People just starting out in the business world will often make mistakes when it comes to creating their budgets. That is a significant problem because it means the entrepreneurs can run out of money before they make a profit. With that in mind, there are some budget essentials listed below that you won’t want to overlook.
Marketing and promotion
Marketing is the single most critical aspect of your operation, and you need to spend a lot of money if you want the best results. These days, it’s possible to lower your promotional spend using digital tools like social media. However, you still need to allocate a substantial amount of funds.
Employment costs
You need to make sure there is always enough money in the bank to pay your employees. At the same time, you also need to think about whether or not you might employ more people in the next twelve months. Be sure you include all those costs in your budget.
Travel and accommodation fees
As the infographic below shows, most business owners have to spend a lot of cash when it comes to travel and accommodation. You never know when you might need to meet a client on the other side of the country, and so it’s vital that you keep enough funds in your accounts.
If you remember to include all those things in your business budget this year; you should find your company on the right track. Still, there is always more to learn, and so you should continue your research after clicking away from this page.
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If you run a business, continual improvement is probably top of the list of your goals. If you can continue to grow, make more money and improve the service you offer your customers, you’re on to a good thing. When you’re a company director, you have a lot of decisions to make, and it’s important to spend money wisely. Often, it’s essential to make the right decisions when it comes to investing your capital. If you want to invest to improve, here are some suggestions you may find useful.
Investing in your staff
Most successful entrepreneurs have a team of people around them. Not even a superhero disguised as a business mogul could run every single aspect of a growing company, and as the boss, you may be reliant on tens, hundreds or even thousands of people. Your staff should mean a lot to you. Investing in them is a means of showing how grateful you are for their hard work and demonstrating that you have trust in them. Training is incredibly valuable for both the business and your employees. Training programs, courses and workshops enable your team to gain new skills and develop existing skills, and the outcome could be incredibly beneficial for your company. Consider how important confidence and the ability to speak with clarity and passion are for a sales team or how beneficial skills related to brand new technology or software could be to a cutting-edge e-commerce store. Training existing members of staff often enables you to offer more as a business without outsourcing or hiring additional employees, and it can also give your team more confidence and encourage them to want to develop their skill set further.
If you operate in a competitive industry, it’s worth investing money in trying to keep your star players. If your best workers start looking at roles and positions offered by rival companies, and you can’t compete, there’s every chance that you’ll lose them, even if they love their job. Consider salaries and employee benefits packages carefully and be prepared to outdo competitors if you’re desperate to keep your team together.
Investing in business premises
Whether you work from home and you’re self-employed, or you have an office or a chain of stores or warehouses, you may reach a stage when you think about investing in new premises. Buying property can be incredibly lucrative, especially in the long-term, but it’s essential to make the right decisions.
If you’re home-based and you’re looking to improve your business, you may consider looking at a new location or a larger house or making your current home more suitable for work purposes. Location is incredibly important in business, and if you intend to work from home, your current location may not be ideally suited to what you do. If you’re a therapist or you specialize in consulting, for example, this probably means that you’re going to come into contact with clients on a daily basis. If you’re out in the country, this could put clients off if they have to travel to you or increase your running costs if you’re constantly driving into the city. If this scenario sounds familiar, it may be worth considering a move and having a look at new condos for sale. If the location is right, and the property works on both a personal and professional level, this could be an ideal investment.
If you run a company and you’re looking to expand or buy premises rather than renting, there are lots of factors to consider. If you’re buying, you need to make sure that the move makes financial sense. Consider the importance of location as a priority. If you’re opening a new clothing store or a café, for example, location is everything, and you should look for areas where footfall is greatest. If you want to buy a warehouse, you don’t need to be in the city center, but being close to transport links will be hugely beneficial. If you’re on the lookout for an office, but you don’t need to be close to the action, searching in the suburbs is a good idea. Once you’ve identified potential locations, consider the size of the premises and the cost. Set a budget at the outset, and don’t go for the first option. It’s worth shopping around, getting an idea of what’s out there and comparing different properties. Weigh up the pros and cons, be prepared to negotiate and consider the long-term benefits of each option. Buying property can drive down costs, as mortgage repayments are often lower than rental fees. You’ll also be putting money into an asset that you own, rather than lining somebody else’s pocket.
