Small's not so beautiful

by Tony Kaye in The Australian

AUSTRALIAN small business, in many respects, is recognised as the backbone of the economy. According to government statistics, there are more than 1.88 million small businesses, employing 3.6 million people. Their combined capitalised worth is $4.3 trillion -- more than four times that of the Australian Securities Exchange.

Yet the statistics mask the reality that most small businesses are very small, with many being home-based, and most of these micro-businesses never manage move to the next level, if they survive beyond the first few years.

"Running a business is a challenge: it's an emotional, financial and mental merry-go-round and it has become even harder with red tape, tax and professional standards being so much more complex," says Tony Steven, chief executive of the Council of Small Business of Australia. "However, the basics remain the same."

Getting back to the basics of business is one of the key themes explored by business coach Dr Greg Chapman, in a book he has just released, The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success.

Chapman, who is also a Telstra Business Awards judge, says a high percentage of businesses stay small because their owners lack the vision, passion and skills to take them ahead. "What happens to most small businesses is nothing. They just stay small," he says. "Up to 98 per cent of small businesses are effectively 'micro-stayers', trapped inside a microbubble with little prospect of escaping, because they don't know how to grow."

Chapman says there are basically five reasons why micro-businesses don't move to the next level, with a lack of vision by the owner as to where the business is going to be in the future being top of the list.

"Without any direction, you really don't have any strategy, and strategy is the lever that lifts you from where you are today to where you want to be in the future," he says.

A second key reason is a lack of passion in their business, with many owners not having the commitment to take their business to a higher level. "You need the right vision to give you the passion, the commitment to stay the course and overcome the obstacles that do appear," Chapman says.

He says another reason why businesses stay small is that they don't plan, and therefore don't have the confidence to take the risks they need to take to achieve better results.

"It's not enough to have a vision and a passion; you actually need a plan to take you there. It's the roadmap; without a plan, all you really have is a dream, and we know how often they come true."

Chapman says the fourth reason why businesses stay small is that business owners don't value their time and are often working in their business rather than on their business, by performing tasks that can be delegated or outsourced.

Lastly, Chapman says business owners who fail to invest in education are also greatly limiting their growth potential. "When you value your time, you will also understand the value of knowledge," he says. "If an owner is not willing to invest in their own education and sees that as a cost instead, they have just resigned themselves to the school of hard knocks."

If business owners don't address these key factors, Chapman says, "they will be unable to grow beyond a certain level. The owner becomes frustrated and ultimately resigned to being a micro-stayer."

He says owners need to be open and honest that they are caught in a trap. "It's as if you've got a medical problem; you've got to diagnose the problem before you can do anything about it. Business owners have to be committed to really addressing their problems and doing something about it".

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The Australian Small Business Blog

Where to Start?

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

When looking at your business, is it like looking at one of those houses that real estate agents love to call: “a renovator’s delight”? You know, it is basically sound structurally, but the paint is peeling, cracks are showing and the garden is a mess. It does not need a huge amount of effort, just a bit of love and attention, some elbow grease and a bit of know-how. Or is it like a sapling with shoots growing everywhere but with no clear growth direction and shallow roots?

Whatever your business looks like, when seeking to renovate or prune it into shape, the question is where to start? Should it be on your marketing or your systems, or perhaps your website or sales? The correct answer is to re-look at your goals so that every effort you make is taking your business in the direction you want it to go. Otherwise you will waste considerable time and money with unfocused strategies- scarce resources in small business. This is the difference between a light bulb and a laser beam which can cut through steel.

A systematic approach to renovating or pruning your business into shape is provided in the NEW book:

The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success

This book, which has a forward from Tony Steven, the CEO of COSBOA, the peak small business organisation in Australia, comes with a $100 of business tools, and provides an easy to understand, step-by-step approach on how to improve your business, starting with your goals, right through to systems and sales.

When you truly understand where your business is going, the job of defining a marketing strategy and putting in place systems becomes much simpler. Without this understanding, every day is a battle for survival, a hand to mouth existence. With it, every strategy you implement is about creating an unassailable position for your business in the marketplace.

