Re-energize Your Small Business

Your small business may be doing well, or not so well. Whatever the case may be it is important to re-energize your small business every few months.

Try these ideas to gain new motivation and insight into your business: 

• Determine what is doing well and what is not doing so well - Whether you sell products, or offer various services, spend some time looking at your sales. Identify the products or services that are doing well and not so well, then explore the reasons. Some well performing sales may indicate underpricing or they are just great deals. Explore how to pair them with those that are underperforming to clear inventory or increase value added services. 
• Is it time for a short break? - Over 48% of small business don't take time off even on holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas. Remember the proverb, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Make time for yourself to put away the cell phone, stop working for 24 hours. You'll find yourself more energized, motivated, and your creative energies will rebound if you take a step back, take a break (a real break) from your work periodically. 
• Look for ways to reduce operating costs - Reducing ops costs increases your profitability. Look for opportunities to outsource or insource specific tasks, reduce supply costs by buying in bulk or when costs are historically lower, and determine which expenditures may not be providing value to your bottom line. One client realized they spent more money promoting a specific product than they would gain if their entire inventory was sold. 
• Streamline/simplify processes - Over a period of time we develop workflows that become cumbersome. At the time there was a good reason for adding an extra step in a process, but that extra step may have become obsolete as you or your employees have become more adept at completing the process. Gaining control over your time allows you to become more profitable. Simplifying processes reduces your time to complete a sale, speeding up delivery. 
• Look to the future - Revisit your strategic plan. Are you on course to meet your goals and objectives? Can you increase them? Or, are some goals & objectives just to aggressive? Looking toward the future allows you to make decisions today that will grow your business.  
• Is it time to expand? - Are there opportunities to add new products/services that compliment existing ones? Are there services you can provide that complete what you do already? An HVAC owner started with a focus on rapid repair response. After building a client base, the next logical step was to provide preventative maintenance services. Sales were up and clients were happy. 

Any or all of these of ideas will help you take a look at your business and find ways to improve, and most importantly, allow you the opportunity to renew and grow your motivation!!!!

---