Tag: business success

Keys to Business Development

Posted on by Andrew Tennent

Today I’d like to talk about the three keys to business development and how you can put the right bricks in place to build a solid foundation.

There are three main areas of business development:

  • Innovation
  • Quantification
  • Orchestration

 

If done well these three areas will help you build a solid foundation for your business. Let’s talk about each one of these for just a minute.

Innovation

Innovation should not be confused with creativity. Creativity is the expression of ideas. Innovation is taking these ideas and putting them into action. This is where a large amount of your focus should be in the beginning and throughout your business’s entire lifespan. 

Quantification

This, of course, refers to the numbers. We are talking about the value of your innovation. The best way to gauge this is by your customer response. Look to positive responses for what you are doing right-and keep doing it. Look to your negative responses to find out what you’re doing wrong-and fix it. This will enable you to keep growing and progressing with the needs of your customers and business climate.

Orchestration

Once you’ve had a chance to find what areas are working, you can narrow down those areas and concentrate on making them even better. You shift your focus here to get the most out of your business and to meet and exceed the needs of your customers.

These are great for business growth and development, but only if the business owner takes action.

Taking action is the hardest thing for most business owners to do. This is because they have to overcome the basic force of inertia. People do not like change, but for a business to succeed, it needs to change!

If you think of a business as a living thing, it needs to be nurtured as it starts growing, and then controlled and guided as it starts maturing. And once matured, it should be able to run without the business owner needing to run it.

I keep giving the facts that about 80% of small businesses fail within 3 years, and probably the biggest reason they fail is because the business owner does not take the action that is needed. 

Think about pushing a car. It takes a big effort to overcome inertia and get it rolling, but once it is moving, a lot less effort is required to keep the momentum going.

As a business owner, taking action is like that car. It takes effort to start taking action, but once you do, it is much easier to maintain momentum. 

Business coaches like myself, help business owners to take action, starting the process of business development.

Look out for my next blogs, with more strategies to help grow your business. 

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. 

A complete Turn Key Enterprise

Posted on by Andrew Tennent

The biggest area of turn-key businesses is franchises. There is franchise for ever industry in the world and they are fairly easy to acquire and come with practically a pop out of the box pre-assembled system. McDonald’s is the most famous example. In fact, a $40 billion, 28,707 strong example. 

There are a few things we are going to talk about:

  • Business Format Franchise
  • The Franchise Prototype
  • Franchise Prototype Standards

 

Business Format Franchise

The business format franchise came from an earlier model called the “trade name” franchise. The big change was in the rights. During the “trade name” days the franchise owner only had marketing right’s, now franchise owners have owning rights to the entire business including systems. This has allowed for a shift in focus to go from the quality and name recognition of the products carrying the business to sales techniques that carry the business.

The Franchise Prototype

It was really the franchise prototypes that allowed for the changes to be made that help today’s franchises really shine with the techniques developed by the owners instead of the corporation. This can make a significant difference in the success of the franchise as the owner can custom tailor their marketing and promotions to the direct needs of their local target customers.

Franchise Prototype Standards

Now, the above being said, no one in their right mind would purchase a franchise if the parent company didn’t have a solid plan of action set up to ensure the prospective success of the business. So, there are a few standards that are put into place that helps jump start the process of opening a successful franchise.

Build model of prospective customers/clients, suppliers, creditors and employees who will consistently offer high quality work.

  1. Build a user-friendly model that can be used by individuals of any skill set.
  2. Build a defect-free model.
  3. Build a model with Operations Manuals.
  4. Build a model that will provide guaranteed, consistent results.
  5. Build a model that encompasses the same branding in color, dress and facilities codes.

 

These are all ways the parent corporation makes sure their brand stays the same and in the front of the minds of customers. When you are purchasing a widely-known brand you will attract customers just for being you and you can often charge a premium for it.

There is 1 thing that makes the franchise model successful. That 1 thing is, a clearly defined systemized business. The system includes every aspect of the business and ensures uniformity across operations. 

If you are considering purchasing a franchise or building a franchise, talk with one of our experienced business coaches during our GUIDED TOUR.

Expand the Life of Your Business

Posted on by Andrew Tennent

Today I’m going to talk about the life cycle of a business and how to get the most out of each cycle while also extended the lifespan of your business.

The four different stages of a business life cycle are:

  • Infancy
  • Adolescence
  • Growing Pains
  • Maturity

 

We’ll talk a little about what each of these cycle’s means and how they can each help expand your business’ lifespan.

 

Infancy

This is generally consider the technician’s phase, which is the owner. At this point, the relationship between the business and the owner is that of a parent and new baby. There is an impenetrable bond that is necessary to determine the path your business will follow.

The key is to know your business must grow in order to flourish. You cannot stage in this stage forever.

Adolescence

In this stage you need to start bringing your support staff together to delegate to and allow growth to happen. The first line of defense is your technical person as they need to bring a certain level of technical experience. This cycle really belongs to the manager though. The plan stage needs to start and a relationship should be built with the entrepreneur to plan for the future.

Growing Pains

There’s a point in every business when business explodes and becomes chaotic. This is referred to as growing pains. It’s a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. You are often faced with a number of choices:

  • Avoid growth and stay small
  • Go broke
  • Push forward into the next cycle

 

Maturity

The last cycle is maturity, though this doesn’t mean the end of your business. Your passion for growth must continue in order for your business to succeed. You need to keep an entrepreneurial perspective in order to push your business forward.

You see how all three of these cycles are connected and depend on a strong foundation for each one of them for your business to be and continue to be successful. All three of your key roles must also work together to work through these cycles.

If you’re having trouble putting together your business life cycles and figuring out which of the key roles you fit into, try our GUIDED TOUR and work with one of our amazing coaches.

Are You Aiding & Abetting E-Myths?

Posted on by Andrew Tennent

We are going to embark upon a journey through the world of e-myths and debunk them to help you avoid falling into the e-myth trap.

First, let’s take a minute to talk about what an e-myth is. An entrepreneurial myth, or e-myth, is an assumption that anyone can succeed at business with: 

  • Desire 
  • Some capital 
  • Projected a targeted profit

 

This sounds great, but it is just not realistic. Think of starting a business as a marathon. Sure, everyone starts out of the gate at record pace, but after a few miles people start slowing and some drop out entirely. Building a successful business takes stamina and agility. This is proven by the fact that 84% of businesses fail within 5 years.

The reality is that there are many different facets to a successful business and none of them can be ignored if you plan to find success. A business owner needs to continue learning everything they can about business. This learning can be through seminars, courses, books, video lessons, coaches, mentors, etc. 

Let’s take a minute to talk about entrepreneurial seizure. Most people work for a big part of their lives before they come to the realisation that they wanted more. The then buy or start a business with the limited knowledge that they have. They go through a roller coaster of emotions that comes with starting, nurturing and the potential failure of a business. 

The emotions that occur, in order, are:

  • Exhilaration
  • Exhaustion
  • Despair 
  • Sense of self-loss 

 

This is usually caused by the e-myths and assumptions we talked about. You can get your hopes so high on instant success that even the smallest lag and you are sent into an emotional tailspin. This is also brought on by the stark realization that you can’t do it all and will need help in the areas where you don’t have the knowledge. Now, faced with limited choices you may feel like you need to back out and hide, but don’t do this. 

Use our GUIDED TOUR to get the business coaching you need to avoid feeling overwhelmed and defeated.