Category: Business

How to Triple Your Productivity in One Week from Now

In simple terms, productivity refers to the amount of useful activity you complete in a given time. It is closely related to elegance the ability to bring about the greatest results with the least amount of effort. Your productivity grows exponentially with the degree of elegance with which you perform tasks. So how do you increase your elegance and triple your productivity?

Many people write about the powers of the unconscious mind. This is the subconscious mind that part of each person that takes care of the things we consciously take for granted from the beating of the heart, breathing, or such processes that were once conscious then become unconscious as one develops competence e.g. driving, walking, etc.

Would it be fair to say that to the greater extent that you can take control of and allow the unconscious mind to get you what you want, the greater productivity and elegance with which you perform and complete tasks will be? Imagine for a moment how often do you wake up and start the day on automatic you get up, may be you stretch, you go prepare breakfast, clean your teeth, or if you’re smart and enthusiastic perhaps you go straight for a run or do some other form of exercise

All those things are normal and fine, but if you examine this behaviour it is a habit that you have formed. It happens on automatic if it happens smoothly and you don’t really think and decide about what you’re doing, the chances are its ingrained as a habit and your unconscious mind is running the behavioural pattern. So, how can you use this information to create more of what you want? By taking control of your unconscious processes, teaching your mind who is boss and achieving bigger and better results, small step by small step.

Try this for 7 days. Anyone who can do something for 7 days can do it for 21 days, and the experts say it takers only 21 days to learn a new habit. Do it for six months and the chances are you can keep it up for a lifetime it becomes so ingrained if you choose to. To implement this simple step and triple your productivity in a week, you will need only a pen and paper plus a little willingness to take control and do somethings you have been putting off.

Step 1: Write out a list of about 20 things each day that you know you need to do this can include even the most basic of things such as getting up out of bed on time, making the bed, switch out the lights, wash up my breakfast bowl, etc. You get the picture, just make sure that you have a list of 20 different things that are really easy to achieve.

Step 2: Decide to do the first thing on the list and then do it. Give yourself a tick with the pen and consciously tell your mind that this is a success. Your mind will be pleased with you and support you because you have decided to do something and then you have gone ahead and done that thing that’s a successful loop it shows to your mind who is in control no matter how big or small the task.

Step 3: As you find yourself effortlessly doing this list, and rewarding yourself along the way by ticking off your to do list, you will find yourself feeling terrific about yourself. You will bring to the fore of your mind the things you have been dreading and putting off and actually create the burning desire to get them done well. Your self-belief will skyrocket.

Step 4: You can test yourself by slightly increasing the difficulty of the tasks, perhaps add something you don’t yet know how to do e.g. earn an extra money in a week, speak in front of an audience etc. By increasing your productivity like this and training your unconscious to just get on and support you to do it you may well find you achieve far more than you expected over the next week of doing this. You have it within you to triple your productivity in just 7 days. So, now it is down to you to increase your productivity.

How to be a Responsible Coach

Assuming the Responsibilities that come with Being a Coach

Who can forget the famous line of Peter Parker (Spiderman’s grandfather)? He said, with great power comes great responsibility.

Society expects TV and movie superhero with extraordinary powers to be responsible for saving his town and the world from the forces of Evil. And he never let us down. Despite the temptations of owning such powers, he uses his abilities only for the good of the people around him.

Being a coach has similar parallels. Great coaches can have real power through their abilities to help others and with it, the responsibility to guide others towards success. This is REAL power that can be used to help real people in THIS world. Done well, coaches can help others turn around their lives. Done wrong, and a coach could guide a client down the wrong path.

So, with this power to coach your clients towards manifesting their personal and/or business vision comes responsibilities. Great coaches assume them all as part of the professional responsibility. This can include everything from making sure your client is moving in the right direction, getting them back on course when they are not, and developing and tracking their use of exercises to help them along the way.

There are a few things you can do to be a more responsible coach. Just as important, these same skills can be imparted to your clients to help them lead more responsible, integrity-filled lives.

