Archive for Practice Management
What impresses me about a small business or practice?
Posted by: | Comments- Predictability of service.
- Customer service mentality from everyone in the company.
- Professional sales and marketing systems.
- Organization and efficiency in operations.
- Sleekness and style of office, equipment and processes.
- A committed mission and passion.
- A desire to bring value and the lowest possible cost.
- A desire to get better tomorrow than they are today.
- Convenience of doing business.
- A focus on giving back and not on keeping more.
These are in no particular order, but they are all important when I evaluate patronizing a business.
Does your business have systems to make it flow properly?
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t like to eat fast food, even though my lack of will power leads me there a little more often than I would like. When I am on the road or in a different area of town, I usually opt for McDonalds. Why McDonalds? Why not Burger King, Arby’s, A&W, Hardees, Rally’s, or a million other restaurants? Well the reason I choose McDonalds is because their franchise model seems to me to be the most duplicatable and therefore the most predictable. If I go into a McDonalds in Louisville or stop at one off of I-65 on the way to Atlanta; the service, the cleanliness and the food is very similar and very predictable. Sure there are exceptions, but I find that is not the case with the more loosely organized franchise restaurants. When too much autonomy happens in the restaurant business, you see a line wrapped all the way around a restaurant even though they are not nearly as busy as McDonalds during lunch. You get a burger on a stale piece of bread with wilted lettuce. You get home and your food is not in the bag. You get a flat coke. You get a pain in the neck. I have never sent a plate back at a restaurant, so I am not hard to please when it comes to food. When systems are documented and tested, the franchise owner doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. He just follows the system. Sure McDonalds has changed the systems that Ray Kroc put in place some years ago, but the point is that they have a system, they teach a system and they follow a system. When a problem arises they fix the system. How does this apply to your small business, practice, non profit or home business? Are your services predictable? I know mine need some work from time to time.
File Maps work if you use them
Posted by: | CommentsI have created File Maps for my reference files and my financial files. I have an excel spreadsheet that tells me which files A-Z are in which cabinets. When I do my GTD weekly review, I create new files and add them to the list. This system works so well. The only part that makes it difficult is actually referencing the File Map. Yes you heard me correctly, referencing the File Map. We are so programmed to look for files based on association or memory that we are too stubborn to look at a Map. This concept will be totally unfamiliar to us guys. I mean maps and guys go hand in hand- right? I mean I can’t count the number of times I’ve been with guys on a road trip or family vacation when we start with a map and reference it all trip long. Right ladies! Not so much. We act then we refer if at all. I’m sure the ladies will be able to effectively use a File Map. The guys may have to work a little harder. I’m sure this has nothing to do with our male pride and ego. I don’t myself have a problem with pride- my problem is more about lying about not having an issue with pride.
Create a File Map and use it. Einstein said don’t remember anything you can look up.
The Organized Virtual Office Worker
Posted by: | CommentsThe trend is growing and I’ve seen stats that say 1 out of 2 workers will be either home based businesses owners- work at home contractors or small business owners by the year 2010. Wow- the corporate world is certainly shrinking, isn’t it?
You can see the trends before your eyes. Go to any small coffee shop or cafe. Look at all the people conducting meetings and working online. Just start asking the question- where is your office? You’ll be shocked how many times you here the answer- I work out of my home. What about the growing trend of home based business owners? When Warren Buffet starts acquiring network marketing companies and large corporations start using the same business model- take note.! What about the number of people starting small businesses these days. It’s staggering. How many people do you know that are with the same corporation that they were 5 years ago? What about 3?
What does this mean? It means a huge paradigm shift in the employment model. It raises questions about how one maintains efficiency and effectiveness while working from the home. How does one organize the office?
First, the most crucial thing you’ll need to think about is where is the office going to be?
Instead of telling you exactly what you should do, given that I don’t have any idea of your unique situation-all I can do is offer some very good thought provoking questions.
Do you have children.. do you plan to.. if so when.. if so how old are they .. if not do you have pets?
Assuming you have small children- what floor do they spend most time on while you “work”?
Does you work require phone conversations often?
Do you plan on having a high speed cable connection or a phone dsl?
Will you have a wireless network, a wired network or both?
Do you store many files? Should you?
Is your software tied to your PC or is most of it web-based?
Do you have good self discipline and self control?
Do you need separate phone or fax lines? Are you thinking about an alternative like Vonage? Or do you just use a cell phone?
Will there be others in the home using the Internet or sharing a printer?
Will your spouse share you office or will there be a separate office/home management area?
If these questions have your head spinning, give me a call. With our organizational coaching program we can save you time, money and frustration by taking time to plan upfront.
