If your business survived 2009, good job! As business advisors whose mission is to help businesses grow, we never thought there would be a day when we would congratulate business owners for just surviving. But 2009 was tough! We’ll give you that. Some of us had to make radical changes to our businesses in 2009,…
I love to ski. But, much of skiing is not even skiing; it’s waiting in line and riding the lift. So, you learn to find enjoyment in those down times. When I’m riding the chair lift, I spend my time watching other skiers on the slope below. My eyes are usually drawn to the skiers…
Many small-business owners take pride in saying that “we’re like family” when talking about their business. When they say this, they are referring to the fact that people who work for their company care for one another, are willing to pitch in and help with whatever needs doing, and feel like they belong or have…
By Jeannie Walters, President of Vox, Inc. Whenever I tell people that Vox is focused on the customer experience, I hear about someone’s last bad experience as a customer. I would say about 80% of the time, it’s related to an employee at the company. (The other 20% is reserved for inexplicably complicated – or…
Most business owners start their businesses with a good amount of confidence. They think they have something special to offer the world, and believe people should pay top dollar for it. And then reality hits. They’re not seeing the profit they had hoped for, the staff isn’t productive as they should be, and new business…
I received this question from a business owner recently: Q: “I’ve been successful in growing my small business, and I’ve started hiring some staff members. At first, I could keep track of what everyone was doing just by overhearing them and by quick check-ins. But now that I’ve hired more people, I feel like I…
A few years back when the economy was soaring, many business owners would think, “If I only had more time!” There was too much work to handle. They were stressed and unhappy. Today, many find themselves with lots of time – too much of it, in fact. Business is slow. And they’re … stressed and…
Performance evaluations have gotten such a bad rap over the years that sometimes we forget why we do them. It’s a high-stakes conversation, sometimes adversarial. The employee wants a raise and we want better performance. The risk of frustration, disappointment and even anger seems ever present. I’d rather go to the dentist! At Anchor Advisors, we agree with those…
Many of us have just completed setting our goals for 2009 (and if you haven’t yet, stop reading this right now and get going on it!). Writing down your goals is a great first step toward achieving them. But once you’re done with this exercise, then what? Unfortunately, for so many business owners, the next…
When our business grows to be more than we can handle on our own, we bring in employees and entrust them with portions of the work. In the beginning, the risk is low; we can monitor them closely and if someone drops the ball, we know how to pick it up since it’s stuff we’ve…