An oft-repeated, powerful statement by Henry Ford reads, “You can take my factories and burn up my buildings, but give me my people and I’ll build the business right back again.” Its relevance and realization has only increased over a period of time. Extending this logic further, the people with the responsibility of ‘talent management’ should be even more valuable because they take care of this most important asset of the organization. But, is it really so? And if not, why not?

First of all, we need to recognize the fact that with time, the paradigm of business has changed. While capital and cash flows remain important; brand, technology and intellectual capital have become the new measures of success. The role of HR has also changed accordingly. It is becoming increasingly important for an HR manager to understand business & what drives it. The HR has to move up from day-to-day operational level to the role of change agent and strategic partner. It may be perfectly alright for HR to focus on aligning employee-oriented processes; but what they need to ask themselves is the very purpose of this exercise… and the answer is very clear – Whatever does not make business sense, can not make HR sense!

The challenges before HR can not be seen in isolation. HR professionals need to understand the challenges before their organizations. They must respond to the requirements of today and prepare for tomorrow as well. With ever increasing use of technology, transactional functions are now much better performed by automated systems. Computerized processes can add a lot of speed and accuracy to data capturing and analysis, and facilitate decision making in much improved manner. As such, real value addition from HR will come from rising above the transactional level and operating at the strategic and transformational level.

HR is responsible to ensure that good people are adequately rewarded; but more important than that is realization that the rewards must come out of earnings. Performance Management System must be able to measure human capital’s contribution to business performance. HR role has to be as a consultative business partner rather than an employee advocate or people police. To repeat, whatever does not make business sense, can not make HR sense. HR needs to command respect, which is not available ‘on demand’. And to command respect, HR has to be an influencer, which is possible only by adding value and thus increasing its credibility.

The bottom line is that it is impact and not intention that matters. It is not how good your intentions are or how much you want things to improve; it is how measurable a difference you are making for the organization to achieve its business goals. HR people need to come out of their dream world of self admiration and reorient themselves for acquiring business acumen to understand operational systems and how to support and leverage these systems through their proactive approach, so as to achieve organization’s business objectives.

By: Ashok Grover

About the Author:

So you’ve got a sound business plan and all systems are go. Now all you need are cash resources to get things going. Seems simple, right?

While shoddy management is cited most frequently as the reason businesses fail, inadequate or ill-planned financing is a close second. Whether you’re starting a business or expanding one, sufficient, available capital is essential as is the knowledge and ability to manage it well. This ensures that entrepreneurs avoid common mistakes like securing the wrong type of financing, miscalculating the amount required, or underestimating the cost of borrowing money.

In general, there are two types of financing: equity and debt financing. When looking for money, you must consider your company’s debt-to-equity ratio, that is, the relation between dollars you’ve borrowed and dollars you’ve invested in your business. The more money owners have invested in their business, the easier it is to attract financing.
Equity or Debt Financing: Which Way to Go?

Equity Financing: Most small businesses use limited equity financing with the most common source of professional equity funding coming from venture capitalists (VCs). VCs are institutional risk takers and may be groups of wealthy individuals, government-assisted sources, or major financial institutions. Most specialize in one or a few closely related industries. The high-tech industry of California’s Silicon Valley is a well-known example of capitalist investing.

VCs most often prefer three-to-five-year old companies with the potential to significantly grow and return higher-than-average profits to shareholders. While VCs capitalists may examine thousands of prospective investments annually, they only invest in a handful. Important considerations for VCs include the possibility of a public stock offering, quality management, competitive advantage and industry growth. This type of financing is ideal for new businesses since venture capital firms focus on the future prospects of a company when banks use past performance as a primary criteria.

You can contact these investors directly, although they typically make their investments through referrals. The U.S Small Business Administration (aka SBA: www.sba.gov) also licenses Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) and Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment companies (MSBIs), which offer equity financing. Apple Computer, Federal Express and Nike received financing from SBICs at important stages of their growth.

Debt Financing: There are many sources for debt financing: banks, savings and loans, commercial finance companies, and the SBA are the most common. State and local governments have developed many programs in recent years to encourage the growth of small businesses in recognition of their positive effects on the economy.

