Lost job results in double income? It happens.
Have you ever hired a handyman to take care of projects around your house? Home handyman is a quintessential small business, and often home-based as well. I recently heard a handyman success story that illustrates some important business principles. A friend used a handyman for a range of construction and fix-it projects at his home. The handyman was good and could take care of almost anything that came up. They had a casual relationship and the handyman could usually find time to squeeze in jobs on short notice. This, however, changed recently. The last time the homeowner needed help, the handyman had a tight schedule so he couldn’t just “drop by.” They set up an appointment that worked for both sides. When the handyman came by to do the work they started talking and my friend was curious why the handyman’s schedule seemed more inflexible than it had been. It turns out that the handyman’s wife had lost her job and taken over his scheduling and other administrative tasks. This simple “addition” to the handyman’s “staff” doubled his income – and it doesn’t take up all of his wife’s time. There may have been a time when the handyman considered adding a scheduler, but he probably thought to himself, “I can’t afford to hire someone.” In fact, he couldn’t afford NOT to hire someone. Here are some of the important business and economic principles to glean from this story: Division of labor. Businesses are always more productive when they divide up tasks so people can concentrate in a defined area. It works in automobile manufacturing and it works in the service industries as well. In other words, delegate. Time management. Parkinson’s Law says that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Undoubtedly the handyman gave himself more than enough time to do a job “just in case” something came up. His wife has been more disciplined. Looking at Parkinson’s Law from the positive side, you can conclude that people will complete jobs within the time you allow them. People find ways to get things done when they have to. This is the essence of productivity improvement. Recognize your strengths. This handyman is very skilled and provides excellent service. However, scheduling and administrative tasks aren’t his strong suit. It’s great that his wife has taken over these responsibilities, but the work could just as easily have gone to an assistant. Consider his lost revenue while he spent his valuable billable hours doing work a lower paid assistant could take care of. Implement systems. While the handyman was great at building decks, he wasn’t good at constructing an efficient job schedule or administrative systems and routines. Now that his wife has brought systems and order to his business, if she wants, she can hand it off to someone else and find a job to replace the one she lost. Here’s one more important observation: The smaller your business, the greater impact working with these principles will have. Our handyman was a one-person operation. Adding a part-time scheduler doubled his income. This is how small businesses grow and the easiest growth comes from the first few improvements you make. Fail to do these things and you are simply leaving money on the...
read moreHow to post your local business video to Google Maps
Whether you love or hate Google, you must admit that it’s a company that doesn’t let the grass grow under its feet and we’re really seeing that with its Local Guides program. For the local small business community, Local Guides can be extremely powerful. I discussed the basics in this post, but almost as soon as I pushed my keyboard away, Google added another twist: videos. As a quick summary: Local Guides are the Google version of Amazon’s “Top Reviewer.” Individuals sign up to become Local Guides and then they post reviews and verify information about local businesses. With the addition of videos, Local Guides can post short (10-second) videos of local businesses to Google Maps. Videos can be added via the Google Maps website using a desktop computer or when using the Android Google Maps app. As of this writing, the iOS Google Maps app doesn’t support uploading videos. By the way, if the video is on the user’s camera roll rather than shot straight from the maps app, it can be a bit longer – up to 30 seconds. There’s one more interesting wrinkle to this development: some local businesses will be able to upload videos themselves. Google is currently testing out this feature and I think that eventually they’ll roll it out for many small businesses. Check your Google My Business account to see if you’ve been okayed for posting a video. And, if you get the green light to post a video, consider making something with higher production values: hire a videographer. Let me ask you a crucial question: Do you know which of your customers or clients are Google Local Guides? If you do, great. If you don’t, you need to develop an unimposing way to find out. When you identify Local Guides, ask if they know that they can post videos using the Android Google Maps app. Suggest they try out the feature at your business. There’s no question that Google is doing everything in its power (and it’s quite powerful) to be the universal gatekeeper of local business information (watch out Yelp). This makes a lot of sense in light of the rising reliance on mobile devices; when on-the-go, users fire up their smartphones to gather local business insights. It’s critical that local business owners fully appreciate what’s happening. Be an early adopter. Don’t let this pass you by because playing catchup in the Internet Age is very...
