Operational efficiency: an essential to grow your business

Business growth is what we’re talking about, but to achieve growth, you must scale your business.  Growing your business means adding parts. More clients, more employees, more desks, more anything. Scaling your business means that your revenue increases, but your resources stay about the same.  For more on that see my post Why scaling is…

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3 key business skills, part 1: Management

“It is easy to be distracted by your customer-facing work, but the foundation of your success will be built on sound management practices.” This quote is the reason I keep returning to this article in Small Biz Viewpoints.  The article highlights three key business skills that owners must nurture. We’ll take a look at each…

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How does everybody spend their time?

“I want all my employees to be in the office to Build better camaraderie Brainstorm more Make sure I know what they are doing“ If you’re in point three, where your employees work doesn’t matter. You still don’t know what they are doing.  What are people doing? It’s unlikely that you spend all day standing…

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The best lessons are the ones we learn

There’s nothing wrong with things going wrong in business.  Do you remember Apple’s first hand-held device, the Newton? No? That’s ok, neither does anybody else.  Managerially the company did everything right and yet the product was a huge flop.  But the brand didn’t disappear, and 13 years later they launched the iPhone, which quickly set…

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Stop trying to stop making mistakes

Mistakes should never be your primary goal.  If you know that something is the wrong thing to do, don’t do it. You don’t have to chase mistakes because they’ll happen anyway, regardless of your planning and precision.  When we don’t make mistakes, we get to do things right. When we do make mistakes, we get…

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Innovation happens when you think inside the box: start with the everyday

Innovation happens when you are good at something you do… and then you do it a little bit better.  Innovation matters because it ensures that you are always doing things in the best possible way. “Innovation is about tweaking systems that are already faring well”, according to Business News Daily. It’s the little changes you…

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How to stay busy without losing your mind

A client recently told me that his favorite thing about working with me was the accountability it gave him. We created a new management plan, rolled it out to his employees, and then structured his management meetings.  While he enjoyed all this work, the knowledge of upcoming meetings with me, and knowing that the work…

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Why you should stop trying to be better

It’s a little bit like trying to be perfect. Trying to be better does not add value.  But wait: doesn’t better mean an improvement? Wouldn’t that automatically add value?  Yes and no.  Better is comparative to a previous version or an outside influence. Value is, remains, will always be, about the client.  Better and best…

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