Please visit Five Pillars for more information on “The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success”

May Your Business be as You Plan It!

Dr Greg Chapman

Over to You. What do You Think? Post Your Comments Below.

Dr Greg Chapman is the Director of Empower Business Solutions and The Australian Business Coaching Club and is Australia's Leading Advisor on Emerging Businesses and provides Coaching and Consulting advice to Australian Small Business Owners in Marketing & Business Strategies Planning & Systems.

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The Australian Small Business Blog

Why Most Businesses will Stay Small

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

This is the Preface from “The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success” by Dr Greg Chapman, to be released shortly.

While many business advisers seem to preach doom and gloom for small business survival, based on my research they do not have to be so pessimistic. While there is a high attrition rate in the first few years of a business’ life, most do survive this period. A far bigger issue for most small business is not that they fail, but that they stay small. They stay micro-businesses, or Micro-Stayers.

Being a Micro-Stayer leads to its own problems. Disenchantment, and frustration are just the start, but there is another course. There is a small group of businesses that are emerging from the Micro-Stayer cave. This book is about what these Emerging Businesses have discovered, and the steps that any Micro-Stayer can take to join them.

In the Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success, you will learn why most businesses stay small, and the steps you must take to avoid the Micro-Stayer fate. You will learn how to utilise each of the Five Pillars in your business to enable you to increase your profits, to make it run without you, and to turn it into a saleable asset.

There is, however, one step between the business know-how contained within this book, and success. So The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success also reveals what stops most business owners applying this knowledge, and how you can overcome this major obstacle.

The steps contained within this book have already been successfully applied by many small business owners, and I would love to hear how this book has helped you.

May Your Business be as You Planned It

Building a successful business is more complex than ever in the 21st century, the five pillars: planning, marketing, systems, motivation and discipline are built on the foundation stones outlined in this book.

Greg Chapman gives you the business owner a real insight into each of these areas and begins the realisation that you should not be your business, but rather you should let go and enable your business to grow without you.

Leadership is more than management and using his advice your business can serve you, assist you to live a better and less stressful lifestyle, after all you are the one who has taken the risks, put in the hard work and created your dream, you deserve it.

TONY STEVEN- CEO Council of Small Business of Australia

Please visit Five Pillars for more information on “The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success”

May Your Business be as You Plan It!

Dr Greg Chapman

Over to You. What do You Think? Post Your Comments Below.

Dr Greg Chapman is the Director of Empower Business Solutions and The Australian Business Coaching Club and is Australia's Leading Advisor on Emerging Businesses and provides Coaching and Consulting advice to Australian Small Business Owners in Marketing & Business Strategies Planning & Systems.

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The Australian Small Business Blog

What it Takes To Succeed in Business

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

This is an edited extract from “The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success” by Dr Greg Chapman, to be released shortly.

Before we look at the Five Pillars of Business Success, we will take a look at what causes business failure. And it is always one or more of the following:

· No clear business objectives established
· An unachievable or inadequate profit objective
· No sales and marketing systems
· The business is run tactically (that is day-to-day)
· No staff training programs

But by implementing the Four Pillars of Business Know-How, these five reasons for failure can be eliminated. Does that guarantee success? If you implement these Four Pillars, and you are absolutely determined to succeed- the Fifth Pillar, I can guarantee you will! To succeed, you need a certain amount of knowledge, but you don’t have to be a genius. You can hire them. In fact, they are not that expensive. You also need total commitment to your vision. When the two are put together, you will be unstoppable.

In order to succeed in business, you must first understand what makes successful businesses work. Successful businesses don’t just happen by accident. It is all very deliberate. And they all share these features:

· They have a laser-like sales and profit focus
· They use systems throughout their business
· They sell products and services that people actually want

While this sounds quite soulless, ask yourself:

Why am I in business?

Whether you are a baker, builder or broker, if the answer is not:

“To make a profit”

what you own is not a business, it is a charity.

Now there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with charities, but they have different objectives to businesses. You may also strongly feel that you are in business for some higher moral purpose- to raise funds for a charity, for example. But unless your business makes a profit, you are reducing your ability to contribute to that cause while you are trying to keep your business afloat.

