I am an advocate for small business. My passion is help business owners become more successful, make more money, add value and enjoy themselves at the same time!

It’s fair to say that small to medium enterprises [SME's], do employ the most people.

So why would I start with a headline like this one?

Because that’s exactly what a business owner said to me this week.

I let the conversation unfold – after all he had engaged the services of more than one business coach in recent times. Had these coaches failed? Were they no good at their job? Did they just take the money [fees] and run?

Probably not.

The truth is, in the business owner’s experience he is now barely breaking even, and will most like fall below his breakeven point in the near future.

Why?

‘The economy’ stupid!

The business is twenty years old – and has been in the current ownership for the past five years. Custom walked through the door, why spend too much on advertising and sales [marketing]? Raw material suppliers were happy and the business added margin to the raw material as well as add value.

That has all changed. Sales are down. Competitors are discounting to get business. Raw material suppliers now sell to the end user who then gets the value added component only. So there’s a hefty reduction in profitability. You can begin to see the downward trend. Oh, in addition new players have entered the market – dumb you might think, but the reality is that the pie is getting broken down into smaller and smaller pieces.

Some of the players undoubtedly will survive; others will go to the wall.

Our business owner believes it is not cost effective [especially now] to go out and drum up business – so he waits.

Deep in his heart he knows [at least perceives], that unless ‘the economy’ picks up sometime soon that he may not have a business any more.

That’s why ’small business does not work’

In his model of the world he is right – his belief is, sooner or later, about to become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Success in any venture or undertaking starts with the right mindset. A little bit of passion helps. As do plenty of energy, a good [but flexible plan], a proactive approach and getting to understand where your customer is coming from.

Also many of the decision makers these days are in senior roles at an age unheard of just a few years ago – they THINK differently, are not always bound by the old models, are prepared to take risks and will not always accept that what worked in the past is the best pathway to pursue now.

Of course the fundamentals of business and life do not change – but given that these are in place, then the rules are subject to change today, tomorrow and the next day!

Undoubtedly many business owners are experiencing tough times – how many are now on the balls of their feet like a prize fighter dancing around looking not only to avoid the next punch, but more importantly to land one or two for themselves – going for the knockout?

Attitude determines your altitude.

No one says it’s easy – it never was, but the world is full of people and businesses that somehow found a way through the tough times and became successful again!

How do you plan to manage things right now?

Maybe having a few mentors or coaches or other business owners to talk things through, to share ideas even form a [proven system], Mastermind Group is a great way to start

Since the release of the hit DVD ‘The Secret’ and its exposure on the Oprah TV show there has been an inundation of Law of Attraction Teachers promoting their own books, Cd’s, courses, teleseminars and so on. Its launch was prefaced by some very good marketing – and I for one could not wait to get my hands on the DVD!

One can even become a Law of Attraction Coach. You can even do this [become a LOA Coach], online using mp3 and teleseminars as the principal training method!

What fascinates me is the growth in products offering programmes to help you understand ‘The Secret behind The Secret’.

This has been spawned by the unprecedented global popularity of The Secret pretty much from day one of its release.

It clearly shows there here are a huge number of people looking for self development information; some way to improve their lives, whatever that means for them. It also demonstrates that, for many people, implementing the principles of the Law of Attraction has not worked.

Many popular books have been around for a long time now that espouse the principals of the Law of Attraction: The all time classic Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” , lesser known is Wallace Wattles’ ” The Science of Getting Rich“, Charles F. Haanel’s “The Master Key System” or more recently, John Kehoe’s “Mind Power” and many others.

Clearly, there’s no ‘Secret’ as such, but there are a set of principles that, if applied diligently, can really help you make a positive difference in your life. It is possible to re create your circumstances, after all you [probably unconsciously], created the circumstances you currently experience [attracted].

Here’s the real secret – you need to work in a focussed way before these principles will work for you.

It’s what I do as a Life Coach.

First – you must get clear as to what you really want and get clear as to why.

Second – be in alignment with your values.

And then you can begin to get into it – but there are plenty of little ‘traps’ along the path to success, which I won’t discuss in this post.

Remember my ‘mantra’ on the Home Page?

Through clarity comes change.

If you would like a free initial consultation as to how I can help you or would like a free digital copy of Think and Grow Rich or The Science of Getting Rich fill in the form on this site and I will get in touch.

My primary role as a Business Coach is to business owners grow their businesses and make more profits at the same time.

Increasingly I find many small business owners in Auckland have been experiencing a downturn in their turnover which has put the business and its owner/s under more pressure than they would like.

As a result, many see a Coach as an unnecessary additional expense and are reluctant to go beyond an initial exploratory chat. It could also be something to do with the fact that many ‘business coaches’ are more interested in charging fat fees for very little in return which has given the coaching industry somewhat of an inglorious reputation.

So back to my headline.

There are two parts to this story:

§  The business owner is suffering from fear based on his reduced turnover and negative publicity around the gloom and doom he/she reads and hears every day. He/she is literally ‘frozen’ or stuck and is no longer open to working out how he /she can resolve these very real issues.