How to Bring out the more Responsible You in Yourself and your Client

#1 – Develop self-awareness.
Learn and know your own strengths and weaknesses to be able to view your behaviour objectively. Recognise your shortcomings, receive feedback, and make changes when necessary. The more self-aware you become of all your aspects, the more you will know what kind of clients you can coach best and just as important those best referred to others.
The lesson is simple: the more we grow, the more we can offer, and the more we can help others.

#2: Learn to Separate Responsibility from Worry
When we hear the word responsibility, we often think to ourselves, Another task, another problem. However, responsibility is not about worrying over things given to us to work out. Consider this story:

One night at the end of the second shift, the Head of Operations walked out of the plant he managed and passed a labourer. The labourer said, “Mr. Smith, I sure wish I had your pay. But I wouldn’t want the worry that goes with it.”

Mr. Smith answered, “I give the best I can when I am here. But I drop the worry when I leave so I can be 100% with my family when I’m at home.”

You, too, can learn to give your best to challenging work, but then leave it at the door when your off-hours. Worrying accomplishes nothing except to eat away at us, and actually ends up making us less effective! Don’t let worry taint your clarity of judgment and ability to take decisive action. You can learn this as you grow.

Carrying the responsibility of coaching should not intimidate you. It is the ability to help others that coaching is all about. Embrace the responsibilities that come with it.

Nothing is gained by worrying about whether your clients achieve their goals or not. Focus on supporting and inspiring them. Be their partner in their growth. Brainstorm with them when it is called for. But ultimately, it is your client’s responsibility to assume responsibility for accomplishing their goals. You merely help them see and achieve this state.

#3: Take Calculated Risks and Learn from Your Mistakes

Effective coaches have the courage to ask their clients to take risks when results and success are uncertain. A willingness to risk failure is a core attribute of all successful people.

As a coach you can help your clients work with risk and possible failure. Help them learn to analyse their situation and options. Work with them to list the pros and cons for each option, then assign each choice a risk factor rating from 1 to 5. Next, have them determine the likelihood of each occurring. This will help them quantify and manage the risk-taking process.
Also, lead them to a better paradigm regarding failure. What is failure other than great feedback that our current course of action is not the right path? Use this information for course correction. Failure doesn’t happen until we give up. If you don’t give up, then failure is not an option.

#4: Own and admit our mistakes
Our greatest lessons and growth come through our mistakes. Everyone makes them; it is part of life. Help your client understand this, and they will be able to draw the necessary lessons and take corrective action. If we do the blame game, we don’t even take the first step (ownership) in this process.

Not only does owning our mistakes and failures help us to be more truthful and powerful in our own lives. Owning and assuming responsibility for them lets others see the integrity and virtue within us, and hence further gain their respect.

Business Owners Toolkit – Problem-Solving

Problem-solving should be in every property investors and business owner’s toolkit, invariably things will go wrong, and you need to know how to get to the root cause so that you can put it right, so it does not happen again. However, problem-solving is not just for when things go wrong as it can also be used to look at deals that have gone well and find ways to make improvements so that it is even better next time.
To become proficient at problem-solving a simple nine-step process should be followed. Although it may seem complicated at first glance, with a little bit of practice it will become second nature.

The Process

1. Problem Statement

The first step is defining the problem statement, this is where a lot of people go wrong including professionals who should know better. All too often people want to dive into corrective action and put things right believing that they already know what the problem is, and invariably the problem raises its head again at some point in the future, or the problem has become worse. So you need to be patient and do not pass this first step until the problem is defined.
Guidelines to a good problem statement are as follows:

  • What has been seen?
    This should include factual information, measurements, photographs, what specification is being deviated from, who found the problem, is it a repeat concern? If it is possible, the originator must physically observe the issue and go to the place where it was found or created to gain clarification.

 

  • Where was it found?
    It is important to identify where the problem was discovered, as this is relevant to later stages of the investigation. At this stage, no attempt should be made to predict where the problem was caused.

 

  • When was it found?
    The date and time a problem was discovered, it may be relevant to the investigation.

 

  • How was the problem found?
    Understanding how the problem was found will assist in later stages of the investigation.

 

  • How many?
    It is important to record the details of the scope of the problem at the time of discovery; this will assist in containment action. Specific details should be recorded to prevent duplication and assist later stages of the investigation.

