There is a young girl in the US who is the inventor of a product called GaBBY Bows – a company that sells product currently in 50 states and 10 countries… at 12 years old she has a better attitude and knows more about business than most business owners combined who I meet in a year….

Most small businesses find themselves at one point or another in a place we call the Wilderness. They have experienced some growth, have perhaps built a small team but nothing is organised. All operations are ad-hoc and the business owner finds that he or she is spending 90% of their time putting out fires and working daily IN the business to try and keep the whole thing afloat, rather than working strategically.

Businesses are all about people. And people need structure.

In May 2019, ‘Burn-out’ was included in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon. They are now focussing on developing guidelines on mental well-being in the workplace.

It is little wonder that burn-out is becoming so common place…

It’s a brand new year and you’ve decided that it is time to get some more hired help in your business. Perhaps it’s been a while since your last hire, or maybe this is going to be your first. Either way it’s a great step forward in being able to scale and eventually free yourself from the day-to-day.

In a recent study done in Australia, 10% of employee turnover is the result of poor hiring decisions with over two-thirds (65%) admitting that they have hired an employee who did not meet their expectations. Over a third of small business owners have lost money as a result of a bad hire.

Hiring new staff is not just about being able to have the occasionally holiday in some tropical location with your phone switched off. It is more about you as the business owner being able to focus on the highest value activities you could be doing within your business, allowing you to scale sustainably.  

‘Jack of all trades’ was thought to be coined as a term to reflect a type of individual, as opposed to just one guy, back in the 14th Century. It was originally used more as a compliment to a person who had a broad range of knowledge and skillset – thus being seen as a very handy person to have around!

Later the phrase ‘master of none’ was added, which is what we tend to be more familiar with today. Commentators from around the 16th Century wanted to imply that the person was stretching their talents too thinly.

How often do you find that January seems to disappear pretty quickly once you get back from the holidays, finally get your team back into work mode and you finally get your head around a regular routine of business again? Motivation can often need a bit of a wind up in the first few weeks! But the new year is always a brilliant time to re-assess your business structure and strategy…