Owning your own business is one of the most rewarding adventures you can endure; it can also be a stressful adventure. With a great deal of time management and organisation, you can strike an efficient balance between the rewards and the stress:
A going concern is a business that functions without the threat of liquidation for the foreseeable future, usually regarded as, at least, within 12 months. Running a business comes with a lot of challenges. According to experts, these challenges are likely to increase as the excitement the business owners feel when they first set up the business wears off. Those who go into business just because they want to be their own bosses or because that’s what their peers are doing, will find it more difficult to overcome these challenges and keep their business running smoothly, experts say. This is because they are likely to lose interest in the business and therefore, fail to put in the creativity and drive the business needs to grow. To help you to improve your business and run it effectively, experts suggest:
Avoid hoarding knowledge
Yes, you are the boss and employees look up to you to provide direction and leadership; many of them even expect you to ‘know everything’ or more than they know. As a result, you may be tempted to hoard information. But this is one urge experts say you have to resist. According to them, while there is the need, as an entrepreneur, to strive to have as much knowledge as possible about your industry, and about how your company functions, there is also a need for you to freely share your knowledge. By sharing information or knowledge, experts say you can boost staff morale. This is because your employees will truly feel being a part of the company and make more effort towards its growth. When you hoard knowledge, however, you may leave them alienated and ‘force’ them to be less loyal. If your business is such that has branches or offices in other parts of the country and you can reach your employees regularly, such steps as having a newsletter can help you to pass information to them. Information contained in newsletters does not have to be strictly about the organisation or the industry; it could contain safety or personal finance tips, for instance.
Stay up to date
One of the reasons some businesses have failed to live up to expectation, according to experts, is because their owners are stuck in the past – they do little about research, neither do they follow happenings in the industry. According to experts, in every industry, there are facts or data upon which decision making ought to be based. When you ignore such information, you may end up with a business that is out of touch with reality. This is more so because the information keeps changing. Your competitors, consumer expectation, etc. constantly change, and experts stress that you must keep tabs on similar developments and make appropriate changes. You need to constantly find out what people want, what is the trend, who are your competitors now etc? Regardless of whether you have employees who are responsible to monitor such information, you need to have an idea about it.
Take your customers seriously
As many businesses grow, as the customers flood in, there is the tendency for them to be taken for granted. Experts say you must guard against this. Don’t forget that the way you treated your customers on their first visit is part of the reason they came back again. Experts advise that you must always ensure that customer service is a priority for you. This, they say, is because without the customers, you will be out of business. While doing your best to keep existing customers happy through an excellent customer service, experts say you can also attract more customers via networking and existing clients.
Don’t just set the standard, keep it
Many businesses that are battling for customers today once had customers queuing for their services and products. Experts say many of them raised the bar when they first started, but failed to keep it after years in the business. So, you did your research then, found out what was obtainable in the industry and improved on it. What stopped you from making it a habit? Once your competitors see that one approach is effective, they are likely to not only copy it, but to try to improve on it. This is part of the reasons experts warn that business owners should not just set the standard, but also keep improving on it. The idea is to start off strong and when the business gets busy, strive not to let your standards slip. To achieve this, and possibly improve on the standard, experts say it is important to keep your employees motivated and happy.
Lead by example
As the boss, leading your team is not just about giving directives and laying down rules, it is equally about playing your role and keeping the goal in focus at all times. Experts say your team is likely to take a cue from you, your actions and mood. Once you lose your focus or relax, so will they. They advise that you stay motivated and on top of the game. According to them, keeping your eye on your goal is essential to successfully running your business.
The Chief Executive Officer, Telex Management Consultancy, Mr. Shina Adebiyi, says your passion for the business will play a huge part in your ability to stay focused. According to him, if you are not passionate about your business, over time – as the challenges increase – you will be more likely to quit the business and move on to something else. He explains that if you are passionate about your business, “if there are challenges along the way, your heart will tell you ‘keep on, you will make it;’ and then you will start using your skills to address the challenges.”
Stay creative
Experts say a great entrepreneur wakes up every day thinking of ways to improve his business. By doing this, they say he is unlikely to get complacent. While it may not be possible to improve the business every day, by thinking this way, they say a business owner is unlikely to get left behind as he will almost certainly seize every opportunity to add something new and creative to his business. Experts say it is therefore important that business owners make research a constant thing and review the performance of their business regularly. Are you doing better than you were last month? What is responsible for the change? Asking yourself, such questions are important.
Outdo yourself
Regardless of what has been achieved, experts say great business owners always strive to do better. So, you set a target and after 10 years you achieved the target. What is going to happen for the next 10 years? While it is up to you to decide, experts say failure to set a target, which is an improvement on your initial target, will only leave room for your competitors to displace you – that is if you are already at the top.
Credit: Punch newspaper (November 19, 2013)
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