Traditionally, banks have been the major source of small business funding. Their primary role has been as a short-term lender offering loans, lines of credit, and single-purpose loans for machinery and equipment. The SBA guaranteed lending program encourages banks and non-bank lenders to make long-term loans to small firms by reducing their risk and leveraging the funds they have available. Moreover, the SBA’s programs have been an integral part of the success stories of thousands of firms nationally.

It’s also worth mentioning letters of credit. A letter of credit is a guarantee from a bank that a specific obligation will be honored by the bank if the borrower fails to pay. Although the bank pays no funds, the credit requirements for a line of credit and a letter of credit are similar.

For additional resources on small business financing options, visit www.sba.gov or www.jumpstartinc.org

By: Andrew Brown

About the Author:

This article is written about a ‘real’ business with ‘real’ people issues. It is not intended to be ‘an answer all’ article however to provoke some thoughts in the reader that there are possibilities aside from the insolvency professionals.

By way of background this business had no idea that they were about to trade insolently or that bankruptcy was an impending consequence of poor people mismanagement and inattention to detail.

We look at the human resource consequences. While there were financial, sales, marketing and other imperatives these are not addressed here although we did with the business.

Definitions

• Insolvency refers to a business unable to pay its creditors. A business is solvent if and only if, it is able to pay all its debts, as and when they become due and payable.

• Bankruptcy is the legal process in which a person or business declares inability to pay debts. Any available assets are sold and the proceeds are distributed to creditors by a trustee in bankruptcy usually a specialist accountancy practice.

The signs of Insolvency and Bankruptcy

There are many sign that may point to a business trading insolently or about to go bankrupt knowingly or unknowingly.

These signs can include:

• Declining employee moral with employees picking up that all is not well in your business; overwork, increased management meetings, veiled threats and mutterings, threats, resignations, firings and the list goes on;

• An increase in rumour mill traffic (the grapevine effect);

• For no apparent reason or communication management begins to make unreasonable demands on employees and starts to engage in harassment and unreasonable behaviour;

• The business cannot pay its invoices and sometimes employee wages are late, you begin to receive increased telephone calls requesting payment however management make vague promises;

• The business financier calls to see management;

• You begin to receive threatening creditor communication;

You (the employee) suspect the worst and one day you are called to a meeting and told the company has gone into voluntary or forced liquidation (bankruptcy) and has ceased to trade and asked to leave your employment.

Case Study – The ‘Business’ – An Overview

We assisted a well known business that had very high brand awareness and a reputation for being at the forefront of its industries services and technology. This business was part of a global business that had products and services.

The dynamics of the business were not simple and included:

• 32 sites – city and remote areas thousands of kilometers apart;

• A business weakened by internecine rivalry, a lack of communication and trust between sites with a refusal to share knowledge or help;

• A culture of fear and disempowerment,

• A lack of trust in management that seemed justified;

• A lack of essential equipment and skills to perform their duties;

• A background that included; five months previously senior European management had dismissed local managers and had not replaced them leaving the business leaderless at the ‘coal face’;

• A very high employee turnover and a loss of corporate skills and history which had never been documented;

• Financial records were found to be incorrect with a number of clients not invoiced and other clients invoiced more than once resulting in an understatement of company debt and accounts payable running in the majority 180 days plus;

• Ethnic rivalry – employees from different nationalities wood not work cooperatively together and displaying open hostility towards each other;

• The stock (share) value of the company was zero dollars in real terms.

Finding the Solution

Finding a solution to these many problems was not going to be found in a packaged solution or come in a box.

We undertook travel and urgent discussions with employees visiting their locations and interviewing them listening to their concerns in addition to interviewing key employees on a one to one basis.

We sought to unearth employees concerns and finding the common causes of concern. As time was of the essence we were required to address employee concerns quickly while demonstrating management commitment by conduct.

The Results of the Employee Fact Finding Mission

We discovered that employees felt abandoned and had no faith in management. Where employees had confided in management and received assurances their grievances would be address this had not happened: all talk and NO action.

