Helpful reading for Small Business Owners
Smart business and delicious food create success for Hakkasan Bistro
December 7, 2016
Hakkasan Bistro (formerly Hakkasan Contemporary Chinese Cuisine) is a unique modern Chinese eatery that offers quality authentic Cantonese dishes with Wok Hay and Hakka-inspired soul food in a relaxed chic setting. Yvonne Wong, busy restaurateur and managing partner at Hakkasan Bistro, .....
How to Create a Relationship that Your Customers Love
November 21, 2016
Relationships are a two-way street -- in order to build a strong bond with your customers, you need to show understanding, recognize their needs, and put systems in place that will keep customers feeling loved.
The Agony of Boring Staff Meetings
November 1, 2016
Having systems around designing, executing and measuring meeting results are critical to the success of sales, staff morale and and overall company direction. Having systems around designing, executing and measuring meeting results are critical to the success of sales, staff morale and and overall company direction.
How to Decide whether to Bring in a Business Partner
October 4, 2016
In reality partnerships are hard. Really hard. Partnerships deteriorate quickly if expectations around work load and money are not clearly defined.
Marketing your Business for Cheap
September 27, 2016
I don’t like the word cheap but when it comes to marketing your businesses you don’t have to spend a lot to money to have a big impact. Every day I see so many clever things small business owners are doing to market their products and services that cost little or no money resulting in huge returns. Curiously enough most often these entrepreneurs don’t even realize it’s marketing......
Creating Peace in the World
August 14, 2016
Most important, reduce the chaos in a business and the business owner's family can enjoy a calmer, happier, more rewarding life. Happy families build happier more engaged communities which leads to a happier more peaceful world.
6 Simple Steps to Providing the Kind of Customer Service that Gets People Talking
May 31, 2016
Is it worth investing in your customer service system?
Ask anyone when they received the best customer service. Odds are, they will regale a story about a company that reduced a charge, or an airline that held a flight and saved their day.
Ask them whether they'll continue buying from that company and you'll hear about their deep loyalty and how much they recommend or repeatedly buy from that company.
The value of acknowledging your values
April 28, 2016
Values integration takes time. It happens with one clearly-defined values driven system at a time. Use your core values to build an organization that you love, that you are proud to own. Use your values to lead the wa
Why Small Business Owners need a Will: Make a Will Week
April 14, 2016
This week in British Columbia it is "Make a Will Week" making this a great time to talk about why small business owners in particular need a will. Over the past few years I have witnessed the pain and financial struggle, even ruin, more than a few small business owners have had to endure because someone in their life passed away without a written will.
Two scenarios come to mind that best demonstrate why this week, I encourage you to take 10 and make an appointment to get your will done.
Appreciative Inquiry: A Simple Tool to Solve Complex Business Problems
February 8, 2016
Imagine how smoothly things would run if people on your team had a tool to easily solve even your most complex personal and business problems? That tool exists and it's call Appreciative Inquiry.
For most of us when faced with a big problem or frustration, the natural tendency is to hyper-focus on the problem. What went wrong? Who's fault is it? Why are they so stupid?
A Company Promise: Do You Really Need One?
February 4, 2016
"A Promise of Something Better" were the words my husband said to me 23 years ago when we first started dating. Those five simple words set the foundation for our amazing life together. It was his promise to me and in turn, it became my promise to him. It's a promise our family lives by, making life better not only for ourselves but for many others as well. I was thinking about his profound promise today, when planning to explain why a company promise is so important for business owners.
Getting Your System Together for Scheduling Tasks and Appointments
January 11, 2016
Prior to owning a smartphone I missed a lot of deadlines and appointments. Prior to auto-debit online banking I missed a lot of payments. In fact, going way back I remember getting a Hydro disconnection notice for non-payment even though I had enough money in my bank account to pay my bills. The cost was huge in terms of my credit and my bank account paying all that interest and at times penalties.
Being a strategic business owner means taking the time to figure out what you need to do when and actually putting those tasks into some form of calendar that will prompt and remind you to take action. Those items can be bills due, employee performance plans to complete, tax returns to file and even an annual vacation to book because you know if you don't write it down, chances are it either won't happen or will happen late.
When Policies and Procedures Kill Sales and Service
December 28, 2015
This holiday season I have seen more bad behavior caused by staff following policies and procedures than any other year. I doubt the owners of these companies have any clue that the systems and structure they put in place are actually hurting their service reputation and costing them money.
Missing or Broken Systems
December 8, 2015
Sometimes it worries me that I have a lot of missing or broken systems in my company. It's easy to become paralyzed by the pressure of having to have everything "perfectly organized." That can prevent me from even trying new things. (Being the systems coach and all!).
Right now I'm working on my blogging system and I'm struggling. Even though I don't have the system tight yet, I'm not going to let it stop me from trying. The mindset for getting organized and profitable in business is to just keep moving forward in the direction of your goals.
Should I give my staff a Christmas Bonus this year?
December 4, 2015
Are you giving your staff a Christmas bonus this year? How about a holiday party or other recognition this month? Many small business owners struggle with deciding exactly how to share the spirit of the holiday season with their teams -- and very often they also struggle with figuring out how to pay for these extra one-time-a-year expenses.
Over the years I have witnessed everything from the business owner bringing in sandwiches for the staff to share all the way up to expensive all-weekend destination parties. I've seen Christmas bonuses range from a grocery store gift card for a turkey up to tens of thousands of dollars paid annually around this time of year.
