Business Blog

My attempt to give you my top 5 tips for you to follow when starting this great repeat business. Follow these tips and you will be well on your way to building a great independent business you will be proud of.

1. How Clean is Your Home?

If your own home isn’t clean..then that says to me that maybe cleaning professionally isn’t for you! Make sure you run a tidy ship at home and then this business will be a breeze for you. You need to be a somewhat fastidious person to achieve greatness in cleaning. I am not that..but I do a great job and my customers love that.

2. Get Good Equipment

You need a reliable vehicle and good cleaning equipment and a reliable vacuum cleaner. You don’t need to spend a fortune on this. I started working locally in walking distance of my home. I did have a cheap car and that was fine to begin with until I got a small van later in the same year. My Vacuum cost less than £100 and the cleaning products I bought were around £20. I had made that money back within 1 month.

3. Advertise..Cheaply

It’s a personality thing and you need to tell everyone what you are doing. Advertise locally at first with simple postcards and put them up wherever you can and also through peoples doors and small offices as well. Again after a while you will get a steady flow of repeat and one of calls for your services.

4. Build slowly and don’t take on too much

Do a good job on all of your initial clients premises. Master what they want and expect from your cleaning..and over deliver. When the time is right, you can expand the business. The real danger for anyone starting out is too to take on to much work..and fail to deliver. You must not do this. If you promise and fail..you will have lost a customer, but more importantly, your reputation will take a hammering and you don’t want that. Building slowly is the key and by that you will prosper

5. Re-invest

As your business grows you need to reinvest some of your income in better equipment which will make your job easier. A better or larger vehicle, Polo Shirts with your logo on, better business cards etc. Don’t let advertising costs run away with you though..still do the card drops..just do them with better looking cards! When you start to improve your image it will get you more customers…it really is that simple.

Actually the title of this article is not correct because an accountant works together with the bookkeeper to achieve the same result, so they can’t be competing with each other but rather supporting and working together.

I should also say that sometimes the lines can be blurred and a bookkeeper can be responsible for some tasks that are considered accounting department and then some accountants would also perform some bookkeeping tasks. Lets take a look at what each of them actually does so we can understand how the both of them fall into place in a business.

A bookkeeper gathers all the paperwork like sales statements, receipts, paid bills and anything else that shows income or expenses and records the amounts, dates and sources for each of them into some sort of a spreadsheet. It can be a regular paper, columnar pad that’s been used for decades for this purpose, or can be a computer software. Either way, the act of recording this data is called bookkeeping. Now we know the first part of this team, the second part is the accountant.

An accountant then takes the data that has been collected and recorded by the bookkeeper and processed into a more easy to understand means, like reports, charts and graphs. They also are the ones that take care of the reporting and filling forms for taxes and other similar purposes. It is considered a higher step in the financial department to be an accountant and the bookkeeper would usually report to the accountant.

When it comes to education for becoming either a bookkeeper or an accountant, there is a difference too. It requires a lot more schooling to become an accountant, as bookkeepers do not. For someone to become a bookkeeper it would require one to three years in college as to become an accountant you would need a degree in accounting, and associate’s or even a master’s degree.

Accountants do make almost twice the amount of money a bookkeeper does, so if an accountant would make $80,000 per year, a bookkeeper would make about $40,000. I am not saying that this is how much they earn everywhere, I am just saying that a bookkeeper will earn half of what an accountant does pretty much anywhere in the US. So looks like going to college for the extra two years to get a master’s degree in accounting makes it pretty beneficial.

The choice of an office considers the available space and its configuration, individual or open plan, as well as ergonomics and comfort of work desired. Think of the activities for which the office is used instead and the space available for its development. Consider the morphology of the user and the desired style.

The different formats shelf

The office should be large enough to allow the user to install a safe and flexible screen, keyboard, phone, documents etc. The most basic desktop that takes up less space on the ground is the law office. It is suitable for any type of activity. Its area and width must be large enough to be functional.

The back office is made with a main office and an additional angle plate. This reinforces the work area for hand records during and outside the work area. This configuration requires a larger footprint. The compact offices should optimize the space while maintaining a comfortable working environment for intensive use of computer tools. Make sure the free space for the trunk and legs in width and depth is suitable. The rounded shape of the board allows approaching the work plan.

Ergonomics and office setting

Choose a desk with adjustable height so it suits all body types. If the office is not adjustable, consider the height of the worktop. It may be beneficial to opt for a desk legs with adjustable height so you can work sitting or standing by activity and time of day. A work plan as necessary to tilt the work of reading or writing strengthens the working comfort. Obviously, the adjust ability of the plate must not undermine the search for quality, comfort and tilting seat partner.

