Blog
Something we have all heard, said or hoped for!
Running a Business like Clockwork, when the ‘business operates without problems or delays, or happens regularly.’ To manage, run something efficiently, in a reliable matter.’ You could say the ‘cogs’, the wheels and the functions of the Business are well-oiled, finely tuned and operating and running smoothly. Like a quality clock or watch!
Let's begin by asking the burning question! How well is your Business operating?
When we examine this, there are many moving parts that make up a Business. We need to be aware of all elements of your Business, like cogs that make up a watch or clock.
- How well is your Business operating?
- What cogs function well?
- What others need work?
The Key to Success is to design your Business to run itself! …..like Clockwork!
When your Business runs like clockwork it will flourish and grow, and so will you!
Impossible! It’s POSSIBLE, READ on.....
Start by tracking how your Business currently runs. Identify all the functions and actions, activities and decisions you and your Team make. What are the systems and processes? Simply put, find out what makes your Business run, ‘tick’ and chime! or breakdown!
Next, Read our 4 Tips to get your Business running smoothly like Clockwork.
- Plan for Success 2. Optimise Systems 3. Invest in Staff 4. Set the Standard
In your way, there they are Roadblocks, barriers and obstructions, holding you back, stopping you from achieving the success you and your Business deserve!
You may be feeling such obstacles are insurmountable and too difficult to deal with. You are daunted, overwhelmed and even exhausted trying to find answers!
But don’t give up, there are strategies you can adopt to overcome them. You can achieve the success you deserve!
READ on, to learn how you can bypass Roadblocks to achieve your Business Success.
Let’s get started by looking at some possible Roadblocks
- Cashflow challenges
- Under utilising resources
- Lack of confidence
- No Marketing Plan
- Poor Customer Service
- Time
Are these familiar to you?
Yes! Check these 6 Tips 'how to get around them'.
1. Cashflow Challenges:
A barrier for many small Businesses, you find you are robbing Peter to pay Paul, and with no Financial Plan or Strategy you are operating on the edge. Stressful and often nail-biting times.
To overcome this barrier
Simply put, ‘good supplier and customer management will ensure you have a consistent flow of money coming in from sales to be able to pay your bills’. And don’t we all want that?
There are ‘9 Ways to Help get your Cash Flow flowing’! Click on the link......... https://blackburnaccounting.com.au/blog.
2. Under utilising Resources:
This can be both human resources and equipment that are available but not fully utilised or employed efficiently to maximum capacity and capability. Employees lacking training, or without empowerment are wasted resources. Equipment may be in need of upgrade or repair. In this situation, productivity is compromised.
To remove this obstacle
Even the most successful of Businesses and Business Leaders will share their experiences of setbacks, mistakes and sometimes failures along their journeys. The common thread is their willingness to speak of ‘lessons learned’ that turned these stumbles into opportunities. Opportunities for growth, improvement and overcoming challenges.
Capturing lessons learned provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on past events and experiences and identify areas for improvement. This allows Business and Teams to gain insight and understanding into what worked well and what didn’t.
Most importantly how and what can be done differently next time to avoid making the same mistake twice.
3 Reasons Why Lessons Learned are Important
- Avoids Reinventing the Wheel – saves money! Reflect, evaluate and record lessons learned to guide the future. Essential to document the tools and techniques used to help you and others save time and money going forward.
- Don’t Make the Same Mistake Twice – it’s been said a million times before but still resonates. To quote Albert Einstein ‘if we cannot remember our past mistakes and avoid them, we are simply going to make the same mistakes again.’ The key is to document the lessons learned, sharing and revisiting them to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated.
- Reflection – provides the opportunity to review both ‘failures and successes’. It's important to relive success as a reminder of how to succeed and how to build on that. Analyse what made the venture a success to take to future projects.
No matter what the Project, Business venture, or Political Campaign undertaking a Lessons Learned exercise is invaluable in understanding what went wrong, and critically how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
In a time of conscious consumerism and cost of living pressures we are now seeing what is called the ‘lipstick effect’.
This economic and retail theory proposes that cash-strapped consumers are more likely to purchase affordable brand lipsticks, beauty goods and luxury items during an economic downturn. In this environment Consumers still want their small indulgences and to treat themselves even when faced with financial challenges and their money is tight.
This phenomenon was reportedly suggested by beauty giant Estee Lauders former chairman, Leonard Lauder, who noticed an increase in sales of lipstick during the US recession in the late 1990’s. 
More recently, this 'theory' gained attention with the headline ‘cosmetics at face value’ ‘cost of living pressures make big retailers unlikely beneficiaries of the lipstick effect’. The article included comments from various sources including leading supermarkets, experts and everyday consumers.
Comments reported as, ‘consumers are starting to explore alternatives that represent better value for them’ ‘beauty retailers have to grab people's attention, you’ve got to entertain them, you’ve got to excite them’. ‘it was important how beauty retailers brand themselves as a necessity for consumers’! ‘I've just started looking at what I was paying for if it was marketing or pretty packaging’!
Another example. The lipstick effect is proposed as one of the reasons movie complexes and fast-food casual restaurants do well during hard times. Cash-strapped consumers want to treat themselves to something to help them forget their financial worries. Not an overseas holiday but a treat, a cheap night out!
This pattern is also a manifestation of something economists call the income effect. And there is more, much more,. Search this subject with the click of a mouse on the web.
So, what does the lipstick effect mean? What does it mean to you, your Business!
Success can be different for everyone, fame, fortune, happiness! All of those and more!
How you define it will vary as will the factors shaping it. It can look, feel and be different for us all!
If you are a Business owner it also depends on your lifestyle, goals and aspirations and what you hope to achieve with your small Business, now and long term.
When you consider all these factors and influences, and which are the most important, you might see Success as providing benefits.
The 6 Benefits of Success
- Improve Cashflow
- Reduce risk
- Have clear direction
- Take action
- Develop a winning Team
- Having fun
Success looks like, feels like:
- achieving specific measurable goals and objectives,
- overall satisfaction, belief in self and Team
- being emotionally and financially stable, peace of mind
- doing what you love and enjoying your work everyday
- reward with profit for hard work
- making a difference, with personal effort, quality products and service.
Let's look more closely at the 6 Benefits of Business Success:
1. Improve cashflow:
A regular and smooth flow of money in and out of the Business necessary for daily operations, and costs including paying employee's, purchasing stock, and taxes. Positive cashflow indicate the Business liquidity.
There are 9 Ways to Help get your Cash flowing. Click on link.....https://blackburnaccounting.com.au/blog
2. Reduce Risk: Risk comes in different ways requiring different strategies to manage.
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