§  The Business Coaching ‘industry’ is not well regarded by many business owners, either as a result of direct experience or by word of mouth.

Let’s explore a little more:

An email from Bizzone today reveals that business owners’ biggest challenges right now are Cash flow, Sales and Marketing and Business Planning.  This survey was done in conjunction with the National Bank.

Another email, this time from the Auckland Chamber of Commerce [www.aucklandchamber.co.nz], tells us about their recent survey which reveals businesses expecting a ‘long flat slowdown’ and looking forward 6 months nearly half of the respondents feel that the situation will stay the same or improve. There’s a lot more of course and I quote “….the mood among many Auckland businesses continues to be positive and reflect a strong self – belief that getting on with ‘doing the business’ continues to be rewarded with results.”

Before I continue I highly recommend joining the Chamber of Commerce and to subscribe to organisations such as Bizzone. They are very good sources of information and resources available to help business grow.

And like a good coach they help give you the business owner an outside perspective as to what is going on in the market place.

So what to do?

It is no surprise to me that the Bizzone/National Bank survey has identified these three ‘interrelated’ issues as being of concern to businesses.

§  With a drop in turn over I’m sure cash flows would be affected.

§  This puts the spotlight on Sales and Marketing

§  Which lights the blowtorch under Business Planning

A consistent theme throughout my discussions with business owners has been: Lack of a Business Plan, very little or no knowledge of what a K.P.I. {Key Performance Indicator} is or how to establish them, and Sales and Marketing are left to poorly written Yellow Pages ads and word of mouth. To be fair, word of mouth can be very powerful.

With regard to KPI’s many owners will tell me ‘my accountant has all that information’, there is no real commitment apart from annual returns to get a handle on what’s going on in the business!

My last Boss in the Corporate world was a hard bastard [bless him]. His mantra was ‘you cannot manage what you can’t measure’. We reported to our KPI’s monthly, there were daily sales summaries; the KPI’s were constantly under review as were our costs and so on. We could look at historical comparative sales graphs and know why certain periods were up or down. In short, management had an accurate snapshot of where the business was all of the time.

To be fair to most small business owners, they don’t have the resources to monitor their businesses the way a larger entity can, but they sure can put measures and systems in place to help themselves make better decisions.

Business Plans seem to be in short supply. Or if there is one it’s been gathering dust somewhere on a shelf. A business plan ought to be considered a dynamic instrument and be reviewed regularly.

These are the issues many small business owners do not do anything about. They are not costly to implement. An hour or two with a Business Coach can pay off handsomely in the long run.

Our mantra [among many] is that often small changes can have a significant effect on your business.

I encourage you as a business owner to contact me for an obligation free discussion about your business.

I may be able to point the way, but as always – you have to do the work!

P.S. If I cannot help you I will endeavour to find someone who can!

You may have noticed on my home page the tag line ‘Through Clarity Comes Change’. You might well ask ‘What does this mean?’

Simply put, it means getting clear as to what you want from life, the more clarity you are able to establish, the easier it is for you to make the necessary changes to get what you want.

What prompted me to write about ‘change’ was a very recent article in a newspaper [I cannot find - apologies to the writer], which stated that ‘change’ is a big word. People are afraid of change etc etc.

As a Coach I am in the business of change – but not just for the sake of it.

I f you want to make progress in any endeavour action of some sort must be taken. As the old saw says: ‘If you keep doing the same things and expect to get different results, you are mistaken’.

This applies equally to individuals and businesses.

On a global scale right now, many of you are being forced to change, maybe you have lost your job [ or your household income has income has been reduced], the cost of living has increased, or perhaps you are considering spending less, paying more than the minimum off your credit card, whatever.

The reality is, for many of you, you are beginning to do things differently through circumstances – reacting to a certain set of conditions.

Going outside your comfort zone.

Why wait until you are ‘forced’ to make changes?

This is what Life Coaching [and Business Coaching for that matter], is about. Looking forward, and creating a set of strategies that match your aspirations. It is critical to ensure that these are in alignment with your values and that your plans benefit those with whom you come into contact with daily, your family, friends, colleagues, business partners.

This will require some change – doing things differently from what you normally do in order to get to where you would like to be: more money, better job, better relationships and so on.

A great way to minimise the fear and uncertainty around change is to take a little time out to realise where you are now and to at least have an idea of where you like to be.

The difference is the gap – it might be a big gap, or it might be not so big.

As your coach I help you take the necessary steps [one at a time], on your journey toward closing that gap.

And this where change occurs.

To recap: Change is not so scary if you approach life in a considered way and really decide to do something about making positive changes.

As Stephen R. Covey of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People fame says: ‘Begin with the end in mind’.

In order to know what the end is you need to get clarity around what is you want.

Our initial [free] consultation will guide you and offer insights into how you can go about this.

Here’s a great question to ask yourself of where you are in life now: ‘Is this as good as it gets?’

And another great question: ‘Could it be better?’ You bet it could – every single time!