Tuesday biz Tip Costly Mistake #2: Warranties can bite

Costly Mistake #2. 
PLEASE READ the specs and warranty BEFORE you BUY!.  Do not BELIEVE everything the salesman says. Often they have not taken the time to really learn their products/warranties especially in the big box stores. 
With one of my purchases I did  NOT  read it because it was long and boring and of course I was running from one thing to another. And when my  latest purchase of office equipment  broke within six months, I naively thought it was covered...NOT.  
Therefor I had  expensive repair bill  and just had to "grin and bear it" and pay it.
Moral of story:   READ THE WARRANTY.

Tuesday Biz Tip:Murphy Laws rules the electronic world.

 Biz tip:
Backup, Backup, Backup and Backup your files.


 How many times can I say that?  Of course I am the biggest offender.  

Please take my advice..and save yourself time, money, headaches and major regrets. 

Get an external service.. And for stuff you should have forever have paper and electronic backup.  Why paper?


Because I have had clients who proudly have boasted about their backup and external cloud service and guess what?  Murphy struck!  Their plant got hit by lightning...messy!  And their infallible cloud guy went out of business. 


In other words...MURPHY'S LAW rules the electronic kingdom.  Protect your business..expect MURPHY to be lurking around but don't let him be the boss of your business.

Biz tip: Costly Mistake #1 .Not following through

Biz Thought: Costly Mistake # 1.


 Just leave these bids with me and I will sign them and make sure they are mailed on time,. my former business partner said to me. Being young and naive (dumb) and not to be seen as "nagging" I listened to him. 


And on top of that I did not follow my hunch up and check with him to see if he had mailed it. 
Did they get mailed on time? NO!
Could it had been the winning bid? YES! 
In fact the guy who won the bid was only $500 higher than!us. 

Moral of story: Do not be afraid of "nagging"! It's your money laying on the table! 
And better yet keep control of the papers and make sure they are mailed or handed in. 


Remember Names are only names and when someone accuses you of  "nagging"  just smile sweetly and say "Yes and I am.  And I  not going to stop until what I need gets done".

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Did you know  know Mistakes..can be GOOD for your business..   What? You say?  Mistakes cause problems, costs money, make my customers mad and create  problems for me.  

Yes that is true..but hear me out.   Look at a baby.   Babies are marvelous balls of energy, enthusiasm and curiosity.  They are willing to try anything…sometimes to their parent’s consternation…but they don’t stop... when they fall down and topple over…they just pull themselves up and do it again till they are standing there proud as can be.  

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 Owning a business is like raising a baby…there will be hard knocks  from the "falling down mistakes"…and like the baby you will learn and pick yourself up and go at it again...until you do it perfectly.!

Enjoy the day and appreciate the “mistakes” adventures in your life.

PS. I will be sharing some of the mistakes I have made, learned from and kept on going . Stay tuned and be prepared to be shocked, amused and mystified. How could she have done that ?  

Hopefully you will learn from my mistakes and not  repeat  them. 

Look for my upcoming book " 52 Dangerous Mistakes Business Owners Make"..it will make you laugh, sigh with relief and say oh _________I am NOT going to do that!

Weekend biz tip:

Have a busy schedule this weekend?
  
Trying to "catch up" and get ready for next week and please everyone at the same time? Whoa! Not going happen. 


Prioritize folks. 


Make a reasonable list an do that!
And schedule ME time in your list. We all need 
re-creation and you are in charge of getting this for you.

Wednesday biz tip: Customer demand? New service?

 When times are tough we all have a tendency to stretch
 ourselves and take whatever jobs we can get, often doing
 things out of our experience.  


Once in a while that is good and opens new doors. And other times it can lead to disaster. 


It is important to make  sure the "new" thing you do..is one that you can take your experience and expertise and transfer that to the new project without major risk or cost. 


For example one of my clients a specialty automotive shop who installed transmissions would take an engine overhaul job.  Why? Because one of their guys (the owner's son) liked to fool around with engines and it was "good" money  Yeah, sure!   
When we reviewed costs it was a disaster.  


We found that those "good money jobs"  always ended up taking twice as long as promised, cost more and produced very disgruntled customers. 


We still needed to develop additional revenue.  One of the younger employees pointed out "we are changing fluids all the times".   We have have the lifts and the equipment, why can't  we dedicate one bay for quick oil changes and lubes etc.  And that's what we did...and it worked out very well.  We increased income by 15% and the profit was excellent. 


Moral of story:  Make sure the new customer /project dollar you are chasing is one that you can do without losing your shirt.  

What are you? business owner or Consumer?

Are You Thinking & Acting

                                             Like a Business Owner or a Consumer?

It has finally happened!   Your business is rapidly growing.  Everything is working just as you dreamed.  Inquiries are coming in daily, sales have doubled, customers are coming in regularly, and employees are scrambling to meet the demand.    You are busy putting out fires, trying to keep new customers happy and old ones satisfied.  Money is flowing in the door, yet leaving in a rapid torrent.   You are constantly scrambling for dollars to pay your obligations:  payroll, new equipment, increased inventory, vendors, and taxes.  The pressure is building and something’s got to change.  

You think  "I know I will go the bank and borrow money and that will solve my problems.”  Maybe and maybe not.  Throwing money at a problem is not always the first or the smartest thing to do.  There are other things that must be done first! One is taking a look at you.  Are you thinking and acting like a business owner or are you still thinking like a consumer?  

 And what’s the difference?

You think, “I will go the bank and borrow money and that will solve my problems.”  Maybe and maybe not.  Throwing money at a problem is NOT  always the first or the smartest thing to do.  There are other things that must be done first! 


One is taking a look at you.  Are you thinking and acting like a business owner or are you still thinking like a consumer?   And what’s the difference?


  A consumer style thinks only of pleasing the customer and getting the product out as cheaply as possible, not about what is good long term for the business. A consumer owner is one who is fearful of making hard decisions because a customer may not be pleased.  “If I raise my prices, all my customers will leave me.”  That is not true.  “If I change anything, I will ruin everything.  All I must do is work harder and longer and I will get through all this.  My crisis style of management has worked before (the thrill of doing the almost impossible in an improbable time) and why should it not work now?”


Right? Wrong!  The owner has to take the step to become a planner, a thinker a controller, a motivator, a financial manager, a leader, not just for today, tomorrow or next week, but for the long term.


So before you rush out to tackle the week, ask yourself,  “Am I more attracted to crisis than thinking?  Do I have excuses for not planning?  Is it more attractive to be in the field:   waiting on tables, moving inventory, digging a ditch, writing a computer program than thinking about being a manager and figuring out what the business needs to grow?”   


It’s up to you!  What are you going to do? Think and act like a business owner or stay in crisis and act like a consumer.