If you follow my blog, (OK, with the economic crisis some of you haven’t got all that much to do so why not follow John’s blog!) you will recall that last year as part of my sabbatical my family and I lived in Klaipeda, Lithuania while I taught at LCC International University www.lcc.lt as a visiting Professor. …
How To Turn A Possible Star Performer Into A Disgruntled Employee
There are some common mistakes that managers make which disempower team members and make them seem moody and unresponsive. It can happen with baby boomer managers and Gen Y or Gen X staff, but it’s not confined to generationally different workers by any means. Here’s how to turn a terrific team member into a frustrated …
Getting On Top Of Business Forecasting
The way to remain on top of your business in this climate is to plan, but the days of the three to five year plans are over. Instead focus on the next 18 to 24 months with lots of scenario planning and stress testing. Build scenarios Create a forecast for the next 18 months to …
Positive Medicine For Your Business
As a business entrepreneur in a downwardly spiraling economy you need to be conscious of keeping your team feeling energetic and positive about the future of the business. Positive emotions have been demonstrated conclusively to improve performance, reduce turnover, and boost profits. Share the success Holding a meeting? Start by sharing some positive client feedback, …
10 Strategies For Getting Paid On Time
If we don’t get paid, we go out of business. So with more debtors delaying payment in these tough times, taking action to collect money should be a top priority for small companies. Few small businesses can afford to turn customers away, but being timid about stretched credit terms puts your own company in danger. …
You Can Quote Me On That…
Many types of small business routinely offer customers some idea (either a quote – which is legally binding, or an estimate, which is not) of the cost for doing a job. Often customers require such an estimate for a sense of safety or to compare quotes from different businesses before they will commit to a …
Is the United States Losing its Entrepreneurial Edge?
As I have travelled the world the last year I have been struck more than once by the fact that many other countries seem to exhibit a much hungrier, edgier entrepreneurship than we now see in the United States. Maybe we have gotten complacent and comfortable with our style of entrepreneurship. It strikes me that …
Keeping Down Payroll
In soft economic times cutting back on payroll usually means laying off employees. As a tactic it works, but this strategy reduces your productivity and can end up costing you in the long run. You will have lost any investment you made in their training, lost their knowhow and will be stuck with the cost …
Aconcagua: Summit of the Non-Asian World
I guess you can say I am a mountaineer. I am reluctant to use that title. However, I have now summited all the major volcanoes in Washington State, the volcanoes of Mexico, Kalapattar in Nepal and two of the “Seven Summits” -the highest summit on each continent. The first of the seven summits I did …
How to Pass Your Business On To Your Spouse
Thinking about death is uncomfortable in itself – cold blooded sitting down and working out scenarios to deal with what will happen in the event of it actually happening is even more traumatic. That’s part of the reason why succession planning goes to the bottom of the ‘to do’ list for most business owners. Even …
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