The following are examples of poor and good problem statements:

a) Poor Statement – The bathroom in the HMO is flooded

b) Good Statement – The bathroom in room 10, became flooded at ten last night, the ballcock valve in the toilet cistern was broken. The water has not only flooded number 10 but has also seeped through to the room below at number 5 causing the electrics in that room to short out.

As can be seen, the first statement just tells you that a bathroom has been flooded, it gives no indication of which room or the extent of the damage. So, armed with this information you would be looking at sending a plumber to fix the problem. Whereas with the second statement you know which two rooms have been affected, you know that not only is a plumber required to fix the problem but that you also need an electrician, and because of the water damage you may also require a builder. In the meantime, you also need to try and find an alternative accommodation for your tenants as they now have rooms that they cannot use.

2. Form your Team

The second step is to form your team, this can be one person or a team of people depending on the complexity of the problem. Each problem is assigned a leader and the responsibilities of the leader are:

  • To control the actions.
  • To clarify the problem description (in consultation with the originator).
  • Confirm the need for the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to be carried out.
  • To track the investigation through all stages to a conclusion and ensure that the RCA process is followed.
  • Determine the problem-solving team considering the nature and complexity of the problem.
  • To escalate any obstacles and blockages through the management hierarchy, which could be just you
  • To report on progress on the RCA activity.
  • Present the RCA for closure upon completion.

3. Containment

Containment action is the next stage it is the initial actions taken to protect the customer from further occurrences of the stated problem.
The scope of the problem should be determined, and appropriate action was taken on all items suspected or found to be non-conforming. For example, leaflets with the wrong contact number are ready for distribution, how many do you have in stock, how many have been delivered to houses. Upon the completion of containment activity, no further defects should reach the customer.
Typical types of containment actions are as follows:

  • Identifying and locating all suspect material through in-house process check.
  • Check material to requirements, quarantine all defect material.
  • Review any material that may have been generated with the same process.
  • Obtain all escaped suspect material, or quarantine and notify customers.
  • Implement temporary fix and take appropriate action to ensure no further defects of the same nature reach the customer.
  • Upon completion of the containment activity, the problem leader must confirm that the problem has been contained via all appropriate actions having been completed and enforced.

4. Root Cause of the Escape

It should be determined at which stage of the process the defect or problem should have been detected, and the reasons why the issue was undetected. This activity may identify more than one process stage where the defect was not detected, and each should be considered.
Review of working practices, procedural documents and instructions should be supplemented by the use of appropriate tools, e.g. brainstorming, 5 whys, Ishikawa diagrams, process mapping, etc.

5. Prevent Further Escapes

Action should be taken to ensure that future occurrences of the problem are detected at the correct process stages. These may be permanent or temporary activities for example:

  • Use of mistake-proofing methods e.g. smoke detectors are designed so they cannot be mounted until a battery is installed.
  • Additional inspection instructions
  • Updates to procedures/work instructions/process plans

6. Root Cause of the Issue

Where possible this analysis should involve individuals with knowledge of the processes and should also involve a review of the process as it occurs in reality Use of the approach of “go, look, see and understand” is recommended.
Appropriate tools should be used to support the analysis and investigation e.g. process mapping and 5 whys, Ishikawa diagrams etc. It may be the case that a number of contributory causes are identified and any that cannot be dismissed need to be included for correction. When defining the root cause the following type should be avoided:

  • Repeating the original problem description.
  • “People error”
  • “Lack of resource”
  • ” Issues beyond physical control”

These are not root causes and show the process has not been applied effectively/ rigorously.

7. Permanent Corrective Action

Actions must be taken to permanently eliminate the cause(s) of the problem. As a general rule, to correct a problem requires a change, for example, process changes, procedural changes. Changes should be implemented following the appropriate change process.
When introducing a change, the following should be considered:

  • The impact of changes on training
  • The impact of changes to work in progress
  • Risks associated with the change
  • Procedural requirements for making a change e.g. is a joint venture approval required?

8. Preventive Action

Preventive actions are those actions taken to prevent a similar problem occurring in other areas of the business. At this stage, it is important to consider if any other areas of the business could benefit from the changes made as a result of the problem resolution. If there are other areas of application, the corrective actions should be applied in those areas too.

