By
Wayne Moran.
If you improve your business by 1% every day you will have doubled
your business within 14 weeks! This is the mantra I teach small business
owners when I first start working with them and it provides two distinctive
benefits. One benefit of the 1% improvement concept is the focus it
gives to business owners to put aside time to work “on” their
business rather than “in” their business. The second more subtle benefit
is the fact that it lets the business owner know that the improvements they
make to their business don’t have to be Einstein level calculus to be
effective and profitable. All you need is one good idea that you
actually implement in your business today!
So where can I get those 1% ideas?
Talking to other
business owners is the single best way to get 1% ideas that really work. You
also get the benefit of other business owner’s mistakes and pitfalls
without experiencing the pain yourself. The Chamber of Commerce breakfast
meetings and especially the “Meet My Business”
events are a great source. But don’t forget the quid pro quo in these
encounters. Ensure you discuss your little implementation failures as well as
trumpet your 1% improvement successes so other Chamber members get a chance
at their 1% improvement idea quota for the day.
I personally get a
lot of 1% improvement ideas by staying in close contact with fellow
business-owning friends. Just the act of talking through some of the issues or
opportunities facing my business over coffee with these colleagues has
generated the odd great 1% idea almost out of nowhere!
The good news is
that the simple act of looking out for 1% improvement ideas magically produces
those ideas right before your eyes. Ever noticed that when you think about
buying a particular brand of car, that brand of car starts popping up all over
the place?
It’s not that
there are suddenly more of those cars around, it’s because you are suddenly
taking notice of them. The same concept is at work with the 1% improvement
idea. Keep a look out for them, and you’ll have more 1% ideas than you can
deal with!
So what is
the catch?
There are two
catches. The first catch: there is no point coming up with great 1%
improvement ideas if you don’t do something with them. With information
technology companies I work with I try to instill in the staff from the start
a virtue that “ideas are nothing… implementation is everything!” - i.e.
a million dollar idea is worthless unless it is implemented successfully.
The second catch:
you need to be continuously looking for those 1% ideas and trying to implement
them almost every day.
Wrap up:
Here is the good
news for today: You have just
received your first 1% improvement idea. You have read this article to its
end. If you find yourself agreeing to look for those 1% improvement ideas for
your business then you just implemented your first 1%. Well done! It’s
that simple.
Till next time!
Wayne Moran is the managing
director of Jacem Business Development Pty Ltd. Jacem’s mission is to
help businesses grow through a range of business services in marketing,
business process re-engineering, information technology adoption, succession
planning, project management training, staff performance and development as
well as thinking & creativity training. Wayne can be contacted directly on
0418 153 063.