We found that employees where genuinely under-resourced with outdated equipment and in some cases no equipment hindering profit generation and resulting in increased customer frustration.

Salaries and wages had not received any pay reviews for a number of years resulting in employees sabotaging the business by refusing to supply information to each other or the European Head Office and refusing to supply documentation that was required to invoice clients.

We uncovered many other issues that could be quickly resolved and some that would take much more work.

Financial pressures and employee sabotage finally forced management to take drastic action.

How we assisted the Company back from the brink of Bankruptcy

Addressing employee concerns and grievances through Human Resource Interventions became a key to the success of this businesses ability to survive and thrive once again.

Every employee had his or her grievances managed and solved quickly and an apology given where appropriate. A review of employee remuneration was conducted with a written promise that once the company’s financial position improved they would be given a further review based on productivity and other key performance indicators that had been agreed to.

A timeline was given and approved for update and installation of new equipment. The business began a weekly communications newsletter sharing with each site and employee milestones, good news and what was happening as well as offering employees an opportunity to submit an article for inclusion.

Financiers had placed intense pressure on the company with veiled threats ‘to pull the pin’ (not support the company) and require repayment of the debt immediately. Negotiations were undertaken with the financier with a solid plan for change and retiring the debt. This included information on what had been put in place to increase productivity and how this would be managed and how this would lead to increased profits.

Financiers approved an extension of the debt for 6 months only.

Changes in Head Office included

The business employed a General Manager and Accountant with excellent people skills and human resource experience and knowledge. Next the business undertook to uncover the ‘real’ financial position of the company by having errors investigated and corrected, ensuring that people who owed the company money (debtors) were contacted and payments received within business terms.

The business completed a skills matrix of all human resources resulting in employment of additional practitioners and a SWOT analysis in addition to promoting existing employees to management where there was a need. We appointed the most experienced employee to document company procedures; operational, technical, financial and other documentation requirements.

Changes at Sites included

The business engaged all employees at sites as to their site specific concerns and subsequently authorised training where training was required for all employees over a period of time as finances allowed.

Obsolete assets and equipment were retired and new equipment was purchased as finance allowed. The issue of cultural sensitivities was addressed honestly and recommendation made on what could be done.

Employees longer term goals were documented. The business ensured that employees who had not taken holidays in years went on leave and had adequate rest. We undertook a review of revenue and costs to see how the company could minimise costs and maximise revenue (income) including employees ideas which did result in a large increase in revenue. The marketing and sales strategy that we implemented went against normal conventional advice and strategies however it immediately had the impact of dramatically increasing revenue.

As a result senior Asian and European management began to notice this turn around and employees were commended for the results.

Organisational Wide Changes

Many organisational changes were made however we do not cover them in this article.

Skills required optimizing your human resources when dealing the potential of bankruptcy (from a human resource perspective) included

1. Listening skills.

2. Ensure you understand the dynamics of the people you are working with and not take someone else’s word for them.

3. Include and work with your financial people and take time to learn how to read a basic profit and loss and balance sheet if you are a human resources practitioner. Show interest and ask questions.

4. Include your key employees in everything you do to obtain buy-in.

5. Explain to your employees your financial dilemmas and keep them updated – be honest.

6. Take advice from the ‘right’ person – someone who has experience.

7. Prepare a skills matrix so that you know the hidden potential latent in your organisation.

8. If you need to make people redundant for operational purposes manage the process compassionately, do not procrastinate and be upfront with all employees if there may be further redundancies.

9. Keep people updated and thanked for their efforts.

10. Know your people. Many business owners spend more time and money on their motor vehicle than developing their most valuable assets: people.

11. Learn to delegate to proven results oriented people and not those who work long hours.

12. Remember working long hours does not mean productivity and may indicate a deeper issue of wanting to be seen.

A Word of Encouragement

One of the key factors in having the possibility to trade a business out of impending insolvency or bankruptcy is communication.

It is not an easy task and requires much patience, wisdom and business experience. It cannot be learnt in a laboratory or by getting an MBA.

