|
"Abundance"
Edition 42, June 2009
(c) 2009 ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
"Because YOUR Business should lead to ABUNDANCE."
"Abundance is produced by ThistleSea Business Development, LLC for the purpose of educating our clients, friends and associates." |
|
| Greetings!
Welcome to this edition of "ABUNDANCE".
Q: Why are most ThistleSea Business Development client's businesses prospering, growing and some even earning record revenues and profits during these tough economic times?
A: They are applying business best practices in their businesses every day.
Call or email us to learn how our coaches help business owners use best business practices to earn more profits, have more free time and help businesses be more productive.
Please enjoy this 42nd Edition of "Abundance."
Contact me if you have any suggestions or comments. We would love to hear from you.
Thanks,
JDL
John D. Laslavic, LPBC
Business Coach / President
ThistleSea Business Development
|
|
|
Dealing with the Big Three:
People, Time & Profits |
|
Part 2
By: John D. Laslavic, LPBC
Business Coach/President
ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Most business owners today are dealing with issues involving Time. How can a growing business, all of a sudden, become a business that is stalled? The owner never taking a vacation or getting time off? And, how can your business continue to grow if you, the business owner, voluntarily or involuntarily was absent from the business for 1, 3, 6 months or longer?
During these challenging months, when we face such a tough economic landscape, it is even more important to understand and manage your organization's behaviors to gain the maximum results from the Time that you and your employees devote to your business.
How do you decide what to work on as a business owner or employee? And when you decide, how long does it take to get to the tasks you need to accomplish? Do you work on your marketing, sales, staff development, customer service, systems or on producing the products or delivering the services to your clients and customers? How do you deal with the issues and the limits placed on your TIME? How do highly effective, highly efficient business owners and employees leverage their Time to move the business ahead?
To help answer these questions, let's look at the second of the three factors:
Time
As we discussed in Part 1, if any business, yours included, is to grow strong and meet your personal needs, you constantly need to innovate, please your customers, achieve market differentiation, generate profits and keep the best possible talent.
If the business owner has established and communicated a great vision of a more successful future, a plan should then be developed and actions taken to get us where we need to go to achieve this vision. With each action, a time requirement should be placed on each step in order to manage the events that will lead us to this future vision.
Since all of us have exactly the same 24 hour days, we need behaviors that propel us to serve our customers and out run / out pace our market competitors. Each team member should consider modifying and adopting appropriate best practices to get the maximum results from their Time implementing the action plan.
Below are 9 suggestions to consider to get the most out of the hours you put into your work devoted to achievement of your plan:
- Focus on your behaviors instead of managing time;
- Identify what is holding you back NOW;
- Learn how to change behaviors holding you back;
- Set time-bound goals that increase productivity and reduce stress;
- Use time management aids that work for you to include combinations of high tech, low tech and no tech, (e.g. Calendars, Software, PDA's, etc.);
- Use the 80/20 Rule. Identify what 20% of activities are most important, and DO THEM FIRST;
- Delegate or contract for services that help you use your time wisely to gain the best ROI for your time;
- Design and implement systems to manage the events in your day that result in the outcomes you want time and time again;
- Set time limits appropriate for each action step, measure, track and evaluate to streamline and improve results;
- Get outside help to continuously learn and improve. Books, tapes, seminars, tools and being coached are all ways to help you and your team improve.
Sometime behaviors exhibited by owners and our employees should be considered to improve our use of time. Certain behaviors (5 examples listed below) that reduce our time effectiveness can include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Action Junkie behavior characterized by running from crisis to crisis while important business building activities go undone.
- Overly Involved behavior characterized by never turning down an opportunity to serve others but neglecting yourself and your business. The need to be involved, connected, and an expert.
- Avoider behavior characterized by avoiding work, hiding, avoiding conflicts or not taking needed action. These types might never volunteer or participate unless confronted directly.
- Socialite behavior characterized by socializing so much that work suffers. Typically, these workers are unable to get to tasks and disrupt others usually leading to not achieving desired results.
- Analytical behavior characterized by working to perfection, analysis paralysis and missing the forest for the trees. These types are so concerned with making a mistake, they would rather not even complete the action.
While these are extreme examples, you many see any combination of these behaviors in yourself or your employees. These behaviors are typically seen when people experience pressure caused by changes in their current situation or environment.
Dorothy Lehmkuhl, discusses improvements in an article, "15 Principles In Organizing Your Business Life". Dorothy suggests the following ways to improve use of your time and be most productive:
- Get rid of stuff;
- Limit your reading material;
- Touch it once! Be decisive!
- Think before acquiring more;
- Organize before increasing space;
- Don't leave things out as reminders;
- Keep frequently used items handy;
- Don't crowd;
- Do the best task at the best time;
- Be prepared;
- Don't leave before you're finished;
- Do only what you set out to do;
- Break your work into units;
- Empower yourself through delegation;
- Take time for training.
To read the entire article got to: "15 Principles In Organizing Your Business Life."
NEXT Edition: "Abundance" will discuss the third area of the Big Three: Profits |
|
SBA ARC Loan Program |
|
If your small business is stressed meeting expenses during these economic times, the U.S. Small Business Administration has a new loan program that you might find beneficial and worth investigating.
SBA's America's Recovery Capital Loan Program can provide up to $35,000 in short-term relief for viable small businesses facing immediate financial hardship to help ride out the current uncertain economic times and return to profitability. Each small business is limited to one ARC loan.
