(Add to Favorites | View All Articles | Resource Directory)
|
|
|
A Small Business Consultant Can Help in Many Ways... But One Thing He Can't Provide
A consultant must remember that the business belongs to the client. There is always a danger that the consultant will take a dominant position to the detriment of both of them. Let me tell you a story of when this was forgotten? It's not often a small business consultant will admit to a failure in a small business but my first adventure into small business consulting was a failure. I closed the business within two years. In 1980 I had planned to offer Mom-and-Pop sized businesses cheap but effective small business help. I saw many who badly needed something to pull their businesses out of the doldrums. But consultants were asking minimum fees of $3,000 which they could not afford. My thinking was that if I computerized and systemized my services I could offer a low-cost service which would rejuvenated their enterprises. They, of course, would be so thrilled that they would retain my firm to do their general tax and accounting work. Like the curate's egg I was partly right. Kelvyn Peters CPA and Associates still retain clients from that era who still think I'm wonderful (but expensive). My small success blinded me for a while to where my plan was doomed to fail. The first trap was that the 'oomph' for the business had to be supplied by the client. It did no matter how passionate and excited I was in improving a sick business if the client had no excitement. The punch and the drive to run a business have to come from the owner. The consultant can only steer that drive in the right direction. The second pitfall was in not realizing that small businesses are sometimes run by 'small' people. Nice people; generous and kind people who you'd be glad to have as friends?but people with low horizons who are comfortable where they are. They know they should be concerned about their business. Everybody tells them so. But in their hearts they are not. When these people engaged my services it was because they felt they had to. The bank or a creditor had advised it. Sometimes a well-meaning son or daughter had said, "Pop you've gotta get some help! You're killing yourself here!" However, what had to be done made them so uncomfortable that they just did not do anything and fell by the wayside. (probably blaming the consultant). If they retained our services they became high-maintenance clients phoning us (no e-mails then) before they made almost every new decision. Sending out a mailbox drop? Please design and produce it for me. A monthly newsletter? Could you do it for me because you are so good at it. This normally would have been great except in this case they could not pay for the service and felt it should be included in the initial fee. We lost heaps of money providing these extra services without charge. My staff said I was too good-hearted. I do not agree. Here were people really needed our service and they couldn't pay for it. How could we let them sink alone. We could not continue and had to close the service?and the world continued. 'Mom-and-Pop' businesses still need help but now we know how to interact with them so that neither of us is burned. The third problem is one I discovered only yesterday from a book called Success Engineering by Phil Gosling. In the book he tells of clients who on the face of it believe in what he tells them. They seem eager to follow his suggestions. and seem eager to do what he tells them. They attempt to do every thing he suggests, but things just don't work for them. They work for everyone else but not for them. I experienced the same thing. I felt that they were psychologically sabotaging themselves because of their fear of the unknown. Phil has a completely different explanation which he explains in his book. So now our number one criteria for accepting a new client is that they should have the passion and persistence to see it through. An ailing business shows signs of improvement week by week but sometimes it will be two years before vigilance can be relaxed. Those two years are too hard to deal with for some people. They would rather surrender. Previously, I have said that to me accounting wasn't boring or dull. I am passionate about being an accountant. I have an excitement about helping people because I can make a difference to their lives. If my experience and knowledge is added to the excitement and drive of a business owner we, together, can really make things happen. Dreams really will come true. Keep the dream alive. About The Author Kelvyn served on many charitable boards including St Aubyns Hospital, Alzheimer's Association and Older Peoples Advocacy Service. As a young man he won the Outstanding Jaycee Award three times. He is a compassionate, generous man who loves people. That's why he is so skilled at helping people in trouble. Kelvyn Peters was Mayor of Kingaroy Shire Council from 1982 to 1987 and campaigned as the 'Young Man of Action". ver 20 years later he still regards himself as a 'Young Man of Action'. He is a director of Restaurant Catering Qld Inc the peak employer representative in Queensland, and has advised the hospitality industry for many years. His specialty is moving in to rescue a sick business. Kelvyn has spent over 20 years experimenting and researching methods to help small business in ways that are affordable. He has perfected it with local clients now he are going global and he is only an email away. http://www.profitstrategies4business.com
