CMS Web Solutions

Through clients, teaching and advisory groups, we get to deal with many small businesses. We witness first hand what makes one successful and the other not. Here are just a few observations from this year. Please add your comments and observations.

Successful businesses:

• focus on sales first. No money coming in, no business.

• make sure that the sales generate good profitable income and continually examine return on time invested (ROTI)

• create a business “systemâ€? and strive to work “onâ€? the business rather than “inâ€? the business

• plan, measure, then adjust

• monitor and manage cash flow

• don’t take failure personally, they just learn and change

• focus on what they want, then figure out the “howâ€? to get there. They are not deterred by obstacles

• are clear as to whom they are selling to and create effective targeted campaigns

• outsource what they are not competent in. Instead they focus on what they are good at, resulting in greater ROTI.

• if they are a service business, are realistic about their billable hours. They increase ROTI by selling complimentary products that don’t require selling their time

• have competent experienced advisers and listen to their advice. They know that sometimes they are blind to the obvious and come at everything with an open mind

• are continuously on the lookout for new opportunities

• are not afraid to make changes or quickly let go of things that aren’t working

• know their money is in the effective delivery of their product/service and know when to “stay the courseâ€? until they reach a point of diminishing returns

• love what they do, are competent, knowledgeable and their confidence shows.

• know that running a business involves many roles and are not afraid to seek advice and help.

What are your observations?

Welcome!

Lately I’ve been seeing a slow change in the way we can do business. The old ways still seem to work here and there, but the Internet is starting to change things. There is no right way, it’s more “let’s try this and see if it works”, “now let’s try that.” I used to be the kind of person who had an issue and I would go seek out some answer in some book. Lately there doesn’t seem to be clear cut answers. I figure it’s time to connect with the real business people out there, those owner managed companies like ours who have an ample amount of experience trying things, falling on their face, picking themselves up and trying again. I figure if we could share what’s really going on and keeping us up at night, we might be able to learn from each other. I look forward to future conversations.