How to Run a Successful Small Business, Part 1

hi my name is Brian Silverthorne I'm a business coach and I'm making this video specifically for those people who are responsible for the success of a small business so that's for business owners in two categories those owners that want to grow their businesses and increase the profits consistently and those owners who might be getting their businesses ready for sales so they can make them more valuable in the marketplace it's also for managers and executives who are fully or partially responsible for the success of a business and it could be for those people who are considering buying a small business or starting a small business now I've been a big fan of small businesses since I was very young I first my first jobs were in small businesses the local delicatessen the auto parts store the sporting goods store now I did have an opportunity to work for bigger businesses and factories the money was great there but didn't like the politics that well I liked the small business aspect and small businesses quite frankly are the backbone of this economy and if we're going to keep this economy chugging along and get it growing we need more small businesses and we need successful small businesses as a matter of fact small businesses employ more than half of the total workforce in this country so if you back out the government employs government agency employees they probably employ they probably employ about seventy to seventy-five percent of the of the private sector workforce they contribute about half of the gross domestic product here in the United States and in addition small businesses and small business owners have a very high level of trust in all the surveys in the consuming public so small businesses are the key to our success now they're the key to our success as we go on into the future and there's a way to make sure that your small business is running well structured well and growing consistently and by the way if you're curious about why I'm making this video in this beautiful gazebo that's right in the middle of a vineyard and a winery I'll tell you more about that as we get toward the end of this video so right now let's get started on all the pieces and parts that go into making a very successful small business before I get started talking about the information on this flip chart here I want to tell you a little bit more about my experience with small businesses as I mentioned when I was going to high school in college I worked for small businesses but as life progressed I had the opportunity to manage a small business for an absentee owner I also worked as a salesperson and a sales manager for a small business I also started and grew a small business of my own very successfully and for the past 20 years I've been working as a coach and consultant with employers who had anywhere from five to a few thousand employees so I've been fully entrenched in the small business market and as I said early on I love small businesses we need more successful small businesses so I started out by talking to business owners just randomly and also those that I worked with and said okay you have a small business why did you decide to go into a small business or what do you want the small business to accomplish for you and everything that they told me fit into one of these four categories one is freedom they maybe wanted the freedom to do the work that they were doing for somebody else in their own way they wanted the freedom to spend time with their families they wanted the freedom to explore other things in their lives and make their own decisions but they wanted freedom secondly they wanted a sense of accomplishment they may want to build that business so that their family can carry it on or so that it makes the mark in the community or so that it can be a valuable asset to sell going on down the road but they wanted to accomplish something important to them thirdly they wanted some money they wanted to be responsible for their own income so that they could enjoy the freedoms they hope to to create and do other things travel spend time with family whatever it might happen to be and thirdly they wanted the whole thing to be fun if you're going to do all this if you're going to work hard and you're going to express your freedoms and make accomplishments and earn money it's much better if you're having a good time doing it so they wanted fun fortunate circumstances most of the business owners I talked to agreed that this is what they wanted but very few of them accomplished all four of these and the primary reason is because building a business is a specific skill set and they had not either had the time or made the time or had the money so that they could learn and because of that they were kind of like driving a car that's not tuned up very well it spits in its butters and you got to have periodic maintenance and you get where you're going but it's not a very fun drive and it takes you much longer than you should so what I'm going to talk to as I said before today is about the pieces and parts that go together to make a smooth-running business that you can operate and have freedom accomplish things make money and have fun in the process so what do you need in general to do to accomplish these four things well you have to have efficient and effective operations and we're going to talk about how you get each and one of these each and every one of these as we go you got to have consistently increasing profits you've got to have growth nothing is static usually you either are shrinking or growing and you have to have quick and accurate response to the market if it changes like right now our market just changed drastically in the last couple of years those businesses that were prepared did much better than those that weren't so that's where we're going to get started everything I talked to I talked to you about here from this point forward will be to help you accomplish these four things so you can achieve these things as a business owner so stay tuned alright as I mentioned there are a lot of pieces and parts that go into building a good small business but if you're a small business employer your employees are probably your biggest expense they're also your biggest asset they could be your biggest source of frustration and even though they have all those three components they are the number one key to your success your employees are the people that touch everybody else that you do business with internally and externally and how well those interactions go are going to greatly affect the success of your business so to have a successful business as it relates to your employees your employees need to be happy they need to look forward to coming to work they need to enjoy what they're doing they need to care about the business that you're in and the products and services that you offer they need to be happy doing their jobs they need to be productive there are some statistics that show that the average American worker only works to 50 or 60 percent of his or her capacity and there are reasons for that and it doesn't really have anything to do with the intelligent or skill of the employee but we'll get into those things also they need to want to actually want to help your business be successful that means that they're going to contribute much more positively and much more consistently they need to want to help you grow and succeed and it all boils down to fit you've got to get the right people that fit with what you have to offer and how you offer it and how you operate your business every day so we're going to take a look at next at how you make sure you get employees that fit well with your business okay so how do we find employees that fit well with your business those that are going to contribute to your success well it all boils down to the recruiting and hiring process now to make this process very effective takes a little time and preparation but once you have it done it's done and believe me based on the conversations that I've had with business owners hiring the wrong person can be a very expensive and very frustrating process both during the hiring process and on into the work environment so you want to make sure you do it right the first time or at least maximize your potential of doing it right the first time so what are the things that need to be considered well in the interview process you're going to have to talk about how well they fit so they need to fit the job requirements the specific duties and responsibilities and results that you expect the person you're hiring to produce they also have to be a good match with the purpose of your business why are you in business other than making money what do you want to a con what do you see for your business going in the future they got to be a good fit with that they also have to fit the values and the principles and the standards that guide your business so they know if they're doing something right or they're doing something wrong or they're doing something your way they need to be a good fit with that you also have to have a management style that focuses on things that help people become successful as individuals because the greater the individual success the greater the business success if you have people that are successful on their own within a business they're going to contribute to the success of your business and remember these are the people that want to help you become successful so you got to have a management style that teaches that coaches that can mentor with it's needed that can help the people grow as individuals and can guide them in the process of doing their work so these are all the things that you've got to think about and put together when you're designing a recruiting and hiring process that's it for part one lots of great stuff but there's more be sure to check out part two

Channel: Brian Silverthorn

Views: 547,970

Keywords: business tips, business building, business success, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurism, business strategy, continuous improvement

Id: z_8TyanJ_PA

Length: 10min 6sec (606 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 11 2011