. “Running a company is like map reading. The business is lost if it doesn’t know where it’s going, but, equally, where it is.”

Kendall, who now invests in start-ups through his Nemadi fund, says struggling small companies often have a theoretical margin they should be achieving, and can’t work out which everyday factors are to blame when they’re nowhere near it and performance starts slipping.

Most entrepreneurs are “enthusiasts”, he says, who need assistance from someone with an eye for prosaic detail, particularly when in a turnaround situation.

“I can do the enthusiasm bit. Anyone coming in saying, 'I’m fixing this’ will get goodwill from suppliers, staff and the bank, but you need a cynical navigator keeping score, someone to tell me that idea I had last week isn’t working.”

In other words, “pilots need navigators”. For entrepreneurs, that often means a decent financial controller. “It’s someone who doesn’t give you the theoretical margin from three-month-old financial accounts, but the daily reality. The two are often miles apart.”

BE RUTHLESS, BUT HONEST

The crucial ingredient in successful business turnaround

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 May 2014 11:24:00 +0000

All business turnaround situations are different, however, there are one element that always have to be on top of the agenda: Employee buy-in.

Any manager who has struggled through a turnaround knows how crucial employee buy-in is – they also know how time-consuming and difficult it can be to secure. Management need to be able to tell a compelling change story that motivate employees.

Here are three ways to gain buy-in from your people during a turnaround:

Create a dialog

Too many managers assume that communications is a staff function, something for human resources or public relations to take care of. In fact, communications must be a priority for every manager at every level of the company.

By organizing discussions throughout the organization, spreads the company‘s vision and competitive situation so that individuals and teams can accurately align their own activities with the company‘s new overall direction. Storytelling can be a powerful tool.

Consequently, organizing early conversations between different parts of the company and making those conversations an important, sanctioned part of the change process is a critical task. Early, open-ended conversations often result in the most productive outcomes.

Managers at all levels must learn to see things differently. They must put themselves in their employees’ shoes to understand how change looks from that perspective. People aren’t going to consider anything until they are convinced there is a problem that truly needs to be addressed.

Create targets

Break down the main targets into sub-targets and communicate these. People need to see who the can contribute to the overall targets. By sharing numbers with employees, you can increase employees’ sense of ownership. But you need to make sure your employees are trained to understand financial statements and have enough insight into their own jobs to know how to affect the numbers.

Create wins

What Are the Pros and Cons of Change in a Business?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 May 2014 11:21:00 +0000

Change is unavoidable in modern businesses. Change within organizations and markets can be driven by a number of factors, such as technological innovation, a changing legal environment, or evolving consumer tastes. Small business owners must be aware of the pros and cons of change in business in order to maximize the effectiveness of their change management skills.

Productivity

The effect of change on a company's productivity is like a double-edged sword. On one hand, changes can bring about drastic improvements in employee productivity. Installing a new point-of-sale (POS) order entry terminal in a retail chain, for example, could help to reduce the time customers spend in line while cutting back on costly employee errors. On the other hand, serious work flow slowdowns or stoppages can occur if any problems arise during the implementation of a change. Employee productivity is likely to plummet for a time as employees involved in the change become accustomed to the ways in which their jobs are affected. While the new POS system in the earlier example may be designed to reduce line-time, lines are likely to be longer for a few weeks as employees familiarize themselves with the new technology.

Workforce Attitudes

According to topbits.com, it is important to garner buy-in from managers and front line employees in order to maximize the effectiveness of the change and the change process itself. Unfortunately this is not always easy to achieve. While some people in your organization are likely to welcome the change, most times there are at least a handful of key employees who will resist it. In this way, change can increase the productivity and satisfaction of some employees, while reducing the productivity and satisfaction of others. Change resistors can spread doubt and fear among other employees.

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Business Turnaround Plan: How To Turn A Failing Business Into A Success

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 May 2014 10:28:00 +0000

Is business in a bad way?

Is there a need for a business renewal, restructure, or perhaps some re-energising?

Although at times it may seem impossible, turning business around can be done. It just needs a commitment to first assessing why the business is failing and then taking the right steps to correct these issues. Below is a suggested list of why business may be failing along with a simple planning method to help turn things around.