ARC loans will be offered by some SBA lenders for as long as funding is available or until September 30, 2010, whichever comes first.
Loan Structure
· An ARC loan is a deferred-payment loan of up to $35,000.
· ARC loans will be used to make up to six months of principal and interest payments on qualifying loans for existing viable for-profit small businesses in the United States.
· Disbursement period (up to six months) is followed by 12 months with no repayment of the ARC loan principal, followed by a repayment period of five years. SBA pays monthly interest to the bank.
How Lenders Benefit
· Reduced Risk: 100 percent guaranty provides greater security and confidence to lend.
· Guaranteed Interest: SBA will pay monthly interest to the lender at reasonable rates throughout the term of the loan.
· Conventional, commercial business loans (and SBA-guaranteed loans made on or after Feb. 17, 2009) are an eligible use for ARC loan proceeds.
· Proceeds may be used to pay on mortgages, secured and unsecured loans, lines of credit and credit cards if the debt was used for eligible business purposes under the program.
· SBA turnaround on non-delegated loan applications - expected within five to ten business days.
For more information on the ARC Loan Program, click on
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2009, it might be difficult for the SBA to convince some banks to offer this loan because the expenses in preparing the paperwork and costs in processing these loans may make it unprofitable for the banks.
Locally, the Wall Street Journal reported that PNC was accepting applications for the ARC loans. Other local banks may also be participating, please check with your bank to gain assistance if your interested in this program or they can direct you to an SBA lender accepting applications. |
|
How Mentally Tough Are You? |
|
A Short Quiz for Business Owners
Just how mentally tough are you? Take a few moments to fill out this questionnaire that covers several component skills of mental toughness. When you're finished, send us an email to receive a self-evaluation for "Scoring Your Results" to determine your mental strengths and weaknesses:
Answer T for True and F for False for each statement:
1) I frequently worry about making mistakes.
2) I get really down on myself when my business performs poorly and I mess up.
3) It's easy for me to let go of my mistakes.
4) If I start out badly, it's hard for me to turn my performance around.
5) I get distracted by what the coach thinks whenever I screw up.
6) I bounce back quickly from setbacks, bad breaks and mistakes.
7) I do my best when there's more pressure on me.
8) I get too nervous to really perform to my potential.
9) I do better in preparation than I do when it really counts the most.
10) I tend to get easily psyched out or intimidated.
11) I can keep myself calm and composed under pressure.
12) I don't want the ball/dread competing at "crunch time." (big business opportunity).
13) My coach's comments makes me loose my focus.
14) I tend to get easily distracted.
15) Certain outsiders can get into my head and throw me off my game.
16) Lousy business economic conditions or events (weather, politics, legislation, news, etc.) negatively affect me.
17) I have no trouble focusing on what's important and blocking everything else out.
18) I think too much about what could go wrong right before and during important business actions, (the "what if's").
19) One or two failures do not shake my confidence.
20) I tend to compare myself too much with outsiders and competitors.
21) I'd rather compete against a better competitor and lose than go up against a weaker competitor and win.
22) I am a confident and self-assured business owner.
23) I tend to be too negative.
24) I have trouble dealing with negative self-talk (thoughts).
25) I get more motivated after failures and setbacks.
26) It's easy for me to consistently prepare my business at a high level of intensity.
27) I think about how today's learning will help me get to my goals.
28) I find myself just going through the motions a lot in preparation for business improvements.
29) I have clear goals that are important for me to achieve.
30) I am a highly motivated business owner.
If you are interested in learning how you scored, email us and request your copy (click link below):
ThistleSea Business Development provides business owners with many strategic advantages. Set-up an appointment to talk with a ThistleSea Business Development coach today. |
|
|
|
|
|
Our Office Location: |
 |
|
ThistleSea's Business Development Offices
7500 Brooktree Road,
Suite 117
Wexford, PA 15090
724.935.1930 Office
925.848.3266 Fax
Our Services:
ThistleSea Business Development
offers:
One-on-One Business
Coaching,
Extended Coaching
Services,
Group Coaching,
Training and Business
Development Services.
Strategic Planning Services
ThistleSea is a Distributor of Extended DISC Personal Profile.
Also incorporating affiliate services of: Fintel, Profiles International and Channel Connect.
Professional Business Coaches Alliance
ThistleSea is a proud member of
the Professional Business
Coaches Alliance (PBCA).
ThistleSea Coaches meet the high
standards of the PBCA.
___________________
QUOTES
"Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other. "
Carl Jung " Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude."
Denis Waitley
"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."
Anais Nin
"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."
________
__________
Let Us Help YOU Become a Marketing Machine
ThistleSea Business Development is a Certified Guerrilla Markeing Coaching Organization
Call us to discuss YOUR situation, maybe we can help?
______________
(C) 2009, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
, All Rights Reserved
|
|
|
|
|
60% Savings
Extended DISC Special
Savings
Certificate |
Build Better Business Relationships /
Conduct Better Interviews / Hire Better Employees / Improve Sales Performance
Lead Yourself and Understand Others Behavior
Call: 724.935.1930 for Details
Extended DISC - Personal Analysis & w/ Coaching Session
Special Discount Price |
| ThistleSea Business Development, LLC Offer Expires: July 31, 2009 |
|
|
