Strategic Planning:

Leader of Yahoo Marissa Mayer announced to the public that the company will no longer allow workers to telecommute, or operate out of a remote or home office. Mayer argued productivity levels declined when workers were given this flexibility, but many other experts argue that depending on the employees and their positions, they may actually perform better when provided with alternate workplace options. Try to avoid setting absolute rules when starting a...

Many entrepreneurs may be young professionals with limited business experience, or seasoned veterans with a staff of fresh workers. Because startups and burgeoning businesses have limited resources and lack a strong industry reputation, it is common for them to be staffed with recent graduates or professionals with limited expertise and hands-on experience. While it may seem as if youthfulness in an uncertain economic climate may be a noticeable hindrance to...

Taking on a new enterprise is a hefty endeavor. Entrepreneurs and business builders must not only take a concept from idea to reality, but also develop strategies to sustain long-term growth in volatile and ever-changing markets. By testing out tactics and monitoring industry trends, entrepreneurs should establish best practices to build a strong company - standing firm to major decisions while remaining flexible and adaptive to market conditions and...

A well-thought-out business plan is one of the first steps entrepreneurs must complete when launching an enterprise. Business builders must devise a strategy to translate a new concept into a tangible venture to generate revenue while disrupting a market in a positive way. Business plans help entrepreneurs run their organizations better by outlining what operations will allow the firm to run smoothly and enable growth. Business plans guide major decisions in the...

Among major corporations and multinationals, a major topic regarding marketing is the use of big data. With more people than ever using smartphones, mobile applications, social media platforms, email, websites and other information-generating tools, marketers around the world are abuzz about how they can garner insights from the zettabytes of data that now exist. According to a March 2012 report from the International Data Corporation , the demand for big data...

Client relationship management could be likened to baking - without the correct amounts of all the basic ingredients, the final product will be unsatisfactory. In the world of business, even if you have a willing staff who strives to deliver upon client expectations, not having the raw materials for CRM - attitude, training, tools, rules - will doom you before you even begin. Pick people who show promise Certain skills can be learned with training and time,...

For many years, it seemed as if companies that got involved in social causes were either doing so for a public relations campaign or were not creating revenue as a result. However, the corporate attitude toward activism and social responsibility has evolved in recent years. Perhaps more executives realize that getting involved in local causes or global issues is deeply rewarding on a personal level and may prove profitable. A recent study from TBWA Worldwide...

I have dedicated several recent blog posts to the importance of creating a multi-faceted business plan, which may seem excessive until one realizes how integral this document is to the strategy and direction your business takes. These plans are comprised of four parts: business definition, objectives, operational strategies and financial management. The final major portion of the business plan is very closely related to the operational strategy, as your finances...

Consider the reason most entrepreneurs made the switch from employee to business builder . In many cases, apart from wanting to pursue a mission they could not achieve working for someone else, these business owners have started independent organizations in pursuit of a lifestyle they could not access previously. But all too often, these entrepreneurs find themselves working endless hours in their business, with no time to work on it or create a system that...

In past blog posts, I have discussed creating a dynamic business plan that provides an overview of your business activities and that you regularly update in response to internal and external changes. As I explain in The Entrepreneurial Journey , operational strategies comprise one of the four main parts of a business plan. These will include ideas about sales, service activities, marketing, resourcing and major projects that you may take on. It is important...

When you vet prospective clients and compare them to your "ideal" client profile, do you take into account the length of time it will take to move them through the pipeline? Do you consider how they will mature and develop in the months or even years before they become clients? Have you thought about how they will grow during a long-term relationship? The people who will be your ideal clients in a few years may not be the perfect prospect today;...

Many entrepreneurs may think they have a plan for how they will allocate marketing budgets and spread awareness of their business. However, many of these ideas fall short of truly being strategies. They fail to capture the essence of what they want to achieve and how the various functions within the business - sales, marketing, service, administration - are all interwoven. To create a truly useful marketing strategy, compile a few key pieces of information:...

Among entrepreneurs , slow seasons can be more painful than a trip to the dentist. What do you do to ensure your business is as productive during the months when clients are scarce? How do you sustain growth when it seems that new revenue streams are nowhere to be found? The weeks or months throughout the year when you detect a lull in operations represent an excellent time to work ON your business rather than in it. Capitalize upon these periods and make the...

In past posts, I have discussed the importance of entrepreneurs and businesses giving back to their communities through their time, talent or treasure. These socially minded activities work not only to serve your stakeholders, improve the lives of others and allow you to focus on causes near to your heart, but also provide opportunities for networking and even marketing your business. I thought more about this issue after coming across an old piece...

When you think about the structure of your business, how do you arrange the various positions that your employees hold? Have you allowed them to dictate their place in the business in the past, essentially having them "create their own roles"? As you try to create new responsibilities or add more jobs to your organization, resist the common approach of retrofitting the organization. Rather than attempting to tactically fill positions based on your...

As a business builder , it is not enough to decide what kind of client you wish to serve and how much revenue you want to generate. You must also determine whether your company will specialize in a niche industry or have a more general focus. How will it compare to others in that sector? Is your aim to dominate the market and lead your competitors, or to carve out a comfortable space for your organization and strive to meet internal goals? Dictating the place...

What makes being a  business builder , considering all the stress, long hours and headaches associated with the job, worth it? At least partially, it is the freedom and ability to define the role you want to play in your own company. Although your primary focus at first may be getting your organization off the ground, you will need to gradually extrapolate yourself from the lower-stratum, day-to-day duties in order to dedicate more time to the business...

Your business plan is probably one of the most important documents you will create for your company. It is valuable because it is not just a few pages that you keep in a forgotten binder on a shelf. Rather, it is a dynamic, ever-evolving strategy that will serve as a resource while you build your business. I would advise working with your business plan on a regular basis as you update your one-, five- and 10-year goals and projections. Whenever you pause to lay...

I have been building up to a discussion on stratum work capabilities. The intent is to illustrate how professionals work at different levels of effectiveness based upon their capacity to exercise judgment. Based upon this model, you will be able to discern how effective you and others are in applying judgment in a role. The level we start with is called “Stratum-I”, but capacity starts at a much lower level. The “I” in...

In my previous post, I described the usefulness of understanding  the level of complexity of work in a role, and the level of judgment capacity an employee, a supplier or a client has. In this piece, I describe a framework for understanding complexity in both of those areas.   Level of Complexity (Stratum) of Work   The TIME SPAN of a role is the intended length of the longest task in the role. If the...