Small Office, Home Office Information

After making several comments on another blog yesterday I managed to become embroiled in a discussion about people who claim legendary status and snake oil salesman.

In an effort to prove that he was a legend but not a snake oil salesman one particular person tried to impress me with his income, question my integrity, point out that we had experienced a cash flow problem this month and tell me that he had five children.

Maybe by bringing his children into this he was trying to imply that he was a better breeder than me but I didn’t rise to that one - penis envy is definitely not my thing - but then when you have 10 kids you don’t have to defend yourself on that point at all

But it did raise in my mind the question of just what is the measure of a successful small business person. Is it money? Is it possessions? Is it status within your community or state or country? Is it something less definable such as happiness and an ability to accept criticism without launching into a vitriolic counter-attack?

I doubt that there is a definitive answer for this but if success can be measured in happiness and being comfortable with where you are after years of hard work then maybe I’m a success after all.

If the measure of success is wealth, possessions and position then I guess I’m a miserable failure but it doesn’t seem to bother me much.

So what is your measure of success?

A well-known journalist in one of Australia’s cities runs a blog simply called Razor. Recently he had a bad experience with a mobile phone dealer and commented about it on his blog. Some hours later a comment was posted on his blog from someone claiming to be a very satisfied customer of that business.

Of course that looked perfectly legitimate to everyone except the guy who runs the blog. He was able to see that the person making that comment was actually writing the comment from a computer in the mobile phone dealer’s office. In fact it turned out that the satisfied customer was actually a salesman at the business.

What that salesman had hoped would be some good PR for his company actually turned into some even more bad press.

I think that there’s an important lesson there for all of us.

Following on from my previous post let me suggest that you should also be very wary of blogs that try to suggest they going to be helpful for small business.

Some of them are nothing more than infomercials for very second rate products.

Have you ever noticed how the Internet is full of legends … just ask them, they’ll tell you how legendary they really are.

They make more money, partner with more important people and are just so much better than anyone else you will ever know in your life - and they’ll tell you all that without you even asking.

You can blame this post on an interesting little discussion over on another blog about one such legend

Edit: I originally linked to that blog but now, on reflection, feel that it was inapproriate to do so. It is not my intention to turn this blog into one that attracts violent debate but at the same time you need to be aware that if something sounds too good to be true then it undoubtedly is.

Michael Gerber in his book The E Myth Revisited talks about the three types of people who are needed to run a small business. Often all three are packed into just one person and the most important person is the entrepreneur because that’s the person that makes the business grow and survive.

Darren Rowse has some interesting thoughts on Seven Characteristics of the Entrepreneurial Life over at his blog and they are well reading and thinking about.

And if you want to know who wears the entrepreneurs cap in our business … well there’s no doubt that it’s Toni

Cash flow has very definitely been on our mind again these last few weeks as previously reliable clients have had us do work for them and then failed to pay us. For most small businesses it doesn’t take much to reduce a steady flow to a terrifying trickle and so working on your cash flow is always important.

Sometimes ‘working’ can be as simple as doing some reading on the subject so you might find a new book that is about to be released quite helpful.

It’s not out yet but The Truth About Small Business Cash Flow: Why Making A Profit Doesn’t Mean Success does look interesting and you can register to be notified when the book is released.

I hope you will pardon my apparent absence for the last few days but the pressure of work has just kept us from so many things that we would much rather be doing. The work is still there to be done but we’ve hit one of those strange little lulls in a project that comes while others catch up to us.

Of course, right in the middle of all that work a major storm swept through the region and knocked the power out for over five hours. We were not impressed because it hit about 6pm and affected a wide area around where we live.

Fortunately we could continue working with our laptops and so the loss of power didn’t affect us too drastically. We even had the good fortune for the power to out at a point where we had both saved all the work we had been doing so we weren’t too badly affected by the blackout.

However, things could have been worse and the experience has just brought forward the purchase of several uninterrupted power supplies (UPS). A UPS is basically a battery back up for your computers and gives you ample time to save all your work and shut down the computer if a blackout strikes.

Little insurance policies like a UPS and the laptops are important for small business and we also found another useful task that a laptop can perform. Dining by the light of a laptop screen may not be all that romantic but at least you can see what you’re eating.

Websters Online Dictionary announced last week that the word most people came to the dictionary to find the meaning for this year was integrity.

That’s a sad indictment on today’s world when people need to find the meaning for a word that describes an attribute that every person should have.

Of course not everyone does have integrity and here in Australia there are a few politicians from the religious right and from the far right who need to match their words to their actions. They also need to check to see what the meaning of integrity really is.

But just because others don’t have integrity doesn’t mean that you or I are absolved from displaying that attribute in our every-day activities.

And just in case you don’t know what the meaning of the word is then I can tell you that Websters defines it as ‘firm adherence to a code’ and ‘incorruptibility’.

It’s quite easy to overlook the fact that cab owners and drivers are small business people in the community where you live. Sadly they are probably the one group of small business people who have the worst reputation.

In the vast majority of cases that reputation is not deserved. Cab owners and drivers are often more community minded and willing to help others than many other small business people. Sadly though the actions of a few tarnish the reputation of the whole industry and it’s very difficult to get people to change their perceptions.

But that doesn’t stop cabbies from continuing to work within the community for the good of the community.

Here in just about every town in Australia cabbies are involved in transporting kids with special needs to and from school. Of course they get paid for it but a bond develops between the kids and the cabbies and those bad and nasty cab owners and drivers go way beyond the terms of their contract just to make life easier for the young passengers.

Here in Hervey Bay the local cab drivers are just like that, they have that special bond with the kids and they really do look after them. Each year at Christmas the owners and drivers put on a BBQ for the pupils and teachers at the special school here in town.

Of course they don’t have to but it is their way of supporting the kids and the teachers They don’t do it for the publicity because there isn’t any – they just do it because they want to.

What can your small business do for your community?

Unfortunately the cost of fuel is affecting small businesses wherever they might be located. Qually unfortunately there is no quick fix for the problem but there are survival strategies and you might find the suggestion you need right here