Investing in growth
Every business owner dreams of getting to a point where their business is expanding, and the demand for products or services is increasing. If you’re doing well, you’re in profit and consumers want more, it’s worth investing money into trying to make your growth plans a reality. Spend money on marketing methods that work, develop products based on trends and consumer demands, and look at ways you can expand without increasing your running costs. Negotiate with suppliers, manufacturers and distributors and promote efficiency and productivity. If your business is booming, don’t forget to share the rewards with your employees. If they feel valued, they will be more likely to show loyalty and put maximum effort into their job.
In business, you often have to speculate to accumulate. If you’re keen to hit the big time, you may have some pretty tough decisions to make along the way. One of the most important things to do is spend your money wisely. Sometimes, there are opportunities to invest, which could improve your business and ultimately lead to increased profits and better customer service. If you run a team, don’t underestimate the value of investing in your employees and giving them a platform to fulfil their potential. If you’re expanding, or you’re keen to attract more clients or reduce running costs, it may also be worth looking into buying new business premises. If you are heading in the right direction, consider which areas to invest more money in and plan a strategy carefully.
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Professionals who succeed the most are the products of mentoring. I heartily endorse that find a great mentor. I have had many excellent ones in my long career and have in turn mentored hundreds of others.
The mentor is a resource for business trends, societal issues and opportunities. The mentor becomes a role model, offering insights about their own life-career. The mentor is an advocate for progress and change. Such work empowers the mentee to hear, accept, believe and get results. The sharing of trust and ideas leads to developing business philosophies.
The mentor endorses the mentee, messages ways to approach issues, helps draw distinctions and paints pictures of success. The mentor opens doors for the mentee. The mentor requests pro-active changes of mentee, evaluates realism of goals and offers truths about path to success and shortcomings of mentee’s approaches. This is a bonded collaboration toward each other’s success. The mentor stands for mentees throughout their careers and celebrates their successes. This is a lifelong dedication toward mentorship… in all aspects of one’s life.
The most significant lessons that I learned in my business life from mentors, verified with experience, are shared here:
You cannot go through life as a carbon copy of someone else.
You must establish your own identity, which is a long, exacting process.
As you establish a unique identity, others will criticize. Being different, you become a moving target.
People criticize you because of what you represent, not who you are. It is rarely personal against you. Your success may bring out insecurities within others. You might be what they cannot or are not willing to become.
If you cannot take the dirtiest job in any company and do it yourself, then you will never become “management.”
Approach your career as a body of work. This requires planning, purpose and commitment. It’s a career, not just a series of jobs.
The person who is only identified with one career accomplishment or by the identity of one company for whom he-she formerly worked is a one-hit wonder and, thus, has no body of work.
The management that takes steps to “fix themselves” rather than always projecting problems upon other people will have a successful organization.
It’s not when you learn. It’s that you learn.
Many people do without the substantive insights into business because they have not really developed critical thinking skills.
Analytical and reasoning skills are extensions of critical thinking skills.
You perform your best work for free. How you fulfill commitments and pro-bono work speaks to the kind of professional that you are.
People worry so much what others think about them. If they knew how little others thought, they wouldn’t worry so much. This too is your challenge to frame how they see you and your company.
Fame is fleeting and artificial. The public is fickle and quick to jump on the newest flavor, without showing loyalty to the old ones, especially those who are truly original. Working in radio, I was taught, “They only care about you when you’re behind the microphone.”
The pioneer and “one of a kind” professional has a tough lot in life. It is tough to be first or so far ahead of the curve that others cannot see it. Few will understand you. Others will attain success with portions of what you did. None will do it as well.