Why Businesses Fail

There are many reasons why businesses fail and sometimes these reasons may not be clear. While the failure rate can vary by industry there does tend to be some common reasons for failure that consistently appear. These are listed below:

Poor cash-flow management skills, or lack of understanding of cash-flow

Beginning a business with too little money

Not doing sufficient research on the business before commencement, or lack of a well-developed business plan

Not setting pricing correctly

Being too optimistic about achievable sales

Not seeing the importance of promoting and marketing the business adequately

Not being able to delegate appropriately – a good leader knows how to delegate!

Hiring friends and/or relatives with no specific knowledge or skills

Ignoring or not understanding the competition

Too much reliance and focus on one client or customer

Although there may be others, the above list contains most of the common reasons why businesses fail. If business is struggling, then careful consideration of this list will provide some valuable insight into why this is happening. With an understanding of why the business is underperforming, the next step is to devise a business turnaround plan.

The Business Turnaround Plan

The overall goal of the turnaround plan is to return an under-performing or distressed company to normal, in the form of satisfactory stages of solvency, cost-effectiveness, liquidity and cash-flow.

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It's Time to Embrace Your Brand

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 05:40:00 +0000

As we near the end of 2013, many companies will do what they did 12 months earlier: reflect on their brand with resolves to update it. But instead of emphasizing how others outside your organization perceive your brand, you should focus on how owners, managers and employees view the brand's relevance. They are the ones who must embody it before anyone else will.

Put it another way. Stop making resolutions about your brand as something akin to a product or service's feature set. Your brand is as complex as you and your organization. It is changing, moody, fun, sad, smart and, sometimes, silly. In other times, it's a humanizing entity that should be as genuine in its promise and values as the people who work for the company.

Embracing your brand in such a fashion is a much more comprehensive, yet vital, exercise that will yield better results for your company in terms of increased productivity and business opportunities. While the formation of a credible brand can be done in several ways, here are four key things to consider when doing so regardless of the process you undertake:

Publicly agree to your corporate values. Meaningful brands are built on certain unwavering principles by which a company operates. They transcend product or service lines, and serve as binding guidelines as to how you go about taking care of your customers and team members. Organizations most certainly change their offerings over their lifetime, but their principles shouldn't.

Equally as prevalent is the fact that many companies don't have these values written down anywhere. They are often implied or expressed through its day-to-day operations, but that's it. If you don't have these principles publicly declared, do so while also making sure that your entire team is on board with them.

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How To Make Restructuring Work for Your Company

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 05:18:00 +0000

There are three critical hurdles or challenges that management faces in any restructuring program:

1. Design. What type of restructuring is appropriate for dealing with the specific challenge, problem, or opportunity that the company faces?

2. Execution. How should the restructuring process be managed and the many barriers to restructuring overcome so that as much value is created as possible?

3. Marketing. How should the restructuring be explained and portrayed to investors so that value created inside the company is fully credited to its stock price?

Failure to address any one of these challenges can cause the restructuring to fail.

Having a Business Purpose

Restructuring is more likely to be successful when managers first understand the fundamental business/strategic problem or opportunity that their company faces. At Humana Inc., which jointly operated a hospital business and a health insurance business, management decided to split the businesses apart through a corporate spin-off because it realized the businesses were strategically incompatible—the customers of one business were competitors with the other. Alternative restructuring options that were considered, including issuing tracking stock, doing a leveraged buyout, or repurchasing shares, would not have solved this underlying business problem.

Chase Manhattan Bank and Chemical Bank used their merger as an opportunity to both reduce operating costs and achieve an important strategic objective. Combining the two banks created opportunities to eliminate overlaps in such areas as back-office staff, branch offices, and computing infrastructure. Management of both banks also believed that larger and more diversified financial institutions would increasingly have a comparative advantage in attracting new business from corporate and retail customers. The merger was therefore also viewed as a vehicle for increasing top-line revenue growth. Internal cost cutting alone would not have enabled either bank to achieve this second goal.

