Thinking ‘Small’: Why Bigger Ain’t Better
We’ve all heard the saying, “Bigger is better.” Or is it?
In relation to companies, big has mattered. Big companies are associated with wealthy Fortune 500 conglomerates where value can be added due to large numbers of employees making functions more efficient. Such economies of scale made sense for growth’s sake. Small startups were traditionally always encouraged to get big quickly, primarily because large companies can go public and acquire more capital. Fancy stuff.
Yet, interestingly enough, small businesses are the backbone of the economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration says that small businesses create two of every three new jobs, produce 39% of the gross national product, and invent more than half the nation’s technological innovation. Simply because you operate a small company doesn’t mean you are unimportant.
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Staying Sane: Being Productive, Even in the Slow Times
So you just submitted a big proposal to a prospective client who could really make a difference for your business. If this one comes through, it could make your year – or at least it could cover your payroll for the next few months. You are naturally patient, understanding that it will take time for your prospective client to consider your proposal and potentially review competitors’ proposals.
Rather than waste this “waiting time” with busy work, why not make the most of it? Avoid going stir crazy – by making your time as productive as possible, you’ll feel better and you’ll likely be moving your business forward by acquiring new leads or cultivating existing ones.
Tips for Tapping into Time
We’ve outlined some key tasks that will not only make you feel productive, they will actually produce results. From contacting prospects to getting your business organized, the following tips are all key investments in your business and future.
Schedule a minimum of two hours a day for phone calling
Make your phone calls in the morning while you are your referrals are both fresh and alert, treating this time as you would any important appointment. Your objective for your calls is to create interst, gather data and make an appointment. You’ll feel good when you can get those parts completed.
Call your best customers
When’s the last time you talked to them? They are your best business asset, so invest time into them. A simple phone call is always appreciated. See how they’re doing, what’s new and if there’s anything you can do for them (and don’t forget to record new information into a customer profile!)
Go to industry or association events
Usually, networking activities are the first thing to go when we get busy. Now that you have some space, get up and get out. Talking to people – whether colleagues or potential clients – is not only good business relationship management, but a welcome social outlet.
Work on your customer database
Now is the time to start recording all of the interactions, phone calls and lists that have been either stored in your mind or on disparate pieces of paper. Taking the time to organize in a database (Microsoft Excel or Access are completely sufficient) will pay off in the long run.
So, did you get the call back? If it’s a good answer, great! If not, don’t take rejection personally. It is to be anticipated and is a natural part of the selling process. Learn from it by using it as a valuable feedback tool and keep persevering!
Project Management – Part 2: Communication
Project Communication: An Exercise in Managing Change
Everyone intuitively knows it: communication is the key to any successful project. In fact, constant, effective communication among all project stakeholders ranks high among the factors leading to the success of a project. It is a key prerequisite of getting the right things done in the right way. As knowledge is power, sharing knowledge is empowering every project stakeholder.
It is a best practice among effective project management philosophies build in check points to ensure a thorough understanding and to secure early buy-in from different stakeholder groups. The number of formal communication checkpoints should vary depending on the size of the project and on the number of stakeholders in your company.
A project communication plan is the written strategy for getting the right information to the right project stakeholders at the right time. Each stakeholder has different requirements for information as they participate in the project in different ways. For information to be used, it has to be delivered to its target users timely. As a project manager, while developing your communication plan, you need to decide how often to contact each stakeholder and with what information.
Your communication plan should include the following components:
- The kickoff meeting. This establishes project timelines, required resources, agreed-upon outcomes for the project, reporting schedules and so on. The kick-off meeting serves two purposes. Firstly, it serves to introduce the project team and formalize the project management aspects of the overall project. Secondly, it provides an opportunity for the project team to receive a more detailed briefing from the client and to finalize user and stakeholder involvement.
- A review meeting could be held at the end of any of the analysis, design, or implementation phases. Here, you discuss the outcomes of that phase and their bearing on how to proceed with the project. This meeting aims to create a shared understanding of the emphasis in the remaining phases of the project and allows the project team to reconsider any assumptions based on learnings so far.
- A technical review meeting, if applicable, explains the design to the client’s technical team and gain any feedback about any implementation issues, before the design progresses too far. The goal would be to walk the client’s technical team through the high-level design concepts, showing them the paper designs and explaining both the rationale behind the different designs, and how we would expect each interaction to work.