Consumers are under-educated and don’t know the substance of a pioneer. Our society takes more to the copycats and latest fads. Only the pioneer knows and appreciates what he-she really accomplished. That reassurance will have to be enough.
Life and careers include peaks and valleys. It’s how one copes during the “down times” that is the true measure of success.
Long-term success must be earned. It is not automatic and is worthless if ill-gotten. The more dues one pays, the more you must continue paying.
The next best achievement is the one you’re working on now, inspired by your body of knowledge to date.
The person who never has aggressively pursued a dream or mounted a series of achievements cannot understand the quest of one with a deeply committed dream.
A great percentage of the population does not achieve huge goals but still admires and learns from those who do persevere and succeed. The achiever thus becomes a lifelong mentor to others.
Achievement is a continuum, but it must be benchmarked and enjoyed along the way.
These are my concluding pieces of leadership advice. Know where you are going. Develop, update and maintain a career growth document. Keep a diary of lessons learned but not soon forgotten. Learn the reasons for success and, more importantly, from failure.
Good bosses were good employees. They have keen understanding for both roles. Bad bosses likely were not ideal employees. They too are consistent in career history. Being your own boss is yet another lesson. People who were downsized from a corporate environment suddenly enter the entrepreneurial world and find the transition to be tough.
Poor people skills cloud any job performance and overshadow good technical skills. The worst bosses do not sustain long careers at the top. Their track record catches up with them, whether they choose to acknowledge it or not.
Good workers don’t automatically become good bosses. Just because someone is technically proficient or is an exemplary producer does not mean that he-she will transition to being a boss. The best school teachers do not want to become principals, for that reason. Good job performers are better left doing what they do best. Administrators, at all levels, need to be properly trained as such, not bumped up from the field to do something for which they have no inclination.
Truth and ethics must be woven into how you conduct business. If you do not “walk the talk,” who will? Realize that very little of what happens to you in business is personal. Find common meeting grounds with colleagues. The only workable solution is a win-win.
Leadership and executive development skills are steadily learned and continually sharpened. One course or a quick-read book will not instill them. The best leaders are prepared to go the distance. Professional enrichment must be life-long. Early formal education is but a starting point. Study trends in business, in your industry and in the industries of your customers.
People skills mastery applies to every profession. There is no organization that does not have to communicate to others about what it does. The process of open company dialogs must be developed to address conflicts, facilitate win-win solutions and further organizational goals.
About the Author
Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.
Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.
Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.
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Non-profit organizations and the causes they promote are greatly served by enlightening the public. Public education is an important part of the charge for those organizations.
The earliest PSAs promoted the selling of war bonds and were shown in movie theatres during World War I and II. The campaigns included: “Loose lips sink ships” and “Keep them rolling.” With the advent of radio in the 1920s and its popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, it was a natural sign-off for national shows to include public service messages. Local stations began airing PSAs during their programming to fill the holes when they had not sold all the commercial availabilities. Then, there were Community Calendar shows. Every disc jockey had their favorite causes, and talk shows often featured representatives of non-profit organizations to discuss their services.
When television hit in the late 1940s, public service advertising was institutionalized. PSAs were aired, just as had been done on radio. Local TV stations promoted non-profit organizations via recorded and live spots, ID slides and crawls of calendar items in local communities.
Some of the famous campaigns included annual United Way appeals, Smokey the Bear (“Only you can prevent forest fires”), McGruff, the dog (“Take a bite out of crime”), the United Negro College Fund (“A mind is a terrible thing to lose”), Just Say No to Drugs, the American Cancer Society (“Fight cancer with a check-up and a check”), anti-smoking campaigns, voter awareness, vaccinations, immunizations, educational programs, etc.
Many of the famous PSA campaigns were created by The Advertising Council. This was a consortium of advertising agencies who lent their creativity on a volunteer basis to a variety of causes. These ads won awards for creativity and spurred participating agencies to serve their clients and communities by their volunteer service. Other PSAs were devised by public relations agencies and the non-profit organizations themselves.