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5 Simple Ways to Get Your Customers to Listen to You

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 04:50:00 +0000

If you're in business, chances are you're trying to get someone – a customer or prospective client – to do something, whether it's call you, visit your website, or try your product. But in a crowded marketplace, how do you distinguish yourself from the competition?

1. Cut out what's not important.

It's important to make every sentence as clear and efficient as possible, Haley says. "If you can omit a word, a sentence or a paragraph that's not key to helping someone understand something, do it," Haley says. For example, if you sell lawnmowers and you're trying to explain why your lawnmower is better than the other lawnmowers on the market, the customer probably doesn't want to hear about the company's history.

"Don't presume the audience has any interest in what your message is," Haley says. Business owners are consumed with their business, but forget that for customers, their interaction with you is just a small part of their day. They want help, not necessarily the history of the product, Haley says.

2. Explain things before you name things.

If you work in a field with special terminology or jargon, be sure to explain the term and concept before using it over and over because people may not know what they mean. For example, if you own an insurance company, customers have heard of copays and deductibles, but may not know the difference between the two or what they mean. By explaining that a deductible is money that a customer pays before the insurance policy kicks in, you ensure everyone's on the same page.

3. When possible, use metaphors.

Haley says using metaphors can help explain complicated concepts to consumers. For example, if you're selling a complicated suite of business software tools, you could compare the solution to a busy restaurant, where the head chef efficiently directs her staff while keeping diners happy.

4. Be funny.

How to Develop a Successful Small Business Marketing Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 09:11:00 +0000

1. Decide on your overall business priorities.

Marketing strategy planning is dictated by your organization’s top goals. A small business marketing consultant begins by asking what his or her client wants to achieve. Similarly, as a small business captain, you must first set the direction that your crew should sail. Your goals should be realistic and measurable.

2. Set specific marketing goals.

Once you’ve determined your chief priorities for the year, you can outline specific marketing goals to help you meet those larger targets. Again, your marketing goals should be quantifiable; for instance, you might track marketing investment vs. marketing returns (ROI). In general, a marketingteam should be held responsible for the top line sales figures, not overall profit. (Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t cut your marketing department’s budget if they’re not bringing in a good ROI.)

3. Define how your goals will be achieved.

This step requires marketing expertise and strong imaginations. Depending on the size of your firm, the entire company may be pulled out for a yearly retreat to brainstorm strategic marketing techniques. Or you may leave this task up to your marketing department; the bottom line is that you must have a clear plan of attack for how your marketing aspirations can be attained.

4. Establish a specific marketing budget.

Once you’ve established the “big picture” questions of what you want to achieve, how your marketing department can contribute, and how you’ll meet your marketing goals, it’s time to drill down to specifics. Outlining a detailed marketing budget is a first step.

5. Set timelines and assign responsibilities.

In addition to establishing a budget, you’ll need to assign responsibilities and set timelines for your strategic marketing goals.

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Five Tips for Managing Your To-Do List

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 08:58:00 +0000

Is your to-do list long enough to wallpaper your office?

If you're like most entrepreneurs, you have a lengthy to-do list that never seems doable—no matter how many hours you work. But there's a reason you're not ticking off items, or maximizing results when you do. You've likely organized your task list by deadlines, and you're cranking away on the most pressing items first. A better, smarter approach is to prioritize your list by what matters most.

As such, there are only two types of tasks that should really matter to entrepreneurs. The first can broadly be described as "whatever makes money in the near future," such as writing proposals, returning prospect calls, and calling your credit card company to negotiate a better interest rate. The second is "whatever will make customers happy."

People feel compelled to finish tasks just because they are on the to-do list, especially if a deadline looms. But what good is crossing off an item on your to-do list if it doesn't make you money or thrill your customers?

A consistent flow of cash is the lifeblood of your business. If you can make money in the next 30 days by knocking off an item on your list, then make that item a priority. Same goes for any task that will win you ecstatic customers, who might reward you with repeat business or rave about you to potential customers. Everything else? Not so much.

Here's how to turn your to-do list into a productive, money-making machine:

1. Maintain a paper task list. As much as you love your fancy productivity software, keeping your to-do list on a computer can cause you to go off on a tangent or get caught up in color-coding or grouping tasks.

