Firm News – Dudley & Associates, Chartered Professional Accountants https://dudley.ab.ca The Value Our Firm Brings To You Thu, 13 Jul 2017 21:21:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.2 Essential Tips to Help You Sell Your House Quickly https://dudley.ab.ca/essential-tips-to-help-you-sell-your-house-quickly/ https://dudley.ab.ca/essential-tips-to-help-you-sell-your-house-quickly/#respond Thu, 13 Jul 2017 20:30:20 +0000 http://nzmaster.bizinkonline.com/?p=1835 Once you’ve made the decision to sell your home, chances are you’d like to do it as soon as possible. While some houses sell almost as quickly as they hit the market, others sit for a considerable amount of time without generating any offers from prospective buyers. Fortunately, there are several steps that you can … Continued

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Once you’ve made the decision to sell your home, chances are you’d like to do it as soon as possible. While some houses sell almost as quickly as they hit the market, others sit for a considerable amount of time without generating any offers from prospective buyers. Fortunately, there are several steps that you can take to increase the odds that your house is in hot demand and sells quickly.

Choose the Right Real Estate Agent

While every area has a handful of real estate agents who make a name for themselves by outselling their competitors, that doesn’t necessarily mean that one of them is the right agent for you. While a top seller may be just what you need, it’s more important that you choose an agent with whom you can work well and feel comfortable. Whether you choose a realtor who is an outgoing overachiever or a laid back professional who takes a more relaxed approach is entirely up to you.

Pick the Right Price

There’s nothing that will knock your home out of the running more quickly than a price that’s too high. Before pricing your home, do your research and find out what comparable homes in your area are selling for. While your real estate agent will help you determine where to place your asking price, it is always a good idea to be an informed party in the process. Perform internet searches to locate homes in your neighbourhood and the adjoining ones to find homes similar to yours and see how they’re priced and which ones are selling.

Stage Your Home

Although not all sellers invest the effort required to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere in their home so it looks inviting when potential buyers come through, smart sellers do. If you’ve ever watched the real estate shows on the home improvement channels on television, you’ve probably been exposed to the concept of home staging. De-cluttering, improving curb appeal, cleaning and creating a neutral atmosphere are all key components of staging your home in a way that helps prospective buyers be able to imagine themselves in your home and encourages them to make an offer.

List Your Home on the Internet

Nowadays most home buyers start their search for a new house in the internet. What that means to you is that you should get your home listed on the internet as early in the selling process as you can. Ensure that your realtor gets your house, along with numerous attractive photos of the interior and exterior of the home, onto as many real estate search sites as he can. The more people that view your home, the more likely you’ll attract the buyer that is going to come through with an offer for your asking price.

While selling a house in a hurry can pose challenges, they’re nothing that you can’t overcome with proper planning and action. Before you know it, you’ll have a signed contract in hand and be happily packing boxes for the move to your new place.

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Identify your break-even point https://dudley.ab.ca/identify-your-break-even-point/ https://dudley.ab.ca/identify-your-break-even-point/#respond Thu, 29 Jun 2017 17:30:25 +0000 http://nzmaster.bizinkonline.com/?p=1859 Without knowing your break-even point, you can’t make informed business decisions. To cover the costs of your business you need to sell enough goods or services to reach your break-even point. Knowing where that point is, and how long it will take you to reach it, can be fundamental to your success. This especially true … Continued

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Without knowing your break-even point, you can’t make informed business decisions.

To cover the costs of your business you need to sell enough goods or services to reach your break-even point. Knowing where that point is, and how long it will take you to reach it, can be fundamental to your success. This especially true if you’re thinking about starting or buying a business.

Calculate fixed and variable costs

The first step is to establish your fixed and variable costs.

Fixed Costs

Fixed costs are bills your business always has to pay, regardless of its level of sales. Also known as overheads, they could include:

  • Salaries for permanent staff.
  • Rent on your premises.
  • Insurance.
  • Interest on debt.

Variable Costs

These are costs that increase with your levels of sales – materials and production costs are two examples. Others include sales bonuses, part-time wages and freight.