- Regularly scheduled milestone meetings. Make sure that these intervals are agreed upon by the client and that these meetings happen. Bring an agenda to each meeting to review every component of the project, wins, status and challenges. These elements should cover resources, costs and issues.
- Final presentation. The presentation to client project stakeholders at the end is a crucial opportunity for your organization to understand the design so far, and the rationale it is based on.
Change Management: The Goal of Project Communication An often-mentioned buzzword in business circles, change management is really the core of project management communication. There are many “meanings” of change management, but for the purposes of this discussion, let’s keep it simple.
The first and most obvious definition of “change management” is that the term refers to the task of managing change. In the context of project management, change management is essentially the goal of the communication process and structure. The obvious is not necessarily unambiguous. Managing change is itself a term that has at least two meanings.
One meaning of “managing change” refers to the making of changes in a planned and managed or systematic fashion. The goal is to more effectively implement new methods and systems in an existing organization.
As we referred to in part 1 of this report, a very useful framework for thinking about the change process is problem solving. Interestingly, this is also how effective project management is approached. Managing change is seen as a matter of moving from one state to another, specifically, from the problem state to the solved state. Problem analysis is generally acknowledged as essential. Goals are set and achieved at various levels and in various areas or functions. Ends and means are discussed and related to one another. Careful planning is accompanied by efforts to obtain buy-in, support and commitment. The net effect is a transition from one state to another in a planned, orderly fashion.
The bottom line: change is a reality in any project situation. Therefore, project management inherently involves stimulating change within an organization. Some organizations are set up for this, others aren’t. In order to effectively affect change through your client project, make sure you understand that people resist change as natural parts of the process. By regularly communicating through various means and structures, you can ultimately overcome thosebarriers to ensure project success.
Check out these resources for more information on project and change management:
http://www.change-management.com/
http://www.strategy-business.com/resilience/rr00006
Monday Motivation – January 4, 2010
Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood. Make big plans, aim high in home and work and let your watchword be order and you beacon beauty.
-David Burnham
In Chip & Dan Heath’s book, Made To Stick. One of the principles they share is the importance having compelling story.
How do we get people to act on our ideas? We tell stories. Research shows that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when we encounter that situation in the physical environment. Similarly, hearing stories acts as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively.
This principle can be applied not only in your marketing efforts, but also in the day to day management of your business.
Toyota calls it their ‘Hoshin’ or ‘True North’. It’s using the power of story telling to get everyone on the same page.
It creates buy-in. It brings absolute clarity to the overall goal of an initiative. It deepens everyone’s understanding of the challenge ahead.
Even if you’re a one person shop, this can be a powerful tool. Chances are you still have to work with people and you still need to get them to act on your ideas.
Now if you’re thinking you need to sit down and pen J.K. Rowling-sized, 800 page tome — don’t worry. Brevity and simplicity are the keys here.
Think of John F. Kennedy’s declaration that we would “put a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade.” That’s a compelling story that mobilized an entire nation.
Additional Resources to help you create your story:
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Getting the Right Things Done by Pascal Dennis
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Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
How To Hire & Manage Interns
Small businesses in Northeast Ohio – and across America, for that matter – have long used college student interns and recent grads as a helpful, low-cost human resource. Student interns are capable, motivated and – if well managed – highly valuable to your business. A great number of high school, college, graduate and vocational school students are eager to take advantage of the real-world business opportunities offered to them by local businesses — during the entire academic year and not just during the summer months.
With the University of Akron, Walsh University, Malone College, and Kent State (Stark) just down the road, local businesses access to a huge pool of talent.
An increasing number of students today are capable of far more than just clerical work. Many can competently handle complex projects in such areas as finance, public relations, event planning and Web site design/development. And, many students choose internships at small companies instead of larger ones because of the hands-on experience they can get.
The trick is the “well-managed” part. Small businesses too often hire interns without a plan. Success with interns requires finding the right people and creating a system that cultivates interns’ capabilities.