Passage of cables and bases for aesthetics and safety

To limit the danger of the cables and the place they occupy, it is important to ensure caching systems. The metal legs allow the cables inside. Full legs or base in L, wood or metal, the cables must be hidden but easily accessible.

Color, materials and edges for office

The color of a work plan consistent with the rest of the decor and style desired. It is preferable to choose clear and matte an atmosphere conducive to reflection and concentration. The edges of the bureau are also taken into consideration, especially if it is for open space. Edges half round or post forming avoids the most common injuries.

Make sure you choose furniture according to highest standards, quality and safety.

Selection of office furniture

The color, design, shape, size and other specifications of office furniture also plays a big role in presenting a well organized, comfortable and beautiful office to the users for enjoying the work environment. Safety is also a big consideration while purchasing the furniture for your office; make sure that the furniture is strong enough to bear the maximum load that can be applied under normal conditions in an office. Buying the comfortable furniture considers the things like the shape, size and the material of the furniture. So make sure that you are purchasing the best available furniture.

Training your employees is critical to growing your business. It’s as simple as that. Consider your own personal situation. If you want to grow, personally, you need to develop your skills and your knowledge. The same is true of your business. If you want your business to grow, then the members of your organization, who represent your business, also need to develop their skills and knowledge. The challenge, for most small business owners, is how to provide the tools and environment conducive to improving the skills of their employees, given the investment required. Treating employee training as a business process and integrating it into the daily business will reduce periodic, and oftentimes, large one-time costs associated with improving employee proficiency and competency.

In your daily business, you utilize a number of different business processes, whether formally developed for your business, or informally occurred. What about the customer service or sales processes you use? What about all the financial and operating processes you have in place and rely on to help you manage your business? What about the inventory or supply management processes you utilize on a daily basis to meet customer needs and ensure distribution activities are efficient and profitable? What makes them so different from training? Well, training is generally considered to be something one does for employees and for some reason is considered optional rather than necessary, so a variable expense. Training has become a cost of doing business rather than an investment in business growth.

Why should you invest in training?

If you want your business to grow, your people have to grow. During recessionary or tough economic times, when revenues are down, it is natural to reduce costs, and usually all costs directly associated with labour are affected. But this is the time when it is even more important to ensure your employees are skilled because their skills will help them to take on additional work, be more creative in their work, and motivate them to be even more productive. Morale and productivity are linked. When morale is down, productivity decreases. When morale is up, productivity improves. One of the best ways to keep employees productive and engaged is to continue to offer them the opportunity to develop their skills.

During good economic times, when sales and revenues are up, the same scenario applies. Just because you are happy with your business results does not mean your employees are engaged and productive. Providing an environment where employees can develop their skills is important for productivity during every type of economic scenario.

What types of training should you provide to your employees?

Training requirements generally surface in three different ways;

• legislated or regulatory;
• technical skills for functional performance and proficiency; and,
• professional development.

As a minimum, you should be meeting legislated or regulatory requirements. These requirements are in place to ensure health and safety of employees, address inequities in treatment of employees, and protect the general community. Good business requires business owners to comply with these requirements.Technical skills are specific to the needs of the business and provide employees with what they need to work effectively in their function. Improvements in technical and functional proficiency will reduce errors, lost time, and customer complaints.

Professional development covers a wide range of training needs, from management skills to certification competency for specific disciplines (i.e.: CHRP, CA, etc.). Certification programs abound in areas such as Human Resources, Training and Development, Process Improvement, Quality Control, to name just a few.

What are the options available to provide training on a continuous basis?

Dependent upon the type of skills required by your employees, solutions may be different. And there are many solutions available. The key is to assess which solution best meets the training requirement for the individual employee.

If you already have training programs available, you may be able to convert them into online products. This provides for easier access and broader application. Products such as Mindflash are available to do this for developed programs. Webinar providers also offer online vehicles for delivery of your training products. These two applications are relatively inexpensive forms of training delivery. However, these providers make their money by charging monthly fees for their service. Fees are billed according to the size of the training group. This will provide you with continuous access to training vehicles but you still need to build the actual programs or create the actual products.

If you do not have training programs or products already developed, then there are training providers who sell off-the-shelf programs. This option can be quite cost effective if the training requirements can be met with off-the-shelf solutions. Since the products have been already developed, they speak to a very broad training audience and are priced according to the volume the providers are able to sell. Again, there are online options available for these types of products. This is usually the least expensive method for delivery of legislated and regulatory requirements. Check with your government websites for possible products and providers.

