Tuesday, September 30, 2008

It occurs to me that it has to be a failure in leadership - the shared vision and  respect for leadership - that causes the breakdown in a system.  Leadership is more than a a sharp suit and tie.  It is more than a position.  It is more than a lot of bravado, interesting stories or a compelling history.  It is about creating a vision that can be shared and embraced by all, and motivating them to follow that leader of their own free will.  "If you look behind you, and no one is following, you are probably not a leader." - Dr. Bruce Winston, Regent University

Thursday, September 25, 2008

I had a great conversation, yesterday, with Scott Sherman, the COO at KIS Business, about the realities of "Cloud Computing" as SAAS office products are  being called.  According to Moderro Technologies, applications included in your cloud will include services such as:

Saturday, September 20, 2008

 

One one of my favorite stories is the story of Chicken Little, the little chicken who got everyone in his world excited, thinking that the sky was falling.  Well, as it turns out, the sky really is falling; the price of cloud computing is coming down to a level where it is reasonably priced.

I've had opportunity to do some research for one of my clients who is preparing to move her business into another phase, wherein she can take advantage of some technologies that will allow her to do more with less, so to speak.  This was a great exercise, and of course, one that will allow me to write a great article on once I am finished.

In order to get the best product for the job, one that would match was she is currently doing, while allowing her to embrace some opportunities she is just on the fringe of, I created a matrix using, in this case, Microsoft Excel.  In preparation for this, I performed a business analysis, which included a process and systems analysis and a technology review. ( The analysis discovers what she currently has in place, where the review discovery is based on what she has and how she is using it.) 

Once completed, I was able to use the data to prepare a matrix - the left column being the "wish list,", with everything on the list being prioritized - 1 through 3.  At the top of the matrix, horizontally were placed different software systems, focused primarily on SAAS systems, or cloud systems as they are beginning to be called.

Now, the purpose of the cloud is to allow business owners to log in from anywhere in the world and get into some web-based system to get information about their companies.  What makes these relevant now, is that the price points are getting to the point where they are quite reasonable and there are enough platforms available to meet the needs of most organizations.

While working through the whole process, several things became quite obvious:

1. It is difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison of products
2. Not all vendors will help you demystify the differences between the products.
3. It is important - extremely important to find a system that will adapt to your business, and not vise-versa.
4. Don't over purchase.  Be very clear, ahead of time, what you need, what you want, and what is nice to have.  Don't pay significantly more for bells or whistles that won't enhance your bottom line.
5. Don't purchase solely on price.  If you focus on getting the lowest cost item (there are free ones out there) you may end up paying more in the long run.  Consider the cost (opportunity cost!) to switch to something you can manage in-house.
6. Remember - complexity=additional training.  If you cannot afford to put down $4,000 for set up and training, don't buy the software.  Period
7. Learn the product!  You've invested money into your organization.  It is to your benefit (your responsibility!) to get the most out of your investment.
8. Make sure there is some level of support that you can work with.  If the system is mission critical for your business, don't settle for email support!
9. Consider the fact that although there are systems out there that "do it all," you've got to do your homework.  Just like your company, every company has their "sweet spot."
10. Most companies will give you a 30-day trial period on their software.  Don't bother with this until you can narrow down your product selection to no more than three that meet all of your level one criteria, most of your level two, and maybe some of your level three.

Getting your office in the clouds may pay off for your organization, and allow you to cut back on costs, increase productivity and be more in control of daily operations.  When looking for a solution provider for your organization, being wary of these items will ensure you are spending responsibly and help you to get the best solution for your company.

 

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are dedicated to serving the needs of small business owners. We specialize in helping you develop strategies for your organization, and are committed to your success. If you have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Labels: Business Growth Strategies, Business Process, Business Startup

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

One of the challenges of running a small business is finding time to get everything done you need to get done in a short amount of time. I, for one, find it valuable to be able to post blogs on a weekly basis. I found that I was wasting a great deal of time creating my posts, reviewing them, publishing them, then finding out that they weren't posted properly.

So important was my publishing, that I needed to find an offline editor that would work for me and my business. I needed to be able to include pictures, tags headlines, etc., and know that when I publish it, it will look like it did when it was on my computer.

Now - I have to admit, I didn't have time for this right now. I have deliverables all over the place. I wish I could have handed this off to my secretary, but alas, I haven't hired them yet. So I must do this myself.

This took me about an hour to do - something I normally would have completed on a Friday, when I normally do business building activities, but I need to use this for the rest of the week, so here I am. I had to make a choice - does the cost outweigh the benefit.

