Balancing Your Small Business Team

Balance is that elusive state we all crave – balance in our personal relationships, balance in our business lives.

Events in recent weeks have made me think quite a bit about a basic rule of business: choose your employees and your business partners to fill gaps in your own knowledge, style or mode of operation. Build your team with balance as a primary goal.

Small business owners often overlook the need for balance because they feel so personally connected to – and responsible for – every aspect of the business.

I just read a great post on Inc. titled, Be the Beatles, Not A Flock of Seagulls. The author, John Greathouse, makes the case perfectly as he discusses key attributes of successful startups.  He talks about the importance of group dynamics – how the different, but complementary, talents of each member of the Beatles created a balance that gave their work longevity and broad appeal.  It’s a wonderful example of what you need to do in any venture. (more…)

Positively Negative

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”  -  William Goldman, The Princess Bride

There’s a lot of negative talk going around about negativity.  First of all, let’s get one thing straight.  It’s not negative to say something could be done better – quite the opposite.

Saying something is wrong and can be fixed, or is adequate but could be better, is… POSITIVE.

You wouldn’t think it would be necessary to point this out, but I find many business owners and managers are confused as to what is really negative.  They think admitting a problem is “negative”. (more…)

Let’s Meet Face to Face!

In today’s digital and electronic world, we have lost a major part of communication, the human factor. Sure it’s easy to send an email back and forth to finish, or make, a deal. Yes it’s easy to text someone a message, sure we can chat on Facebook and, yes, Skype is amazing. But, we’re losing a very important skill – basic communications.

For the last four months, I have been working on a lease for one of my clients. It came down to one issue and both parties thought the ball was in the other’s court. I finally invited the other party to lunch to discuss the problem and in five minutes the issue was resolved. That meeting ended four months of email and phone calls. One simple face to face meeting finished the deal. (more…)

Look Forward, Not Back, in 2012

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” –  Thomas Jefferson

As we wind down 2011, we look back and wish we had changed a few things in our lives. We wish we could change some of the choices we made, both personal and professional. We all control our destiny by our decisions, and by making the right decisions we can make life and work both enjoyable and successful.

Many people live in the past and never move forward. In business, people who hold on to past failures seem to fail again and again. Instead of holding on to the failures, you must learn from them. Sixty percent of Forbes 400 richest people have had at least two business bankruptcies, yet they moved forward with their success.

Ring in 2012 with a new attitude. I call it “PMA”- Positive Mental Attitude. If you’re stuck in a job that you hate, start planning a new career, or even your own business. Life can be short. You must embrace every day and enjoy every moment. Start that business you have been dreaming about for years. Turn that dream into a reality! I respect the person who tries and fails, more than one who never tries and regrets it.

 

I wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, and Successful New Year!

Paul Bensman
Founder and  CEO, Details In Retail 

In Praise of Praise

Great job!      Well done!     That’s perfect!     Just right!

When was the last time you said these words to an employee, a business partner, a vendor, a customer? If it wasn’t today, then something is wrong. Either you have surrounded yourself with the wrong people for the job, you’re not paying attention or, worst of all, you fall into that category of people who feel that praise is a bad thing.

A simple acknowledgment of a job well done is incredibly powerful. When something isn’t done right, we get the message loud and clear. But when something is done well there’s often a silence that just reeks of missed opportunity. Yes, we expect things to be done correctly. Still, given how often things go wrong, how can it be a bad thing to offer praise when things go right?

I worked for a truly clueless company many years ago. They did annual performance reviews and rated everyone on a scale of 1-4. The problem was, no one got a 4 – ever. (more…)

Admit it – You’re Lying

“An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.” ~ Mae West

Coverups, scams, cons - the world is full of intentional lies and liars.  Always has been – always will be.

But lately I’ve noticed a massive upswing in a more subtle form of lying – people who just don’t live up to their promises; the ones who don’t put any value on being true to their word.  I know they’ve always been around but there used to be a stigma attached to being one of them.  Now it’s passed off as just the way things are in our busy world.  We all do it.  We’re all guilty.  That’s particularly dangerous thinking for small business, because the backlash can be just as subtle and stealthy as the lie. (more…)