9. Verify

Each problem or issue subjected to the root cause analysis process should be subject to final verification activity to ensure that the issue has been satisfactorily resolved. This should be carried out by the problem owners/manager.

Topics to be considered are:

  • Has sufficient containment action been taken?
  • Do the identified root causes relate to the original problem?
  • Are the root causes identified true root causes and not symptoms of a deeper cause?
  • Have all identified corrective actions been implemented?
  • Have corrective actions been effective in eliminating the original problem?
  • Have corrective actions been applied to appropriate processes?
  • Have any temporary containment and protection actions now been removed?
  • Are the preventive actions robust e.g. is mistake proofing used?

Good practice in verification should, as a minimum, involve a “go, look, see” activity where physical inspection of the corrective action etc. takes place.

Exit Strategy – Selling your Business

When starting a business always look at what your end game is and keep this in mind. You may decide that you want to build a legacy, therefore, you will be passing it on to your heirs. But you should still look at setting up the business with a mind to selling it, as you may find that you could make more money by selling and so you can give more money to your heirs, or you may find that your possible heirs may not want the business as they have no interest in it or they are not capable of running it.

Your business must be able to run without you, if your business cannot run without you then it will die with you, therefore before you even think about selling or passing on your business make sure that you have processes, systems, manuals and procedures in place. This must be your number one priority above anything else, if you do not know how to set these up get help, as it is worth paying someone to put these in place for you, remember this adds value to your business so don’t cut corners or skimp on the price for the consultancy, so think of it as a short-term loss for a long-term gain.

When selling your business, it is critical that you understand the processes involved. After all, unlike other business decisions, this will only be made once!

So here are a few questions that might help you in the process.

Why are you selling? Are you selling because the business has reached its full potential, or do you want to get out because you have had enough? It’s important to have a reason for the sale as you will get asked this question from all potential purchasers.

Is your property on a lease? If a buyer is looking at your business, your buyer will want to see a long-term lease in place. Negotiate with your landlord an extension to your lease and make sure that you have a clause in there which allows you to transfer the lease to the new buyer.

When did you last value your assets? This is especially important when it comes to property as prices are constantly changing and you might get a very pleasant surprise.

Do you want to sell just the goodwill and still own the property? Often when selling a business, it is possible to keep the property and lease it to the new buyer. If you do not need the full proceeds it is often wise not to sell the property as long term it will be an appreciating asset. Make sure though that you get a full repair and renewal lease put in place with the buyer.

Are you the one hundred percent owner? If not, what do the other shareholders think about you leaving? One of the easiest ways to get out is to sell your stake to the other shareholders.

Do you want to protect some workers in your business once the sale has gone through? You might have members of the family or close friends who work in the business and they might need some security after you have left. One way to do this is to provide them with decent employment contracts prior to the sale.

Is the timing, right? The best time to sell the business is just after you have had a good year of trading. Even economists disagree about what the future may bring so try not to predict how the trading environment will change but get out when profits are high.

Prime the business for sale. Just as a house will achieve more with a lick of paint and the garden in top condition so a business will need as many loose ends tied up as possible so that it is easier for a new buyer to walk in. Get rid of all the dead stock and dispose of all old and useless machinery and equipment.

Tidy the place up. Make it look as attractive as possible and make sure all the light switches and bulbs work. Make sure the place is as bright as possible by using higher power bulbs than normal.

Get professional help. If you have a small business all you need are the services of a good accountant and solicitor. If the business is more complicated a decent business broker might be required to get the maximum price for your business.

The easier you make it for the buyer to move in and start running the business from day one the higher the price you will achieve for the sale.

Are Forums the new Mentor?

It is interesting to see how more and more people are turning to forums to obtain the answers to their business rather than going to a mentor or coach. It is practically an untapped resource that many more people are getting into, here’s why no matter what you do in this life there is usually someone out there that is a lot better at it than you. You could teach yourself until you get good enough to beat them or you could learn from them gain all the knowledge in less than half the time and beat them at their own game.