It often takes a gut feel for the business and softer sills such as employee relations and human resource management. These softer skills are often despised or neglected but I have found them paramount in all spheres of corporate and business life requiring difficult situations.

The application of sheer accounting will not solve it (I am also a qualified accountant and once practiced accounting so can confidently assert this point).

You must communicate effectively and swiftly before momentum is lost.

You can be successful but you will be beset initially with resistance to change, employee sabotage (until they see you are genuine), interference by those who do not want you to be successful, you will face scorn by those pretenders in the business community who come to you with packaged solutions and whose interest it is to flog you packaged, and in my opinion, useless products and services.

It can be done and it’s up to you.

This article does not do justice to the price you and many other people must pay to regain ground; it’s not for the faint hearted. Simply we/I encourage you to believe and have the conviction to do what you believe.

The company today thrives has its share price increased and continues to grow as a market leader.

Having now been involved in this process at least 3 times the writer can attest to this truthfully.

YOU can optimise your employees to keep a business from potential bankruptcy!

Visit www.biz-momentum.com for other articles that are written to assist your business. We operate Australia wide and undertake international assignments.

By: Philip Lye

About the Author:

The purpose of adopting a quality standards framework is to enable and encourage small businesses to strive for excellence. In some industries, such standards are imposed by government regulations. In fact, the drive for compliance is becoming more and more the norm in an effort to guarantee a minimum level of quality of services to customers.

Effective small business owners and managers engage in best practice activities anyway, and the adopting of standards underpins their business policy development. They take a proactive approach to striving for excellence in their business because they know that by doing so they will achieve highly successful financial results and their key business objectives.

The structure for developing a set of standards within your business requires thinking about the kind of business you are in. The next step is to make a commitment to best practice in the industry sector of which your business is a part.

The following seven areas serve as a guide for aligning and integrating excellence in business:

Build leadership and management capacity Develop a strategic business plan Inculcate customer focus throughout your business Deliver products and services that provide value Create a developmental culture Adopt a common decision making framework Measure your business performance

One – Build Leadership And Management Capacity

Implementing this principle ensures that the business owner and managers are committed and dedicated to the purpose and the direction of the business. The leaders of the business show the way, through their own beliefs, attitudes and behavior. They engage in their own leadership skills development as a constant.

The leaders in the business are the ones who must live the mission, vision and values of the business, on a daily basis and at all times in everything that they say and do. They adopt an ‘always learning’ mindset.

Two – Develop A Strategic Business Plan

Effective business owners have a deep and thorough understanding of the nature and direction of their business. To this end, they clearly articulate the vision they have for their business within the framework of the small business plan. Everyone in the business understands the business plan. Everyone knows what their roles, responsibilities and accountabilities are in bringing about the results that have been spelled out for achieving the vision of the business.

Three – Inculcate A Customer Focus Throughout Your Business

Everything that is done within a business is about delivering quality outcomes and results for customers. The effective business owner knows who his or her customers are, where they are located and what their needs are. With this knowledge in hand, they then ensure that their customer needs are met and, indeed, exceeded. Systems, policy development, procedures, processes and measures are all essential in achieving this area of excellence.

Four – Deliver Products And Services That Provide Value

The effective business owner and manager always make sure that their business provides value for money with their product/service range. This means having proper controls in place for quality assurance, from product design and development, production, distribution and customer follow-up and feedback. These control mechanisms are indicative of an ongoing, continuous improvement culture that ensures value for customers on a consistent basis.

Five – Create A Developmental Culture

The successful business owner creates an ethos where continuous learning is the hallmark of pursuing excellence in everything that is done. This is evidenced from the recruitment stage through to exiting. All the employees in a value-based business are employed as being competent and being the ‘best fit’ for the business. They are always developing, both personally and professionally. They all have development plans that are aligned to business objectives and performance outcomes.

Six – Adopt A Common Decision Making Framework

Effective decision-making is critical in achieving excellence. Successful high performing business environments adopt a common language and agreed ways of arriving at best-balanced choices, reaching conclusions, resolving conflict and making hard-edged decisions. Everyone in high performing business cultures knows what these frameworks are and uses the tools consistently to ensure common understanding in the implementation of problem solving/conflict resolution.

