The Three Most Common Small Business Strategies That Fail - Go for Broke, No Growth, and No Taxes
By SueCanyon | April 2, 2008
In the thirty years that I’ve been helping struggling small business owners overcome their obstacles, I have seen the use of three predominant strategies that serve only to bring the state of small business to its worst possible condition. Here I offer how each one came to be, its consequences for the owner and society, and how an owner might adjust his approach for the better. Read more »
Topics: Other Mistakes, Cash Flow, General | No Comments »
Productive Meeting Leadership
By SueCanyon | March 27, 2008
As the team concept and self-empowerment strategies develop in the work place, so grows the need for competent leaders of group discussion. If we can accept the concepts that reinventing the wheel without help merely gets us a wheel, that ‘my way’ thinking hinders progress, and that two cooperative heads are better than one… if we truly have a desire to move forward in great strides rather than tiny steps, then we must accept that meetings are Read more »
Topics: Pocket Mentor, Productivity, For Your Employees, General | No Comments »
Can a Human Resources Consultant Increase Productivity?
By SueCanyon | September 17, 2007
One of the questions that has been popping up lately has to do with the Human Resources function and its role in the small business. Just as there is a common misunderstanding among the various accounting roles in business, there is a similar misunderstanding regarding HR. Business owners are hiring Human Resources Consultants in droves, expecting a certain outcome, but not getting it. Read more »
Topics: Productivity, Other Mistakes, General | No Comments »
Credit Card Debt, Employee Taxes, and Employees vs. Contractors
By SueCanyon | September 15, 2007
I recently read an article published on CNBC.com that stated that “Small business is having a love affair with credit cards…” which could not be further from the truth. Read more »
Topics: Other Mistakes, Cash Flow, General, Government | No Comments »
How to Deal with the Troublemaker in Your Shop
By SueCanyon | September 13, 2007
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hired to fire the troublemaker… and how few times I actually end up firing someone, because Read more »
Topics: For Your Employees, Other Mistakes | No Comments »
Estimate Cost Savings to Sell Others on the Value of Operational Improvements
By SueCanyon | September 11, 2007
I often find myself in a public setting in the company of an unfamiliar business owner. Whenever I get these opportunities I ask them what is the one business question they struggle with the most? Read more »
Topics: For Your Employees, General | No Comments »
Use ‘Flooring’ and ‘Third-Party Financing’ to Improve Your Revenue and Cash Flow
By SueCanyon | September 9, 2007
Many of the clients that I have seen in the last few years have used one or the other of two strategies that work to improve their cash flow and their revenues, either third-party financing or flooring, but rarely have I seen both used in the same small business. And many owners don’t even know that these opportunities exist!
Have you ever wondered why doing more business, i.e. selling more product, seems to reduce the amount of cash that you have access to? Sometimes it’s because Read more »
Topics: Sales, Cash Flow, General | No Comments »
Office Politics - Avoid the ‘Slam Dunk’, Protect Your Supervisor, Manager, or Owner
By SueCanyon | September 7, 2007
In management, the slam dunk is a maneuver that will result in a power play whenever there is a conflict between two people, two departments, or two companies.
If you know anything about basketball, you’ve probably heard of the ’slam dunk’. Put simply, the slam dunk is usually delivered by a tall player who gets above the basket with the ball in hand and pushes it forcefully down through the net.
In management, the slam dunk is a maneuver that will result in a power play whenever there is a conflict between two people, two departments, or two companies. Regardless of your feelings about office politics, if you ignore the offense of the slam dunk, Read more »
Topics: Pocket Mentor, For Your Employees, Other Mistakes | No Comments »
The Right Person For the Job I, Finding Your Perfect Assistant or Partner
By SueCanyon | September 5, 2007
Your company is growing. You have entirely too much work, and you need someone to take the excess workload. Now, if you could only find someone exactly like yourself to fill the position, then everything would be ducky… or not…? Read more »
Topics: Other Mistakes, Partners, General | No Comments »
Leverage
By SueCanyon | September 3, 2007
There’s been a lot of talk lately about leverage. Most business owners think of leverage as borrowed money. But Read more »
Topics: Other Mistakes, Partners, General | No Comments »