In this case, no, because this is something that I will use several more times this week, and this is how I add content to my website. Now, if it was something else...updating my MySpace page? I don't think so - partially because I have very little clue about how to do this, and partially because I don't see pulling many clients from there.

The lesson, here, is that anything you do in your business - networking, driving, purchasing new equipment or blogging - you've got to weight the cost versus the benefit you will get from it. While a new cell phone might be really cool, does it add to your brand or your productivity in a way that you can say "Yes - this will help to extend the company's roots.

Labels: Business Decisions, Business Process, Management and Leadership

Monday, September 15, 2008

Do you know what is keeping your business from being where you would like it to be? Is it time? Money? Space? Other people? Lack of customers?

I think that many business owners can identify many things that are going wrong in their businesses. It is something that you should know.

The question is, as much as it pains you - what are you doing about it?

My daughter - 11 years old - wants to get involved in school activities - which I think is great. She is also very smart - and I am not just saying that because she is my daughter. In order for her to get involved in this activity, she has to have the money to purchase the equipment for it.

My original response was simply to go out and get it for her - most parents would, I am sure. However, this was an opportunity to have her sit down and look at the situation. So, we sat down and talked about it.

I had her identify her goal -

to participate in this particular program. She was very clear about that.

Next, I had her consider all of the ways she could raise enough money to participate in the program -

1. She could start a business,
   
2. She could work for someone else,
   
3. She could ask grandma for the money.
   

What are the pitfalls for each -

1. Start a business - this takes a bit of time and planning - something she will do, but she needs the money today.
2. Work for someone else - this is also good, but it takes time to find someone to work for.
   
3. Get money from Grandma - this is a short term solution, but the money to participate is ongoing - she will need to have money each month in order to participate.
4. Give up - This will not help her reach her goals, and will set a precedent for the rest of her life. Can't have that.

What is the reasonable solution? Well, she ended up realizing that she could use money from her Grandma to cover the first few months, then work on her business on the weekends to get it going, but in the mean time, work for someone else.

While this was a simple solution, consider this for your business: Like you, she had a dream, and she refused to give up on it. Her determination and thinking elevated her ability to achieve, even when it seemed highly improbable. You can do it, to. Own it!

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are dedicated to serving the needs of small business owners. We specialize in helping you develop strategies for your organization, and are committed to your success. If you have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Labels: Business Growth Strategies, Business Startup, Management and Leadership, Recession Buster

Friday, September 5, 2008

A mentor of mine once said, "Rick, you've got to find yourself a good wing man. When you are flying your plane, you cannot expect to see where you are going, where your target is and watch out for the enemy all at one time. You've to got to find a good wing man to watch your back."

Finding a wing man is neither an easy nor a quick process; it takes time and effort, meeting people and getting to know them. More importantly, however, it takes knowing yourself and being honest with yourself so that you can identify blind spots your wing man can cover. It takes giving yourself an opportunity to be open to someone else's care.

Some specific considerations when seeking your wing man:

1. Don't jump into it too quickly. Take your time - let wisdom and patience guide you.
2. Don't over specify. While it is important to maintain your standards, over specifying will hamper your progress.
3. Don't settle for anything with a heartbeat. A great conversationalist may not be the person you want watching your back when things get thick. He may be all talk.
4. Don't sacrifice your standards because you think someone might make "good business sense." While a pit bull might make a good watchdog, he is NOT guarding my kids' daycare center.
5. Look at your personality assessment. Where are your weak areas? Look for someone who is strong in those areas.
6. Make sure you serve their interests, as well. They are going with you and should have some understanding of the destination.
7. Look for opportunities to serve others. Just as you cannot go at it alone, someone else is in need of what you have to offer. Make yourself available.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

"How does someone move from ordinary to extraordinary?" was the question posed to me last evening. Sure, there are lots of "one-size-fits-all" answers out there, and you could invest lots of time and energy into reading them, going to seminars and memorizing "10 Ways to..." lists. Most will be excellent and you will gain from them.

The problem is, in some cases, that being extraordinary is like being successful; it is defined by you, the individual, and it is normally in a very narrow scope. If we were talking about your business, it would be your niche. In sports, it would be your Olympic event.

Because I wish to serve my clients in order for them to be successful, I feel that I must be an extaordinary person as well. My area of expertise will be in developing passion-driven organizations, that is, business that are built around extraordinary people and their gifts.

In order for me to do so, I have to do several things:

1. I have to be committed to it. Everything I do needs to point back to my vision
2. I have to practice it. Every day. That means more reading, growing and thinking about it.
3. I have to ask myself, "How can I be better?" every day.
4. I have to permit myself to make mistakes in order to further my personal development.
5. I have to review my mission and vision, daily, and determine how I will live it each day.
6. I must manage my time and my energy so that I can perform and add to my current base.
7. I must know who I am accountable to.
8. I must capture snapshots of people who are demonstrate characteristics or traits that look like the place I seek to evolve to.
9. I must be acutely aware of my strengths and weaknesses, gifts and abilities - not by knowledge, but by doing. I would never know whether or not I could climb a mountain if I never try.
10. I must identify people who will strengthen me and learn to grow from people who seek to tear me down. Running away doesn't solve problems; it makes them fester.

Once I have laid a strong foundation in myself - I know who I am, what I am about, where I am going, what I want to do and am doing it, becoming extraordinary is taking all of it and giving it to someone else. Think about what has made people extraordinary in the past - what made their stories last - what put them in the history books. It was more often what they gave away than what they did for themselves.

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are dedicated to serving the needs of small business owners. We specialize in helping you develop strategies for your organization, and are committed to your success. If you have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Labels: Business Development Strategies, Business Growth Strategies, Business Path, Extraordinary

I CAN DO IT MYSELF! Is a common scream I hear from my three-year-old, as he attempts, quite confidently, to pour one gallon of water into a 12 oz glass. I always have to admire him for trying. The funny thing is...he is usually successful - getting the water in the glass, that is. (Of course, someone else ends up cleaning up his mess.)

The other interesting thing about him is that he knows to ask for help for certain things. He realizes that there are certain things that are completely beyond is reach, which is amazing when you think about it.

After thinking about this, I considered some other natuarl tendencies of his that could make a business more successful. I came up with ten:

1. He is doesn't jump in blindly. He observes, he tries incremental advances and usually, eventally gets what he is going after.
2. He is not afraid to try new things. Benjamin Franklin once said, "The mand who does things makes mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all--doing nothing."
3. He knows when to ask for help. Knowing when to ask for help is often the differnce between sinking and swimming.
4. He knows how to ask for help. He actually has a different way of asking depending on the individual he is seeking help from.
5. He has a clear understanding of the things he wants.
6. He does not lose sight of his vision.
7. If you tell him he cannot do something, he is still going to try to find a way.
8. If he fails the first time, and its something that he really wants, he will try it again and again until the deterrent outweighs the benefit.
9. He knows that even if the person he has engaged has no interest in what he is doing, it is better just to have them around. Sometimes, we as humans just need to know that someone else is out there simply recognizing that we exist.
10. He knows that telling a story about what happened is as exciting as experiencing it, and will probably get people interested in watching it next time.

Pretty smart little guy, if I may say so.

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are dedicated to serving the needs of small business owners. We specialize in helping you develop strategies for your organization, and are committed to your success. If you have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

As with many, I decided that I wanted to stay abreast of everything that was going on with Hurricane Gustav, the massive Hurricane that hit the gulf coast yesterday, 8/1/08. My heart truly went out and goes out to the people in LA that have been displaced by the hurricane. Thankfully, many if not most people will be able to return to their homes and businesses with minimal cleanup.

What impressed me the most, however, was the movement of 2 million people out of harms way in what seemed to be an orderly manner. Now, this wasn't just a local parish event, or even a city event; this was a coordinated event involving city, state and federal agencies. When contrasting this to Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, even a casual viewer would notice the huge differences. The process has improved.

This process improvement, however, was no accident. Coordination between the different entities didn't just happen. Ensuring that the travelers had some place to stay when they reached whatever destination was not some casual happenstance. It was all planned and review and reviewed. Models were created, processes were developed, other scenarios were integrated into the modeling and contingencies were created. This was a carefully orchestrated operation that could probably be adjusted and dropped anywhere in the country.

In your business, creating processes and improving on those processes is key to your ongoing growth and success. While hurricanes are events that you cannot predict, precisely, there are always indicators that suggest that a particular event is approaching. The most important thing you can do, as a business owner, is have some understanding of what could happen, and have some process for dealing with this.

We all have our hurricanes of life and in business. Your reaction could be like that of Hurricane Katrina or like that of Hurricane Gustav; it's up to you. Yes, there are people who say, "I don't need any process," as there were people that said, "I don't need to leave for a hurricane." In both cases, there are those who lived through their Katrina's to tell about it, but there are many more who embrace greater satisfaction and less scarring because they developed their processes ahead of time.

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are dedicated to serving the needs of small business owners. We specialize in helping you develop strategies for your organization, and are committed to your success. If you have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Labels: Business Development Strategies, Business Growth Strategies, Business Process, Process Improvement