Business Assistance Part 1.
I often like to talk to Business owners about being a Proactive Business owner rather than a Reactive Business owner, which I believe helps your business.
A Reactive Business owner is one who often waits until an issue or problem occurs, and then will try to find a solution or way to rectify the problem as soon as possible, and often in the easiest method possible. Which is often occurring with the questions that are asked in social media groups.
A Proactive Business owner is one who is always thinking about their business and possible issues and putting plans or systems in place to prevent the issues from occurring.
So often, I hear Marketing people say, work out what problems you fix for a business owner and then promote yourself where possible on how you can solve someone’s problems.
This is a Mentality in business I would love to see change, and in my personal Opinion needs to change, and Business owners need to consider a change in the way they think and operate.
I believe Business owners, need to be Proactive from when they decide to commence a Business, which is why planning and budgeting prior to starting a business is so important.
However, ensure you can consider what risks could happen to your Business through a Comprehensive Risk Assessment and review of your business Operations, can help you to have plans in place to help minimize the possible risks.
I recommend when starting a Business, or as soon as you can possibly afford it, start looking at meeting with the following Service Providers,
- Accountants/ Advisors
- Lawyers- Legal minded people
- Mentor or coaches.
- Other people within your Industry.
Yes it may cost you a couple of hours with each, however by asking questions about what issues they had with their Business, when they first started operation, can help a new Business owner consider what plans, systems, procedures in place they need to help them minimize issues occurring within their Business, which can help them become Proactive.
However, you now might be 2-3 years into your Business Operating, it is not too late to become Proactive and not reactive, often you can read comments in social media forums, and think “ what would I do if this happen to me “ and then you can document plans on how to stop it from happening.
A simple form of becoming proactive is by making a list of the service providers who you believe will assist you when required, and ensuring you have a list and contact details when required, for me, I made a short list from the Facebook group I am a Business Owner Victoria.
By meeting with these people, but also watching what they were posting I soon found the following services,
- Insurance Broker
- Accountant for Tax purposes
- 2 Accountants for Tax/ Business Advice
- A general contact person who has a lot of contacts in the Business world
- A couple of mentors I can talk to, about anything, I don’t necessarily pay them, but we can bounce ideas of each other.
- Financial Coach
- Graphic designers/ printer
- Tech Coach
- Copy writer.
- Marketing Services/ SEO
Whilst, I do not always use them for my Business, I know they are there to ask questions, but also has a Mentor, I know which one of them can help my clients or other Business owners when they need or should they need assistance.
However, the list was my way of becoming Proactive, and being prepared should anything happen, I can watch and learn from their posts, from their Blogs, newsletters, web sites etc, or just by generally talking to them either in person, by phone, email, or messenger on facebook they all help.
Some examples I can give,
- We are often proactive when it comes to Insurance, we find the insurance broker/ provider early in Business, as often we need this for legislation purpose, depending on the industry we are in. If we wish to deal with larger companies, local Government, they like to see Insurance coverage.
- Accountants- we are often reactive in this area, as we often wait until our Tax is required to be completed and then we will search for one, rather than taking the time to meet and discuss services with a few different Accountants to see who can help us the best. But also Accountants can help with Budgets, Planning, or have the right contacts for us to use, yes as long as you find the right Accountant.
My suggestion to business owners, for the next month, when looking for help in your business, consider finding someone who can help you set up your systems and procedures in place.
Be prepared for anything which can happen, rather than looking for someone who can solve a particular problem………Problem solving comes second, compared being prepared and planning for something – so when it happens you will know exactly what needs to do to fix the issue.