Seven – Measure Your Business Performance

Establishing benchmarks and measuring results and performance against agreed objectives and outcomes will insure high performance and excellence in business. Such measures are identified and spelled out in concrete terms in relation to the other six areas listed above.

By: Peter McLean

About the Author:

Your cleaning company’s success is your top priority, and now, we’ve just made it easier to locate anything you need to ensure the continued success of your cleaning company. As your business grows and evolves, you’ll find that we are keeping pace and will consistently provide new product information, new trends in business structures, breaking news regarding the economic outlook and so much more. In our efforts to keep the information streamlined and current, you’ll notice we’ve categorized much of the site for ease of use.

-Product Information
-Recent Trends
-Tax Options
-Employee Benefits Offerings
-Outside Economic Factors

We encourage feedback from company owners and invite you to participate in ongoing blogs and other communication vehicles.

Finally, free business resources for cleaning companies have come full circle. Whether you’re searching for a new floor buffer or are just wondering what current owners are saying about the latest models, you’re sure to find it here. Trends suggest a continued surge in cleaning company ownerships and we’re responding to these trends. We anticipate the largest community available anywhere on the web – and we want you to be a part of it. Your contribution will only enhance our site. No matter if you’re a large janitorial company specializing in large company cleaning contracts or if you’re a small business owner targeting homes and smaller businesses, there’s something to gain from our site.

If there are new franchises about to emerge, you’ll find the information here. If you’re seeking to grow your company by hiring trustworthy employees, check their references from former employers who are online seeking the same resources as you are, you can do that here as well. Swap horror stories or easier and more effective ways to clean windows – the choice is yours because the community is yours.

Recent statistics show a surge in small business owners, up nearly 9% in the past ten years. Clearly, working for our selves has become the new American dream. In fact, there are currently 4.6 million Americans who employed by small business with less than 100 employees. That trend is only expected to continue. As more people are losing faith in “big business” in America, a new faith is being borne of the small business owner.

New franchises are being developed every day, and those new developments will require even more small business owners seeking to own their own franchise, with complete support and backing of a national chain.

We are also compiling a large database of resources for obtaining small business loans, credit lines and expansion efforts in every region of the country. We invite you to scour our free business resources. Cleaning companies are our business and we’re here to help your business.

By: Edward Dean

About the Author:

During my 9 year career as in house HR, the term “business acumen” was typically applied to HR in the following ways: “Our HR department needs more business acumen” or “HR has a lack of business acumen”. Inevitably, these statements would come from the company’s business leaders and would therefore ruffle the feathers of the HR leadership team. As a result, there would be “business acumen” teachable moments in our HR all hands and often times “business acumen” would land as an HR strategic priority. The problem with trying to enhance business acumen with these tactics is there was very little context given to the HR organization. Mostly comments would be centered on business acumen as being an important skill set for the HR team but no context for what it was, how to build it, or what the impact of it was. By giving the HR employees concepts with no definition or concrete frame, some individuals often struggled to pull out the pertinent pieces of information from these business acumen lessons and rarely knew how to use the information in a strategic way. To help in understanding what it is and what to do with it once you have it, read on.

To begin we must first define the concept of business acumen. Raj Charan, once said that business acumen is “…linking an insightful assessment of the external business landscape with the keen awareness of how money can be made – and then executing the strategy to deliver the desired results”. In essence, business acumen is the triangulation between, external pressures, internal strategy and commerce. Therefore, to ask the human resources professional to have more business acumen is truly about understanding where the company is going given the external market conditions and the overall company strategy and then linking this knowledge to the impact it will have on the people component of the organization. By understanding where the company is going based on these business components, human resources can impact how quickly the organization remains ahead of the curve.

For example, we often talk about the impact of emerging competitors, but what does that mean for HR. It means being attuned to the impact this will have on the recruiting base, how we retain and compensate current employees, who in the organization might be impacted, etc. In addition to being attuned, a strategy needs to emerge to address these issues quickly and effectively. What this implies is, not only do you need to know where the overall organization is going, but also have an understanding of how it impacts the organizational structure, leadership needs, retention, staffing, etc. and then make recommendations or changes based on all this information. To start, all HR professionals need to understand and internalize their businesses and driving business needs. Below are some tips on how to gain more business acumen within your organization.