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10 Time Management Tips That Work

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 08:43:00 +0000

Are you working on clock time or 'real' time? Learn how to manage your day by understanding the difference with these 10 time management tips.

Chances are good that, at some time in your life, you've taken a time management class, read about it in books, and tried to use an electronic or paper-based day planner to organize, prioritize and schedule your day. "Why, with this knowledge and these gadgets," you may ask, "do I still feel like I can't get everything done I need to?"

The answer is simple. Everything you ever learned about managing time is a complete waste of time because it doesn't work.

Before you can even begin to manage time, you must learn what time is. A dictionary defines time as "the point or period at which things occur." Put simply, time is when stuff happens.

There are two types of time: clock time and real time. In clock time, there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. All time passes equally. When someone turns 50, they are exactly 50 years old, no more or no less.

In real time, all time is relative. Time flies or drags depending on what you're doing. Two hours at the department of motor vehicles can feel like 12 years. And yet our 12-year-old children seem to have grown up in only two hours.

Which time describes the world in which you really live, real time or clock time?

The reason time management gadgets and systems don't work is that these systems are designed to manage clock time. Clock time is irrelevant. You don't live in or even have access to clock time. You live in real time, a world in which all time flies when you are having fun or drags when you are doing your taxes.

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5 Great Tips for Effective Small Business Management

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 08:31:00 +0000

Effective small business management is often seen as something of a Holy Grail. It’s difficult to achieve primarily because the majority of modern small business founders are young, entrepreneurial graduates, equipped with more enthusiasm and drive than you can shake a stick at, but somewhat sub-optimal when it comes to experience in managing resources.

According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics’ data on small business survival, only 44% of small businesses are still going after 4 years – and it’s continually those with the most effective management teams (almost irrespective of how good the product is) that last the distance.

So what’s the big secret? Truth is, none of this stuff is rocket science… Having said that, a young, headstrong ‘entrepreneur’ manager with a vision from which he refuses to budge might relegate these ideas to the bottom of the priority list in favour of becoming a big name on the block, and fast.

The fact of the matter is that there is a clear-cut difference between entrepreneurship and small business management. As this eHow article on the subject explains, managing a small business is an inherently more administrative role (everything from growing the business to ensuring legal compliance), while entrepreneurship has much more to do with the conceptualization stages of a product or service, with the much more glamorous end goal of innovating and turning a profit through the development of an idea.

For the wide-eyed entrepreneur to make the leap towards becoming a successful manager, a combination of the following approaches cannot be overestimated:

Employee training - it’s a well-established fact that employee satisfaction and know-how is what drives a business forward. Employees coming into the business for the first time (especially from backgrounds in other industry spaces) will be ‘stabbing around in the dark’ for a while – how long that ‘while’ lasts is in the hands of the manager and the resources they’re willing to set aside to get their employees on track and in the right mindset.

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7 Ways to Survive and Thrive at a Startup

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 08:15:00 +0000

Here are seven tips I've learned over the years to help you not only survive, but thrive at a startup:

1. Embrace the mission.

The most successful entrepreneurs are incredibly passionate about their work. It's the fire in their bellies that drives them to succeed. Similarly, if you're going to commit to working at a startup, you have to believe in its mission. Look for organizations that are doing something you're interested in. You won't make it at a business if you're not genuinely excited about the work.

2. Acknowledge the long hours -- and accept them.

If you're going to make it in the startup world, you first need to acknowledge that the hours will be long. The second step is to accept this fact. In the beginning, it wasn't unusual for my team to work more than twelve hours a day or come in over the weekend to meet our goals. In a startup, there's always more work to be done and not enough people to take it on. You're not hanging around the office for the sake of face time -- there's work to be done. Accept this fact and you're already in better shape.

3. Set expectations with loved ones.

Not everyone in your circle of friends will understand or appreciate the commitment a startup demands. It's very important to set expectations with your loved ones. Nothing is worse than having your family call at 5:30 p.m. to ask how your day went when your work day is far from over. To avoid these frustrations, set expectations up front such as when people can reach you and through what forms of communication.

4. Take initiative.

On my first day, I was handed my computer in its box and a small packet containing basic instructions for using the company's systems and handling customer service inquiries.

