In my previous post, Back At TweakYourBiz , I mentioned I had taken time to assess what I wanted to do next. Regular readers of this blog have probably noticed that I shy away from getting too personal.  But during a recent coaching session, I noticed that the questions I was asking my client were the questions I had to answer last year.

One Step Closer

A good friend of mine gave me a copy of U2′s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb about 9 months ago. I have a copy already and some of the songs have resonated with me for a long time. Strangely,  it was like hearing the album for the first time. Circumstances had created a perfect storm that nearly ended my business. At one point, I actually thought it was over and I should just get a job. I truly felt as if everything in my life had just upended but this U2 song, One Step Closer kept echoing in my head.

I’m ’round the corner from anything that’s real

I’m across the road from hope

I’m under a bridge in a rip tide

That’s taken everything I own

That verse sounds so dramatic but it felt that way. I had built a small business but earlier crises had used up my resources and there was very little left this time. During a major crisis of confidence, it’s not unusual to question your values, choices and actions. When you’re a business owner, lots of things can trigger a crisis. They are personal events like a medical problem or family issue or business events such as losing your best customer or discovering an accounting error. Maybe it is a larger world event such as a recession or natural disaster.

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On this blog, I write a lot about managing the business owner. Sometimes the business owner who needs to do some self-management is…well. me. I took a break from writing on TweakYourBiz.com (formerly Bloggertone) to take stock of what I wanted to do next. (I’ll write about my experience in another post.)

Well, I’m back blogging on TweakYourBiz.com and, frankly, I missed my blogger friends and the comments that often follow the posts. You can read my posts here:

How Collaboration Creates Growth For Your SME  I’m a big fan of collaboration and working with complementary professionals. It is a terrific way to see what you do through another eyes, improve your skill set and serve your customers well.

If you want to be incrementally better: Be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better: Be cooperative. - Unknown. Perhaps it’s due to the upheaval triggered by the global economic uncertainty or maybe the seeds were planted in the 1990?s but there is more talk about collaboration. This could be an underestimated strategy to growing your business. Read more

What You Need To Know Before You Export to the US Growth stages are growth stages, no matter whether you’re aiming to attract a more sophisticated customer, grow within or beyond your region or meet a need in a new market. However, if your SME is poised to export to the US, planning can help prevent some painful lessons.

Are you considering growing your business by exporting your products to the US marketplace? There are  opportunities to grow beyond your local borders for small businesses. Thorough planning will highlight what you need to know before it becomes a problem. Read more

I hope you will find these posts useful, add your comments and share them.

This past Monday, I went with my daughter to cheer on her teacher who was running the Boston Marathon. Every year, I am in awe of the thousands of people who run the 26.2 miles that snakes its way from Hopkinton to Boston. This year, it seemed more personal because I know one of the runners. It was a hot day and the Boston Athletic Association warned runners that the heat could be potentially dangerous.

Preparation is crucial

Even without the unusually high heat, preparing for a marathon is something that people think out and practice running often each week. Their diets and how they hydrate become key pieces of the plan.Their bodies and personality would combine to make it possible to finish or not finish this long race. They make a plan and follow it.

This became apparent as I was watching the marathoners pass by. Some were walking. Some were running very slowly and looked like they were in pain. Others were running by like it was nothing. As I reflected on all of this, it reminded me how running a small to mid-size enterprise (SME)  is analogous to running marathons.

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Growth = Change.

And  yet, so many forget that when you lead your business through a growth stage, you’re really leading a process of change. Most owners/leaders of small to mid-sized organizations generally know what they want to accomplish when they decide to grow. There is a tendency to trust their instincts and fly by the seat of their pants. This is misguided when you are aiming for a new class of customers, a new organizational model or expanding outside of your home region.

See, there are two things going on in your head. The growth plan is one and your emotions are the other. This is some serious multitasking. Now, add your responsibilities as leader, manager and worker. Now,  if that’s not enough..there are other things like social media, marketing advice and possible opportunities mentioned over coffee or lunch.

Is your head spinning yet?