read more53 free self-paced business courses to fuel your success
“Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself, you’ll make a fortune.” – Jim Rohn I close my newsletter each week with a quote that I hope you’ll find inspirational. I featured this quote from Jim Rohn not long ago and it dovetails perfectly with one of my core beliefs: You need to continue to grow personally and professionally to achieve the level of fulfillment that you truly desire. A new year always brings new commitments with it and I hope that the coming year will be one when you redouble your self-improvement efforts. As a small business professional or entrepreneur, I know that your schedule can be wild, long, and often unpredictable so I’ve compiled a list of 53 highly rated self-paced free online business courses. Note: I’ve selected self-paced courses that have at least a four-star rating (out of five stars). However, some have as few as one review, so you’ll want to dig a little more deeply into the course content. To get more details on any one of these, copy the course title, head over to Class Central and do a search. In virtually every case, you’ll get an immediate suggested search result before you hit return or enter to do a complete site search. A Preview Course on The 5 Killer Risks of Enterprise Risk Management via Canvas Network An Introduction to Credit Risk Management via edX An Introduction to Success Factors Solutions via openSAP Athlete Career Transition via Independent Aviation 101 via Canvas Network Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training) via edX Becoming an Entrepreneur via edX BI 4 Platform Innovation and Implementation via openSAP Careers in Media Technology via Kadenze Certificate Program in Public Procurement via Independent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): A Strategic Approach via edX Digital Transformation and Its Impact via openSAP Economics of the Media via MRUniversity Enabling Entrepreneurs to Shape a Better World via openSAP eTourism: Communication Perspectives via iversity Evidence-Based Practice in Management via edX Experience SAP Cloud for Customer via openSAP Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making via edX Gerenciamento de Finanças Pessoais via Canvas Network Get Beyond Work-Life Balance (Inclusive Leadership Training) via edX Get to Know SAP’s Innovative Enterprise Solutions via openSAP Global Human Capital Trends via Canvas Network How to Build a Startup via Udacity How to Start a Startup via Independent Increase Your Tips: Success in the Service Industry via Canvas Network Indexing Books as a Career via Canvas Network International Finance via MRUniversity Introduction to Actuarial Science via edX Introduction to Applied Investing via Canvas Network Introduction to Ariba via openSAP Introduction to Global Hospitality Management via edX Introduction to Investments via edX Introduction to Project Management via edX Introduction to the Music Business via edX Leadership for Engineers via edX Leadership in Digital Transformation via openSAP Leading With Effective Communication (Inclusive Leadership Training) via edX Management for a Competitive Edge via Open2Study Operations Management via edX Optimization Methods for Business Analytics via edX Planning Change and Innovation via Open Education by Blackboard Project Management Basics via Open Education by Blackboard Project Management for Business Professionals via Canvas Network Project Management for Designers via Kadenze Results-Based Project...
read moreSmall biz optimism at near-record levels: Don’t miss the boat!
There has been a lot of hopeful talk that the current economic growth will continue in a way similar to what the country experienced during and immediately after the Reagan years. While it’s far too early to be making those comparisons, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Index of Small Business Optimism hit “Reaganesque” levels in November, reaching a near-record 107.5. “We haven’t seen this kind of optimism in 34 years, and we’ve seen it only once in the 44 years that NFIB has been conducting this research,” NFIB President and CEO Juanita Duggan said at the release of the latest figures. “Small business owners are exuberant about the economy, and they are ready to lead the U.S. economy in a period of robust growth.” October was a great month for the index – it almost set a record then – but it gained another 3.7 points in November. Eight of the 10 index components posted gains, including a stunning and rare 16-point gain in Expected Better Business Conditions and a 13-point jump in Sales Expectations. These two components are critical because today’s expectations pave the road to tomorrow’s reality. A fact every administration and business leader needs to accept is that psychology, in large part, drives the direction of the economy. When consumers and business leaders fear bad times, they become cautious and tend to pull back on spending. When they see better times ahead, they loosen the purse strings. The fear of worse times causes worse times; the promise of better times causes better times. In macroeconomics, prophecies are usually self-fulfilling. Another key component worth noting is Job Creation plans. This figure was up six points in November, showing that even more small business owners are going to be in hiring mode. We have long noted the difficulty of finding qualified candidates; the competition will only intensify in coming months. It will be interesting to see what kind of wage growth this causes – so far it hasn’t been as much as one might expect. Given the stiff competition for talent, it would be a good time to bolster your training program. Hiring and then training up to meet your requirements is a powerful way to get the skills you need and build exceptional company loyalty at the same time. Plans to increase inventory also went up in November and this should have a strong ripple effect through the economy. If you’re B2B, this should be excellent news and if your optimism has been lagging, it’s time to get with the program. Maximize the benefits of the current expansion! Here are all the stats:...
read more2018: Time to be bold or go home
Do you believe that “slow and steady wins the race” or that you need to “throw caution to the wind” in order to be successful? I ask the question because it seems to me that today’s cultural and business climate is one that leans heavily toward bold innovation and social change. Mark Cuban recently commented that the ventures of some innovative tech companies impact our lives far more than any measures coming out of Washington D.C. – and that is probably true in other developed nations as well. Everyday, the top news stories are filled with items about driverless cars, virtual reality, augmented reality, new rockets, private space travel, space colonies, hypersonic underground transit loops, and more – you get the idea. The mega-capitalized companies at the forefront of these developments can launch bold projects (or float the ideas in the media) because of the positions they hold in the public eye and because they can risk the money to get them going without endangering other elements of their businesses. Smaller businesses generally don’t have access to such deep pockets, yet it is often smaller startups that are the initial movers on some of these concepts. Recently, I heard that Apple purchased a small virtual reality development company. The leadership dilemma for small businesses is finding the right balance between caution and boldly pursuing new ideas and projects. But as we go into 2018, I encourage you to lean more to the “throwing caution to the wind” side of this scale. I say that because I think our cultural and commercial “winds” are blowing in that direction, creating perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many businesses. We have come off many years when economic expectations and sentiments were low. That creates all kinds of pent-up demand. Recent economic data tell us that this demand is being released and that should carry over into 2018 making it the ideal time for new ventures: Pursue physical expansion. Open a location in a nearby town or establish a sales territory in a neighboring state. Introduce new products or services. Experiment with products and services a bit further away from your core. Perhaps you do this by spinning off a startup. Innovate your processes. If you limped through the slower times by stretching the life cycles of equipment or you avoided updating your digital technology, take advantage of these rosier days to jump ahead. Rethink your online presence. Can you sell online? Implement online scheduling? Dramatically improve the customer experience – with Millennials and mobile in mind – by revamping your use of the Internet. Is there a merger or acquisition that might allow you to take your business to an entirely new level? Optimism is high among consumers and business leaders. Don’t fail to take advantage of this. Take some risks in 2018....
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