Custom programs are the most expensive. If you require training to be company or line of business specific, you will need to either have a program built from scratch or have an off-the-shelf program modified. Whichever method you select, it will require intervention by a trainer or training consultant, so now the labour cost of the program development increases. In these cases, you might be advised to have them build and implement a Train-the-Trainer program so that subsequent training delivery of this particular skill becomes an in-house activity so you are not paying for external trainers every time you have to offer this specific training.

Other options include work exchanges and training cost sharing with other similar sized businesses. This works well with legislated and regulatory training requirements and also some types of certification and functional skills training. Get involved with your local chamber of commerce, board of trade, or other business organizations and seek out other business owners with the same training requirements. You may be able to offer more training at less cost.

What is the first step?

The first step is to invest time in research. Determine what skills training is required to meet legislative and regulatory requirements, functional proficiency and performance. Then evaluate the skills required to service your customers effectively. Then conduct a review of all possible training solutions. This research will help to determine the best solution for your employees and your business as you prioritize solutions. Now build the training budget.

If you view employee training as a business process, rather than a variable expense, you will see it as an investment in business growth rather than a cost to be avoided, and your solutions will be creative and palatable.

Donna Stevenson is the owner of Boomer Match to Business (BM2B). She is an expert in leadership development and employee engagement, working effectively with all three generations of employees, Boomers, Generation X and Y. In Donna’s business, she specializes in matching boomers to businesses in expert areas. BM2B’s portfolio of business experts helps businesses to integrate training into their business processes, providing continuous training for a reasonable investment of dollars, effort and time.

As small businesses grow they approach a tipping point where the owner must decide upon a structure and organization to continue growth and gain control over their time spent working on “business” concerns. Many businesses approach this point in the $2 -$5 million revenue range and the owners find their time consumed by internal details such as HR, compensation plans, organizational structure, roles and responsibilities, etc. Most owners didn’t found their businesses to devote so much time to “internal” challenges, but rather to work within those areas at which they excel. This doesn’t have to be the case; prior planning and an investment into these areas will help structure the business for continued growth and position the owner to focus on areas that maximize their value and enjoyment.

Organizational structure is critical to growth, employee morale, client delivery, recruiting, retention, etc. When a firm is young and small, it lives in the world of “multiple hats.” Everybody typically has many roles, especially the owner. There isn’t the need or resources to have separate departments for each activity and everybody typically knows everybody else and what they do. Problems are solved collaboratively and teams are formed to work out issues as a part of wearing multiple hats. Sooner or later, this model begins to crack. As the firm grows, the “water cooler” network method of communication becomes less effective and as the cracks grow, more and more items and opportunities are lost within them.

Dealing with this challenge is possible at any time, but more valuable, efficient, and less traumatic if it is done sooner rather than later. A logical and effective place to start is with the strategic plan. By taking the time to determine goals, current state, market, structure of the organization, how to measure progress, etc, the business owner will also gather the knowledge to make decisions about business structure, both current and future. It is important to ensure that the structure or the organization is clear to everybody within the business as well as ensuring that customers and suppliers have a consistent experience and are in contact with the appropriate components of the business. A business must define its functions, allocate responsibility and employees appropriately, have clear roles and responsibilities and clearly understand its own capabilities to grow and reduce employee turn over.

Employees are critical to any firm’s growth, but putting together a team becomes more challenging as the business grows. Initially, many businesses hire people close to them such as family, friends, referrals from family and friends, etc. This model has been around forever and is a perfectly acceptable path to beginning a business. The challenge comes when the business needs more people than can be found in one’s network and has to enter the wider market competition to find quality employees. Another challenge is the risk that the early employees may not be qualified or capable of continuing to hold the same position as the firm (and their responsibility) grows. Having a strategic plan in place helps define at what point certain functions must “split” from their current position and become stand-alone functions. Human resources, marketing, sales, legal, etc. may all be outsourced or held as second functions when the firm is small, but as it grows they must be clearly defined and their relationships with other functional areas must be established. It is critical to make these decisions instead of allowing them to “make” themselves. You want your resources and assets to be supporting the critical areas of your business and supporting your strategic goals and you can’t allow resources to be spent in unproductive areas.

