I was having a discussion about goal-setting with my soon-to-be-at-uni son. We’ve used the SMART acronym for goal-setting before, and we were going through how goals need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and have a Timeframe for accomplishment.
Being able to set goals and achieve them is a life skill too few teenagers (and adults) acquire. It’s too easy to have pie-in-the-sky dreams which are not realistic or achievable in our current situation. (As an aside, I believe they are often achivable in the end but need to be broken down into smaller chunks if we are to take them on board and really believe we can get there). It’s also easy to think “some day” this is where we will be, but without a proper timeframe dreams will always be dreams rather than goals.
Having to make a goal specific means there’s no “wiggle room” when the going gets tough, and making sure progress can be measured means we know when we have achieved the goal and if not, how far we still have to go. Ensuring a goal is both achievable (think broadly of this as achievable by anyone) and realistic (think more narrowly of whether the goal is achievable by you) helps ensure we don’t lose motivation because it’s all in the “too-hard” basket. And having a timeframe means we’re up against a deadline and can’t just keep putting it off till tomorrow.
I had to have a little smile to myself after our discussion though. Our team is in the process of redeveloping the HomebizBuzz web site. It’s an enormous task, now nearing completion, and in retrospect I have to admit that breaking it down into smaller SMART goals instead of tackling the whole project in one go - which certainly proved unrealistic if achievable - would have made a lot of sense. Not only would we have been able to keep better tabs on the task as a whole, I think we’d all be a lot less stressed.
Another aside: Has the project been worthwhile (despite the handfuls of hair we pulled out)? Absolutely. I can’t wait to take the wraps off it and show you.
2009 is a year I think we will look back on in future and realise was a turning point in some ways.
The combination of a world-wide recession, together with the increasing availability of low- or no-cost marketing opportunities particularly in online media has seen even mainstream corporates adopt social networking and other interactive ways to get their brands and messages out to audiences.
It’s interesting that the guerilla tactics which have now found such widespread acceptance are ones which smaller businesses developed and have been using successfully for some time. It’s a pattern which tends to recur - smaller businesses with less brand equity and fewer executive jobs or egos at stake often innovate, test and refine new ideas long before they find favour with the corporates. And the two-fold need to bring in more business on small budgets which has driven small businesses to explore and develop marketing opportunities online are the exact two factors which have sped up mainstream adoption of the same strategies.
With the advent of more and more technological toys and the ever-increasing blending of mainstream and new media, the next few years are going to be exciting in terms of what new opportunities for marketing will come along. It will be worth watching the small businesses to see what works for them, because that’s what’s likely to find favour in the longer term with their bigger counterparts.
Last night’s story on TVNZ’s Closeup programme, where a woman was trying to go without her cellphone for six weeks and finding it really hard, caught my attention.
We are so often wrapped up in tasks which become habitual without our even realising it. They begin to dominate our lives and endless hours seem to be devoted to them. What we don’t always realise is how much time we are losing for very little productive return.
Like most other business owners in New Zealand, I enter my office in the morning to find a pile of messages in my Inbox. The first thing I do is delete the three quarters or more which are either straight-out spam or time-wasters. I keep a couple of useful newsletters aside to go through just before turning off my machine (or at least walking away from it in the evening), and then start going through the others, either replying to them, actioning a request or adding a “to do” to my list. I’ve found if I set a time limit for this, it helps me focus on weeding out the rubbish and timewasters from the essential communications.
Now add Twitter, Facebook, Instant Messaging, phone texts and the raft of new technologies which seem to add more and more “clutter” to our communication systems.
I really felt for the poor lady who was experiencing cellphone withdrawal and battling to manage without it, but I also felt a tinge of envy! How nice to be able to focus on real conversations with real people, to relax and really enjoy things without constant interruption or split concentration.
We need these communication tools in our lives, but we also need to learn to manage them. Very seldom will the world come to a standstill just because we can’t reply instantly. Most customers do business with us because we take the time to form a relationship with them, not because we break off a face-to-face communication to respond to a text message (and would be understandably affronted if we let someone else’s message interrupt a discussion with them).
I find I’m constantly reminding myself (and my teenagers!) that we have some fantastic tools to enhance our relationships with friends, family, associates and others if we choose to use them wisely. If we don’t, they end up dominating our lives and ruining that very thing they were created to enhance - the ability to communicate effectively with those around us.
