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The Executive Connection SM
a publication of The Virtual Executive Coach SM
"Vision + Accountability = Success!"
In This Issue:
1. Preview
2. Executive Summary
3. Running Your Small Business
4. Helpful Hints
1. Preview
The Executive Connection explores the creative and analytical process of business development, team-building, and executive development. We are an interactive community of executives and small business owners who desire to network with like-minded high-performance executives to enhance our knowledge, skills, and aptitudes in the competitive business world.
Published monthly, the Newsletter offers coaching suggestions around the topics of: business development, financing, marketing, networking, incorporations, mergers, human resources, governmental regulations, and tax laws.
Topics are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton and represent only his ideas on creating and running your business. Because we are an interactive community of executives and business owners, other viewpoints are welcomed and may be printed in future monthly newsletters with permission from Keith Barton.
2. Executive Summary
August, 2006
Dear Executive Connection Subscriber,
This month features important tips for running your small business.
3. Running Your Small Business
Many small business owners work in a vacuum without the support of a Chamber of Commerce or trade organization. Networking, trade shows, and continuing education seminars are hard to find for niche businesses. Imagine running a Hallmark card shop and going to a business seminar on how to increase market share. First, the Hallmark shop is a franchise; secondly, branding is already your best marketing resource because you PAID to become a Hallmark shop complete with logos, standard advertising and pitches. So a marketing workshop might not be the best use of your money. However, consider the possibility that you run a small CPA firm specializing in small business development and accounting. Going to a workshop that offers different ways to incorporate, file 941s, offer employee benefits, including retirement plans might prove helpful to the business owner.
The key to running a small business as a sole proprietor is to learn to manage yourself (based on article by Peter Drucker, 1999 in Harvard Business Review). First, assess your strengths. What unproductive habits are preventing you from creating outcomes you desire and opportunities not seized. A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) can create a thumbnail picture of your internal and external factors that affect outcome and profitability. Second, how do you work? Do you process information more effectively by reading, listening to audio tapes, attending seminars, or working with others? Do you work better in the morning, after exercising, after a relaxing swim; how many work breaks do you take and how do you pace yourself? Third, what are your values? What do you envision as your most important responsibilities that create value for your company and employees? Fourth, where do you belong? Are you satisfied with a low-volume market niche with high margins; do you work best in a small company of ten or fewer employers, a sole proprietor, visionary CEO or operational COO? Select your best work style and surround yourself with staff that complements your style and values. Lastly, where can you contribute to the company? In the past, companies told their staff how to dress, when to take breaks, how to communicate and delegate, when to come to work, and demanded strict adherence to a code of ethics. Today, company loyalty is no longer a given, but a commodity to be earned and respected by your staff, with the leader setting the example.
Let’s take an example and see how each of the above tenets impacts the performance of a typical small business owner. Suppose you have purchased a Midas Muffler franchise and you know nothing about the auto repair business. First, I would question why you bought the franchise in the first place, because franchises are quite risky with low profit margins and blurred geographical customer bases where competition is keen among a shrinking customer base. Mr. CEO has just borrowed 100k dollars to open a two-bay, 2500 square foot shop in an upscale suburban area. On either side of the shop is a seafood restaurant and Blockbuster video store. Parking is sufficient with good access with a turn light into the shop. A traffic analysis indicates that your light is a highly traveled area because people like to eat out and rent movies. Suppose further you are skilled at strategic planning and have put together a five-year plan to increase sales by offering more personalized service than your competition such as vending machines in the waiting room, free coffee and ice tea, internet access, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and reputable magazines conducive to men and women. You also offer video games for children who might accompany their parent to replace a muffler or get a brake job. Second your working style is such that you are a cheerleader and greet your customers before they get out of their car; you introduce them to your service manager who will take personal care of them while they wait; you offer a loaner car for up to one hour if they wish not to stay while their vehicle is serviced. Third, suppose customer service is your number one company value; it’s plastered on your window, decals, free pens, refrigerator magnets, and company invoices. Fourth, you belong in the front office, not micro-managing your service technicians who are managed by your service manager. You wear a nice clean white shirt with the company logo over your left breast pocket, no tie, and navy blue Dockers. Your fingernails are clean and it’s clear you’re the owner, not the owner-manager, not the owner-operator. Lastly, your greatest contribution to your shop is praising your employees with work incentives, tax-free gift cards, a monthly dinner at a nice restaurant for employees and their families on your expense account, and building a customer loyalty with individual service technicians by offering extra incentives for repeat customers.
I would venture to say that your shop stands a better chance of succeeding than an owner-operator shop with fewer employees, longer waits, no personal service, in a high-crime area of town. Your customer, if brave enough to leave their car at your shop for two hours, would not venture next door to rent a movie or get something to eat if the buildings on either side of your shop are abandoned with high grass surrounding poorly kept structures with broken glass and oil spills.
Helpful Hints:
1. Pick a business that interests you and write down each of your five roles described above; how will the business survive given the roles you intend to take in running the business?
2. Go into a Midas Muffler shop and notice how clean the work area and lobby are; how customer-friendly the manager is, what type of customers are attracted to the shop?
3. Pick three roles: owner, manager, and technician of a service related business and see where you are most comfortable. Ask yourself why.
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Republication of The Executive Connection SM in paper media is encouraged and permitted by individuals, organizations and associations, as long as the issue is reprinted in its entirety, without change, and includes the contact information.
With advance permission, we are happy to edit an issue to fit your space requirements. Republication also is encouraged under other circumstances. However, the advance permission of A. Keith Barton, Ph.D. must be obtained in the event that changes in the text are desired.
The Executive Connection SM Mission:
The Executive Connection SM is dedicated to helping first-time business owners and executives to recognize resistance to change, while they create and manage their own businesses. My goal is to help you transform your vision into a successful business venture with the addition of accountability structures and silent partner.
The Executive Connection SM is a publication of The Virtual Executive Coach SM and Keith Barton, Ph.D.
We would like The Executive Connection SM to be as interactive as possible. If you have feedback, comments, topics you would like addressed, or can suggest additional resources to benefit us all, please email us at any time. Send your e-mail to
keith_barton@att.net
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Please forward this issue to anyone you think would find The Executive Connection SM interesting and beneficial. Your recommendation helps us keep growing, and ensures an excellent exchange of information and techniques.
Archives:
You can read previous issues of The Executive Connection SM in our archive section.
About Keith Barton, Ph.D
Dr. Barton received his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Texas at Austin and has been a practicing therapist for over thirty years. He is a graduate of MentorCoach and is accepting new clients. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina, consultant to Fortune 500 companies in executive development, founded and managed Texas Community Living Ventures, Inc., in 1986 for providing group home services to persons with mental retardation, and has been running a clinical practice in Northwest Houston since 1990. He writes part-time with the goal of completing one novel a year. His desire to coach others derives from his passionate interest in helping others become attuned to their creative powers of storytelling.
Dr. Barton has training in coaching, cognitive and family therapy and health psychology. He has published articles, made presentations and conducted workshops about:
Small Business Development
Employee Wellness Programs
Anxiety and achievement
Stress management
Self-esteem
Communication skills
Leadership styles
Core values in the workplace
Executive Development
High-performance groups
Physician support groups
Writer support groups
© 2010
The Virtual Executive Coach SM and Keith Barton.
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