The next question to ask yourself is:

What Business am I in?

Your answer should be:

“The Selling Business”

Nothing happens in business until a sale is made.

Your profit will depend on four things:

· Your available market (potential customers)
· Your ability to create selling opportunities from that market
· Your marketing & sales skills
· Your ability to make profitable sales

For most businesses, there is no lack of market opportunity, but there is a lack of strategy, plan and systems.

The old saying:

Work Smarter, Not Harder

means developing skills in each of these areas which will ultimately enable you to achieve more with less effort. Like the difference between a learner swimmer thrashing around in the water, and the Olympic swimmer who seems to glide effortlessly to the finishing line leaving barely a ripple in the water. The beginner wastes all his energy in making waves. The Olympic swimmer puts all her energy into moving forward.

In an ideal world you would attack all Five Pillars together, but owners usually don’t have the time (or patience) to do that. So if you can only do one at a time, understanding which area you should tackle first is essential.

Please Contact Dr Greg Chapman at www.GregChapman.biz for more information on “The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success”

May Your Business be as You Plan It!

Dr Greg Chapman

Over to You. What do You Think? Post Your Comments Below.

Dr Greg Chapman is the Director of Empower Business Solutions and The Australian Business Coaching Club and is Australia's Leading Advisor on Emerging Businesses and provides Coaching and Consulting advice to Australian Small Business Owners in Marketing & Business Strategies Planning & Systems.

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The Australian Small Business Blog

Is Yours an Emerging Business?

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

There is a bubble growing in Australian Small Business. Are you part of it?

The ABS defines Small Business as those with less than 20 employees. These businesses provide over 40% of the jobs in the country. It also reports that the average annual growth in active, employing businesses over the last 3 years as 9%. Which is an incredible statistic. But this hides an even more astonishing statistic. That fuelling this growth are, what is somewhat dismissively referred to as, micro businesses. That is businesses with less than 5 employees. This sector has had an average growth of 11% over the same period and makes up an amazing 61% of all businesses.

What is happening here? A bubble is forming in the under 5 employee range. While there were exits and transfers to larger categories, this sector is growing faster than any other. Most micro businesses seem to be trapped within the bubble. With only a few emerging. Actually, the numbers look like this:

New Micro Businesses each Year: 17%
Annual Micro Business Failure Rate: 5%
Net Annual Micro-Business Growth Rate: 11%
Micro Businesses Emerging from the Bubble: 2%

(Note: These numbers are approximate and contain rounding errors)

So within the group defined as micro-business, there is another group that I refer to as Emerging Businesses. These businesses differentiate themselves from all the other micro businesses as the movers. The action takers. The Emerging Businesses are leaving their fellow micro businesses behind. I call those, the Micro-stayers.

The Micro-stayers can be defined as those who remain as micro-businesses, don’t fail, but don’t emerge from the micro-group. This may be as a result of a number of factors. It maybe lifestyle choice. Work-Life balance is becoming more and more important to many people. It maybe because they don’t have the knowledge to take their business to the next level, and become frustrated Micro-stayers. Or they may have progressed from frustrated to resigned Micro-stayers and have adjusted lifestyle and ambition in recognition of this.

The Emerging Businesses, on the other hand, retain their ambition, and where they have found they are lacking in skill or knowledge, have sought out advice. No-one knows it all, and everyone at some point requires help. This may be in the form of education through a course or reading, or it may be with a mentor or a professional advisor or coach. The choice here is a matter of personal style, and how quickly the owners want to achieve their ambitions. But as you see from the statistics, very few people know this and do it!

To become an Emerging Business just requires a determination to do so. The alternative is to become a Micro-stayer within the micro-bubble.

Where will you be when the bubble bursts?

Dr Greg Chapman is the Director of Empower Business Solutions and The Australian Business Coaching Club and is Australia's Leading Advisor on Emerging Businesses and provides Coaching and Consulting advice to Australian Small Business Owners in Marketing & Business Strategies Planning & Systems.

The Australian Small Business Blog