Remember back when you began your business, the pride you felt, the excitement you had, the plans you had… If you are like many small business owners some of those things have come true, but the larger your business gets, the more weighted down you feel with new and aggravating frustrations. After connecting with over 1000 small business owners over the last 20 years I have come to learn that there are 7 roadblocks that tend to weigh down small business owners and keep them from reaping the full success they want. Smart, successful business owners are kept from their dream business by the following 7 frustrations.
Not In Control – You are not running the business, instead the business is running you.
Not in control
Measly Profit – Profit is small and unpredictable.
Too Little Profit
People Pain – Babysitting staff, daily drama, nobody listens or follows through.
People Pain
Lack Of Freedom – Long hours, no vacations and carrying all of the business responsibilities on owner’s shoulders.
No Freedom
Diminishing Growth
Diminishing Growth – More sales are made, BUT as the business grows new sales diminish in comparison to customer attrition.
Spinning Wheels
Spinning Wheels – Despite your efforts it does not feel like you are making real, measurable change.
No Competitive Edge
Losing Competitive Edge – Today’s business environment is a race against time, and your company may be losing the battle.
So does every business owner experience this? Most do, especially those that are shackled, and struggling to move forward. Some only experience of few of these pains. But there are business owners who break through those barriers and sore to the upper levels, and those are the businesses that have mastered “the spinning plates”. Meaning they have a built in structure that is their secret sauce that helps them juggle more, they have learned the leadership skills and they have built in the balance to make it all happen with ease.
Here’s the secret…
No doubt about it, you know your business better than anyone else. But, how to make your business soar and deliver you the perks you deserve, that’s where some owners could use a better mouse trap. Good intentioned owners are constantly on the look out to figure out better ways “what needs to be done”. BUT…the owners’ most important priority is not actually “what needs to be done” but instead the focus should be on putting a system or mechanism in place that make implementation automatic. A system you can stick to. A system that does not rely on YOU the business owner to do everything. A system based not on the volatile ups and downs of business ownership,but instead based on
proven best practices and strategies for getting your plan implemented. And a system that divides big goals into achievable bite-sized chunks. A system that gets plans implemented.
As a coach with 20 years experience my business coaching is not based on theory, ideas or copycat quick-fixes. Instead I only focus on leadership skills, business growth strategies and action planning tools that are proven best practices. In addition, I have found that if plans don’t get implemented then businesses don’t get the best results. So we have created our own very effective implementation tools.
Since 1999 Renee O’Brien has been a consultant, speaker, writer and business owner that has helped over 1000 business owners build their businesses to quickly accomplish their dreams. Located in Seattle, WA, Renee works with clients nationwide to improve their organization, personnel and profitability through consulting, coaching, training, instant template products and eLearning. Renee has performed speaking events as a business building expert for many public and private business organizations and trade groups including the SBA, Women’s Network for Entrepreneurial Training, SCORE, Junior Achievement, Local colleges, non-profits, and many of the major trade associations.
Renee, a University of Washington graduate in Economics and Communications works with her clients, producing big results, including growing businesses from startup to near $5 million/year, quadrupling owner profits, implementing powerful operating systems and creating ideas that have become “best practices” in some industries. She is considered the consultant’s consultant because many business consultants have engaged her to improve their businesses. And, Renee has had a multitude of articles published in trade and small business publications.
A self-described Entrepreneurial-Addict, Renée brings more than 20+ years of business-building experience to her clients. Renee has started 7 enterprises, and exited a few.At age 23, she took a leap of faith and left her corporate business consulting job at Accenture to form her first venture,a bustling service business.Starting with just $50, Renée sold her successful, 25+ employee business just 8 years later after becoming the 2nd largest service in the region.Since 1999 Renee has been a key advisor for her clients that represent $25+ million per year of combined revenues, and hundreds of jobs from those organizations’ employees.
Renee is serious about partnering with business owners to help them “eat and sleep their numbers”. She is a leadership fanatic, spreadsheet geek, devoted to operational systems and helping entrepreneurs achieve work life balance and truly love their business again. Recently Renee has added to her toolbox: the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team®, numerous evidence based methodologies trained at Harvard Leadership Coaching Strategies, MBTI® Certification (Myers-Briggs personality assessments), Everything DiSC® (model of human behavior for personal growth), and CSPO certification in Agile, the world’s most popular innovation methodology.
Since founding SharpChip Consulting in 1999, Renee has brought her creative approach to problem solving, combined with her business building and management experience has helped many businesses bring fresh solutions to old problems, and she loves to help deliver results!