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America was founded in New York City in 1985. It was a consortium of advertising agencies who produced public service messages discouraging drug use. It coordinated campaigns with the federal government in its efforts to stem the spread of illegal drugs.
PSAs have had a massive impact on our culture. They steered many people into lives committed to community stewardship and leadership. In the old days, broadcasting was regulated. Stations had to reapply for their licenses from the Federal Communications Commission every three years. We were required to keep Public Files of correspondence from the listeners and community stakeholders. We were required to perform Community Ascertainment, a process by which we interviewed leaders on problems of the municipality and how our station might help to address them. Through all that, I became enamored with community service, developing trust relationships with stakeholders.
Newspapers began contributing space to non-profit causes back in the 1930s, plus writing stories on many of the programs. Community newspapers followed suit in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
The billboard industry began offering free public service facings to non-profit organizations in the 1960s. As public opposition to billboards as environmental blockages increased, its industry made efforts to work with non-profit organizations to get their words out. In the 1990s, I testified to my city council on behalf of the billboard industry. I stated that they would never get rid of the signs, and their best strategy would be to work with the industry, assuring that local non-profits would be served through PSA boards.
Then came my next time to testify, and recalling this incident makes me sad. I testified before the U.S. Congress, begging them NOT to deregulate broadcasting. I was there in support of non-profit organizations and said that deregulation would be a death-knell to public service advertising on radio and TV. I said that unless the FCC requires PSA quotas to broadcasters, they would not deliver the time. I opined that a handful of mega-corporations would ultimately own broadcasting frequencies and would not have the same public service commitment as did the “mom and pop” broadcasters that they purchased. Sadly, history has proven me to be correct.
Because of deregulation, non-profit organizations were forced to buy time on radio and TV. Many got corporate sponsors to pay the freight. Others cut into programs and services in order to fund marketing. That is exhibited when you see every competing educational institution buying airtime to promote their services to the community. I performed a management study for my state comptroller’s office. I reviewed the costs of public awareness campaigns on behalf of state agencies. I opined that agencies felt compelled to spend funds to compete with each other in the arena of marketing.
New forms of public service announcements have emerged to take the place of lost free time on radio and TV. In the 1980s, I started producing filler ads for community newspapers. They were laid out in the style of paid advertising and were furnished as camera-ready copy for newspapers, in the most-needed space fillers as the newspapers had. Thus, they were used.
In the 21st Century, I believe that the future for public service announcements lies on-line. Every non-profit has its own website, and most have blogs in order to disseminate public awareness messages. Many non-profit organizations are producing videos for YouTube.
Now for something new, yet I’ve been advocating this since 1997. I believe that corporate websites are the most untapped source for public service messages. I encourage corporations to have a Community Corner on their homepages. Highlight the causes that they support. Put filler ads for non-profit groups on their websites. Encourage their customers and stakeholders to support their designated causes. Non-profit organizations need the support of Cause Related Marketing.
Here are some final tips for non-profit organizations in constructing their public service campaigns:
Carefully choose your topic. Create plausible narratives.
Research the marketplace and your cause for support.
Consider your audience. Get reactions from your audiences.
Get the attention of stakeholders carefully and tastefully.
About the Author
Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.
Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.
Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.
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Organizations should coordinate management skills into its overall corporate strategy, in order to satisfy customer needs profitably, draw together the components for practical strategies and implement strategic requirements to impact the business. This is my review of how management styles have evolved.
In the period that predated scientific management, the Captain of Industry style prevailed. Prior to 1885, the kings of industry were rulers, as had been land barons of earlier years. Policies were dictated, and people complied. Some captains were notoriously ruthless. Others like Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford channeled their wealth and power into giving back to the communities. It was an era of self-made millionaires and the people who toiled in their mills.
From 1885-1910, the labor movement gathered steam. Negotiations and collective bargaining focused on conditions for workers and physical plant environments. In this era, business fully segued from an agricultural-based economy to an industrial-based reality.
