Small Business Goals: Realize Your Ideas By Taking The Right Decisions

A major reason why people fail with their small business ideas is the lack of ability to take the right decisions. People don’t reach their business goals because they don’t posses the strength to take their own decisions. They let other people interfere and get influenced by negative opinions.

Unfortunately many small business entrepreneurs let their friends and family make important decisions and I was before! How about that? Has it happen to you sometimes? Well, it is a fact that it happen to many small business owners all the time, and it’s one of the reasons why so many people fail to reach their ultimate business goals.

However, of course we should still listen to good and genuine advices from successful people. Especially from those who are in the same business area as we are. By then, we can evaluate and find valuable insights from them to help us achieve our small business goals.

Growing a Business by Paul Hawken

Growing a business is something a good sign that entrepreneurs are really wishing for. However, this move on the next level on your business is coupled with greater responsibilites to properly handle our journey in growing our business.

Courtesy of Amazon.com and it’s online reading feature, I got the excerpt from the book – Growing a Business by Paul Hawkens. You can check out the excerpt for Growing a Business here.

I have not personally had a copy of this book but I find it interesting from a feedback given by M.Thomsen. Below is his feedback on the book – Growing a Business by Paul Hawkens. And you might become interested as I am too.

I read this book and watched the TV series around 1990. I credit Growing a Business, as much as anything I ever read or heard, for the success of my company today.

In 1992 a group of first-time entrepreneurs started a company together. Some of the group had a blueprint of how a company is supposed to start. Get capital. Build something. Launch it. Succeed. They had not read the book, or they had but did not believe it spoke to us.

Some of the group had a more organic idea, inspired in part by this book. Each company has its pace, its flow, its learning curve. The CEO is the clock, the pacer, the navigator. There is a constant calculator going on each decision, each day, extrapolating payoffs, comparing the costs and benefits. And there is a recognition of what we are going into business for and structuring the business to support those objectives.

For example, we wanted a great place for employees. Each employee would share the experience and benefits. The “Startup 101″ types of books treat this topic as an add-on after you do all the important things. Hawken makes it primary. It is primary if you want a place for the best people to do their best work. Structure your company around the employee experience and all else falls into place – if that is the kind of company you want.

An important lesson from this book is serious initial capital for inexperienced entrepeneurs can be a mistake. Hawken describes this. So important. So easy to overlook.

Large amounts of startup capital allows you to outsource parts of a company you may not totally understand yet. It makes some mistakes very expensive. It dulls the creativity at times, the innovation to do more with less. It might encourage one to do things just because you see other companies doing them. It tempts you to make large steps, when it is critical in modern markets to learn to make many smaller steps.

And so on. This book may not fit every entrepreneur. It certainly does not provide all the information you need for growing a company. But for some of us it describes a pattern for growing a good company.

If you are thinking about starting a company, or are in the early stages of a startup, I recommend this book. It might change how you do things, and you might get more satisfaction from the adventure as a result.

You move toward what you think about

I found this well written article on how important small business goals realization is.  This article is written by Steve from SMBCEO.com. Below I quoted his thoughts in small business goals as our vision in our business and how important it is to put it in action.

As I have been spending time over the past two years with small business owners and leaders I have been struck by how many of them are passionate about growing but have no vision for what that means or what it might mean if they were to obtain the growth they want.

One of my favorite sayings is “You move toward what you think about.” Looking deeper at this saying what is important is that the more defined and tangible you can make the picture of your future, the more likelihood you have in achieving it. Stephen Covey calls it “Start with the end in mind.”

Your growth Vision does not have to be long or complex, in fact for young businesses I think it is best to keep the time frame of the forward view fairly short and the goals for the growth should be specific, like, “ x revenues with x profits in the next 24 months.” Make the growth goals and objectives tangible to yourself and others. The clearer the picture is for all interested parties the more others might help or bring you what you need to get there. Focus and definition to the growth vision also serves as an activity guide for the organization or entrepreneur.

To see how this works try this, go to the store, by a jigsaw puzzle, open it up to start working on the puzzle but NEVER look at the picture of what you are building. I think you will find it very time consuming and frustrating to try and complete the puzzle without looking at the picture. (VISION)

In our business and our lives we face enormously complex issues (puzzle pieces) and the more we can have a tangible picture of what we are trying to build the greater the likelihood that the picture will be completed.

Source:
LEADERSHIP: VISIONLESS GROWTH, HUH? by Steve of SMBCEO

Seven Keys to Growing your Business!

Your ability to think, analyze and decide is the key determining factor of your profitability. To help you sharpen this ability, here are some key principles for business success that are relevant and important at every stage of your business life. If ever you aren’t happy with the business results you’re getting, revisit these key points.

Here are the seven keys to growing your business:

1. The Product Must Satisfy an Immediate Need
2. Offer Good Quality at a Fair Price
3. Be Careful With Your Money
4. Cash Flow Is Essential
5. Guard Your Cash Carefully
6. Maximize Your Marketing
7. Selling Is the Core Skill of a Successful Business

To read the detailed explanation of these key points presented above, read more on Seven Keys to Growing your Business!

Growing Business with Technology Trends

Growing business won’t be that difficult if we, entrepreneurs, embraced technology and make the most or shall I say make the best out of it. To inspire you guys on how technology trends help in growing our business, below I quoted from the article written by Naomi Grossman which is featured in Forbes.com.

It’s a plain fact that small businesses need technology to grow. But which tech trends are meaningful? More to the point, which are worth the investment in time and money?

For the answers to these and other questions, bMighty turned to small biz trend expert Anita Campbell, editor-in-chief of Small Business Trends, the Small Business Trends newsletter and host of Small Business Trends Radio. Campbell explains why “software as a service” is the next great frontier for smaller companies, why she isn’t impressed with Google Docs and why social media is here to stay.

Check out the whole story for it will surely help us, entrepreneurs in growing our business with the help of technology trends.  Read more on Tech Trends For Growing Businesses.

SMART Goal Setting Technique

One thing I can always remember on my Business Essentials and Administrative Purposes (BEAP) subject is the importance of setting specific goals for your business. There is actually an acronym for us to remember it easily. The acronym will serve as a guideline on to how we should set our small business goals. The acronym I am referring to is SMART.

He stressed out in our class to ensure each of our goals follows the SMART concept. SMART means:

• Specific
• Motivational
• Action-oriented
• Relevant to your situation
• Time-bounded

Knowing the actual meaning of the acronym SMART, do you think it does made sense in setting goals for our small business? Well for me, it is. What’s your view? Just share your views in the comments section. Thanks in advance!