While many small business owners embrace this idea, a common thread I've seen amongst business owners is determining where and how to fit into the organization.  Some wish to do everything.  Others wish to hire a manager and take long, exotic vacations on company funds.  Others, still, sort of bounce...around...inconsistently...consistently getting in everyone's way.

The job of the CEO or whatever the business owner is calling themselves, is to drive the vision for the organization.  This assumes, of course, that the business has a vision.  What this means is that:

• You probably cannot take a job in the business that is going to take you away from driving the vision.
• You need to evaluate what you do each day to determine what types of things you need to get off your plate so you can drive the vision
• Being the CEO doesn't mean you need to put your thumb on everyone's neck.  You will get far more from them by sharing the vision, leveraging their input and allowing them to focus their energies on their strengths
• Being CEO doesn't mean that you shouldn't be present.  Driving the vision cannot be done without presence.  This means that you need to connect with your people - virtually or actually, on a regular basis.
• Being CEO doesn't mean that in the earlier phases of your business, you "just don't do stuff."  But it does mean being cognizant of where the holes are and making plans to address them before they become problems!

As CEO of the organization, your organization is dependant on you for leadership, direction and presence.  Business is about people, and good business is about bringing people together, with specific gifts, talents and abilities, synergizing and focusing those energies on a single vision, which will make all parties better off.

Business, at its core, is about people. 

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are a Small Business Consulting Firm 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 Path, Business Startup, Business Strategy, Employees, Management and Leadership, Small Business Consulting, Strategic Planning

But life is not a stage.  There is purpose and meaning and purpose for each of us.  Your mission or purpose in life isn't something you decide on, it is something that must be discovered.

Consider this.  What would happen if everyone you know lived his or her purpose.  Do you think that their state of happiness would change?  What if everyone in your Linkedin network did the same?  and your secondaries?  and your tertiaries?  For some, that reaches into the millions of people, right?

Now, as a small business consultant, what that means to me is that all of my energies are wrapped into being a small business consultant, a dad, a husband and a member of my church and community.  What that means for me is that if I wasn't making a dime, this is still what I would want to be doing.  That means that as I get older, I will find other ways to help small businesses, support my communities and love my family.  Everything I do points back to that?

What about you?  So many people get so wrapped up in security and a paycheck that they do simply become a number.  What that also means, without realizing it, is that they are living a very unbalanced life.  Think about it: you are working in a call center, but have aspirations to start a non-profit organization.    You are actually taking away from your happiness or satisfaction and adding unhappiness to your job.  So instead of replacing a happiness or satisfaction with another happiness, or satisfaction, you are taking away a happiness and adding more dissatisfaction.

So...are you living your purpose?  Are you seeking balance in your life?  or is your life full of fury, signifying nothing?

Labels: Business Path, Extraordinary, Management and Leadership, Recession Buster

Unfortunately, they didn't move anything forward.  Furthermore, they were so organized and there were so many levels, layers and procedures that people got confused, not only about who they were to report to, but also what they themselves were supposed to do.

This is the stagnation that happens with many businesses and entrepreneurs when new opportunities come down the pike.  While it may not be about committees or levels of management, it is often about having a process to manage these opportunities.  While it may seem somewhat simple or useless, this process will help you, very quickly evaluate and implement or discard opportunities when they arise.

1. Does this opportunity help you achieve your mission?  Does that MLM opportunity help you serve those who you intend to serve, better?
2. Will the opportunity help you achieve your vision?
3. Does this opportunity compromise your values?

If these work, there is hope for the opportunity.  Otherwise, throw it away.  Next set of questions

1. Do you have the resources to be successful with this without compromising your current service to your current clients?
2. Is there an implementation strategy that you need consider, assuming this will affect your customers or your team?
3. Will your business truly be better off, having taken advantage of this opportunity?  Consider telling someone the story about how this will look in your organization, and see if it makes sense to them.

Now, you plan

1. Begin with the end in mind: what will it look like when everything is said and done.
2. Set a soft date to work backwards from. 
3. Do you need to provide additional training?
4. Is there marketing you have to do?
5. Do you need to hire additional staff?
6. Do you need to get additional cash to make it work?
7. Set your hard date

The result of your plan should be an organizational business plan, or a business plan designed for the inner workings of your organization.  It need not be as detailed or pretty as you might use for presentation or organizational modeling, but it should outline what needs to be done. 

In my organization, this will look like some flowcharts, a project plan and some narrative.  In yours, it might be heavy narrative and few drawings.  This will depend completely on your culture, and require that you understand how your organization is to be most effective.

The most important thing is to Keep Moving Forward!