Creating Your Intern Program
Interns can help you and your employees be more productive by freeing up their time – all while providing valuable learning experiences for the intern. Take an inventory of substantive work you need done. Ask other employees what tasks an intern could perform – especially those “back burner” things that nobody else has time to complete. There are many things that interns can help with – however, to make it a mutually beneficial experience, consider setting up some of these tasks: Interns can help you and your employees be more productive by freeing up their time – all while providing valuable learning experiences for the intern. Take an inventory of substantive work you need done. Ask other employees what tasks an intern could perform – especially those “back burner” things that nobody else has time to complete. There are many things that interns can help with – however, to make it a mutually beneficial experience, consider setting up some of these tasks:
- identify prospects
- pursue business leads
- write or send press releases
- plan events
- identify news media for publicity
- prepare award submissions
- do Web research on your industry or competitors
- refresh Web site content
- assist with presentations, design charts, graphs and posters
- recruit the next interns
Getting Started
To help get you started, we’ve compiled some key steps to launching and managing your intern program:
- Attract candidates by posting internship positions online. Some internship sites let you post positions for free, others have small per/month charges for a listing. Employers can also post internship positions at Internships.com where a month-long listing is $10.
- Contact the internship/career offices of local high schools, colleges, universities, vocational schools and graduate schools. Internship coordinators help match students’ abilities with employers’ needs.
- Assign someone in your business (it may just be you) to have overall responsibility for your internship program, and be allotted the time and resources to properly manage it.
- Determine if you have adequate workspace with access to computers and other tech tools.
- Interns need a clear sense of guidance and structure, as they may be in a business for the first time. Schedules, work plans and deadlines will help.
- Documentation is very important for effective learning to take place. It is strongly advisable that an employer and intern create mutually agreed upon learning objectives.
Using interns in your organization can result in many benefits. It is important to do some careful planning before creating your internship program. You can be sure to continue recruiting from your pool of internship candidates and foster positive public relations by implementing an effective, thorough internship program.
Instituting Inspiration: Daily Devotionals for Business Learning
It’s true: the more you know, the more productive you can be. Increased knowledge and experience naturally keep us motivated, particularly as our levels of expertise grow. If you are not knowledgeable about your business, your motivation level naturally will be low. As a result, you won’t be able to sustain interest for very long.
On the flip side, if you are knowledgeable, energized and excited about the work you are doing, you will have more persistence, energy and intensity. This will inevitably produce better, more sustainable results. It seems simple, and actually, it is.
Yet the hard part is finding a way to keep up with industry news, market changes and competitive activities, particularly amidst today’s fast-paced, ever-changing business environment. In addition, most small business owners do not have the luxury of leaving their business for days at a time to attend industry conferences to get the latest “scoop” on what’s happening.
As a solution, we’ve seen many successful business leaders institute “daily devotionals” specifically designed to help them, as small business owners, looking to increase their breadth of knowledge and experience. Reading or practicing daily devotionals traditionally are processes followed by dedicated practitioners of their religion. However, the concept is also a potent resource for small business organizations as a way to keep up on their business or industry and ultimately, keep inspired, motivated and productive.
Tips for Creating Your Own Daily Devotional
From gathering material to finding the time, here are some ways to create your own daily devotional.
Create a library of resourceful reading material. This is the first step in developing your daily devotional material. Your library can be physical, virtual or both; it’s just important to start getting in the habit of gathering material and placing it in a centralized location. Browse the Web for relevant e-mail newsletters that can be sent to your inbox each day. Consider investing in tried-and-true books from inspirational business gurus like Stephen Covey and Deepak Chopra.
Have access to a daily business “motivational quotation.” Desk calendars or daily emails with quotations from successful business leaders can help set the tone for the day.
If you have a public workspace shared with other employees, consider posting the “quotation of the day.” Check here for ideas.
Read motivational material in balance with other media. Instead of reading the daily newspaper with breakfast or coffee in the morning, try reading inspirational material instead. A well-written book that offers sound advice is more motivating than reading about the latest market declines. Listening to motivational tapes or CD’s in your car for one hour everyday can actually give you the equivalent of a university degree in a few years time.
It won’t be long before you see how keeping the practice of daily devotionals keeps you informed and allows you to leverage that knowledge you’ve gained and apply it to the real world. Take in a bit every day and before you know it, you’re depth of knowledge and consistent application of that knowledge has greatly expanded.
Progress! One Step At A Time…
It’s not like it’s complicated and it’s not like it’s secret. In fact, articulating your next step only really takes a moment or two. But it’s what David Allen calls ‘Doing the Hard Thinking up front.”
This week I want to address a critical reason many projects stall out: Their next actions are not actionable.
Why this is a problem:
Projects that lose momentum, fail. Energy is lost. Priority & purpose are forgotten. Opportunities missed. Time goes by and you end up working on a project that is no longer relevant.
Unless you have bite-sized next actions that you can really sink your teeth into in the — you’ll find yourself idled at critical points through the day when you could be advancing key projects. I’m talking about those 10-15 min holes you have throughout your day — times between meetings, phone calls, the latest Ebola outbreak.