Now work out:

  • The total fixed costs bill for the year.
  • An average overall variable cost for each product or service sold (the Variable Cost per Unit).

Some bills might be a combination of fixed and variable costs, such as a phone bill split between a line cost and toll call charges. Separate these bills into fixed and variable parts for greater accuracy.

If breaking them up is too time consuming, choose which element is greater in the bills and classify it as that. For example, if you don’t make many calls to mobile phones or outside your local area, you’d classify the phone bill as being fixed.

Determine your break-even point

Let’s assume you manufacture shoes with the following details:

  • Budgeted fixed costs of $60,000.
  • Average cost to make a pair of shoes is $110.
  • Average sale price per pair of shoes is $250.

Calculating your break-even point requires the use of a few formulas:

  1. Sales Price per Unit ($250) minus Variable Costs per Unit ($110) = Contribution Margin per Unit ($140).
  2. Contribution Margin per Unit ($140) divided by Sales Price per Unit ($250) = Contribution Margin Ratio (0.56).
  3. Fixed Costs ($60,000) divided by Contribution Margin Ratio (0.56) = Break-even Sales Volume ($107,142).

Based on these calculations, if you sell more than $107,142 of shoes you’ll make a profit. That equates to 429 pairs.

Using your break-even point

Once you’ve worked out your break-even point, the next step is to work out whether the sales volume you’ll need to break even is realistic and achievable.

You can also use your break-even calculation to see the effect of changes in costs on your business. If you were able to source cheaper materials and reduce the variable cost per pair of shoes, you’d need to sell fewer pairs to break even.

If your sales remained the same, you’d make more profit.

To be of real value to you, your fixed and variable costs calculations need to be accurate. Putting inaccurate figures into your break-even calculations will give you an inaccurate result. It’s worth investing time to work out your figures accurately.

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Three Ways an Accountant Can Save You Money https://dudley.ab.ca/three-ways-accountant-can-save-money/ https://dudley.ab.ca/three-ways-accountant-can-save-money/#respond Wed, 01 Mar 2017 00:57:57 +0000 http://nzmasternew.bizinkonline.com/?p=3168 Many small business owners think they’re saving money by handling their financials themselves. While it’s a real asset to learn bookkeeping basics, cash flow management and your tax obligations, hiring an accountant to oversee your finances has many benefits. Leaving your books to a pro will free up time so you can focus on serving … Continued

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Many small business owners think they’re saving money by handling their financials themselves. While it’s a real asset to learn bookkeeping basics, cash flow management and your tax obligations, hiring an accountant to oversee your finances has many benefits. Leaving your books to a pro will free up time so you can focus on serving your clients and implementing plans for growth. Here are a few ways an accounting professional can help you save money that you can reinvest back in your business.

Finding money

There’s no one more suited to discovering “found” money than an accounting professional. Hire an accountant to sort your books and systemize your bookkeeping; better record keeping is the easiest way to allow you to quickly see – on a monthly, weekly or daily basis – where your money is going so you can cut costs. Keeping your accounts up to date will also help you understand which of your business investments yield the greatest returns so you can be more strategic about spending. An accountant can spot trends that you can take advantage of to earn greater profits – and even find savings with vendors, staff and operating expenses. Hiring someone to manage your accounts will also reduce the costly errors that are commonplace when business owners try to manually track their expenses.

Avoid tax penalties

Your accountant may be your trusted advisor when it comes to staying up to date with the latest regulations for small business taxes. She can also provide you with expert advice on how to maximize your benefits and minimize your taxes each year. Don’t underestimate the cost savings of hiring someone to complete your tax forms correctly and submit them on time. Penalties for small businesses who neglect to file their taxes on time – or at all – can quickly add up; the longer you wait to file, the more interest you’ll be charged and the likelihood you’ll incur additional penalties. A business that is already struggling may not be able to pay a tax fine and find themselves closing their doors. If your small business is ever audited, having an accountant on board will let you rest easy knowing you won’t be hit with a penalty for errors or omissions.

