What is it that makes a successful entrepreneur? What is it that drives sales and builds a business? Entrepreneurs do seem to have some common traits, including:
- physical and mental stamina
- a drive to take control of their own destiny
- a competitive instinct
- resilience in the face of defeat
- good judgment
- decisiveness
- the ability to inspire others
- an unfailing positive attitude
- great communication skills
This could be quite a daunting list, unless you recognize that some key entrepreneurial traits can be acquired or enhanced. They often need to be, as not all entrepreneurs are natural marketers when they start their business. Some work independently to expand their skills. Others work in partnerships, where the partners pool their skills and parcel out the work accordingly.
Successful entrepreneurs are constantly asking themselves questions. Is this product what the customers want? Is there a way to improve it? What are competitors doing in this area? Are they posing any new risks?
They want to keep an eye on all aspects of the business. Are there problems with operations or marketing? What are the profit projections for the next three months? Is everything adequately financed?
Basically, successful entrepreneurs have trouble sleeping unless they have a good sense of what is happening in all areas of their business. They need to be confident that all areas of their business are working well together.
If you are one of these driven entrepreneurs, you likely feel the need to understand your business at all levels. You can begin by setting up benchmarks and Key Performance Indicators for your business, monitoring them on a regular basis to make sure you are moving in the right direction. Another great place to start would be a Business Diagnostic and Performance Review, where you will get a holistic analysis of your strategic and operational position and an Action Plan to put you in control of your business…so that you can sleep easier at night.
For more information about setting up your Key Performance Indicators or conducting a FREE Business Diagnostic and Performance Review, please contact our office at (317)782-3070.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Family Business Transition – Who Gets the Baton?
Family business transition planning is frequently predicated on the assumption that someday the parents will be passing on the baton to one (or several) of their own children. What more satisfactory way of crowning their lifelong efforts and hard won success than to pass on the legacy to their own kin so they too can continue to enjoy and prosper from it.
However, children are never clones of a parent and generations also vary one from another. Changes in educational opportunity, in affluence, and especially in technology have created a different life style and set of expectations among generations from that of the business’ founder. This may translate as a lack of any particular commitment to or passion for the family business or a desire to take a different career path altogether.
Before attempting to develop a business transition plan based on passing it to the next generation you must ask yourself this key question: do the proposed successors have the necessary commitment and passion for the business that will see them through the long hours and tough times that are part of managing and growing a business?
Where there is absolutely no interest in the business demonstrated by the next generation, then, blasphemous as it may sound to the senior generation, selling it to a third party could well be the best decision – for the business and the heirs.
If you are still some way from a transition point, there may be time to develop a grooming program for candidate successors, including working up through the company to establish their knowledge of operations and their credentials with employees and customers, management training and so on. This provides you with the opportunity to evaluate their aptitude, reason for commitment, and level of passion.
Creating a family council opens up a formal forum for discussing succession planning openly and assessing the real wishes and passion of potential heirs to the business. If a child doesn’t want a role in the family business, it is better to arrange an alternative transition strategy that recognizes the fact. This may not necessarily involve selling to a third party though. It may be possible to hedge bets by bringing in external managers or transferring ownership to a trust to delay the need for a decision, at least for a period.
However, children are never clones of a parent and generations also vary one from another. Changes in educational opportunity, in affluence, and especially in technology have created a different life style and set of expectations among generations from that of the business’ founder. This may translate as a lack of any particular commitment to or passion for the family business or a desire to take a different career path altogether.
Before attempting to develop a business transition plan based on passing it to the next generation you must ask yourself this key question: do the proposed successors have the necessary commitment and passion for the business that will see them through the long hours and tough times that are part of managing and growing a business?
Where there is absolutely no interest in the business demonstrated by the next generation, then, blasphemous as it may sound to the senior generation, selling it to a third party could well be the best decision – for the business and the heirs.
If you are still some way from a transition point, there may be time to develop a grooming program for candidate successors, including working up through the company to establish their knowledge of operations and their credentials with employees and customers, management training and so on. This provides you with the opportunity to evaluate their aptitude, reason for commitment, and level of passion.
Creating a family council opens up a formal forum for discussing succession planning openly and assessing the real wishes and passion of potential heirs to the business. If a child doesn’t want a role in the family business, it is better to arrange an alternative transition strategy that recognizes the fact. This may not necessarily involve selling to a third party though. It may be possible to hedge bets by bringing in external managers or transferring ownership to a trust to delay the need for a decision, at least for a period.
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