Hiring (and releasing) employees is much more art than science. Resumes are poor indicators of future performance, interviews allow a brief glimpse into a potential employees fit, and attributing success or failure to a particular employee is a challenge. Several tools can help mitigate this age-old problem. Again, the strategic plan is a great place to start. By defining goals, breaking down component pieces of success, and allocating responsibility to functional areas and teams, a business can track contributions and problems with greater ease. Another challenge arises in the usual relationship that is typical between functional teams and the HR function. Typically, hiring managers don’t spend enough time with their recruiters and the recruiters are left to fend for themselves in locating candidates to interview. This is a tremendous waste of time for both the hiring manager who must review many resumes that are not a fit and for the HR department, which spends time recruiting candidates that are not ideal for the job. Good communication is critical to ensuring a flow of qualified candidates to be considered.

Numerous other areas need to be considered in the structuring of a firm for growth such as, organizational design, workforce competencies, compensation plans (especially for a sales force), career paths, leadership, etc. This article should just whet the appetite and give cause for thought on how to structure a business for growth. Future articles will deal with individual aspects, but first things first, have a strategic plan!

We hear countless reasons for small business failure: lack of a business plan, failure to create an offering that people will pay for, failure to identify a viable market, cash flow, etc. All of these reasons are valid. Yet each of these reasons leaves out a critical driver and root cause of either success or failure. Building an organization and culture that is nimble, outcome focused, and proactive is a key reason for both success and failure.

Despite the critical role that culture and capability play and the attention they receive in business writing, very little is written about actually (realistically) creating that culture. Frequently, HR (Human Resources) is given the job of identifying, creating, and fostering culture within a business, but the true responsibility belongs to the executives leading the firm. HR can publish policies, give training seminars, produce flyers, etc., but the leaders of a business accomplish culture building. You can’t manage culture, you must be a leader.

As an introduction into building successful business organizations, I’ll describe a number of characteristics that leading organizations exhibit.

Imagine the Unimaginable. Foster creativity and imagination in your business and you’ll find new and unexpected solutions to problems, ideas for offerings, and any other particularly challenging situations you may face. Imagination allows people to break free of the past and the way “things have always been.” Our imagination is critical to innovating and developing solutions to new challenges. Encourage and allow free-flowing ideas, brainstorming, and innovation.

Prepare, don’t plan. This relates directly to the core of this article. You can never develop a plan that will last beyond the first stage of execution. The world is too complex and changes too quickly for a plan to work as it was written. For an organization to achieve the goals that the plan was developed to accomplish, the people need to be prepared, capable, and adaptive. Your plan should have desired outcomes, resources available, constraints, etc. and provide as much information as possible so that the people tasked with executing the plan can adapt as necessary and with the speed and agility to stay in front of the competition.

The only failure is a failure to try. Create an environment where people are able to experiment and try new and alternate solutions. You’ll be surprised to see the results you get if you create a bit of freedom within your organization. On the other hand, if you continuously act in a heavy-handed and controlling manner, you’ll shut down your team and won’t receive the benefit of their creativity. Micromanaging is the antithesis to this concept. Define the constraints through policy and guidance, but allow the specifics to be developed for each situation by the people on the ground. There is a classic story from IBM where an executive tried something new and the result was a $10M loss for the company. When he was summoned to his bosses office, he said “well, I expect you’re going to fire me.” His boss replied “no, why would I fire you when I just spent $10M on your education.” Consider how powerful a message that was within the organization.

Listen to your people. Most plans are created by the leaders of a business. The planners will assemble as much information as possible as they craft the plan. It is critical that the planners listen to the people on the ground. Too often, plans are created in a sterile or academic environment that views the world as the planners “see it,” but may not reflect the situation as it actually is. Trust your people, bring them into the planning process and use their experience, wisdom, and creativity to develop a better and more sustainable plan. Your people are in touch with the environment, they interact with customers, suppliers, and partners and have valuable insights that aren’t available anywhere else.

Get out of the building. Go out and interact with your clients, prospective customers, visit your suppliers, check out your sales channels, etc. You can monitor a business with numbers and reports, but you can’t gain true insight unless you augment such information with actual experience with people. Find out what is working, what isn’t working, what is missing, what they like, what brings them to you, what drives them away, and any other questions you can think of to help you develop a better experience when they interact with your company. This knowledge will help you brainstorm and come up with new solutions ahead of your competitors.

There isn’t a singular solution for implementing any of these characteristics, each leader must develop their individual style and stay true to that style. If your leadership idol is Gen. George Patton (a bold and brash American general from WWII), but you are quite mannered then you need to select another leader to emulate. You have to stay true to yourself. If you try to act in a manner contradictory to your character, you’ll come across as phony. People excel at spotting phony behavior and you will have a challenge leading. Build your organization to be nimble and prepared to adapt quickly to changes and you’ll be amazed at the results.
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