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…
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…
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…
If you want to see one of the most significant barriers to the success of a small business, just look on the desk of a small-business owner. There, you will likely see piles of unfinished work and unreturned phone messages scattered about. “If I could only get ahead!” they cry. But they can’t get ahead…
Many of the small businesses that we encounter are family-owned and operated. And on the surface, this seems like a good idea. After all, you love your family, so why wouldn’t you want to work with them? You know them well and trust them, so it seems like a lower risk venture than relying on strangers. While working with…
Managing a business, especially a small business, is like coaching a sports team. Like any team, you have your stars, and inevitably, you have your benchwarmers. While both groups have a place in your organization, they should not be managed in the same way. We all know our stars. They bend over backwards to get their work done and…
I often hear business leaders tell me that they don’t get enough done in a day. They have a to-do list a mile long, but they spend their whole day answering employees’ questions and solving employees’ problems. But, if we let day-to-day issues like these fill our day, it’s impossible to make progress on the leadership tasks that only…