Posted by George Cloutier on 09/23/09 | (4) Comments
If money is tight, or you foresee problems ahead, be ruthless about slicing expenses, whether for payroll, rent or travel expenses. If you have three useless employees, get rid of them. If the expense accounts are getting out of hand, set strict limits. There’s always extra fat to trim. You have to have iron-clad fiscal discipline. Particularly in a down market, but even when the economy is robust, small business owners need to be aware of their financial positions at all times. When they start failing, the ship goes down fast.
Posted by George Cloutier on 09/21/09 | (4) Comments
You are going to feel tremendous pressure to attend your child’s ballgame or go for a long, country stroll with your husband or wife. Maybe you had a fight on Wednesday, and promised to spend the weekend together and make nice. I don’t care. That’s what jewelry is for. That’s when you treat everybody to a steak dinner. It takes less time, so you can make peace and get on with running your business.
Posted by George Cloutier on 09/19/09 | (3) Comments
When I do seminars around the country about building profits, it always stuns me when more than half the people in the room admit to not working on weekends, yet these are the same people who complain about failing to make big money. They tell me they sometimes work from home but, when pushed, admit they are doing it half-heartedly, with a football game on the television or while cooking the family dinner. If you can’t be focused while working from home, don’t bother.
I meet a lot of resistance to this from clients at first. They get angry. They say, “So what if I want to put my family first?” “Don’t you dare tell me not to go to Church!” “I deserve a normal life!” Sure you do. Of course you have every right to a life—if you don’t care about making money. Go to that ball game. A smart person, Bill Collier, even wrote a bestselling book called “How to Succeed as a Small Business Owner…and Still Have a Life.” It all sounds great on paper, but it’s never going to happen. The easy money has dried up. You can’t make a profit just by selling a slimmer cell phone or a tastier energy drink any more. But you have your priorities, and I understand. If you don’t want to put your business before all other considerations, by all means sell up or prepare yourself for a life of financial mediocrity.
Posted by George Cloutier on 09/15/09 | (3) Comments
Challenge yourself to do better, even if it means coming in on Saturdays and Sundays. You can go fishing any weekend. But the time to make a profit is always now. Business is not complicated. It all boils down to how hard you work, and how smart you work, in good times and in bad. Do more. Get more. And be ruthless in your quest to make money.
Posted by George Cloutier on 09/14/09 | (3) Comments
It’s about what the company needs, not what the employee wants. Put policies and procedures in place and explain them once. Make sure everyone toes the line. If your workers are dodging their half of the deal and still expecting to get paid, they shouldn’t be there. You can’t brook any deviation, because as soon as you allow that to happen the inmates are running the asylum. Before you know it you’ll be losing lots of money.
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