photo by Milos Milosevic

One of the best things that I can do with my clients is to ask great questions.  As a business owner the key ingredient for success is confidence.  Being decisive, having a plan and pushing forward are just part of the job description.  But that doesn’t mean you should just put your head down and go – taking the time to question things, make the right course adjustments at the right time…that’s what will ultimately get you where you want to go.

How do you know what questions to ask?  Every business is a little different, just like every business owner has their own way of doing things.  However there are fundamental core aspects of a successful business that have to be in place if you want to succeed in the long run – regardless of what business you are in.  If you start with that foundation and make it strong, everything else will come into shape.

Below are 10 questions that I recommend every business owner should take time and consider for their business.  If you don’t feel like you have a lot of time, read through the list and pick out the 2 or 3 questions that make you the most uncomfortable and start there.

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             – CBS Paramount

As a business owner, do you ever find yourself asking “WWKD?”  (What would Kirk Do?).  If not, it might be a strategy worth considering – as Randy Pausch pointed out in The Last Lecture, Captain Kirk is a great role model for a leader.  He knew it was critical to surround himself with people who were smarter than he was, he knew the importance of delegating and he had the passion to inspire people to greatness!

You wear a lot of hats in your business – you might be the rainmaker, bringing in new opportunities.  Or maybe you’re the lead production person – creating the goods or service.  Or perhaps it’s the little things, being the chief cook and bottle washer responsible for just getting stuff done!  Or even more likely – you’re doing it all and more!

However there’s one responsibility that’s unique to the business owner and it’s the trait that Captain Kirk really excelled at.  The one thing that makes everything else work.  Of course that’s your job as a leader…the captain of your ship!  As the owner you’re the only one who can really do the critical leadership activities.

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  photo by makelessnoise

Everyone is busy these days and the last thing anyone really needs is another meeting.

However if you have a growing, fast moving business – that’s exactly what you need, and not just any meeting.  My recommendation is that you need to add a daily meeting into the busy schedule of everyone in your business!

I know it sounds crazy – but hear me out and I think you’ll see this is something that can really help you execute and ultimately will save a lot of time.

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Do you have the make-up of a successful entrepreneur?  You might be surprised at what’s really important if you’re looking to create a long term business.

Brad Johnson of FranchiseSmartKC shared an interesting study in his latest newsletter on the traits that are shared by successful entrepreneurs.  The study was done by the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute and was released back in June after they had interviewed over 1100 small business owners with the idea of identifying the traits that make up a success oriented small business owner.

Unfortunately there are no absolute roadmaps to success that would apply to everyone (no silver bullets), but this kind of study cangive you some directional ideas of things you should be thinking about.  Read on and let me know your thoughts.

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Small businesses are a tricky thing – there are lots of mistakes that business owners can make.  Not paying attention to their customers, not keeping up with technology, constantly trying to be a hero, not understanding cash flow!  All of these will eventually kill or cripple your business, but the biggest impact, the mistake that most business owners make is not addressing their ‘People’ problems.

Because of their size and the need to be part of a community, a small business is driven (good and bad) by the quality of the people and with only a few employees (relative to big corporations) there’s no where to hide!

Let’s say you’ve got a small company with 10 employees…and 2 of them are problems.  That’s 20% of your work force!  But it’s actually worse than that – typically people problems bring everyone else down as well – so those 2 issues might have you at 50% effectiveness.  It’s doubtful you’ll be around long at that pace in this economy.

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