Archive for category: Business Planning & Startup

One of the common complaints I hear from owners of small businesses is that employee dishonesty runs rampant.  These complaints come most often from busy cash-based businesses like shops and cafes.

Some owners learn to live with an ‘acceptable’ level of dishonesty, having come quite cynical about the possibility of total eradication.  They treat the loss just like another business expense.

Opportunistic theft of cash often arises because many people have the mistaken belief that only the wealthy are in business.  The logic is that they can afford it and if any more justification is needed, it is that the thief is underpaid and overworked.

Serial theft seems to occur when people become bored, disinterested or disillusioned.  Access and opportunity, combined with lack of supervision, lack of systems and lack of employee accountability can create the environment for systematic dishonesty and deceit.

One of the golden rules of business is not to entrust anyone with sole guardianship or sole access to cash.  Two people and separation of their duties is a classic cash handling safeguard, because it is much more difficult for two people to collude in dishonesty.  However, this is not always possible in a small business, so you must look for symptoms.

As a Business Consultant who has walked into many businesses as ‘Mr. Fixit’ on behalf of banks and remote owners, there are a few classic symptoms to look for.  One is identifying any person who never takes a day off and never takes holidays.

Serial dishonesty needs to be covered up and the perpetrator will never risk anyone else looking at what they have been doing.  The reason they give for not taking holidays is always the same.  They would have you believe that they are so busy and so caring about your business that they can’t afford to take time off.

Hence, the irony is that it is often the person who appears to be the hardest worker, the most trusted and the most dedicated to your business, who is ripping you off.

Until next time!

Gary

If you are creating your own peaks then you really can’t spend too much time in the valleys. Here are 8 great ideas to help your thought process in generating happiness, interest and excitement in your business life.

Reset your goals each year and ensure there are some short term milestones and thus reasons to celebrate throughout the year

Give you and your team a reason to get out of bed each morning with performance based incentives.  Think carefully about this one!  Your ‘team’ extends way past your employees.

Research something new.  Always have a new project on the drawing board.  Plan it, research it, roll it around the group but don’t make it too complicated or unwieldy

Reward yourself by giving.  The act of giving will usually make you feel good.  This doesn’t mean you give away money or your emotional energy. Give a client a thank you; give an employee your trust; give empathy to someone having a bad day, give a pick-me-up gift, give your attention and interest to a person’s offer or suggestion.

Find a reason to celebrate – e.g. a birthday, a milestone reached, a goal kicked, good news, a good deed

Pay yourself – if you are being paid just like everyone else to do a job in your own business, you will be more inclined to get on and do it.  Feeling like the poorest but hardest working employee is debilitating.

Short ‘help-me’ meetings – can lift the spirits at any time.  The help can be for your self or for someone else.  It can be small informal chat over coffee about a problem, a suggestion, a concern, or an opportunity.

Go to a business seminar or network function – the aim is to learn something, to be inspired and/ or to meet someone.  These meetings are full of like-minded people, just like you, who are there for exactly the same reasons.

Until next time!

Gary

You will waste a lot of time and energy trying to control everything and everyone around you.  In fact, you can’t!  The only thing you can really control is your self – your own attitude and behaviour.

People can behave in any way they choose but all you can control is your own response.  And it is important that you do.  When others behave badly, it is a strong temptation to respond with similar behaviour, particularly when rudeness or aggression is involved.

Our non-thinking response comes directly from Ego.  We don’t want the other person to get away with their inappropriate outburst.  But meeting rudeness with more rudeness and aggression with more aggression only serves to escalate to situation.  Abuse and violence can quickly result from a poorly chosen response, where calmness and soft words could have diffused it.

When you employ someone, you may be tempted to believe think that for the amount you are paying them, they should work 24/7 and that you should own their soul and their children as well.  The fact is you don’t!

You can’t control other people’s feelings, desires and emotions.  You can make them go through the motions of performance but you can’t make them put their heart and soul into their work.  You can talk, cajole and influence but you can’t make them care about your business as much as you do.  You can make working for you an attractive choice, but it is only a choice.  You can’t stop someone from leaving you.  When people want to follow their own path, ultimately you must let them.

The best you can hope for is to influence the actions of others but you will never own anyone or control their thoughts.

Until next time!

Gary

For many people in business, expressing emotions is considered to be a sign of weakness.  Traditionally, weakness is never shown to other business people because it is something that will be pounced upon and taken advantage of.

Employers expect the same of their employees.  Employees are hired for their skills and capacity for hard work, not for the emotions.  It is expected that they keep their personal life at home and detach their emotions before entering the workplace.

However, this does not stop many bosses who bring their emotions and bad attitude to work and display them in an inappropriate and often uncontrollable manner.

Unfortunately, employees are the group perceived to be least able to defend themselves.  Some owners and managers have the misguided belief that the payment of wages and salary entitles them to vent their bad attitudes and behave inappropriately.

The truth is that everyone is an emotional being and everyone brings their emotions to work.  Some are better than others at recognising and controlling their own emotional states.  Some are better than others at understanding and dealing with the emotions of others.

In the early 1990’s the concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI) was introduced and since that time, EI has blossomed into a large field of corporate research.

In simple terms, EI is an awareness of one’s own and others’ emotions and the ability to control those emotions and influence the emotions of others. Those with high emotional intelligence show high levels of emotional restraint and empathy.

Researchers have found a direct correlation between EI and effective leadership, team success and employee performance.  It has also been shown that those who have high levels of emotional intelligence are generally happier with them selves and suffer less stress.

Until next time!

Gary

This is the third blog in the series of ways in which you can find and attract people around you – customers, staff, suppliers, referrers and collaborators.

Understand the difference between business and social settings

Networking must become second nature to you.  When you are in business you are always looking.  You may not be actively seeking but you are never clocked off either.  You must tailor your networking responses to suit the occasion.  Whilst you are always alert, there are occasions where you need to develop a light touch.  You don’t need to be shoving your business cards in people’s faces at every opportunity.  For example, I went to a wedding recently and when the people at my table found out that I was a financial planner, I was bombarded me with questions about income protection and insurance in superannuation.  I wasn’t overtly selling but I didn’t miss an opportunity to educate them.  So I answered their questions and then two days later a couple of them contacted me via Facebook, tagged some wedding photos and invited me to coffee to talk further.  Others will find me by asking the bride and groom when they need me but the point is – I know who they are, where they live and what they do for a living and the names and ages of their children.  That’s what a friendly and lively lunch conversation can achieve. 

If you seek employees, develop a careers page

Growing companies offer the best opportunities.  Good employees are always looking for new challenges.  They know that in a developing and growing company, new ground will be broken often and many career opportunities will be created.  That’s a good reason for them to go to work every day.  If your business exudes excitement and has a solid foundation, then to many prospective employees, you are a preferred employer.  They will not want to do boring work for a well established ‘plateau company’ and wait 5 years for a promotion.  So do a makeover on your internet presence and add an attractive careers page.  This means more than just advertising jobs.  Share your vision and tell people the mission of your business.  Give them 10 irresistible reasons why they should be working for you.  For example, talk about the company, the direction, the working conditions, the growth, your innovative products, the challenges and so on.  If you create the magnet, people will be attracted and their details will stick with you – whether you are currently hiring or not.

Until next time!

Gary