MORE RESOURCES: News provided by Yahoo! News and Google News Tories pat small biz heads in open source IT procurement pledge - Register Go big-time with small biz - The Newark Advocate Small Biz Spotlight: Slide to Play (Pt. 3) - Technorati (blog) Small biz loans down in Crawford County - Bucyrus Telegraph Forum Small Biz: Where's Our Stimulus? - Memphis Daily News Kagen Holds Roundtable To Hear From Small Biz Owners - Sheboygan News (blog) |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Aircraft Washing Business Tip - Interior Private Jet Cleaning Aircraft Interiors of personal and corporate jets have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested. We have had an opportunity to speak at length in Tucson, AZ recently about the special custom interiors the weight they cost in performance and the needs in cleaning. Top Ten Resolves for Building Your Business in 2005 1. Resolve to build a consistent network system. Power Tools for Business How do we keep track of our business deals?If you are only working with one or two deals, keeping track of them is a simple matter. However, most of us have far more than two deals on the plate and even more coming down the pipeline. What Your Small Business Can Learn From The Doctor Most doctors never distinguish the difference between customers and patients. That's why they have waiting rooms instead of reception areas. Tell people why they should do business with you Here's why 'WHY' is such a profit-making marketing trigger."Stop taking two and three plates of food," my mother said to me angrily. Are You Ready to Own and Operate a Business? How often has someone thought of starting a business based solely on the fact they think it will be easier than working for someone else. Fact is, owning and operating a business can be one of the most grueling experiences you will have. How to Sponsor an Event for Fun and PROFIT How do you sponsor an event and get personal introductions at the same time?So how can sponsoring help you to be visible to the business community and gain the right contacts? It is actually quite simple, you need to find events that are visible to the audience you are interested in.Find out: Whom you wish to do business with Which sports they like What community events they like Where the upper management families live and their community involvementThe events that they watch are the ones that you should sponsor. Business Relationships Defined What makes a business relationship?What really makes a business relationship? This may be very hard to define as it goes beyond just meeting the person and chatting about something you have in common. A relationship is developed over a period of time and usually does not happen instantly. The More you GIVE the More you GET Why give freebies?We have all seen freebies at trade shows and we have all probably seen the person that goes from booth to booth collecting as much of it as possible. There is always someone that only goes to get the free stuff, but then again there are also people that go there to learn about new products or services. Top Ten Blunders Business Owners Make In today's marketplace the words 'job security' have become an oxymoron. So more and more people are venturing on their own. Becoming Recession Proof A lot of business owners I've spoken with lately have commented how their business is slow because of "the recession." If you are one of these people, you might want to reconsider your position. Franchising VS Business Opportunity; What is the Difference? The modern Franchise business model and the much different business opportunity are much different and dissimilar. The definition of these two business models should be broken into completely different parts to better fit the two-different business models and have their own set of regulations, which would contain similar stipulations with regards to prohibitions, definitions or basic rules of law. Small Business And The Ability To Find Market Place Opportunities Marketing is one of the four corner-posts of a solid business. Knowing a few marketing tricks is great, but to be really successful you must be able to assess market place opportunities. Small Business Server Business Tips Top 3 Ways to Maximize Your Small Business Server Consulting ProfitsOver the past 7 years, Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) has gained traction as a widely-respected Small Business Server networking suite.As a result, many small business computer consultants, systems integrators, and value-added resellers have jumped on-board the Microsoft Small Business Server bandwagon. Auto Detailers and Competitive Aspects of Automobile Detailing There are both fixed and mobile detailers. Consumers often will use either or both during the life of their car. Starting a restaurant business Researching information for a recent business plan, I came across an interesting number of 54,000. What is the big deal about that? Over 54,000 new restaurant business licenses were applied for in the last twelve months nationally. The Virtual Assistant As a small business owner, outsourcing work to Virtual Assistants is fast becoming a popular and intelligent decision. The business owner saves enormous amounts of money by cutting the costs of offices and equipment overhead as well as expensive benefits packages. Computer Related Habits From Small Business Owner - Be Prepared, Avoid Despair Aside from the fear of losing a spreadsheet or research project prepared for a client, what prompted me to write this article was the realization that it takes nothing short of persistent follow up to stay ahead of computer threats which could ruin my business. I also accepted the fact that keeping my computer free of viruses and spam is paramount to ensuring my computer is not going to harm others. Will that be cash, or accrual? When starting a business, you have to determine the method you are going to use for accounting and paying taxes. The two choices are the cash method and the accrual method. But Weve Always Done It This Way Sacred cows take a long time to die. We get comfortable in the way we do things and lose sight of how they could be improved.
|
| home | site map | articles |
| © 2006 |