Yes, it’s true. You can advance your most important projects in 10-15 minute increments throughout your day. But ONLY if you have an inventory of next actions that you can tick off your list one by one while having complete confidence these are absolutely the right things for you to be focusing your time on.
Symptoms:
- Your ‘To-Do’ list repels you. You seldom reference it when looking for the ‘next thing’ to pick up.
- Your project and To-Do list are one and the same. There is no differentiation between things like ‘pick up laundry’ and ‘file 2007 taxes.’
- You have items on your to-do list which would take more than 30 minutes to complete.
- You look at your to-do list and don’t know where to start.
How to Avoid This:
Previously, we talked about the importance of outcome thinking. That’s what David Allen* would call ‘doing the hard thinking up front.’
After you’ve stated the successful outcome, brainstorm some possible next steps to get the project moving. After brainstorming declare, in writing, what THE next action is. Never step away from a project unless you have absolute clarity on what exactly you will be doing when you decide to pick this up again.
Qualities of a good next action:
A Good next action is simple. A next step may be as simple as a phone call. Heck, it may be as simple as looking up a name and a phone number for someone TO call.
A good next action should not take more than 30 minutes to complete.
A good next action requires your full attention and focus. In the A.D.D. world of the small business owner you’re lucky if you can devote your full attention to a single item.
A good next action is not a project in disguise. Does it take more than one step to complete? It’s a project.
A good next action won’t repel you — you’ll amost feel inclined to pick it up and do it as soon as you write it down. Good. If that’s the case do it and come up with the next one. You may even get on a roll and find the project is complete before you know it.
A good next action provides context to where you will do the task and what tools you’ll need to complete the job. For instance, if you need to research something on the internet your context is ‘a computer with an internet connection.’
A good next action (or list of next actions) is handy and always accessible. Note pad, Palm, iPhone whatever, just make sure it’s always with you.
A good next action is never called complete until you’ve identified the projects NEXT next action.
*Credit where credit is due: David Allen deserves 100% credit to for presenting & and sharing this information in a way that is so accessible to millions of devotees throughout the world. I’m simply passing it along to you in the hopes you may pick up on his wisdom and find it helpful as well.
Angie’s List – Hyper Local, Very Smart…
In appreciation of a cool business model:
I recently signed up for Angie’s List.
I know, I know…but Kelly…you’re so avant garde. Congrats on joining the millions of other subscribers to the #1 ratings web site for local service providers.
Me being slow on the uptake aside…
We signed up & tested it out. We found a handyman and then a plumber and then a cleaning service. With all but the last, the ratings were accurate and we ended up having great experiences. And, ok, the cleaning service probably would have worked out better had I called one that had an actual review.
A couple weeks later, we get this mini-magazine in the mail.
It’s got maybe 8-10 pieces of original content. Anything from, tips for proper maintenance of your home….to criteria for selecting.
But surrounding each article are ads for – you guessed it – local handymen, plumbers, cleaning services (and more).
What I was impressed with was the simplicity and their ability to get paid on both ends of the deal.
On one end, they have me paying to be part of a social forum.
On the other end, they get the advertisers to pay for ads on their site and ads for the local publication.
What’s more the publication is super-cheap to produce…and is most likely a major source of their revenue generating activities.
They’re using a concept called ‘mass customization’ to create highly localized content & targeted advertisements. While at the same time using the economies of scale to keep printing & distribution costs at a minimum.
Basically – they designate areas for common content – the articles – that will be printed on every catalog nationwide. So whether 100,000 or 1,000,000. The more they print….the cheaper it is per issue.
At the same time, they have the geo-targeted content – the ads – that’s laid in on specific areas of the magazine.
This allows them to get bulk printing savings on a the majority of the printing costs for the magazine… yet still only strip in maybe 5,000-10,000 of ‘customized’ content in each of their targeted areas.
The result?
A magazine that looks like a highly tarted & extremely relevant ‘value-add’ provided to the subscribers of their online service…But is actually a revenue generating marketing piece for both Angie’s List and their advertisers.
Brilliant.
My 14 Favorite Business Books….(and the Launch of Office Space Coworking’s Lending Library)
As we come to the end of the year, it’s a time for reflection.
It’s only natural to start looking ahead. Trying to figure out what we’ll do to make this year better than the last.
What lessons have we learned? What would we change? What will we try to repeat?
