You are in a group called “big, small business” if you employ at least five people (other than yourself), do over $500,000 per year in annual sales, and have been in business for at least two years. That’s the smallest of the “big, small businesses”. The “large, small businesses” employ 15 or more people (all the way to 500), with annual sales between $2 million and $25 million. That’s a huge range, but according to the Small Business Administration anything under 500 employees is a small business.
Owners of businesses of all sizes have challenges, problems, stresses and negativity that affect them and their business. Nobody is perfect, nobody knows everything, and nobody always does what he/she knows they should do. Every person has flaws and every business has unmet opportunities.
The larger and more complex a business is, the more areas of opportunity for improvement there are to be worked on. Most small business owners can do some things extremely well, but don’t know other critical business development functions. Sometimes these functions are either ignored or abdicated to someone else. If they’re ignored, the owner is exposed. If they are abdicated, the owner is equally as exposed unless there are checks and controls (reporting systems and accountabilities) in place. A business owner has a fiduciary responsibility to understand his or her business.
The following list of business challenges was actually created by larger, small business executives. How many can you relate to?
- Being owned by the business: no work/life balance and a business that depends too much on the business owner’s personal efforts
- Leadership development: Individual leadership development and building executive teams to assist the owner in leading the company through developing smart strategies, executing the plans, measuring the results, adjusting the plans, and ensuring personal accountability
- Lack of systems and procedures
- Lack of sales growth
- Ineffective or non0existent marketing efforts
- Cash flow challenges
- A desire to expand the business (either geographically or through diversification) but limited know-how and/or lack of internal talent depth to accommodate that expansion
- Sluggish profits and/or profit margins
- Low company value
- Lack of succession planning
- Quality issues
- Service failures
- Employee turnover
- A weak company culture
- People problems
- Inability to maximize the benefits of economies of scale
- Cost overruns and inefficiency in tracking expenses
- Poor negotiating skills
- Lack of knowing how to hire, train, and manage outside salespeople
- Weaknesses in understanding the financials (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow projections, etc.)
- Lack of strategies to keep payroll under control
- Employee retention issues
- Customer retention issues
- Discomfort in knot knowing about mergers or acquisitions
- Constantly changing and complex human resources regulations
- Employee compensation/benefits/bonus or commission planning
How many of these resonated with you? Would you like to join a group of executives that meets to go through discussions on these types of topics to take your business to the next level? The most famously successful CEOs of Fortune 100 companies have business advisors. Think about that. Even when they’re at the top of their game, the world’s best athletes, performers, and artists have people that coach them, consult with them, and if nothing else; encourage them.
Interested in learning more about the executive group? Call Bonnie to make an appointment with me to discuss in more detail. 931-456-4910. I look forward to hearing from you and building a great executive group.
