Someone new to business ownership recently told me, "Before I opened my business, I thought I was pretty well prepared. I knew how to produce and deliver our product. I worked through the numbers with my accountant and banker. I talked to many others in the same business. I was optimistic that my first year would go well."
"But the stuff I knew was the easy stuff. It was the stuff I didn't know that was hard. We were open just a short time when I started realizing I was spending most of my time trying to manage chaos. I found we need to get better in so many areas. I've been listing the improvements we need to make as a company and all the skills I need to improve personally.
I've been learning what I didn't know - things like properly forecasting the inventory of parts and supplies, scheduling, customer relations - all new to me. Luckily, business is good so we're not in trouble, but I know that, if we don't get out of "chaos mode" fast, it will be very difficult in not impossible to realize my goals."
I have heard this same lament many times from many fledging business owners.
Many stay in chaos mode their whole career, never growing much, always frustrated. Others work methodically through their list of "things they didn't know" and eventually work their way from managing chaos to managing by intention. It takes time, persistence, hard work and a viable vision of the future.
Larry Galler, a Coach and Consultant, works with Owners and Managers of small and mid-size businesses to substantially increase sales volume and profitability through creative marketing strategies and streamlining or eliminating "administrivia."
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