Business advisory services

Your accountant possesses business knowledge that can help you make more informed decisions. Rely on your accountant for advice when you draft or revise your business plan; those key insights on assessing profitability will help you move your business in the right direction – and avoid wasting time and money on strategies with a lesser chance of success. Look to your accountant to help you determine your most valuable clients, how much money you need to invest in a growth plan and which marketing strategies yield the best ROI. Having someone you can rely on to help set targets and monitor your progress is an invaluable asset that can help you not only save money, but earn higher profits.

The bottom line? Your accountant can do much more for you than simple bookkeeping or ensuring you’re on the right side of the tax authorities. Hire a small business accountant and you’ll be doing a lot to help increase your chances for long term growth and success.

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Is Now the Right Time to Buy a Home? https://dudley.ab.ca/is-now-the-right-time-to-buy-a-home/ https://dudley.ab.ca/is-now-the-right-time-to-buy-a-home/#respond Mon, 28 Nov 2016 15:38:45 +0000 http://nzmaster.bizinkonline.com/?p=2325 If you’ve frequently been asking yourself if it’s the right time to buy a home, there are several things to first consider. Three things to think about are the current market conditions, the interest rates, and the amount of available housing. Current Market The current market conditions may help you determine if it is the … Continued

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If you’ve frequently been asking yourself if it’s the right time to buy a home, there are several things to first consider. Three things to think about are the current market conditions, the interest rates, and the amount of available housing.

Current Market

The current market conditions may help you determine if it is the right time to buy a home. If prices are starting to increase, you may want to jump in before the home of your dreams is out of your price range. Compare sales prices of homes that sold six months ago to the same type of homes in the same area that sold in the last month. This should give you a good idea if the market is headed up, down, or has remained stable.

Interest Rates

Interest rates may be another factor to consider when making your home buying decision. Low interest rates will lower your monthly mortgage payment. Higher interest rates will increase your monthly payment. Check out financial websites that post mortgage rates to see what the current market rate is for a 30-year mortgage loan. Monitor the rate on a weekly or monthly basis so you can see where interest rates are headed.

Amount of Available Housing

The amount of inventory on the market is also a good way to determine if it’s the right time to buy a home. You have a better chance of negotiating a good deal on the home when there is an abundance of properties for sale. If there are few homes on the market, you may run into competing with other offers and that usually means paying more than your original offer.

It would be a good idea to consider the above factors before you decide to move forward with your purchase. However, some people decide to buy a home when they personally feel the time is right, or they have an urgent need to buy a home.

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5 Tips for Creating a Better LinkedIn Profile https://dudley.ab.ca/5-tips-for-creating-a-better-linkedin-profile/ https://dudley.ab.ca/5-tips-for-creating-a-better-linkedin-profile/#respond Sat, 26 Nov 2016 19:17:33 +0000 http://nzmaster.bizinkonline.com/?p=2321 Whether you’re an entrepreneur seeking lucrative new partnerships or a skilled worker in search of the perfect job placement, LinkedIn is the social network you need to be using. As the world’s premier social network geared towards professionals from all walks of life, LinkedIn is effectively your online portfolio and résumé. Companies all over the … Continued

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Whether you’re an entrepreneur seeking lucrative new partnerships or a skilled worker in search of the perfect job placement, LinkedIn is the social network you need to be using. As the world’s premier social network geared towards professionals from all walks of life, LinkedIn is effectively your online portfolio and résumé. Companies all over the world use it daily to seek out valuable new connections, but with some 350 million accounts on the network, it is important that you do everything you can to make your own profile stand out.

Use a Suitable Profile Picture

Your profile picture is one of the most important features of all and not only because it will be one of the first things that people see. On the Internet, it can sometimes seem hard to look human and stand out among the huge number of fake or spammy profiles on social media sites. A high-resolution portrait photo, preferably of a professional standard, simply makes you look more human. After all, human resources personnel searching through LinkedIn may encounter hundreds of profiles per day and they’re likely to completely ignore a profile without an image. Being visual creatures, people are also much more likely to remember you by your photo before they think about anything else.