4 Steps to Improving your Business Acumen:

Understand your company’s business model, structure, products and services. This means talking to people who are in the business. The goal is to understand the underlying organizational system and how you (your group) support it. Keep informed. Read the information that is passed down from your executives including press releases and market analysis. Attend all hands, investor relations calls (if applicable), strategic planning sessions or any other “live event” that will give you the latest company information. Make sure you understand how the business and HR goals link to the overall company priorities and to all the information you are receiving. Spend time ensuring your goals link to the business. If you can’t see the connection between your goals and the HR Goals or Business Goals, you are either not focusing on the right things or are still unclear about the links.

The more you immerse yourself in the language of the business the clearer it will become to you and the greater impact you will have. Once you can see the trends you can begin to offer suggestions at a more strategic level thus having a bigger impact to the company’s bottom line.

By: Silvia Johnson

About the Author:

Have you ever wanted to hire a star for your wholesale business in order to have him help you more, the intelligently way, with tight workloads and challenging daily deadlines? There are certainly ways to cope behavior when you have a team or are already building a group for growing success. However, I must say that one of the missions successful people tend to taint themselves are what kind of situations they don’t want happening? Must often those wants don’t work that well. So here are some “zero tolerance” goals for a good healthy continued year you might find indulging as we are still starting.

You need a star on your team or you have hired a star in order to grow your daily workload for pressure relief. Here’s how to improve the situation even more, as you might be working with a group that constantly should need of your presence or lacks of your seen availability: start seeing even more on what you currently have on your business on reunions , on your current team or to your advantage.

How? While reunions are a total waste of time for some companies, it will all depend with who you are working with. There’s always a small conglomerate of people that do not desire your attention, but need your presence from time to time. A small truthful those of psychology can always assist any leading person with a bit of hope, however, using your presence more in reunions might help further on. You could test to see how this outweighs behavior.

If in your wholesale business or general for Profit Company you have been working for a boss that respects you for times in decades, perhaps, isn’t time to evaluate those same people with facts and your own intuition? Creative ideas are dimes a dozen, but facts in teaching a group or a talent to eliminate being reactive while he or she doesn’t follow his own principles when telling them, might just be a future threat due to consistent never seen behavior.

A more broad example being, if you are in business for retail profits or to sell in quantities in order to profit more, shouldn’t be more healthier to your mind and pocket to monitor the people that purchase from new sources or those that are in charge to do business with a new wholesale list distributor?

Being “Strong willed” and “Self motivated” is a magnificent quality. Emailing when you can’t take it anymore has surely a strong gratuitous etiquette with a risky price tag that works if you’re honest enough; however, caring more and being understandable with those that work with you can save you a lot of headaches and time trouble. Working intelligently, smart without having to compromise your goods in order to fly even more has a price tag. Like shared before, sharing some caring time with truthful intent can help you work better for the time being.

Expect good things to start happening with your wholesale business or your general retail company. Don’t be surprised by challenging minor situations, work them patiently intelligently and smart that way it has to be, because of workload nature. Then get your healthy those of the compensation when you can and keep moving on to your full highest calling with nothing but an honest and memorable thank you at the end. The world is full of bad people, but it is always over-crowded with great people. Uplift your living!

By: Joaquin Reveron

About the Author:

For companies to increase their competitiveness, they must examine their voice, data, and video communications as strategic resources for creating competitive advantages. As with microcomputers, the costs for equipment and services related to communications are rapidly falling. At the same time, functions and capabilities are rapidly increasing. Computer and telephone technologies are merging and blending into a smoothly integrated system.

Cost effective voice, data, and video communications technologies are merging, opening new opportunities for conducting your business, and forging computer telephone integration. Strategies for using these technologies can attain the following business benefits: improved customer service; shortened customer response time; more timely information provided directly to the customer; decreased expenses; greater efficiency through electronic interactions with suppliers and customers; shortened design, manufacturing, and delivery times; increased productivity; and enhanced internal communications.