I’ve just finished reading Pam Martin’s Beneat the Knowledge Wave. In it, Pam puts forward a very strong argument that most people are self-taught when it comes to using computers and computer programmes, and by far the majority do not have the skills they need to do their job efficiently.
This definitely also holds true for the home business owner, who often works in greater isolation and is far less likely to take advantage of what training may be on offer, be it formal or informal.
And most of us just chug along, managing with the skills we have and acquiring some degree of competence or at least working around the obstacles. How much more productive would we be, argues Pam, if we really got to grips with computers and found out how to use all the shortcuts and efficiencies they can provide? I consider myself pretty competent with technology, but I know I use only a percentage of each software package, have some bad computing habits, and could do things faster and more effectively if I got to grips with some of the functions I have never really got to know in a variety of software packages - and that’s before having to upskill every time a new version of a well-work favourite comes out!
I know Pam, and know how passionate she is about helping individuals in their own homes, in home and small businesses and in the corporate environment or public service to gain the skills they need to become quicker, slicker and smarter in their work by really getting to know their “tools”, and keeping up with advances in technology. This book is a great first step to opening our eyes to our own and others’ need to bridge the gap. The productivity gains for us as individuals, for business, and for New Zealand as a whole, are staggering.
The proposal also specifically takes into account the needs of micro-businesses suggesting, for example, a simple turnover tax of 15c/dollar (with no need for tax returns) for non-GST registered businesses with a turnover under $60K per annum.
Compliance issues for small businesses which do not fit this bracket are also addressed with suggestions including putting them on a cash accounting system, combining GST and income tax obligations as mentioned, eliminating fringe benefit and entertainment taxes, and simplifying some deductions such as depreciation.
While the devil may be in the detail, I think these are changes which would go a long way to easing the burden of compliance on small and micro businesses, as well as reducing the risk of accidentally getting into trouble with Inland Revenue. I also believe spreading the cost of paying year-end tax will sit well with many.
Comment below to tell us how you think these changes would affect your business, and which ones you like or dislike. We will feed your thoughts back to the two organisations concerned to make sure the collective voice of home and micro business is heard.
Well it’s been a few months since I started my journey into social media. It’s been a really interesting time. I’ve gone from hating to loving it and back to somewhere in between. The time commitment has reduced significantly now that I have a strategy and now that I know what I’m doing!
I absolutely love the strategy side of Social Media. There are just so many ways for businesses to benefit when you really put your thinking cap on and work out how to smoke out your market and engage with them.
What amazes me, is how by following a strategy, you end up with exactly the right people in your network. My network is mostly business owners and a large percentage of those are from NZ. I also have a number of people involved in Travel, Food & Wine, Property and Photography – all of my interests.
My intention was to tee up with Lewis Bostock, a young social Media whizz and combined with my business experience and professional network run a seminar in both Auckland and Christchurch…end of story. What has happened, is they were so successful that we have put on additional events to meet the demand. So far we have had 146 people come to seminars and workshops, many of whom have ‘caught the wave’. I have been invited to speak on the topic to a number of groups. The scariest is yet to come… next week I will be doing a 1 ½ hour lecture to a group of MBA marketing professors and a group of PHD and masters students on Social Media and It’s impact on marketing business!
So what are my key learnings? Well here are a few:
Plan your social media strategy and stick to it – you WILL get results
While I have more than doubled my website stats – it’s way more than driving traffic to your website
The more you engage, the better response you will get
Social Media networks really support each other, just like other face to face business groups like Grow Your Business and BNI for example
It’s all about balance. Balancing the community and marketplace aspects of social media. In short, if all you do is talk about you and your product – you’re a spammer, if it’s all just chatting to people, you may as well be in a chat room. A balance can really help your business.
We are running more workshops over the next 3 months covering Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Blogging, YouTube and most importantly Social Media Strategy. Feel free to check them out on the website – www.growyourbiz.co.nz/events My twitter name is @growyourbiz
If you have any questions at all, please post them and I will respond as soon as I can.
How often have you heard the saying, life is a journey, not a destination? A business is the same – it’s never quite “done”. You may launch with some fantastic ideas and a clear idea of what the business is going to be and how you are going to get there, but then you hit an obstacle. And another. You will need to deviate from your plan to overcome them. If you don’t, you might just not be able to go any further.