Proofread Everything

LinkedIn is not Facebook, and it’s no place for inane, uninteresting and irrelevant updates littered with spelling and grammar errors. Think of your LinkedIn profile in the same way as you would think about a job application form or a résumé, and make certain to proofread everything before publishing it. Being a professional network, poor spelling and grammar will instantly turn prospective employers off. It is no place for lazy, shoddy writing, and you should maintain a professional yet engaging tone with perfect, error-free content.

Deactivate Your Activity Broadcast

If you’re using LinkedIn for job-hunting, you likely won’t want your current connections, customers, co-workers or superiors knowing everything about what you are doing. By default, the network will broadcast all of your activities to your connections. When you’re updating and tweaking your profile, you may also want to turn off your activity broadcast until everything is finished. You can temporarily turn off notifications by editing your profile page and moving the slider beneath “Notify your network” in the sidebar to the right. You’ll also be able to find a wider range of settings by navigating to “Accounts & Settings > Privacy and Settings”.

Give the Details

If there are any important fields in your profile that you have yet to fill out, LinkedIn will remind you about them. It is important to make sure that your profile is as complete as possible and even more important to keep it up to date with any new education or employment details. To increase your chances of making a great first impression, be sure to add an eye-catching headline and a short, concise summary. These snippets of information are usually the first things that people read, so take every step to make sure that they are good enough to encourage visitors to continue reading. While your headline should summarize your professional identity in just a few words, your summary serves to bring out your personality and provide an accurate overview of your profile.

Add LinkedIn to Your Emails and Website

Even by itself, LinkedIn is a great profile for advertising your skills and reaching out to prospective connections and potential employers or partners. However, it won’t do any harm to take a few additional steps to advertise your profile outside of the site. One of the easiest ways to promote your profile is to find a profile badge by navigating to linkedin.com/profile/profile-badges. Here, you’ll be able to choose from a list of badges that you can add to your website or email signature by using the code provided in the box to the right of the button preview. Anyone who sees the button will be able to click on it to be directed to your profile.

Your LinkedIn profile requires a degree of commitment whereby you regularly update it to reflect any changes in your line of work that might be relevant to potential connections or employers. You may also want to make use of additional sections, such as volunteering, publications and test scores, provided that they are relevant to your professional life. In conclusion, consider your LinkedIn profile to be part of an ongoing promotional process by adding content and optimizing it to attract the audience that you’re looking for.

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5 Things a Great Business Name Should Do https://dudley.ab.ca/5-things-a-great-business-name-should-do/ https://dudley.ab.ca/5-things-a-great-business-name-should-do/#respond Mon, 21 Nov 2016 18:30:58 +0000 http://nzmaster.bizinkonline.com/?p=2339 A great business name isn’t just a label for your company. It is also your number one marketing tool, serving as a platform for setting yourself apart and defining your brand. At the very least, your business name should do the following. Convey the industry or area of expertise of your company When customers search … Continued

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A great business name isn’t just a label for your company. It is also your number one marketing tool, serving as a platform for setting yourself apart and defining your brand. At the very least, your business name should do the following.

Convey the industry or area of expertise of your company

When customers search for businesses, they apply some filters to determine whether specific organizations are relevant to their needs. By communicating exactly what it is your business does within the company title, you let customers know right away that there’s a good chance you can help.

Once customers are confident you’re the right type of provider, they’ll usually contact you, stop in to your store or visit your website to get more details, ask questions or start shopping.

For this reason, a name like ‘Jake’s Total Vehicle Repair’ is better than ‘Jake’s Shop’, getting across not only the industry but also that the business does repairs. The word ‘total’ implies the shop is qualified for a large number of repairs, as well.

Get your business values across

With thousands of businesses providing services in today’s market, modern customers have more choices than ever before and are increasingly critical in their analysis of their providers.

They look not just for whether the services or products are a good fit, but for whether the business matches their own goals and philosophies. For instance, if a customer is against animal cruelty, they might look carefully at how a particular meat company treats its livestock.

Continuing with this example, if you’re the owner of the meat company, you might name it something like ‘Humane Meats’. From this standpoint, your company’s name sets the foundation for your entire brand.

