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No 70                                                                               September 2005

15 Ways to Enhance Your Day

• Get up early.
• Look around outside before going to work (especially if that workplace is "just down the corridor)
• Relax and enjoy your meals.
• Spend time with friends.
• Pace yourself.
• Find a quiet place to go to.
• Praise yourself and others.
• Develop positive relationships.
• See your mistakes as stepping stones.
• Keep track of your own moods so you can watch out for them.
• Say No without feeling guilty.
• Learn effective time management.
• Pay attention to health, diet and sleep.
• Exercise regularly.
• Keep from comparing yourself to others.

Xvxry Pxrson Is Important

One manager let employees know how valuable they are with the following memo:

"You Arx A Kxy Pxrson"

Xvxn though my typxwritxr is an old modxl, it works vxry wxll -- xxcxpt for onx kxy. You would think that with all thx othxer kxys functioning propxrly, onx kxy not working would hardly bx noticxd; but just onx kxy out of whack sxxms to ruin thx wholx xffort.

You may say to yoursxlf -- Wxll, I'm only onx pxrson. No onx will noticx if I don't do my bxst. But it doxs makx a diffxrxncx, bxcausx an xffxctivx organization nxxds activx participation by xvxry onx to thx bxst of his or hxr ability.

So, thx nxxt timx you think you arx not important, rxmxmbxr my old typxwritxr. You arx a kxy pxrson.

101 Best Home Businesses, by Dan Ramsey

This book was written mainly for the entrepreneur who wishes to work from home on a full-time basis, although the Author acknowledges that some readers may be interested in working part-time in their home business. Drawing upon his experience of self-employment, the author provides comprehensive information on how to set up and operate a home business without hefty start-up costs. Of course you need to translate the American context to NZ.

Ramsey recognises that people who desire to work at home need to engage in a business that utilises their passion or strong interests, as well as their most natural talents. He offers a questionnaire to help select the most suitable business. He divides the 101 businesses into three categories: professional, service, and those using crafts or physical skills. For each business answers are given to the following questions:

1. What Will I Be Doing?
2. What Will I Need To Start?
3. Who Will My Customers Be?
4. How Much Should I Charge?
5. How Much Will I Make?
6. How Can I Get Started?

In addition to planning the business and making sure it’s legal, the author covers topics such as how to apply for a bank loan, how to keep proper records, and how to promote the business. He also includes worksheets for issues such as price analysis, resource opportunities, income and expense reports, inventory and cash flow projections. As stated above, these need to be translated to the NZ context.

This is far from dry reading. Ramsey writes with purpose and a sense of humour. In discussing how to select a product for a route sales business he remarks, "Stay away from selling elephants and bridges as they are too difficult to deliver."

Reinventing Yourself and Your Company

If you're a small business owner there is an excellent chance that you've reinvented yourself at least once in your life.

When you think about it, there was probably a moment, an inspiration, an event, a conversation, or a pink slip, that caused you to start that new journey. And if you're a small business owner, it's also a safe bet that you've discovered you must keep reinventing your business, too.

All of this reinvention can never stop, because everyday the marketplace becomes less like a destination and more like a moving train. Indeed, the Hobson's choice for small businesses is reinvention or extinction.

Let's talk about reinventing your business, yourself, and the fact that there should also be a balance between the two.

In his book, "Creative Approaches For The Cost Effective Organization," Steve Martin says there are five generations of corporate growth:

1. Work. The entrepreneurial stage.
2. Sell. Focus on sales growth and market share.
3. Cut. Focus on efficiencies to drive the bottom line.
4. Buy. Acquiring assets to reach the next level.
5. Think. All actions are proactive as intellectual and financial resources focus on knowing the next best step, instead of guessing.

It's almost a natural law that a successful business will reinvent itself along these five generational lines.

But while you're reinventing your business, don't forget to do the same for yourself. Because each generation of a company's growth requires a different kind of manager.

As you're making sure that your personal intellectual growth isn't behind your company's progress, don't get too far ahead, either.

Unfortunately, there is no corresponding natural law to help keep your personal reinvention matched up with, and parallel to, that of your company. Consequently, keeping your personal intellectual growth in sync with your business requires constant attention and honest self-analysis.

Personal reinvention doesn't mean you go from being a surveyor to being a surgeon. It means that instead of being intimidated by technological advancements, you actually become a visionary expert on how to leverage new capability.

It means you go from knowing nothing about how an earthquake or a military coup d'etat on the other side of the planet could affect your business six months from now, to being pretty good at identifying local as well as global threats and opportunities.

Perhaps the best example is when you're able to delegate tasks that you once trusted only yourself to do, to the capable staff you've hired or work with.

Sometimes circumstances require you to reinvent yourself whether you're ready or not. When that happens you can choose to be a whiny victim or embrace the change. But remember this: Only owners who embrace change can run and grow successful businesses.

Reinvention or extinction: the choice is yours.

Don't Be Afraid To Fail

You've failed many times, although you may not remember.

• You fell down the first time you tried to walk.
• You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn't you?
• You rode into you mother's favourite bush (the only bush) in the garden when you were learning to ride that bike
• Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat?
• Heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot.
• R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.
• English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.
• Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs
• And so it goes on.

Don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try.

(A message as published in the Wall Street Journal By United Technologies Corporation)

© 2003 The Nework Centre   |   email neworknz@yahoo.co.nz

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