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Business Tips From 7 Highly Successful Entrepreneurs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 07:57:00 +0000

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. Running a business can be challenging, and it takes hard work and perseverance to achieve a high level of success. Whether you're already in business, or looking to start a business, it pays to heed the advice of others who have walked in your shoes. I asked a few self-made millionaire entrepreneurs to share their advice for being successful in business. Here's what they had to say:

Even when you have everything to lose, act like you don't

I used to have nothing to lose, but now that I have a lot to lose, I have a whole new perspective on this. Even after you've made it to the top, you still have to act like you have nothing to lose. And beware a man who has a great deal to lose, but acts like he doesn't. Regardless of the amount of money a person has or the size of their company, or the amount of wealth they have—those people that take action and risk without the fear of failure are the ones that will ultimately take market share.

Ryan Blair is the CEO and Co-founder of ViSalus. He is a former gang member turned serial entrepreneur multimillionaire. [Photo Credit: Sally Peterson]

Work toward being significant

If you want to have success, you can't make success your goal. The key is not to worry about being successful, but to instead work toward being significant—and the success will naturally follow. If you do work that you love, and work that fulfills you, the rest will come. I truly believe that the reason I've been able to be so financially successful is because my focus has never, ever for one minute been money.

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How to Research Your Business Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 07:46:00 +0000

Your brilliant idea may indeed be brilliant--or it may need some work. Here's how to find out whether you're ready for startup.

Somewhere between scribbling your idea on a cocktail napkin and actually starting a business, there's a process you need to carry out that essentially determines either your success or failure in business. Oftentimes, would-be entrepreneurs get so excited about their "epiphanies"-the moments when they imagine the possibilities of a given idea-that they forget to find out whether that idea is viable.

Of course, sometimes the idea works anyway, in spite of a lack of market research. Unfortunately, other times, the idea crashes and burns, halting a business in its tracks. We'd like to help you avoid the latter. This how to on researching your business idea is just what you need to keep your business goals on track.

The Idea Stage

For some entrepreneurs, getting the idea-and imagining the possibilities-is the easy part. It's the market research that doesn't come so naturally. "It's a big red flag when someone outlines the size of the market-multibillion dollars-but doesn't clearly articulate a plan for how the idea will meet an unmet need in the marketplace," says Aaron Keller, an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of St. Thomas in neighboring St. Paul and a managing principal of Capsule , a Minneapolis-based brand development firm.

That kind of full-throttle approach can cost you. "Entrepreneurs are often so passionate about their ideas, they can lose objectivity," adds Nancy A. Shenker, president of the ONswitch LLC , a full-service marketing firm in Westchester, New York. "Rather than taking the time to thoroughly plan and research, they sometimes plow ahead with execution, only to spend valuable dollars on unfocused or untargeted activities."

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Choosing the right lawyer for your business

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 06:57:00 +0000

There are a number of legal issues that startups have to deal with. Here's some advice on finding the right lawyer to help

Regardless of the nature of your business, industry or sector, when it comes to establishing a startup, you will come across legal issues.

The common issues that startups are likely to have to consider and address from the outset may include:

• Deciding what form the startup will take: will you be a sole trader, for example, or will you choose to establish a limited company which forces you to abide by certain rules but will offer you a greater degree of protection?

• Deciding the right name for your business and ensuring that no other businesses offering a similar service have registered with your name

• Registering your company's name art Companies House if you choose the limited company option

• Deciding on the branding of your business and product and ensuring that you are not infringing any other business's intellectual property rights

• Entering into leases when you are ready to move into new premises

• Drawing up or entering into contracts relating to the sale or purchase or distribution of goods

• Drawing up contracts of employment when you are ready to recruit your first members of staff

• Entering into contracts with business providers such as recruiters and accountants

• Seeking advice on the relevant laws that affect your industry or sector

There is a wealth of business law information on the internet specifically designed for startups and depending on your knowledge, experience and contacts, you may not need to instruct a solicitor when it comes to tackling the issues listed above. For example, there are trademark services available online that will register your trademark for you.