Evoke emotion

Scientists have figured out that emotional recall happens in the brain faster than rational recall. That is, people feel and then apply facts and information to come to a conclusion.

With this in mind, company names that appeal to what people have experienced or know emotionally tend to be easier to remember and encourage deeper brand loyalty.

For instance, a name such as ‘Grandma’s Cookies’ may get customers to remember all the great times they spent feeling comforted and safe in their grandma’s kitchen, appealing to their sense of family and togetherness.

Capitalise on what people know

Every target market has its own set of idiosyncrasies that you’ll need to pay attention to when you come up with your business title.

People are familiar with certain word combinations or spellings, such as ‘color’ (American) versus ‘colour’ (British). Your name should stick to what’s most common for the language where they are, as people will want to link word pairs and use the spelling version based on the habit they’ve already established. Keep in mind here that you still can be creative with what’s available. Microsoft, for example, is a completely new word based on the common terms microcomputer and software.

One caveat here is that starting completely off the chart can set you apart from your competitors. Names such as Google, Twitter and Zimbra are examples that prove ‘nonsense’ or made up names can be successful. The difficulty with this approach, however, is that you will not have any initial meaning behind the name to work with. You have to be extra savvy and aggressive in communicating your industry, purpose and guiding beliefs.

Appeal to convenience

Although a longer business name can get more information across, it takes longer for your customers to say and type. This matters if you want people to remember the name easily and to feel at ease using it in everyday conversation where they could refer you. It also makes a difference in Internet searches, as an increasing number of people use mobile devices to enter URLs or search terms. Ideally, aim for a business name that’s just a single word.

Summing Up

Coming up with a decent business name can be challenging, but if you have a few key guidelines in mind, you can narrow down your choices considerably. Look for a name that gets your industry, expertise area and values across while getting people to respond emotionally to your brand. Names that do all this in a very short space while also addressing the idiosyncrasies of the target market are your ideal options.

 

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Collaboration: 5 Reasons It’s Essential to a Growing Company https://dudley.ab.ca/collaboration-5-reasons-its-essential-to-a-growing-company/ https://dudley.ab.ca/collaboration-5-reasons-its-essential-to-a-growing-company/#respond Mon, 21 Nov 2016 18:27:29 +0000 http://nzmaster.bizinkonline.com/?p=2349 Many elements are vital to a growing company’s success. A financially-astute leader is one. A confident and motivated sales team well-versed in a company’s product and service line is another. But starting and growing a business requires more than employees with extensive functional skills and appropriate personal characteristics. Growing a business requires collaboration – namely, the deployment … Continued

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Many elements are vital to a growing company’s success. A financially-astute leader is one. A confident and motivated sales team well-versed in a company’s product and service line is another. But starting and growing a business requires more than employees with extensive functional skills and appropriate personal characteristics.

Growing a business requires collaboration – namely, the deployment of employees in a way that allows them to work together to problem-solve and act with a shared sense of urgency.

When this occurs, group members come to leverage the strengths of one another as they work to achieve shared objectives vital to the company’s growth. Also, mutual learning takes place, which increases the probability that each employee’s performance will evolve from good to better and then best. In turn, a company’s performance improves as well.

As collaboration occurs, teams leverage individual differences to produce exceptional outcomes. This knowledge sharing creates a learning enterprise in which employees more readily identify solutions to problems. As a consequence, the company may become more operationally and financially successful.

There are many reasons that collaboration has these positive effects, not the least of which is the ability of a company to make the best use of available skills.

Makes the Best Use of Available Skills

A collaborative environment makes a range of disciplines accessible on an as-needed basis, which leads to the efficient use of employee talent in a way that isn’t possible otherwise. Collaboration allows multiple individuals to participate in the completion of a task at hand, which makes it more likely that the right talent is available at the right time. With collaboration, tasks are completed more efficiently, leaving more time for a staff to concentrate on activities that contribute to company growth.