Restructuring Your Thinking

As prices for communications services and equipment have dropped, their capabilities have expanded at a rapid pace. New communications technologies are causing a restructuring of the way business is conducted. In this climate, companies must realize that restructuring is continual and inevitable — the question isn’t “do you change” but “how do you change?” How do you restructure to increase your competitive position?

Often new technologies are first justified by cost savings resulting from doing the same tasks in a new way, or by making improvements for the same cost as the original tasks. But change also means that new ways of conducting business can lead to increasing revenue from current sources and creating entirely new sources of revenue.

Using communications technologies, businesses of all sizes are able to compete by eliminating distance and time. Creating a “seamless” office with locations across the country or around the world can easily be implemented. The seamless office is one in which multiple locations are integrated. Picking up the phone at a remote site acts just like picking up a phone right in the main office. All the functions and capabilities are the same. An outside call to the main office is routed to an individual extension in the remote office just as if it was located in the main office.

With downsizing and reduction of overhead, telecommuting is increasing. The “virtual office” is becoming a greater reality. People are working out of their homes, cars, and on the road locations, in their “virtual offices”, just as if they were sitting in their company’s physical office. Your goal should be to discover how the above technologies are used to create the “seamless office” and the “virtual office” and the advantages they offer you.

From Operational Necessity to Strategic Resource

When a business adopts an attitude of viewing communications as a resource, it takes on a new view of itself and its industry. This new world view allows a thinking process to create competitive advantages and leave other firms playing “catch up.” It allows communications to move from being used simply operationally, i.e. “keeping up”, to being used strategically, as illustrated in the following progression:

Operational needs — control costs to keep up with customers and internal operations Defensive positioning — match the competition Competitive advantage — create an edge Change the rules — develop a new way of viewing and conducting business that creates a new paradigm for the industry. (Changing the rules is rare but powerful when it can be accomplished.)

Consider your business: Who within your organization looks at communications from the above viewpoint? Who will take your organization from “operational needs” to a “change the rules” position?

Move Ahead of the Pack

Challenges and opportunities are presented by new technologies. When you’re driving in your car and rapidly change acceleration, you feel a “jerk” on your whole body. That’s what many individuals feel by the rapid changes in communications and computer technologies. The companies that will thrive are the ones that take advantage of the changes to create competitive advantages and leave their competition “in their dust.”

By: Ed Mass

About the Author:

Families, both immediate and extended, are probably one of the most overlooked resources for prospective business owners. From providing childcare, giving feedback relating to your business plan and volunteering free time; if looking to start a business, look no further than your friends and family.

Concentrating on establishing a business can be hard; especially if your current duties include childcare. Enlisting the help of a family member or trusted friend to help with childcare can allow you time to concentrate on starting a business. Be sure though, not to take advantage of the help. Yes, you need to start a business; but do not alienate or upset your family. Offer a trade-off for help. Consider having designated childcare days to watch each other’s children, or if there are no children involved, offer to perform a service equivalent to the one you are receiving.

To start a successful business, the product or service offered has to be needed and desired. Enlist family and friends to listen to your business proposal and provide feedback. This is a great cost-saving measure, as the need to pay for a focus group is eliminated. Write down any suggestions and implement them into your revised business plan. Be sure to have more than one feedback session, as updated ideas can be discussed each time your business’ plan changes.

Finally, if looking to start a business, don’t forget the volunteers. From having a specialized skill to help build your business, to aiding in advertising and marketing activities; using family members as volunteers can help eliminate the need for start-up employee costs. Older children can help distribute flyers, clean-up work areas and pass out samples/coupons at in-person events. Even if unable to help, family members may still be able to help startup a business with personal recommendations and contacts relating to your business’ needs. Be sure to treat family members well and do something extra special for them: take them out to lunch, offer to perform household chores as a trade-off or even offer them a paid position; should the business require the hiring of an employee.

By having friends and family members support your business, a potential small business owner can startup a business while spending more family time together.

By: Dustin Heath

About the Author: