Unlocking Business Success - The Value of Experts

Experts Can Help Businesses Avoid Costly Problems And Mistakes

When starting a new business or other venture, one of the most valuable lessons any business owner or manager can learn is to know and understand the errors of those who've walked this path before. Much of this can be obtained through reading books or articles. While this is relatively inexpensive or even free, it is time consuming and may lack the detail you need in a specific instance. This is why it’s important to enlist the help of an experienced professional when you realize you may be in over your head… or perhaps even before that.

“Experienced professionals” come in many forms. Some are best defined as mentors who started their own businesses, perhaps winding their career down, who act as advisers to educate others on how to operate their businesses. Mentors are an excellent resource for new business owners as they can provide insights or ideas that a new business owner may not realize until years down the road. Even small tips and suggestions can provide unanticipated benefits and prevent problems that would take a substantial amount of time to fix.

There are also professionals like accountants, lawyers, or other consultants with specialized training in a narrow set of highly defined skills. While mentors generally educate and inform, these professionals are typically engaged to educate and/or perform work for the company. One of the advantages to using such professionals is that they can answer specific questions with real world examples at different levels of detail and investigate issues in a more directed manner that applies to the client’s situation. In addition to greater detail, they can often get results faster and often better given their experience.

When does it make sense to get a mentor or hire a professional? It depends, but it’s usually a good idea to get a mentor or to speak with someone who does what you’re looking to do before you launch to get the basics and answer your questions. It’s also a good idea before officially starting a business to speak to an accountant or business consultant to answer more specific questions and even to check on what your mentor has told you. If they give the same answers, you have greater confidence that they’re right. If they give conflicting answers, it may be a sign that you need to look into things a bit more to understand why their answers differ.

While the questions to ask differ from business to business, some things you’ll definitely want to cover are business structure (e.g., LLC, S-Corp, etc.) and specific rules about what your state requires for registering your business, hiring employees, and filing sales and other taxes. It can also help to ask when certain actions need to be taken and how that will affect other decisions such as when you can start selling, when you can hire, etc. While there is a lot of generic advice out there that may make sense for some operations, it may be disastrous to follow based on what you or your business are going to do. It’s better to build on a solid foundation rather than try to fix it after the business is already being built.

Another important time to speak to experts is when you start to see problems that aren’t getting worked out. A common trend among businesses that have failed is they’ve waited too long to get help in solving something they can’t figure out on their own, causing the problem to magnify and have the detrimental effects add up or multiply. While paying for an expert early may seem costly, waiting longer usually makes the problem more difficult and much more expensive to correct.

With the intense competition in today's business world, your business needs every advantage it can get. Getting assistance from financial experts or strategy consultants may seem like a luxury, but the reality is this is an investment in your business as well as insurance for its future. If you have any questions or even if you’re not sure what questions to ask, give Brightleaf a call. Let's set your business up for success from the start.

- John Thrush

Unlocking Business Success - The Importance Of Company Culture

A Strong Company Culture Benefits Employees, Managers, And Clients

One of the biggest challenges in running a small business is finding the right people. This is especially true with the many fluctuations in the market over the past few years. Finding people with the right skills and experience is hard enough, but finding the ones that understand the goals of the business and who will help the business grow can be the real challenge in hiring. It can be made easier, though, by deciding upon the shared values and standards that will be used to operate the company. There are also tangible benefits in having a company with a strong and positive company culture experience.

Company culture fosters increased employee engagement by creating a sense of belonging and purpose. When they enjoy their work, they contribute more and provide improved productivity with collaboration, innovation, and high performance. And when employees feel valued and respected, they are more likely to stay with the company. This leads to reduced turnover and greater continuity in operations. A culture in alignment will also remain focused and stay on course, even during challenging times, and will enable the business to achieve objectives with unity and purpose.

A natural byproduct of an organization that lives by its values and standards is that it starts to become a magnet for like-minded talent. Companies with a reputation for a positive work culture are more likely to attract skilled professionals who are aligned with the company's goals and mission. This helps in building a talented team that can drive the business forward.

The concept of “the customer is always right” has shifted over the years to move towards “the employee is always right”. This isn’t to say we’re giving up on customers, but rather that we realize our employees are a direct reflection of the company to the customers and that employees who feel valued and respected are more likely to want to provide better service and an overall better customer experience. And this improved experience is valuable: customers are willing to pay more for products and services while having more loyalty to and trust in the brand. 

A strong company culture is no longer just a nice-to-have but a critical component to operating and growing a small business. It influences every aspect of the organization, from employee satisfaction and productivity to customer loyalty and business resilience. This is why every business should prioritize cultivating and nurturing a positive company culture as they strive for growth and success.

- John Thrush

Unlocking Business Success - Mitigating Risks and Safeguarding Your Business

Knowing Potential Risks And Having Possible Solutions Prepared Makes Managing Your Business Less Stressful

In this third installment in our series on business success we talk about identifying risks to your business and how to prepare for and limit the potential damage they can cause. Because starting a business requires a high level of confidence in your concept and capabilities, this can be a challenge for business owners. It is often the case that the people who think through all the risks decide against starting a business at all. Those who have an unrealistic level of confidence refuse to consider the risks usually make unrealistic decisions that cause the business to fail; however, the ones who anticipate and plan for the risks are the ones who are best prepared to overcome them and keep their business alive and thriving.

The first step in reducing risks to your business is to identify what could go wrong. One of the main things to consider is competition. What other companies offer similar products or services as your company and why would a customer choose to buy from them over you? What would happen if customers didn’t want to buy what you’re selling anymore because of changes in the market or consumer behavior? Other risks could include potential regulations that might affect certain locations or even an entire industry. Another major risk for a business is the loss of key personnel, particularly those with special skills or certifications that may prevent work from getting done.

To protect the business, the owners and managers must think through how to respond to and mitigate potential risks. For example, protecting a business from competition can be done by identifying how other businesses position themselves to differentiate your operations. If the industry in which you operate is at risk of change, you may look to differentiate or update your business to cater to the market changes. For example, as many retail shops face challenges from online shopping, some have chosen to shift to a more service based approach by providing more information and allowing customers to physically see and handle items before they purchase. They may also offer a higher level of quality than online retailers provide. They may also offer training or maintenance for their offerings as a way to continue to engage with current customers while also to draw in customers that bought online.

Handling changes in regulations is a bit more of a challenge. Local businesses can address this by getting involved in local government to have early knowledge about what’s being discussed so they can ensure they contribute to those decisions. For industry wide issues, this may mean being involved in trade groups or other organizations that can or are discussing issues on a larger scale in order to control the impact or at least get advance notice to give more time to adjust and adapt.

Regarding staff, it’s important for business managers to understand all the roles employees play in an organization and to figure out what might happen if someone leaves for an extended period of time. Having complete redundancy in the organization may not be possible without significant expense, but having some cross-training and documentation can help prevent full paralysis if someone leaves and can’t be replaced quickly. Another option in the event of the loss of a key leader in the organization is having insurance to reduce the financial impact and to find a replacement. “Key person” insurance is a type of life insurance offered by most commercial insurance providers.

Speaking of insurance, it’s always a good idea to have insurance coverage to protect against certain events. General liability, professional liability (or errors and omissions), cyber protection (or data breach), and others are some of the types of insurance available. It’s worth talking to an insurance agent to discuss these options. Insurance alone is no substitute to the exercise of thinking through the risks, but is rather a decision to be made after considering which risks are possible or likely to affect your company.

This is just a brief overview of looking at and thinking through how to respond to the risks to your business. While many business owners and managers can identify risks, it sometimes helps to work with a third party to think through possible responses and solutions and to develop plans so, if something bad does happen, determining a course doesn’t become a crisis and instead becomes a routine business decision. Brightleaf Consulting Group has been helping businesses respond to risks for 15 years now and we’d love to help your company, too.

- John Thrush

Unlocking Business Success - Enhancing Efficiency and Productivity

Adopting efficiency can make your job easier with better results

Continuing our series on business success is discussing the role of efficiency in improving a company’s performance. One of the best ways for a company to outperform its competitors is to be able to produce results in less time or with less waste.

An example that is still cited for improving efficiency and productivity is the assembly line used by Ford Motors over a century ago. While Ford often gets the credit, the concept predates their usage by automotive manufacturer Oldsmobile, though it was used in the shipbuilding industry before that. The general idea is that, rather than being produced by one group from start to finish, the production of a manufactured item is divided into multiple stages where specialists can focus on and optimize their segments. Similar results have been achieved using the same concept in many other industries such as housing, clothing, electronics, computers, and many other consumer goods.

So what lessons can smaller companies take from this? One way would be to streamline business processes. You would first document the full process, then analyze it. Are there any redundant steps that can be eliminated? Are there any steps that can be simplified? Do all the steps have to be done in order or can some be done ahead of time or at the same time as other processes are completing? If two people worked on it together, could they get it done in less than half the time as a single person?

A question all businesses need to ask is how technology can be used to improve efficiency. There are many examples we can see regularly. Look at the number of shops and restaurants that use a “Point Of Sale” system to keep track of sales while also recording all transactions. These also make it easier to transmit restaurant orders to the kitchen rather than making paper tickets. These are often combined with Inventory Management Systems to more quickly provide information about what is available and what must be ordered.

Even small companies can improve results and increase speed by implementing software to help with project management, business development, and collaboration within the company or with clients. And while there is no shortage of new solutions out there to create efficiencies, it’s very common that companies underutilize the solutions they already have. For example, Word and Excel have ways to automate repetitive tasks that can increase consistency and save time, but many users don’t even know how to use those features. Most companies don’t know the full capabilities of their software and often buy multiple tools that can do similar tasks. This is yet another way to become more efficient: making sure you don’t buy more software than you really need or really use.

There are a great many ways to improve your company’s efficiency in order to compete more effectively. While many managers have this capability, they often don’t have the  knowledge of the options or the time to focus on these things. This is why it makes sense to bring in someone from outside the company to help identify opportunities to make improvements in the organization. Brightleaf Consulting Group has been working with businesses for over a decade to help them look more closely at their operations so they can grow more effectively and efficiently. If you’ve hit a plateau and can’t seem to figure out why you’re not growing, give us a call and let’s see how we can help.

- John Thrush