Why Execution Matters in Your Business

Depending on the information source and definition of "business failure", anywhere from 80% to 95% of businesses fail within five years of startup. Millions of aspiring business owners have a vision for their business. Plenty of people have great ideas for changing the world, or at least their target market. The businesses that last longer than five years do not always have the the most successful vision, but they do understand how to execute better than their competitors.

Execution combines careful planning, clear focus, and persistence to breathe life into the ideas and dreams drawn up on cocktail napkins and whiteboards around the world. Execution certainly is not easy. In their classic book "Execution - The Discipline of Getting Things Done", authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan stress how execution is the most critical role of business leadership. Where should business owners and leaders start when focusing on execution? Here are several tips to start your journey.

Identify your target market and ideal customer - Many businesses start with the owner's dream of serving a particular niche or market segment. The execution needed to find your target market involves careful research and clear communication of your value proposition. How will your business be remarkable? What makes your business different than your competitors? What behaviors and characteristics define your target market, and how can your business satisfy a need or reduce the pain this target market and ideal customer feels? Many small businesses fail because they try to be all things to all people. Instead of creating a product or service that serves a niche incredibly well, a business will make a "good enough" product that really is never good enough. As podcast consultant Cliff Ravenscraft of http://www.gspn.tv says, "Become great at one thing."

Communicate your brand consistently - Dreamland Productions owner and Free Agent Academy branding professor Jimi Gibson summarizes a brand in this way: "A brand is the sum of all experiences your customers have with your business." If that definition is true, that means every customer touch point communicates your brand. You must execute a brand strategy to consistently deliver the same message and experience to your customers. What do your company colors and logo communicate to your target market? How do you deal with customers' problems? How are you overdelivering to create additional value for your brand? Does your marketing and media strategy communicate the message you want to convey, or are you confusing your customers? Brands take years to build but hours to destroy. Toyota provides a chilling reminder of how quickly a brand can be destroyed.

Develop a consistent delivery process - All successful businesses deliver a product or service with a value greater than the price paid by the customer. The companies that execute well know how to deliver their value consistently. These companies develop procedures and systems to help employees act in a consistent manner. They train their employees to think for themselves and solve problems quickly. They stress the vital few factors on which all employees must focus to deliver what the customer demands. They empower their employees to critically evaluate every step to find new and better ways of doing the work.

Help all employees know how their work impacts the company's success - Company strategy and financial results should not be the property of a select group of managers. All employees should know why their work is important and how it impacts the company's profitability. Administrative employees must understand how their work improves efficiency and product quality. Financial analysts should understand how the information they provide improves resource allocation. All employees must play an important role to make a company execute well, and they should understand why their work contributes to the bottom line.

General George Patton once said, "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." Many businesses spend too much time planning and not enough time executing their plans. Drawing plans on cocktail napkins is a fun way to exercise creativity, but real businesses understand that a vision must translate into excellent results. Execution is the bridge between the dreams of owners and the success ultimately realized by delivering value to your target market.

Ways To Make Your Home Business Profitable And Successful

Everyone has considered the benefits of starting a home business. Not only are you your own boss, but you can work whenever you want to. The following article will show you how to use use these ideas as part of you home business plan.

Among the best ways of making sure that the home business you start is as profitable as it can be, is to mount a successful online marketing campaign. Blogs, article writing, forums, and emails are all great ways to get your business more visibility for free, leading to more traffic.

Take advantage of tax breaks when you entertain clients. You are allowed to take partial tax deductions if you pay for business meals with clients. It's important to retain every receipt from these meals, and note the client or purpose, in case you need to provide support for an audit.

If you start a business from home, you may find yourself using your home phone line to conduct a lot of your business. Add another phone line to handle your business calls. During your after work hours, you can silence the ringer on this phone so it doesn't interrupt your down time.

Invest in professional looking, quality business cards. There are some Internet sites where you can get business cards for free. Include all of your important information, such as your business name, your name, contact number, email and website address. Be sure to list you website and email address. Your customers will have an easier time contacting you if you give them multiple channels of communication.

Make sure to take time to talk to a business attorney before you actually start your home business. If you are going to start a home business, you need to realize that different states have different laws. A business lawyer can inform you of any relevant state laws that you need to be aware of. The lawyer can be a great source of guidance when starting your home business by keeping you out of trouble.

Develop a regular schedule of time to devote to your work at home that is separate from your personal time. Set a specific time after which you will no longer accept business calls. When running a home-based business it is important to remember to set aside time for your friends, family and for yourself.

Know how to use SEO techniques to your full advantage. This is extremely important for directing web traffic to your site. When you are looking into SEO, look up more than one source, because there are a lot of different options to chose from.

If your home business requires entertaining clients, such as taking them out to lunch, deduct these expenses from your taxable earnings. These types of meetings you can record as business expenses. Make sure that the people you meet with are either already clients or potential clients, as the IRS doesn't look too favorably on claiming pleasure as business.

Save your receipts, especially when running a home-based business. Many of your business expenses are tax deductible, even those related to transportation. Save all receipts associated with these expenses, as a lot of them will end up being deductible. Unless you save your receipts, you may end up paying unnecessarily high taxes in April.

Identify what people like and dislike about your company and its products. Find this information by reading reviews, conducting research, or simply asking other people. Getting input and opinions other than your own is a good way to keep up with how well your business is going and what changes you may need to make.

