Small Business Success: Dealing With Elephants Under The Carpet Part 2
In the last post we looked at the “people plan” and how a lack of it can be an “elephant under the carpet” that could cause a successful business to fail. Making your small business successful has several components. Not only must you have a people plan but you must have “good processes”.
You may be saying at this point, this doesn’t sound very interesting. I have watched small businesses grow, be successful and fail because the processes for doing business or how to approach business for continued growth were never addressed.
Lack of good processes is the second “elephant under the carpet.”How come they were never addressed?
You will hear phrases such as, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. That’s the way it’s always been done around here.” There is one constant and that is change. You either must embrace it, or it will run over you.
A good example is a business that starts out using contract labor. It needs help periodically with certain jobs or tasks. Independent contractors are a great way to do this. The business grows and now it is demanding most, if not all of the working time of an independent contractor. In fact, it is dictating hours and other things.
Much as you may not want to, it is time to switch these people to employees. Yes, it is more costly. But, I can assure you, the cost is much higher if you don’t switch. Yes, there are industries where independent contractors are standard practice. But, there are many where they are not and I have watched many businesses operate under the illusion that somehow they will fly under the radar.
To have your small business successful, it is important that you get into the right process for doing things. Pay your people as they should be paid. You may save money in the present by treating them as contractors but you can easily lose your business in the end when the IR S comes knocking on your door.
All it takes is one disgruntled independent contractor to start the process that could do you in. In owning your own business and running your own business having good processes is critical to your success.
Think about this. You have good people. You put them in a bad process or one that makes the business extremely vulnerable and what do you get? You get bad or disastrous results. To have a successful performance strategy address those “elephants under the carpet” that have to do with your processes.
Do that and do it regularly and you will have a greater likelihood of having a more secure and prosperous business.
Tags: owning your own business, performance strategy, running your own business, small business success, successful performance strategy