Labels: Business Decisions, Business Growth Strategies, Business Path, Business Process, Business Strategy, Management and Leadership, Small Business Consulting, Strategic Planning

If you are someone who is chronically missing some of the details - here are a few things you can do:

1. Acknowledge it to yourself.
2. Look for the patterns - where are you missing, consistently
3. Try to identify the "why's" - why are you missing the mark.
4. Do not excuse yourself.
5. Start with a goal.  For example, "I will be 15 minutes early for all of my meetings"
6. If your area of concern is in writing, schedule yourself time to go back and review what you've written, or, better yet, get someone else to review it
7. If your area is in presenting, practice your presentation
8. If your presentation, itself, is an area of concern - your clothing, your hair, nails, makeup, etc., ask for advice - not just from your friends and family, but from peers and colleagues who will give you and honest opinion.

"You'll never get a second chance to make a first impression" is more than cliche, it is truth.  As a professional and or business owner, that impression you make can make the difference between success and failure.  It's all in the details.

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are a Small Business Consulting Firm 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, Extraordinary, Management and Leadership, Small Business Consulting

I've got a partner - Ken Burnt of Perimeter Wealth who calls himself, "The Happy Tax Man."  Do you think people remember that?  You'd better believe it!  Are people beating down his doors?  He's the best tax man around, at the lowest price.  It almost doesn't make sense, but his brand is getting in touch with and assisting those small business people who are in the trenches day in and day out.  He figures, like we do, that ALL of us can win, instead of the few.

So think about how you can expand your brand...how you can make an ongoing impression on people that they will remember. As Ms. Simson suggests, it could be as simple as your 'out of the office' reminder to your voicemail message to a personalized footer.

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are a Small Business Consulting Firm 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: Management and Leadership

Labels: Business Development Strategies, Business Strategy, Small Business Consulting

Articles are being published nearly every day regarding the reasons behind the Wall Street collapse and the economy.  While fingers are being pointed in numerous directions, and countess victims and individuals are looking for someone to blame, the one thing we have not emphasized is our society and capitalism as a whole.

Capitalism basically says that we live in a free trade society - anyone can go into business, at any time and sell a good or service to whomever will purchase it at that price.  In our system, no single organization or group of organization can have major or complete market share, thus making prices artificially high.  Businesses also cannot take advantage of poor market conditions and "price gouge."

This creates a huge business/consumer society, where these is always someone who is selling and someone else who is buying.  The challenge, more often than not, has been getting those people (buyers and sellers) in the same space at the right time with the proper resources.  Well, two things have leveled that playing field: credit and the Internet.

As consumers, we now have access to products and services around the world, nearly instantly and up to 100 times our current salary, depending on our ability to convince a lender that we will pay it back.  This, in turn, has made us not satisfied, at any point, but always seeking the 'next big thing.'

At some point, we lost perspective and got focused on excess.  Having access to much more than we could ever need, making it the standard building our societies on them.  Our presidents say, "go out and spend."  Our super centers say, "come here, buy more for less," and our credit card companies say, "yes, you can!"

Well, we did.  Over and over and over again.  People said, "this isn't sustainable," 

and we agreed, and kept spending.

People said, "This is going to collapse."  We agreed.  Again, we kept spending.

It's like the kid who beats his Labrador dog.  Yes, Labradors are sweet, wonderful dogs.  They are fun to play with, never met a stranger and no idea what a bad day is.  However, a lab that is constantly abused will turn and bite its abuser quicker than you could ever react.  That's what happened to our economy.  We've abused it, and now we are paying for it.

What can we differently?  Think proactively.  That means save up for things and wait.  Be clear about needs and wants. Focus on your needs.  Save for your wants - don't use credit for things your can reasonably save for.  Understand that there is a maximum amount of enjoyment you can receive out of anything or anyone.  Lastly...exercise self control.  We can make it through this.  Yes, we can.

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are a Small Business Consulting Firm 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 Decisions, Business Path, Business Strategy, Management and Leadership, Recession Buster, Small Business Consulting

A friend of mine had a pit bull.  The dog was strong and beautiful.  At the same time, it was vicious.  Anyone who came near the dog would get snapped at or bitten.  There were no options there.  We warned him that the dog might turn on him one day, to which he would only smile.

One day and 32 stitches later, the dog turned on him and attempted to remove my friend's arm from his body.  Some people might say that it wasn't the dog's fault; that's the dog's nature.  That's what it does.

As you think about your organization and how you are perceived, or you think about the presidential elections, and how the candidates promote themselves, look at tactics - the fruits of their work.  Look at interactions between people - is it forced?  Is it consistent?  Look at interactions between rivals.  How are they focused?

Said or unsaid, the way you present yourself and your company and the way you respond, react and interact with your staff and your clients will be the telling factors about your leadership style.  Your customers notice, and they will honor what they see.  If they like it, they will probably continue with you.  If they don't you won't win their trust back.  No one wants to get bitten.

At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are a Small Business Consulting Firm 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: Management and Leadership