Action Gamessys: Making Money Without

We’re in business, so we don’t get to sit the tough seasons out and come back when it’s all better. Despite the economy, the small business owner still has serious management issues to address. We can tackle them head on, grow our businesses and ourselves–or we can ignore them, but that could eventually put us out of business. Success is the goal, and the better the team, the better the business.

Here are three suggestions to help you take care of your team, so that they can take care of your clients.

1. Focus on the little steps and everyday strategies.

Your team is no good if you can’t keep them focused. And you can’t keep them focused if you can’t keep yourself on track. Have you ever tried to build a business with your eyes glued to the television? It doesn’t work. In the same vein, jumping from one task to the next without focus and an ongoing sense of completion is just as unproductive. You’re busy, but so is a cat when he’s chasing his tail.

In “It’s All About the First Downs,” Diane Helbig gives some great tips to help you grow your business in “baby steps.” Instead of focusing on that big, amazing, and sometimes overwhelming plan, she has you shift your focus to the little steps. If we address the day-to-day details consistently, then we will eventually arrive at our big goals.

Diane says, “I’ve been confronted with people who are having trouble focusing.” She believes the “root cause is…an inability to see a big idea in small pieces.” I like what she says, because I believe your company’s future rests in your ability to manage the details of the dream, the day-to-day elements. In fact, the more focus you have on the daily strategies of your company, the more focus you can expect from your team.

Making the shift from the big idea to a daily grind that will get you where you want to be isn’t always easy. But Diane’s advice will get you started.

As you focus your team—and reap the benefits from it—you’ll probably want to find a way to reward them.

2. Try a new kind of raise: performance-based pay rewards.

You can’t grow your business without your team. So how do you take care of them if you are in a situation where you have just enough cash flowing to keep the doors open? Anita Campbell discusses performance-based raises in “Should You Pay for Employee Performance?”

You can’t give raises with money that you don’t have. So, if they make it, then you pay it. Anita explains, “A good pay-for-performance plan will focus on the aspects of employee performance that increase sales and profits. As a result, there will be more money available to pay employees for their performance.”

In the article, Anita tells you the type of employees that are most likely to appreciate this plan, as well as suggestions on how to implement pay-for-performance, including the advisors that can help you set it up.

Anita says, “When handled properly, a pay-for-performance program can motivate employees,” and that can move your business forward. Just keep in mind that your team needs to know the rules of engagement and it’s up to management to make that clear upfront and document it.

When it comes to performance, some people just don’t live up to it, and tough decisions have to be made. That brings us to point number three.

3. Fire what doesn’t work; hire what does.

In high school, college and the rest of life we try out for sports, audition for plays, interview for jobs, etc. We have to qualify for what we want, and the older we get, the higher the standards. We aren’t babies anymore—so we’re also long past being rewarded for being cute and cuddly. Everyone can’t or won’t perform at the level that your company needs and requires, and you have to do something about it.

In “3 Things to Consider When Hiring and Firing,” John Mariotti gives some well-balanced advice on firing team members without disrespecting them or breaking their will. He says, “Firing people is no fun at all—at least it shouldn’t be—but it is necessary.” John also advises us to “Always remember that it takes two errors to create a failed employee:

an employee who doesn’t perform in the job, and

the supervisor who put them in a position to fail.”

I try to remember that making the tough decisions can set us up to succeed where others fail.

From Small Business TrendsManaging Staff in a Tough Economy: Who Do You Fire, Who Gets That Raise?

Read more posts on Small Business Trends »

There is no fiscal crisis. Everyone should be clear on that.

The United States is not bankrupt. Social Security is not about to founder. Wall Street is not on a precipice, the IMF is not standing by demanding massive shifts in our government, and U.S. bonds are not trading 1:1 with Charmin. There is nothing wrong.

Nothing except that the Republican Party is prepared to slice the nation's throat to get its way.

Real crises do exist. There are moments in a nation's history where the government must take abrupt action, either military or fiscal, to prevent disaster. In the collapse of 2008, some might disagree with the exact nature of the action the Bush administration took in bailing out banks that had recklessly overextended themselves, but there's little doubt that there was a real problem and without action there was a chance that it could grow from disaster to catastrophe.

That's not the case this time. Not only does solving the issue at hand not require the launching of a single ship, it doesn't require the expenditure of a single dime. Raising the debt limit does not commit the United States to any debt it has not already incurred. Refusing to raise that limit is no more an act of fiscal prudence than refusing to pay the restaurant for a meal already eaten.

Not only is the money already spent, the Republicans are the ones who spent it. It's not Social Security that drove up the debt over the last decade. Social Security is responsible for 0% of the deficit. Make that 0.00%, to be exact. The deficit that the Republicans are railing against is driven by the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by the cost of the recently extended Bush tax cuts. You know what'll happen if we cut Social Security? We'll get less Social Security, not less deficit.

It's funny that politicians on both sides of the aisle keep demanding that "everything be on the table," when what they really mean is that "everything not responsible for the problem be on the table." Not that it matters. The truth is that Republicans aren't interested in solving the problem. They're making the problem. They invented it from thin, hot air and they're entirely invested in seeing that the problem gets worse.

Don't think the Republicans would put the nation at risk on purpose? Consider this: the only thing they won't even think about, the only option so odious they'll walk out of the room rather than talk about it, is precisely the only thing that would actually help. If we allow the Bush tax cuts to expire as scheduled—all of the cuts—the deficit will dry up and the nation will return to sound fiscal standing in short order. If we don't allow those unsustainable rates to expire ... then we will. If we go down after making cuts in Social Security and health care, then we'll we'll only succeed in making a lot of people miserable to no purpose. Only returning taxes to viable levels will help.

If Republicans were actually concerned about the fiscal health of the nation, they would sign onto raising the debt ceiling without hesitation or condition. Because there's nothing wrong, and because raising the limit would cost nothing. Instead they've created a completely artificial problem as nothing more than an excuse to extend the damage they've already caused. It's really a wonderful little game they've created: drive the nation so far into debt that there's no choice but to raise the limit, then use raising the limit as an excuse to create more debt. No wonder they call it red ink.

The only crisis we're facing is that one of our nation's political parties has decided to hold its breath until the nation turns red. And the media, the public, and the opposing party are treating this massive tantrum with far more respect than it deserves.

Action Gamessys

Monday, August 1, 2011

Making Money Without

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