Facilitates Problem Solving

Collaboration allows a company to throw the most skilled resources at a problem, which may mean a solution is identified more quickly and more cost-effectively than might be possible otherwise. Leveraging the most appropriate resources means a team’s overall functional breadth and depth increases, which can improve the quality of a project’s processes and end products.

In addition, diverse and complimentary talent may enhance individual work processes as each employee becomes a part of a greater whole, which can positively affect a company’s culture. It’s the change in culture that contributes to new thinking, which may lead to new products and new ways to use existing products, each of which contributes to company growth.

Leverages Individual Differences

Asking employees with very different skills to collaborate to accomplish an objective leverages individual knowledge, strengths and capabilities and maximizes organizational potential. A team succeeds or fails according to the combined capabilities and commitment of the individuals involved.

Deploying a variety of unique strengths and skills advances a team’s understanding of a problem, which can lead to faster problem scoping and solution formulation, and more effective solutions.

Builds Company Knowledge

A group brings different perspectives to a problem at hand.  As individuals share their perspectives, each team member considers problems from multiple viewpoints and the person begins to think like the group.

Likewise, as each individual demonstrates a particular skill, other team members may learn these skills, which will be helpful when attempting to accomplish new goals. In effect, team interaction allows team knowledge to build up, like compound interest. In this way, a company leverages individual perspectives across the enterprise.

Creates a Learning Enterprise

Collaboration provides an opportunity to move beyond learning management systems and content to learning in context, which can be empowering to an entire team.

When two people work together, it’s inevitable that they share knowledge, which contributes to a culture that supports ongoing learning. Consequently, collaboration creates a safety net that protects a company from a lack of appropriate knowledge.

 

As an individual collaborates with others, his knowledge expands as does the reach of his knowledge. When this occurs throughout the organization, its knowledge boundaries expand leading to new opportunities and new ways of doing things.

Collaboration supports a company’s efforts to act with a shared sense of urgency by deploying employees with particular skills in a variety of ways. Collaboration is also an effective means of problem solving because it allows a company to leverage individual employee differences, evaluate employee efforts in the aggregate and create a learning enterprise. When problems are solved more readily, resources become available to achieve other company objectives, including company growth.

 

 

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Seven Tips for Managing Managers https://dudley.ab.ca/seven-tips-for-managing-managers/ https://dudley.ab.ca/seven-tips-for-managing-managers/#respond Tue, 08 Nov 2016 15:38:45 +0000 http://nzmaster.bizinkonline.com/?p=2317 Managing people is one thing, but anyone with experience of managing managers will know that’s a completely different ball game. A management team that works in complete harmony is a rare and beautiful thing, but it never comes easy. In fact, it’s paradoxical to think it should ever be that a group of people with … Continued

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Managing people is one thing, but anyone with experience of managing managers will know that’s a completely different ball game. A management team that works in complete harmony is a rare and beautiful thing, but it never comes easy.

In fact, it’s paradoxical to think it should ever be that a group of people with strong leadership and management skills will operate without conflict for any length of time. The seven tips below highlight the most likely areas of contention and how to overcome these.

Strategy and Planning

Do you have a clear strategy that sets out the medium to long-term (three to five years) vision for your business unit? Do you have a clear business plan that sets out specific business objectives for the current financial year? Although you can set targets and objectives for your managers without these, those can seem hollow and hard for them to fully engage with if they aren’t part of a coherent strategy and plan.

Make sure you fully understand the overall strategy and objectives that are driving the business at its core. Only then will you be able to set your own local plan that translates those higher-level aims into meaningful, measurable targets for your managers that facilitate them working in unison with each other and in alignment with the wider business.

More Leadership, Less Management

Remember, the more senior a manager you are, the more your role becomes about leadership rather than management. Of course you have to manage the performance of your managers and at times make decisions and give direct instructions to them, but remember they are managers.

They need direction, not solutions. Feel free to project your vision in all its glory, and give them guidance if they seek it, but let your managers manage. Let them figure the most effective path to get to the destination you’ve set for them.

You won’t always feel comfortable doing this, but take a deep breath and let it happen; allowing yourself to micro-manage is a slippery slope that rarely ends well. Stay on the bridge with your hands firmly on the wheel and stay out of the engine room, unless circumstances are exceptional.

