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In accounting, there is something called 'exception reporting', which means highlighting things that dramatically differ from plans, budgets or historical activity (or 'where data is not normal or not within expected parameters'). This basically means that it is assumed that everthing is working OK, but something has caused these difference, so they must be investigated.
Good managers do not need to know the detail of every action in their business, just those that effect it, so, once the ideal conditions are in place (which can, in itself, take time) applying this principle to people/operational management can be a way to focus on those who will not or does not, enabling you to find out why not!! Managers should only intervene when employees fail to meet standards of perfomance.
It is important that managers use their time wisely. By employing exception management, it allows the business to be developed and grown. For a small business, it does mean placing trust in your employees (letting go is one of the hardest things any one who has started a business from scratch can do), but, if you can't trust them to do their job in the first place, why did you employ them?
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Every business should register a/their domain. If not to use for a web presence or email (an absolute minimum, in my opinion), then just to protect themselves in the future.
Well, now there is no excuse! Google, BT, Enterprise UK and a few other organisations have got together and set up GBBO - Getting British Business Online. It's purpose is to get 100,000 companies who are not currently online registered, up and running as quickly as possible. You get a .co.uk domain name, a website, the ability to use Google Apps on the domain and lots of hints, tips and advice.
How much does this cost? Nothing. That's right - nada, zilch, zero. The domain is registered for 2 years and after that you will have to renew it, but that should only be a few pounds a year.
This is such a great opportunity for those with any doubts to at least trial having a website. You can increase your xposure, let people know where you are and what you do, reduce costs and save time updating people, and, well, so much more!!!
What is also great, is that should you get to a point where you want a bigger, better site than GBBO can offer (it used Google Sites, which isn't bad!), you can do your own thing and point the domain at your new site/server, for free!
Not being one to suggest abusing the system, but you might also be able to use it to register the odd domain that you have been meaning to sort out for a while, on the cheap!!!
Anyway, you can get to GBBO by going to www.gbbo.co.uk. |
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Opensource software is still on one the biggest secrets that most people, not only small business owners, still know little about!
OK, so what's the secret?
Opensource software is essentially free software. At the core is the ability to get into the core program, rip it apart, change it, add and remove things, even rename it! Why is this different? Well, you can't do this with the likes of Microsoft, Apple or Adobe software - what you buy is what you get and, when you click that 'I have read and understand.....' button, you agree to a whole world of legal pain if you get caught! So, you are 'free' to change things.
The most important thing to us business types is that, in most cases, the software is free to get hold of.
So, how good can it be if it is free? Well, the server that is running this website is using a version of the Linux operating system, which is opensource. The website is physically delivered by Apache webserver (about 75% of all websites are Apache based), with PHP programming and a mySQL database and is presented using Joomla, an opensource content management system! Possibly the most popular shopping cart is OSCommerce (a community of 240,000 users, downloaded many times more!).
On your PC, OpenOffice is a FREE office suite, that is very compatible (not 100%, but close enough) with a big branded package - this has been downloaded over 10,000,000 (yes, that's 10 million) times; Thunderbird is a poweful email client; Firefox & google Chrome are wonderful browsers (Maxathon is also FANTASTIC and fast).
Getting a bit deeper and more business focussed, you can look at utilities like SugarCRM, an extremely powerful CRM system, Compiere, one of the best ERP system available, webERP and TurboCASH accounting.... I could go on!
So, next time you want to get a new business server or phone system, take a few minutes to see what is out there. Also, be careful if you are speaking to someone who has an interest in promoting the branded products - of course they will say their offer is better - they would, wouldn't they (well, don't you?).
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When I started in my own business, the freedom to do what I wanted was invigorating - no boss (OK, a business partner), no imposed deadlines, no formal structure and systems, etc.. Whilst I (we) focussed on getting the business up and running, the new founded freedom allowed me to attack anything I thought was interesting and, of course, potentially profitable.
I quickly went from one focussed business to one focussed business plus several peripheral projects.
This was an error.
At that time, I was lucky and managed to keep the balls in the air (or is plates spinning?), however, later on, I did drop a few and once or twice, and it cost me!
If you have that grand plan, try to stick to it as much as possible and remain blinkered on the task/s at hand. Spreading yourself too thin can result in you doing several things, at best, averagely, but, more frequently, doing some, or all, badly.
Whilst there will be some that can handle everything they start and carry it on to an amazing climax, unfortunately, these people are few and far between.
When starting a business, do you best to focuss on all of the tasks required to make it work!
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