This is where I – being a business geek — look to books to educate and inspire me.
I do have a preference. My favorite form of Biz Lit are Business biographies.
I love — love, love, love — a good business biography. There’s nothing like living vicariously through the successes of those who’ve been there / done that.
I gleen bits of wisdom and eek out psuedo-curriculum from these books. At the very least, they provide a frame of reference for what has (and has not) worked for others in the past. They help me when faced with tough decisions and in forming my own philosophies on how I’d like to do business.
In fact, in many of these books my favorite parts are the discussions on their failures.
At the same time, I still crave applied knowledge.
The best, in my opinion….take successful entities (people, companies, organizations) and break down the nuts and bolts of their operations. They draw out the repeatable process & activities that helped bring them a measure of success. While not necessarily saying – ‘Do this and you’ll grow like gang busters’ — because that just ain’t realistic. They do provide a basis for defining the unique formula required for you to succeed in your own right.
At least – that’s how I see it.
These books are few & far between. So when I find a great book, I love to share it.
Below are 14 of my favorite books:
- Getting Things Done (David Allen)
- Bill & Dave: How HP Built The World’s Greatest Company
- Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat
- Being Direct: Making Advertising Pay (Lester Wunderman)
- High Wire Act: Ted Rogers and the Empire that Debt Built
- When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent into Power and Influence
- Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr
- Getting The Right Things Done: A Leaders Guide to Planning & Execution
- The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
- How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- Andrew Carnegie
- Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun And Made A Fortune Doing Business My Way
- The Toyota Way
- In Sam We Trust
What are some of your favorites?
Two cool announcements
I’m happy to announce Office Space Coworking is opening up our very own Lending Library for Business Books. In our Akron & Cuyahoga Falls offices, you’ll find a number of books available for you to reading pleasure. I’ll work to get these cataloged and available for online reservation so you members can just pick them up in their mailbox the next time they come into the office. But no – we won’t have the latest John Grisham, sorry.
It’s not big (yet) — but you’ll find ‘my’ favorites there and we’re taking on donations.
If you’d like to borrow one, just send me a note that you’re ‘checking it out’ — and return it when your done.
AND – a couple of us have been talking and decided to get a Business Book Reading Club going. A couple of us are reading ‘Crush it’ right now and we’re going to start organizing when to meet. I’m thinking this will probably come together after the 1st of the year. We’ll host our meetings at the Akron Office Space Coworking location…probably on a bi-weekly or monthly basis…depending one what works best for the group.
If you’re interested in participating, please let me know!
Coworking is Coming To Cuyahoga Falls
Office Space Coworking is hosting this event to celebrate the opening of our 2nd location in Cuyahoga Falls.
We provide shared office and meeting space for independent workers, telecommuters and solo entrepreneurs.
Office Space Coworking is a refuge from the isolation of working at home and the restriction of working in busy coffee shops. Members get all the tools and community of a modern office without the soul-crushing corporate environment. Meet clients, network with peers,or use it as your satellite office as you’re moving from appointment to appointment.
With the opening of our 2nd location, members of Office Space Coworking will have full access to BOTH the Akron & Cuyahoga Falls facilities.
It’s a great location with free parking, private offices & plenty of space for meetings & presentations. It’s right off the Front Street mall between Portage & Baird street.
Get a sneak peak at the new facilities!
We’ll be hosting a special preview of the facility to get your ideas on the design, look / feel, & amenities before launching the Grand Opening in December.
But – here’s the catch – if you’d like to see coworking come to Cuyahoga Falls, we NEED YOUR HELP!
We need 6 people to sign-on as Charter Members for the Cuyahoga Falls location before we can commit to moving forward.
Charter Members will receive a 20% discount off our published rates for a 3 month commitment to use Cuyahoga Falls as their primary location.
Charter Members will also get first dibs on private, dedicated offices.
If you’d like to learn more, please give us a ring @ 800-644-0683
…Or register for Open House event on Friday, November 13th.
Doors open at 3pm.
Get a sneak peak at the facilities, give your input on design, furniture, decor — and stake your claim on your future office.
Parking: FREE
Wine & Appetizers: FREE
Network with Peers: FREE
Why join us?
- Tour our facilities
- Learn more about coworking
- Meet some of our members from the Akron office and learn why they love coworking
- Learn why people who work in a collaborative environment make more money
- Network with your peers and make a new business contact or two
- Great music, great food, great company AND frosty beverages.
