Make 2010 Your Year for Change and Reap the Rewards

With the New Year already now firmly underway, many small business owners are hoping for a better year both professionally and in turn personally.  Generally when things improve on the business front that leads into a more positive situation on the personal front, and who doesn't want that? Obviously, this makes it high priority to ensure your business is in a position to achieve the best possible outcome for the coming year (and thereafter).  

Many things can be done to improve your business but it will require you to step outside your role of "Hands on Doer" and into your role as "Thinker and Planner" - at least for a few hours a week.  To be able to step into this new role on a regular basis is vital if you want to keep growing your business. Your ability to make quality decisions that will lead to positive changes relies on you having done some strategic planning in advance.  Reacting in haste to situations as they occur during the year will often cause poor decisions to be made as these are times when there is often a lot of stress surrounding you. Looking forward and trying to plan for changes that you know need to be made to ensure a smoother flow for your business will deliver not only much better outcomes but generally a lot less stress in the day to day running of your business.  For instance, if you now that you are currently overstaffed, now is the time to bite the bullet and revisit your roster to reduce staff hours or possibly even reduce staff numbers overall.  Waiting until you are having difficulties in paying wages or suppliers is not the answer.  You need to do your planning now.  I have always believed in that old and very wise saying "An ounce of prevention is better than a ton of cure".  Don't employ the emu management method in your business (you know, where you bury your head in the dirt and hope things will improve on their own).  I can promise you that this technique is a proven disaster! It is of no use to you to keep on doing the same old, same old as this type of thinking will deliver even poorer results to you over the next 12 months than you have experienced over the past 12 months.

Now is the time to sit down and really think about what you can do to improve your business so that you are meeting the needs of your market.  You will need to be innovative and in some cases even ruthless but nothing changes or improves until you decide to drive it in that direction.  Your future success is very much up to you so it's time to stop procrastinating about the things that need to be done and to get stuck in and DO IT!

 

As a business development coach, I specialise in working with small and solo businesses owners and their key staff to keep them motivated, on track and profitable across all areas of their business.

I am always pleased to hear from readers of Making Change Happen with feedback, reflections, suggestions or differing points of view.  I am also happy to offer customised, in-house adaptations of any of my material for your team or business.

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 Pam can be contacted on:

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An important message

While every effort has been made to provide valuable, useful information in Making Change Happen, I and any related suppliers or associated companies, accept no responsibility or any form of liability from reliance upon or use of its contents. Any suggestions should be considered carefully within your own particular circumstances, as they are intended as general information only.