Or you may find a fabulous opportunity which you hadn’t thought of or which has arisen after you wrote your business plan. You might need to deviate to take advantage of it.
This is why a business plan is not something you do once and leave in the drawer gathering dust. It should be a written document which changes as your business journey continues. It’s a good way to make sure the detours do come back onto the main road!
It helps provide that clarity where you actually see the route around or over the obstacles, and realise its sole purpose is to get you back on the track the other side. It helps you measure up whether the deviation that apparent new opportunity provides is merely a distraction from your purpose or a shortcut for getting where you plan to go.
I’m not a believer in long and detailed business plans for small businesses because for many they are impractical. I do believe they need to be focused and specific, with a clear goal in mind and show you how to get there.
In last week’s post I asked whether you were your own worst boss - but let’s face it, when we’re self-employed we wear both the boss’s and the employee’s hat, and sometimes it’s not as the boss, but as the employee, that we fall short.
Every business owner I know is a very busy person. But take a step back for a minute and imagine looking at yourself while you are working. Imagine you have hired yourself and are paying yourself for the work you are doing (if you are not doing that, read my previous post!).
Now watch carefully, as you pick up the phone and call a family member, as you fire off some emails which are not work-related, or as you wander out to the garden to do a spot of weeding or hang the laundry. How are you liking new your employee?
What about when you see yourself spending endless hours working, but at the end of the day the really important things remain undone, and what’s ticked off is the little interruptions or the tasks which don’t contribute to the bottom line. Often they need to be done, but perhaps more efficiently?
Imagine as you are watching that your employee has their hand in your till. Or that they are buying things for the business but using them for their own purposes.
It might even work the other way - you may see yourself working long evenings and most of the weekend, month after month without a break. Wouldn’t an employee doing this be in danger of all sorts of stress-related illnesses and getting fed up with the work?
But, you may be thinking to yourself, I own the business so I can do all these things. Of course you can, but your business will perform better if you are honest with yourself. Take the time off to do the things you need to, but try to make a clear separation between work and other time. Keep your books accurate so you know how profitable your business really is. Be accountable for what you need to achieve. Respect your own rules. You, and your business, will be better for it.
Your boss welcomes you, and then asks you to work from cramped surroundings in a chilly bedroom. She gives you a heater (but tells you not to run the power bill up too much), an old computer and you have to share your desk with four other people. Half the time when you answer the phone, it’s to take non-work-related messages for other people.
You’re enthusiastic, so you keep your chin up. Your boss asks you to eat at your desk so you can finish some administrative tasks. And work most of the weekend, and quite a few late nights. When you get your pay check (if you get one at all), it’s well below the hourly rate someone with a quarter of your experience or qualifications would be charging.
Are you motivated? Do you still want to work for this boss? And yet, how many self-employed people treat themselves exactly like this? If you’re working for yourself and have fallen into this trap, maybe it’s time to start treating yourself like the valued employee you are!
I think it’s generally a good thing that supermarkets and some big retailers are encouraging shoppers to use reusable shopping bags for their purchases. However, I wonder how many other homes now face the same quandary we do.
When we’ve finished using those plastic bags, they go in the bag holder in the laundry and get used for picking up after the dog, lining kitchen, bathroom and bedroom rubbish bins, taking flowers, bulbs or home-grown veges to grandma, or carting stuff to school.
We’ve even managed fine using a mix of predominantly reusable bags but the occassional plastic one - but now the supermarket where I shop is charging 5c for a bag I find myself in the unusual situation of working out whether it is cheaper to pay the 5c and recycle it, or buy a roll of doggie-do bags, another of bin liners and some that will do for other bits and pieces - like dirty shoes we definitely don’t want in the nice bags we’ve replaced the supermarket ones with for most of our fetch-and-carrying. I have a feeling a bit of math will come down firmly on the side of buying new bags (which will be disposed of after their first use).
I’m not trying to change the system. I just think it’s a bit ironic than in a bid to save our environment we have to buy often non-biodegradable alternatives to the handy, and free, supermarket bags which did the trick so well. Perhaps I’m the only one caught in the change, but I think not.
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