As a reaction to industrial reforms and the strength of unions, a Hard Nosed style of leadership was prominent from 1910-1939, management’s attempt to take stronger hands, recapture some of the Captain of Industry style and build solidity into an economy plagued by the Depression. This is an important phase to remember because it is the mindset of addictive organizations.
The Human Relations style of management flourished from 1940-1964. Under it, people were managed. Processes were managed as collections of people. Employees began having greater says in the execution of policies. Yet, the rank and file employees at this point were not involved in creating policies, least of all strategies and methodologies.
Management by Objectives came into vogue in 1965 and was the prevailing leadership style until 1990. In this era, business started embracing formal planning. Other important components of business (training, marketing, research, team building and productivity) were all accomplished according to goals, objectives and tactics.
Most corporate leaders are two management styles behind. Those who matured in the era of the Human Relations style of management were still clinging to value systems of Hard Nosed. They were not just “old school.” They went to the school that was torn down to build the old school.
Executives who were educated in the Management by Objectives era were still recalling value systems of their parents’ generation before it. Baby boomers with a Depression-era frugality and value of tight resources are more likely to take a bean counter-focused approach to business. That’s my concern that financial-only focus without regard to other corporate dynamics bespeaks of hostile takeovers, ill-advised rollups and corporate raider activity in search of acquiring existing books of business.
To follow through the premise, younger executives who were educated and came of age during the early years of Customer Focused Management had still not comprehended and embraced its tenets. As a result, the dot.com bust and subsequent financial scandals occurred. In a nutshell, the “new school” of managers did not think that corporate protocols and strategies related to them. The game was to just write the rules as they rolled along. Such thinking always invites disaster, as so many of their stockholders found out. Given that various management eras are still reflected in the new order of business, we must learn from each and move forward.
In 1991, Customer Focused Management became the standard. In a highly competitive business environment, every dynamic of a successful organization must be geared toward ultimate customers. Customer focused management goes far beyond just smiling, answering queries and communicating with buyers. It transcends service and quality. Every organization has customers, clients, stakeholders, financiers, volunteers, supporters or other categories of “affected constituencies.”
Companies must change their focus from products and processes to the values shared with customers. Everyone with whom you conduct business is a customer or referral source of someone else. The service that we get from some people, we pass along to others. Customer service is a continuum of human behaviors, shared with those whom we meet.
Customers are the lifeblood of every business. Employees depend upon customers for their paychecks. Yet, you wouldn’t know the correlation when poor customer service is rendered. Employees of many companies behave as though customers are a bother, do not heed their concerns and do not take suggestions for improvement.
There is no business that cannot undergo some improvement in its customer orientation. Being the recipient of bad service elsewhere must inspire us to do better for our own customers. The more that one sees poor customer service and customer neglect in other companies, we must avoid the pitfalls and traps in our own companies.
If problems are handled only through form letters, subordinates or call centers, then management is the real cause of the problem. Customer focused management begins and ends at top management. Management should speak personally with customers, to set a good example for employees. If management is complacent or non-participatory, then it will be reflected by behavior and actions of the employees.
Any company can benefit from having an advisory board, which is an objective and insightful source of sensitivity toward customer needs, interests and concerns. The successful business must put the customer into a co-destiny relationship. Customers want to build relationships, and it is the obligation of the business to prove that it is worthy.
Customer focused management is the antithesis to the traits of bad business, such as the failure to deliver what was promised, bait and switch advertising and a failure to handle mistakes and complaints in a timely, equitable and customer-friendly manner. Customer focused management is dedicated to providing members with an opportunity to identify, document and establish best practices through benchmarking to increase value, efficiencies and profits.
About the Author
Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.
Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.
Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.
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Professionals who succeed the most are the products of mentoring. I heartily endorse that find a great mentor. I have had many excellent ones in my long career and have in turn mentored hundreds of others.
Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.
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