BizMax To The Rescue — A Proven Strategy For The Small Business Owner
Phil Mickelson is one of the best golfers in the world. We see him on the golf course week after week and we take for granted that he works a four-day week. But behind the scene, he practices many hours per day. Often after a bad round, he will go to the practice range and work on his swing for another hour or two. When he’s not on tour, he has his daily regimen of physical fitness, practice for all kinds of golfing situations and hazards and mental preparation.
Does he work on his swing alone. Absolutely not. He has a swing coach to help him alter, correct and tweak the swing to match it to his already exceptional talent. His swing may be different from other golfers because the swing must match the golfer. He has his physical fitness trainer, his sports psychologist and likely other coaches as well. The same goes for virtually all athletes and performers. If these professionals need coaching, why do so many businesses ignore the use of a business coach.
Business executives tend to be very lonely people. They are often in a business that requires knowledge, expertise and a certain amount of confidentiality. They can’t discuss their problems or issues with their employees because they need to display the kind of leadership that instills confidence in their employees. Raising these issues with employees could be misinterpreted and lead to a loss of confidence in the owner and the business they work for. The owners can’t discuss these issues with their friends or neighbours for various reasons, least of which is what it will do to their own confidence level. They certainly can’t discuss their problems or concerns with their competitors. So where does a business owner or executive go for support and guidance?
Most people who start a business have an area of expertise directly related to that business. If a person, let’s say a plumber, starts his own plumbing business, he will know his particular trade, but often does not fully understand other necessary aspects of running his own business such as financing, managing personnel, marketing the business and cost control. To run a successful business they really need to be a jack of all trades for the business to reach its full potential. A business owner needs to understand and implement:
- Strategic planning
- Sales and marketing programs
- Budgeting
- Finance, accounting and cost control
- Purchasing and inventory control
- Systems, procedures and processes
- Management techniques
- Customer relations programs
It has often been said that a good manager is one that surrounds himself with brilliant people. In a large business corporation, the CEO needs to be a good manager and understand the business he is running. He also needs to delegate authority and responsibility to his top-notch managers and be able to interpret and understand reports from all of these various “experts” hired to oversee each of the areas listed above. His leadership and guidance is fed down through the chain and implemented by specialists in each department. Successful managers know how to delegate to the right people and monitor the results.
This is not necessarily the case with a smaller business. The real problem with most small to medium-sized businesses is that the owner normally does not have the financial resources to hire the expertise he lacks personally. He will hire a bookkeeper to maintain the financial records, but normally will not implement a budgeting process to monitor actual results with a predetermined set of targeted results. He will not take the time to establish a clear and well thought out operations manual to properly document systems and procedures, nor create job descriptions to ensure that each employee knows what is expected of them, what their responsibilities are and to whom they report. Marketing is often limited to word of mouth without any real marketing plan. If promotions are run, rarely are statistics kept regarding the results of the campaign to help with the next program. Costs are often controlled by gut feel. Very few businesses will be able to achieve their maximum profitability and value with this approach, unless business owners can expand their horizon and learn about all aspects of their business.
There is another very serious problem with smaller businesses. The owner is so consumed by the day-to-day requirements of the business and the business is so dependent on the owner that the owner has no time to devote to business education or for his own leisure. This could result in burn-out, frustration and fatigue, all of which could be fatal to the success of the organization.
So how does a small business owner transition from being all consumed by his business to taking control of his business? The key is to expand his knowledge and learn about all of the key areas of running a business. With limited time and resources, how can the business owner find this education.
The solution is BizMax. BizMax is a proprietary group coaching program developed by Next Level Business Planning, located in Ottawa and MAUS Business Systems from Australia. The program is specially designed for the budget of the small business owner, yet geared to transition the small business owner’s knowledge and ability into a well-rounded business executive capable of expanding the business into a growth organization. This program is based on a combination of monthly private business coaching sessions with monthly group coaching and is structured on a Mini MBA program. It covers all areas of running a business from strategic planning to financial management to sales and marketing and inventory control. It is a twelve month program which begins with a private session to develop a customized Business Health Check report, which pinpoints the areas of your business that are performing well and the areas that require improvement. The focus of the private coaching sessions are on the areas requiring improvements within the specific business and the focus of the group coaching sessions will be based on the group needs, as determined by the group.
This program has proven positive results and the business owner receives a Mini MBA certificate at the end of the program. Most importantly, the business owner/participant will be improving his or her own knowledge of running their own business while, at the same time, working towards improving their specific businesses. This is an affordable, hands-on business experience that works and should not be ignored.