Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant

 

Talking Technologies: Making your New Year's radical revolutions

By Steve Burns, Capital News contributor

I would like to take the time to thank all of my readers for your support over the past year.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing my column and I sincerely appreciate your feedback.

Last week we looked more closely at the issue of building on the strengths in your business rather than taking the traditional approach of focusing only on your weaknesses.

As we are about to embark on the 2005 business year, I would encourage you to start the new year with a radical business revolution.

A radical business revolution is something you may not have had since you had an entrepreneurial seizure a few years ago and decided to start your business.

Yes, I said seizure.

You remember it well. That crisis in your life when you totally lost it, were completely sick and tired of working for someone else and made the fatal decision to go into business for yourself.

Let’s admit it, while there may have been many ups and downs in your business’ life and in yours, you wouldn’t trade places with any employee for just one minute—well maybe life would be so much easier.

Actually, you do really love what you do.

Let’s go back to why you went into business for yourself in the first place.

Has your business become everything that you meant it to be?

Is your business giving you all of the freedom that you set out to create?

Are you delighted with the way your life as a business owner is turning out?

If not, perhaps it’s time to create your own radical business revolution.

Here are some ideas that could start a radical revolution in your business:

Strategic revolution:

  1. Take the time to really challenge yourself as to what you think your business’ top three strengths are. Ask everyone, your spouse, your customers, your suppliers, your friends. Leave no stone unturned.
  2. Ask yourself if you still love what you do? What would it take to change that to get you back loving what you do and being passionate about it everyday?

Marketing revolution:

  1. Find out who your top 10 competitors are and how they have beaten you in the marketplace in the last year.
  2. Launch a marketing campaign that uses a medium that you have never used before.

Customer revolution:

  1. Dare to only do business with those businesses and individuals that enjoy working with you and who value what you do for them. Fire the rest—they are sucking the life out of you and your business!
  2. Ask your best customers two simple questions: “If you were the owner of my business, what would you never change? What would you change immediately?”

HR revolution:

  1. Declare Friday, Jan. 14, a “radical revolution day” and ask your team to help you create the most fun at work that you have ever had in one day.
  2. Take a day and do the job of the lowest level employee in your company.

Technology revolution:

  1. Declare Jan. 28 awesome communication day where all outgoing or internal e-mail communication is banned for the entire day. Require that employees talk to each other in person or over the phone. Require that employees can only read external e-mails but where they must respond by phone or in person to all external customers and suppliers.
  2. Purchase a disruptive technology, such as a Blackberry, for use in your business by the employee that you think needs it least.

Financial revolution:

  1. Create two performance measures other than cash, revenues, expenses and profits to measure and manage your financial success in 2005.
  2. Have a business valuation done to see what your business is really worth.

Life Revolution

  1. Plan a weekend getaway once a quarter where you take the Friday off and escape to a different location each time.

If kids are involved, take them out of school for the day and let them choose on a rotating basis where you go and how you spend the time. Declare the first quarterly weekend of 2005 yours and subsequent quarterly weekend’s one of the kids’ where they get to choose the location and how the time will be spent together.

Go ahead and try these radical ideas in 2005.

If you are like most Okanagan entrepreneurs, you decided to move to the Valley to start a business that would allow you to enjoy more from your life—increased time with your family and friends, more time to enjoy the outdoors, etc.

However, over 85 per cent of entrepreneurs in this Valley acknowledge that this just isn’t happening.

Why is this? I believe it is because we have succumbed to the status quo. Why not break out of the status quo in 2005 and start a radical business and personal revolution? It could be the change that you need to finally allow your business to help you enjoy more from life.

Steve Burns is the president and CEO of Burns Innovation Group Inc. which provide consulting and accounting services to entrepreneurs. You can reach Steve at 763-4716.

steve@steveburns.ca

back to top

Copyright © 2005. Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant. All rights Reserved.