Managing change takes thought and care. Make it easier on you, your staff and your business with these recommendations: Click here to read more »

If you are like most small business owners (or executives), you have a pretty active to-do list and not nearly enough time to do it all. Besides keeping an eye on the overall business, it is likely that you are involved with some of the day-to-day work with customers. For some business owners, they stay in the Pre-Leader stage and try to do everything themselves. And they wonder why they feel overwhelmed and overworked. I don’t think anyone ever founds a business saying, “I want to create something that will make me miserable.”

Share the work Click here to read more »

We’re into the third month of 2012 and it’s a good time to see how your strategic plan is unfolding. IBM’s Lou Gerstner once said that having a strategy was better than having none at all. See, you can tweak a plan since real life often has some challenge that makes you stop and reassess. A strategic plan is a reflection of your thinking and choices about how you (and your team) shape actions that are taken over the year.

Your plan could reflect:

1. New offerings of products and/or services

2. Back to basics

With the economy remaining turbulent, there comes a point when you have to choose what is best for your business and yourself. Waiting for things to settle is certainly an option but you might be waiting a long time. So, it’s time to back up and remind yourself, why does your business exist? What is its purpose?

How do you make sure your strategic plan is aligned with the purpose of your business? Click here to read more »

Okay, I may have taken some liberties with the English language and with Mr. Dickens’ fine book title.

Background story

There are these two grocery stores that I shop at each week. One is your basic store. There are very few gourmet type foods, no electronic scanners to use at your cart and the prices are lower. The other grocery store I shop in has more variety in produce, ready-to-eat foods, exotic foods and some technological stuff for customers to use while shopping. Since I have family members with food restrictions, I have to go where the food is.

These stores are completely different. But the most outstanding feature is how the managers and employees interact. In the first store, I’ve seen managers walking around the store and chatting with people stocking the shelves. The employees are welcoming, helpful and move quickly to serve their customers. In the second store, I’ve seen managers avoid speaking to employees and be critical of their performance. The employees barely make eye contact with customers and move so slowly that you just know they are paid hourly. Plus, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to correct an food order when they’ve give me the wrong amount or the wrong item.

You can learn a lot about management while shopping Click here to read more »

This is such an exciting time for #kaizenblog. We’ve changed our name and added a website. We’re now KaizenBiz and you can find us at www.kaizenbiz.com.

Our guest, Deb Carducci of Villa Lusso has our inaugural framing post, “Color, Environment and Your Workspace“  Please read the post on our new site and join us for our conversation on Friday, February 24th at 5pm GMT/12pm ET/9am PT.

 This post is by guest blogger, Eve Blossom who leads Lulan Artisans  and author of Material Change is our guest on this week’s Twitter chat, #kaizenblog. She is passionate about creating a collaborative business model that sets the stage for the artisans to have economic and social sustainability. Please join us to explore “Love, Design and Business” this Friday at 12pm ET/5pm GMT/9am PT on the Twitter chat, #kaizenblog.

Business: What Moves You, Grabs You, Won’t Let You Go

I started my career in Architecture and in 1995 was fortunate enough to live and work in Hanoi, renovating old French villas. During my first few months in Hanoi, I witnessed first-hand a transaction where a young girl was sold by her father to a European man for sex.  She was 6 years old. I tried to intervene. I was threatened at knifepoint.  I was unsuccessful in changing the outcome for that little girl.

 That night, I had a striking realization.  I began to see Human Trafficking as a marketplace— where unfortunately the commodity is a person. I could see clearly that Human Trafficking is an economic market that needs to be addressed at an economic level. Click here to read more »

When I  joined the Twitter chat, #kaizenblog as co-host with Valeria Maltoni (@ConversationAge), I knew I was in for something that would stretch and engage me. Valeria and I share a passion for exploring ideas and wanting to discuss them with others to see what else we could discover. Another person, Caroline Di Diego (@CASUDI), was (and is) a key supporter as I accepted the role of chat host. Caroline is also passionate about engaging with people and ideas and urged me to step up. When Valeria passed the baton to me, it was the right time to make the chat my own.

But the chat isn’t just mine

It’s really stone soup. You know that folk tale? To be fair, the #kaizenblog community is a much easier and more generous crowd. I find interesting topics, intriguing guest hosts, craft discussion questions and then it all comes together during the discussion when people add their expertise and insights.

The underlying foundation Click here to read more »