1. All action plans start with Owner’s Perk
Many people skip this step in business planning, but it is actually one of the most effective tools. Your desired profit, your time off, your vacations, building your financial security and lowering your stress are the first objectives of your plan, that everything is planned around. Instead of waiting for what is left over, we start with the perks…in a sense start with desert!
2. “Opportunity Selection” take a top role.
As you become more successful more opportunities will come your way, but picking the wrong ones can seriously derail your goal achievement. A priority focus on “opportunity selection” so you are not wasting time on the wrong things.
3. Measurable, measurable, measurable.
It is all too easy to lose your mojo about a goal when the poop hits the fan with daily operations. To prevent the risk of goal abandonment in tough times, owners need to see real progress. We have developed a technique to measure goal achievement or learning skill development based on 6 critical criteria. In addition, we are BIG on identifying the right KPI’s (Key performance indicators) that help you navigate your ship. KPI’s should always be tied to an objective
4. Focus on the “juggle”.
You know that you have so many things you need to have on your radar from service to staff, to sales, cash flow, keeping up with changing tax laws, leadership and tons more. The juggle is one of the most overwhelming pains of business ownership. Instead of focusing on “the things” …you will get more bang for your buck focusing on the “juggle”. How can you improve your juggling techniques? Tools and strategies for keeping track of everything at once, focusing your energy where it can have the biggest impact. Developing true leaders in your company who take on “responsibilities” and not just “tasks”. How to build leaders who will follow through and really relieve you of the shackles of business. The focus on “juggle” is comprised of 7 components: (1) Mastery of time with lifestyle as a priority, (2) Keep your eye on the ball through meaningful KPI’s, (3) Communicate your vision with strong leadership, (4) Great people AND great team, (5) Build a relationship business, not a transaction business, (6) Begin with the end in mind, and (7) Innovation is critical in this “commodity age”.
5. We Find Your Implementation Style.
Do you know how you learn best? What motivates you? How do you work best? We will use DISC or Meyer’s Briggs assessment tools to learn about how you think best, and craft YOUR Implementation plan based on one of our 4 SharpChip Implementation Styles.
6. My “7-By-7 Result” Plans.
Do you have time to implement all that you want? Or are you like most people and you have an appetite for ideas that would take more than a lifetime to realistically implement? We designed the 7-x-7 program to take us through selection, scaling, prioritizing and organizing goals into 7 segments a year. Each segment is approximately 7 weeks long, and includes 2 week sprints. This system is based on Agile methodology and often produces results 2-4 times faster than normal goal achievement
7. SharpChip’s own Technology Accountability Tools.
Do you have time to implement all that you want? Or are you like most people and you have an appetite for ideas that would take more than a lifetime to realistically implement? We designed the 7-x-7 program to take us through selection, scaling, prioritizing and organizing goals into 7 segments a year. Each segment is approximately 7 weeks long, and includes 2 week sprints. This system is based on Agile methodology and often produces results 2-4 times faster than normal goal achievement.
8. Unique Solutions for Unique Needs.
We use only proven best-practice systems, strategies and action steps. I am certified in a number of transformation, team facilitation and performance coaching models so we will recommend the best solution to match your needs, so you don’t waste time on the wrong things. Tools and strategies like DISC® and MBTI® assessments, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team™, Agile® the world’s most popular innovation engine, Renee is a Scrum CSPO professional, Leadership Coaching Strategies from Harvard Professional Development Program, or more.
9. Run the Drills on your Leadership Skills.
Our street-smart savvy clients know that to get peak performance out of their business they need to top off their leadership skills and be the best leader they can be. For your fastest results we will make recommendation on the leadership skills that you or your team members could use to get results faster. Boost your skills on advanced time-management, leadership, people management, planning, communication, cash-flow management, operational planning, strategic selling, making great decisions, delegation and more.
10. Implementing Regular Innovation
To thrive as a business in today’s fast moving, competitive market companies have to challenge their old beliefs about innovation. There is no true “set it and forget it” business any more if you want your business to last more than a few years. Company’s must become innovation machines. From breaking down barriers, to teaching leaders how to be innovators, to implementing innovation methodology and practices like Agile, we know how to help you implement the innovation that will give you a competitive edge.
11. Fast-Track Samples.
After 2 decades of experience I have developed heaps of samples, calculators, templates, sample scripts and other items that you can use to speed up your implementation.” title=” After 2 decades of experience I have developed heaps of samples, calculators, templates, sample scripts and other items that you can use to speed up your implementation.