Beware of Projects

Improvement is a buzzword in the board-room of any business. It’s synonymous with so many business objectives, from increased customer satisfaction to decreased cost. The trouble is, improvement doesn’t come without time and effort to drive change.

Businesses are typically very good at identifying potential projects that need to be undertaken to realise improvements, but don’t have nearly the same appetite to invest in the skill and resource to bring them to fruition. Too often it is wrongly assumed that project management is a core-skill of any manager. Engage your managers in defining a business case and requirements, but if you have a project management or business improvement resource within your business, then hand over to them to initiate a project once you have a green light. You might not get the results as quickly as you’d like, but you run the risk of a failed project or worse if you saddle your managers with unrealistic workloads.

Acknowledge and Reward

Managers tend to be conscientious types, often more than willing to go the extra mile; working late, at weekends or outside their normal jurisdiction without any recompense. By all means take advantage of this when you can, but be willing to give some payback from time to time.

Managers are rarely paid overtime, yet understand better than most that sometimes the business needs a little more of them than usual. But be mindful when a little becomes a lot, and when this starts to become the rule rather than the exception. If your managers feel they are being taken for granted or treated unfairly they will become disillusioned and disengaged. Sustain that position for too long and you will lose them.

Simple acknowledgement of efforts beyond the call of duty goes a long way, but sometimes more tangible recognition is called for. This doesn’t have to be financial; be creative, but find ways to reward when it’s due.

Know your People

Take the time to get to know your managers as people as well as professionals. It can be tough to fit regular one to one meetings into busy diaries, but they essential; overlook them at your peril.

Make sure those conversations strike a balance between the person and the business tasks at hand. Losing sight of the human being is dangerous as you need to connect on a personal level to get the best out of them. If you don’t you also risk missing early warning signs that they may be struggling with workload, or with circumstances outside work that are affecting their performance in work.

Busy managers may also struggle to network, even within their own management community. Make sure you create the opportunities to facilitate a good rapport between all your direct reports, inside or outside of the workplace. It’s likely that their roles and responsibilities overlap to some degree, so their relationship with each other is just as important as their relationship with you.

Just like in sport, a group of highly talented individuals don’t necessarily make a good team. You need to work on that, and it will pay dividends in more open communications and more collaborative working.

Trust and Honesty

Managers who feel under pressure will often find ways to hide areas of inadequacy or underperformance for fear of the consequences. Building a culture of trust and honesty with your managers has to start with you. Lead by example and encourage them to share their struggles and concerns. Show them it is safe to do so, but challenge them to come up with solutions, not just problems.

This can feel like walking a tightrope at times, as you need to maintain respect amongst the group and for your authority, so be clear on lines that cannot be crossed. However, allow them to feel comfortable expressing themselves fully. Set boundaries, but ensure you have protected time behind closed doors to allow for open and honest exchanges. Consider drawing up a management charter to set basic rules of engagement to create an uninhibited but safe environment.

Support and Backing

If you’re under pressure from your manager, it’s easy to transfer this to your direct reports. Some will say that the best managers are those that delegate, and don’t shy away from doing that, but resist the temptation to use delegation as a means to simply palm off the tasks you don’t like or feel comfortable with.

Delegate fairly and provide support and guidance when sought of you and be willing to share the load sometimes. Recognise when it’s appropriate for you to step in to back your managers when they need you to pull rank, or when an initiative or key communication needs visible endorsement from someone more senior.

There will also be times when you need to push back against your own manager’s demands and expectations where these are not realistic or reasonable, to protect your team. You will need the facts and figures to do this effectively, but ultimately the buck stops with you and you must be willing to have these difficult conversations. You will strengthen the trust and respect from your managers if they know you have their back and they will offer you the same support and loyalty in return.

