What is the greatest asset of your business?
The greatest asset of a small business should be the owner. The owner is the nexus point for creativity - the gumption to keep going - the coach and mentor for business contacts, employees and suppliers. Small business owners in this country provide most of the employment opportunities and take tremendous risks. They work long hours. Passion and ideas is their fuel.Do you protect your greatest asset? Do you develop yourself to become the best you can be?
Apart from eating properly, managing stress, exercising and sleeping enough (which are hotly contested subjects) - do you continue to develop the value in yourself?
Three Ways to develop your mind and your abilities:
Learn
One of the best ways to expand your capabilities, your business success, and your life in general is to become an avid reader - a person who studies subjects they do not know well. Not only will this help you to improve areas you are weak in - but it makes you a more rounded individual and increases the common ground you have with all the contacts around you. Here are some of my favorite books (all of them have become classics)!
How to win friends and influence people - by Dale Carnegie
Think and Grow Rich - by Napoleon Hill
Don't Shoot the Dog - by Karen Pryor
Getting Things Done - by David Allen
The Richest Man in Babylon - by George S. Clason
Unlimited Power - by Tony Robbins
There are so many more - but these came to mind instantly - so they must have made the biggest impression on me. With books, YOU can set the pace - but regular reading will turn you into a much more powerful entrepreneur.
Observe
Be aware of what is going on around you - what is happening in your area - what changes will impact your business (services, deliveries, taxes, employment issues, etc).
If you sit back and are not assessing these things you are just plain not keeping up!
- your environment
- your products
- your opportunities
- your competitors
- your financial circumstances
- your performance in light of your goals
Change
Ouch! No one wants to change (at least not most of the people I meet!). How can we all improve ourselves? By being willing to change - that is the first step in being able to do it!
If you keep old accounting ways - you may have book-keeping errors.
If you don't automate you can't manage a growing product line.
If you cling to old methods, your production might lag.
If you do not look for new markets your sales will dwindle.
If you don't keep changing - you will not grow.
If you Learn, Observe and Change - you WILL see benefits:
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