Businesspeople take their enterprises too seriously, says an American consultant.
At workshops around the continent Carolyn Martin presents tips on business developed by her employer, the Gerber Business Development Corp. Last week she was in Saskatoon telling women entrepreneurs from Western Canada how to be fired up, not flaming out.
In a keynote address, Martin applauded the group for taking the step into launching their own business. Now, she said, they must learn to detach from it so they’re not working excessive hours. People put their ideas into action not to end up working overtime, but to ultimately have independence of time and money away from the business.
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“An entrepreneur only goes into business to sell the sucker,” Martin said with a laugh.
Be consistent
But she also had a serious message and backed it up with tips on how to build a business.
In the beginning is the vision. McDonald’s founder Ray Krok had a genius, not for cooking hamburgers, but for developing a business that ensured the production of hamburgers in a consistent way. He knew what he wanted to do and that’s important, said Martin.
“Folks, if you don’t know what your business will look like when it’s finished, how do you know when it’s ready to sell?”
Customer is number one
Tip number 2: Train your staff well because they put flesh on your vision. Wal-Mart’s company song that employees recite every morning inspires them to treat the customers right.
And tip number 3 is not to fall into the fallacy that “I’m the only one who can do what I can do.” Holding up her arms to designate boxes in a flow chart, Martin said entrepreneurs must hire people who can replace them in various skill areas.
“Don’t become human doings rather than human beings.”
Martin said businesspeople need to have a good life, too.
“If you had only one minute to live, you would not check one last e-mail. If you had one hour to live, you’d not try to sign up one more customer.”