The subtleties of approach you take to tackle these seven areas will be dependent on the specific personalities you are managing, but if you’re paying regular attention to them all, you’ll find your life a whole lot easier. You’ll also have managers who are more likely to be relaxed, communicative and able to perform to their full potential. It’s never a case of ‘one size fits all’ and you may need to experiment with different styles, so don’t be dis-heartened if something doesn’t work first time. Eventually you’ll establish working practices that fit, and you’ll never look back.

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Worthwhile Expenses for Entrepreneurs https://dudley.ab.ca/worthwhile-expenses-for-entrepreneurs/ https://dudley.ab.ca/worthwhile-expenses-for-entrepreneurs/#respond Tue, 18 Oct 2016 14:38:45 +0000 http://nzmaster.bizinkonline.com/?p=2333 Being an entrepreneur is often about getting the most value out of your resources. That means spending only on the necessities, and nothing more. Unfortunately, things you consider to be a waste of your capital may actually be what your start-up needs to survive. Some of them are expensive, especially for a new company, but … Continued

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Being an entrepreneur is often about getting the most value out of your resources. That means spending only on the necessities, and nothing more. Unfortunately, things you consider to be a waste of your capital may actually be what your start-up needs to survive. Some of them are expensive, especially for a new company, but they’re worthwhile.

Data Analysis

Successful entrepreneurs are usually well informed. They don’t make decisions solely on gut feeling – if they can be informed, they’ll be informed. You must have that same attitude, but attitude alone won’t tell you how your products are performing on a quantifiable level. You’ll need to spend on data analytics.

That means hiring the right people who can translate the data for you, if you can’t process it yourself. It means buying data analytics software to make the entire process efficient. These won’t be cheap, but it’ll give you the information you need to make smart decisions.

Financial and Legal Advisors

Chances are that your start-up isn’t in the legal or financial industries and that your core expertise doesn’t lie in those arenas. That means having to pay for financial and legal advisors to make sure all your books are in order and that you’re not forgetting any tax laws. These advisors will likely be tax lawyers or accountants, depending on who you have on staff already.

Even if you’re in those industries, you should still hire advisors. This will let you focus your efforts on actually running the start-up instead of worrying about paperwork or whether your taxes are filed correctly. This is worth your money because it won’t matter how successful you are if you don’t have a competent patent lawyer protecting your money, or if your taxes aren’t filed properly and you end up having to paying fines.

Customer Service Representatives

Entrepreneurs and their employees are expected to wear many hats. Your responsibilities will inevitably involve some form of customer service. The problem is that you’re not trained for it, and neither are your employees. Dealing with angry customers, for example, requires someone with the right mindset and the right training. Deal with them properly and they’ll likely stay your customers. Deal with them in the wrong manner and you’ll have someone telling people your company is not worth the time and money.

Spend money on customer service representatives. Make sure that your clients’ concerns are answered quickly and efficiently. This will improve customer satisfaction, which will result in customer loyalty and return business. If you really can’t afford it, at the very least you should make sure that your staff gets the proper training to handle customer service responsibilities.

Market Research

Great ideas are one thing – great products are another. Just because you have an idea, doesn’t mean that it’s marketable. People might not need or even want your product. Build a start-up on a product no one wants to spend on, and you may as well burn your money.

Market research isn’t just expensive, it’s time consuming. It’s also necessary. Market research will tell you and future investors all about the marketability and viability of your product. It’ll tell you whether you’ve got something special in your hands or if you’re going back to the drawing board.

Tech Support

Everyone’s got a little bit of technology in their lives, but only people who’re trained can actually make sure that they’re up and running. Hire technical support employees to make sure that most, if not all, of your in-house tech needs are answered. You could learn to fix things yourself, but that’s not the best use of your time. The best use of your time involves your expertise as it relates to your product and your employees, not making sure that the router is plugged properly.

Make sure that the tech in your office is running smoothly. Broken routers and computers will cost you time, which can cost you the start-up if it happens during a product demonstration.

You’ll need to be stingy as an entrepreneur, especially during the beginning. That’s good ­– you can’t afford luxuries while you’re not making a profit. Just don’t be too cheap to spend on things that’ll improve you company’s performance. Make sure you have all the personnel you need and your company will grow. Go too cheap and you’ll doom the start-up.

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