Before making any final decisions about your home-based business, realistically assess what the business will need. Be sure to examine all sides of any home business opportunity that comes your way.

Always take some time for yourself when working from your home. Running a home business has the potential to be fulfilling, but if you prioritize work over yourself, your self esteem could surface. Take time to exercise, don't snack too much and shower every morning. Doing this will boost how you and others see yourself.

You need to try and have a business address locally, instead of using a PO box to conduct your business transactions. Understand that customers are more at ease when they know that there is a physical building in which your company operates from. It simply provides legitimacy to your business. Your customers have more trust that you will respond when they have an issue.

10 Good Reasons Why Small Enterprises (Small Businesses) Fail

You'll agree with me that there are so many small businesses which have contributed a lot to the growth of economy. They have created employment opportunities for many families although some remain to be small throughout their operational life.

It is obvious that those who are starting new ventures have objectives to achieve. And to mention each business has got its own objectives to achieve such as maximization of profits and sales, minimize costs, maintain a certain level of production and labor force etc.

Failing of a business opportunity is what an entrepreneur won't want to happen. Inasmuch as we agree with the fact that there are firms which have succeeded, we should also accept the fact that a good number of them have failed even before two years lapse after they commence business.

If aspiring entrepreneurs addressed the reasons why small businesses fail, then they will not fall to be victims of the same causes of failure. This is because they'll be in a position to identify these causes and fix them before it's too late.

Now you may be asking yourself as to why some businesses remain to be small throughout their operational life despite some of them making profits or are capable of growing.

4 Reasons Why Small Business Remain to be Small

1.) The owners of these businesses prefer not to expand their businesses. Some sole proprietors do not want to be bothered with the challenges of managing a big business. They don't want to employ people to assist them in running their businesses but instead they prefer to be assisted by their family members.

2.) The nature of the product/service the business is involved in doesn't allow expansion. There are people offering products/services which make it difficult for their business to grow.

3.) Lack of capital for expansion. There are small businesses which are viable and have the potential of growing but they lack enough capital. Such businesses have the challenge of securing funds from financial institutions. Lack of capital plays a negative role in hindering the growth of small businesses.

4.) Very low demand. If the business has a very low demand for its product or service, then at the end of the fiscal financial year/trading period the business won't realize profits, and if it does, it's very low, therefore the chances of it expanding are very minimal. Just to mention, realization of inadequate profits as a result of very low demand hinders the growth of small businesses.

However, there must be a starting point and as such, every business starts as a small entity and it gradually grows to a medium entity and eventually it becomes a big business entity which is either a private limited company or a public limited company. Note that a partnership business can also grow to become a big business.

Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail

1.) Wrong Reasons For Commencing Business: People who start a business for wrong reasons haven't succeeded. Just because another person is making high profits in a certain line of business doesn't mean that you will also make the same amounts of profits as him/her if you start the same business.

2.) Poor Business Management: When there is poor management of the business it becomes difficult for such a business to succeed in its operations. Finance, marketing, purchasing and selling, planning, hiring and managing employees is what most new business owners fail to execute effectively thus making their small businesses to fail.

3.) Lack of Commitment: Starting a business requires someone who is committed in ensuring that it succeeds. Neglecting the business will cause the business to fail. Many small businesses have failed because the owners didn't take their time in monitoring performance and in marketing them. Some business owners leave their businesses to be managed on their behalf by incompetent people who lack book keeping knowledge and the knowledge of managing a business.

4.) Lack of Finances: Small businesses have failed because of lack of adequate finances. Some of the owners underestimated the amount of capital required and as a result of this underestimation some ended up running out of operating capital thus ending the operation of their businesses.

There are those who have no reserves which has led them not to be able to take care of loses and disasters when they occur thus making them to quit business.

5.) Over-Expansion of the Business: This has led to failure of many small businesses. This happens when there is borrowing of too much money beyond what the business requires so as to expand the business. Moving to markets that are not profitable is also over expansion of the small businesses.

An ideal expansion is the one that is driven by customers due to their high demand for the products and services which leads to high sales thus the business experiences good cash flow.

6.) Location: The place where the business is located is critical in determining its success. Small businesses have failed because of them being located in areas that are not ideal for business. They should be located in areas that are accessible, populated with people and has demand for their products and services.

7.) Personal Use of Business Money: This is the biggest challenge facing many small business owners. They withdraw money meant to operate their businesses to meet their personal wants and needs. If they continue to withdraw money from their businesses without returning it, their businesses will eventually run out of finances therefore forcing them to end the operations of their businesses.

8.) Lack of Delegation: Small enterprises have failed due to owners not delegating some of the duties to their employees. They think that if they delegate them, then their employees will not perform these duties as they would personally perform them. When such owners fall sick or are away from their businesses, then the operations of some tasks will be paralyzed till they resume to work.

9.) Not Diversifying: Small enterprises which have only one product/service to offer are prone to fail easily compared to those that have a variety of products/services.

10.) Procrastination and Poor Time Management: Postponements of tasks which the small business owners feel to be unpleasant to perform has made the small businesses to fail. An example of such tasks include following debtors to pay their debts (debt collection).

Time management remains to be a challenge for many people who own small businesses. If important tasks like delivering products to customers, purchasing stock etc are not handled in the appropriate time, then the business will lose its customers.