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What It Takes to Be the Customer's First Choice

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 05:54:00 +0000

To get exceptional results in sales, you must gain an understanding of people, what they want and not only build trust, but also certainty with them. Old school selling was simply based on understanding the customer's needs and building trust to close the deal. Today with information available everywhere, your buyer seeks third party sources to give them the certainty of what to purchase and how much to pay.

Once a buyer has done their research, they still always buy products and services for one reason: to solve a problem. They need to be certain. No one makes a buying decision when they are uncertain. When a buyer is uncertain they stall the process.

A salesperson's goal then is to determine that you have the right product or service to actually solve the buyer's biggest problem. To do this, you have to get the buyer to trust you enough to talk to you about what they want to accomplish. You must show genuine interest with intention to serve the buyer and not just sell them. Salespeople often get lost in "selling" their product or service. This is a mistake and a waste of everyone's time.

Building trust is key to discovering and understanding your buyers’ motives. It requires knowing every step of your sales process and sharing it with the buyer. Start by introducing yourself with confidence, then explain your exact intentions, process and amount of time it will take. Lay out your plan clearly so buyers see your priority is to take care of them. Here's an example:

Thanks for coming to see me today. My intention is to help you by:

1. Figuring out the problem you are trying to solve.

2. Suggesting the best solution for you.

3. Providing you with pricing alternatives.

4. Making you confident about that solution.

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Richard Branson on Managing Change

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 05:41:00 +0000

Restructuring can be a difficult process. Even if you've done everything right, sometimes the company needs a new direction because circumstances and opportunities have changed. It is well known that over the years we have closed down or sold a number of the 400 or so Virgin companies we have created. Companies are tools designed to fulfill a particular purpose. If they are superseded or no longer needed, our group will sell or shut them down. We try our best not to lose people or know-how, but we do not allow ourselves to get nostalgic about the concepts of the companies. When Virgin renews itself, the critics who tut-tut about all the leaves falling to the ground have failed to spot the tree.

To lead your company through a restructuring, you need to take a cold, hard look at the business. Will you be able to empower your staff to do what needs to be done? It can be superhumanly difficult to change a company's existing culture. This is also something you should consider if you're leading a team that's contemplating a business acquisition -- so many of which end up being disasters because the executives fail to understand the real challenges of getting different types of employees to work together and share the same goals.

We found ourselves grappling with a challenging situation in February 2007, when we relaunched the combined company of NTL, Telewest and Virgin Mobile as Virgin Media, creating the largest Virgin company in the world, with 10 million customers and 13,000 employees across the U.K. Until then I'd always followed a "small is beautiful" business plan. In Virgin's early days, whenever one of our companies topped 100 employees, I would ask to see the deputy managing director, the deputy sales manager and the deputy marketing director.

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Saving a Money-Losing Business With a Business Survival Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 05:33:00 +0000

Here are some business survival tips for businesses going through tough times.

Small businesses are incredibly sensitive to both good and bad fortune. Catching an important entrepreneurial trend can result in quick growth and outsized profits. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. When the economy sours, or for some reason your business niche falls out of favor, profits can turn into losses fast.

It's exciting and fun to expand a successful business by hiring additional employees, buying more equipment, renting new space, and doing all the other things necessary to grow. But there is precious little joy in quickly downsizing a business that has become overextended, especially one that has borrowed heavily to fund expansion, only to find that a declining market won't sustain it. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs whose businesses are suddenly operating in the red typically start by either denying they are in trouble or underestimating the severity. The result is that many businesses that could have been saved by rigorous early action quickly become so debt-burdened that they die unnecessary deaths.

When your business is suffering financial troubles, we recommend a three-step approach to making sure your business survives.

Step 1. Create a business survival plan. For example, if in the past six months, sales have been down 30%, your plan should convincingly explain how your business will be able to cut expenses, increase sales, maintain or reestablish an adequate profit margin, and manage (or attract more) cash so that in X months you'll be both profitable and have enough money in the kitty to bring past-due bills current.

Step 2. Prepare a current profit-and-loss statement and cash flow analysis. You can't do the planning or take the action that will be needed to turn around a recession-battered business unless you fully understand your business's key numbers.

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