by Michael Best | Jan 30, 2023 | Archive
Going back to the book I mentioned in an earlier article, 101 Things I learned in Business School, there is some very good advice on running an organized business. It’s about the fact that businesses have departments, even one-person businesses. Understanding this allows for proper organization even for the smallest of businesses, in fact, particularly for the smallest of businesses where time is often in short supply and where good organization can save time.
As the authors note: “Many businesses have similar concerns and responsibilities, and therefore similar departments. A department in a large business may have hundreds or thousands of employees; in a sole proprietorship it may be represented by a folder in the cloud and a few hours of work per month.”
Then they go on to explain why this is important for the smallest of businesses: “Honouring the universality of departments is essential to setting up a business and facilitating growth. Putting standards and practices in place that others will readily understand anticipates the eventual hiring of employees. Even naming and arranging computer folders and files by a universal, rather than idiosyncratic, standard can help growth occur more naturally.”
It’s good advice.
by Michael Best | Jan 26, 2023 | Archive
I’ve written about emergency and disaster planning before and will again in the future because it is important; I know this from personal experience.
As I mentioned in the previous article, BDC has advice on all kinds of planning, including emergency and disaster planning. Again, it’s written for larger organizations that have enough people to set up teams, among them an emergency preparedness team. So I’m going to adapt the eight steps they propose for emergency and disaster planning to suit the more limited circumstances of smaller businesses.
Here are the 8 steps modified and abbreviated:
- Establish responsibility for developing a plan. In many small businesses this will inevitably be the owner.
- Identify the essential services and functions you’ll need in case of an emergency.
- Identify the skills at your disposal that might be needed in an emergency.
- Identify the types of potential emergencies.
- Prepare a plan for each type of potential emergency,
- Review the plan to make sure that all possible aspects have been addressed.
- Review the plan with employees and/or your preparedness team (if you have one).
And again, like all other plans, once prepared it should be revisited and updated regularly rather than being left to gather dust somewhere.
by Michael Best | Jan 23, 2023 | Archive
So this is the time of the year when business owners are urged to plan. And there’s no end to the types of plans. In my experience though, moist small businesses don’t have the time (or probably the need) to plan to the degree of detail some of the plan-crazy business writers urge. Of course there are those that don’t plan at all and fly by the seat of their pants, and that’s not good either.
BDC produces a lot of good material for small business management including, of course, planning articles. I’ve selected two of them from which to pick the best ideas for implementing a strategic plan. They state the obvious when they say that a strategic plan is essential for every business. It’s just a question of how detailed the plan needs to be, which in the case of a time-strapped small business is less important than at least doing some kind of strategic plan. You and your employees need a simple, clear roadmap of where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.
Then, having developed a strategic plan, it must be used and kept current and not stuck away somewhere gathering dust. As for an action plan, there are seven steps for developing one:
- Involve your team early on.
- List concrete actions for each plan item.
- Include timelines.
- Designate resources.
- Establish a follow-up and measurement process.
- Communicate the plan.
- Keep the plan alive.
That’s about as much room as we have space for here, so don’t let this be all the reading you do on implementing a strategic plan. You have homework to do.
by Michael Best | Jan 19, 2023 | Archive
Over the holidays I came across 101 Things I learned in Business School by Michael W. Preis and Matthew Frederick. It’s crammed with some useful ideas and concepts, much of it useful to small businesses such as the vast majority of textile screen printing shops in Canada. With that in mind, I’m going to be sharing some of this book’s useful contents over the coming weeks.
Here is the first of those . . . It’s titled “People are capital” and lists the various ways in which your people are capital . . .
“Intellectual capital is proprietary information and in-house knowledge of technologies, materials, processes, and markets useful to an organization.
Human capital consists of talents, skills, and knowledge among employees.
Social capital and cultural capital refer to established human relationships, both internal and external to a company, that create and maintain value.”
These are the types of “people” capital they list and I’m sure you will recognize them immediately. The point of course is that being reminded of them helps underscore the importance of preserving this “people” capital for the sake of the ongoing success of your business.
They go on to add an item about “institutional memory” which they say is ” . . . unrecorded collective knowledge, techniques, tools, values, priorities etc., developed in an organization over time.” And here’s the important bit, “It outlasts the employee(s) who first developed it as long as there is significant overlap between outgoing and incoming employees.”
by Michael Best | Jan 16, 2023 | Archive
I was recently searching through a filing box of stuff I’d once thought worth keeping. And while much of it should have been dumped a long time ago, I found a single page with few words but a lot of wisdom. Since most textile screen shops in Canada are small businesses, I’m sharing it here. It shouldn’t need further explanation. . .
It’s title . . . 8 Golden KEEPS of Small Business
- KEEP it simple.
- KEEP a lid on costs.
- KEEP it only if it’s profitable.
- KEEP working on your business.
- KEEP researching.
- KEEP a notebook.
- KEEP it at work.
- KEEP it fun.
The only KEEP I’d add is, KEEP reminding yourself of this list.
by Michael Best | Jan 12, 2023 | Archive
The BDC recently published a paper with questions and answers relative to the outlook for small businesses for 2023. Some of the more pertinent ones are worth mentioning here as they could impact your planning as you look down the road.
The question of a possible recession in Canada keeps coming up. After exploring the technical definition of a recession finally they conclude that while the economy is going to slow down, we will avoid a recession. Broadly speaking, this should mean business as usual in T-shirts.
The next significant question is the outlook for the Canadian dollar versus the US dollar because just about everything we consume in producing imprinted garments in Canada comes from the US and offshore. It’s projected here that downward pressure on the CAD will continue which could mean higher consumable prices for stuff like chemicals and ink. But time will tell and is mostly in the hands of the big manufacturers.
A big question is about workers. Apparently 2023 could be difficult in this regard because job vacancies are still high and retirements are at a peak. We’re being told that labour shortages will be with us for some time yet in Canada.
And related to the labour availability question, is the question about where wages are going. They will continue to rise but not as the same rapid pace as in late 2022. The projection is an average wage rise across the country of 4 percent in 2024.
So, plan accordingly.