This can be related to forums, for an example, I will use someone who wants to succeed in an internet home business. We will call her Jayne, Jayne has just got his webpage promoting a product or service Jayne doesn’t know where to start. So, she starts researching, she finds all the info he needs after a few months and applies it. After a few years Jayne is making some money but nothing serious, she knows it will take her a few more years to be successful. Let’s take the alternate path Jayne starts her product or service and joins a forum relating to it, she asks people questions only to come back the next day to find they are answered. After a couple of months, Jayne is making a bit of money, after a few years, she makes a full-time income.

My point is it increases your learning curve dramatically, hence this accelerates your growth exponentially. Let me explain further from a more practical point of view, say we want to promote an affiliate service. First, we go to the search engines and type something related to it such as a home business forum. The search engines come up with various home business forums join one, make sure that it is centred around a home business, not multiple subjects. The reason for this is that it will take a lot longer for your question to get answered. Once you have joined anything that you are unsure about just ask about it if you want more information on a subject just ask. People in forums are generally very experienced and will be happy to help you never be afraid to ask a question regardless of what it may be.

Take the time to get familiar with the forum and try to post at least once a day, this will get you credibility and build up backlinks to your website. After a while of posting you will notice that you are learning a lot quicker and realise how long it would have taken you to learn yourself.

However, if you want to build up a business very quickly and have accountability to make sure that it happens then you will need a mentor/coach. Your mentor/coach needs to be experienced in the field that you are looking at so that you can be guided correctly. You may also need more than one mentor/coach due to the nature of the business. For example, you may have a mentor/coach for investing in property, but that person may not be versed in setting up systems or know how to take waste out of your business. If you want to scale up you will need a variety of mentors, think of how corporations work, in that they have specialist departments and leaders to run the business, your mentors can be compared to these specialists.

In conclusion, forums are a good starting point if you want to take it steady and stay small, however, if you want to move quickly and scale up then you need mentor/coaches to help you.  

Creating a Strategy

On a scale of one to ten, having a good business strategy should rate at ten

No matter what kind of business you have — whether you sell products or a service, as the saying goes, “if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.”

Creating a strategy can mean the difference between you working 60 to 80 hours a week all year long — and then breaking even, or worse, losing money.

On the other hand, many successful entrepreneurs who have a strategy work fewer hours and make lots of money — and they usually attribute their success to having a strategic plan and following it.

So what is strategic business management? Very simply, it’s the process of defining the goals and objectives for your business, creating an action plan so you can reach them and then follow the plan.

How do you create a strategic plan for your business?

1. First, know what your vision for your company is. If there were no barriers, nothing stopping you from taking your company as far as you could — what would that look like?

2. Next, what are your company’s core operating values? What are its guiding principles? In other words, why are you in business and how do you do business?

3. Now create a 3 to 5-year plan. Your long-term plan is based on the broad objectives that will help you get from where you are now, to where you want to be.

4. Develop a plan for this year. These are the specific objectives you plan to accomplish this year that will lead you closer to your long-term goals. Remember to be “SMART” when setting your annual goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-oriented). Include a list of the barriers that are stopping you from getting where you want to go. You need to figure out what resources you’ve already got, and what resources you need to get you past those barriers. Then create an action plan that clearly lays out how you will achieve your goals. Involve key employees in this part of the planning process.

5. Create a set of milestones or benchmarks. This is very important so that you can measure your progress.

6. Share the plan with your employees, and anyone else who will be involved in the process. Your annual strategy is the roadmap that will make sure everyone ends up at the same destination — but to be effective, everyone needs the same map!

7. Put the plan into action. Now that you have the roadmap, it’s time to begin the journey.

8. Check your progress. Just like any trip, you need to check the map every now and then; to be sure you are still on the right road. If something is not working, the sooner you figure it out and make the necessary adjustments, the sooner you’ll be back on track.

9. Follow the same cycle next year. (Dream, Plan,  Do, Check, Act).

Creating a business strategy and following it will ensure that you enjoy the journey as much as getting to your final destination.

Recommended Reading

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters

 

Lack of Self-Confidence Myths

Self-confidence plays an important part in business as it helps people to build their brand and business. People who have self-confidence believe in themselves and feel that they are capable of achieving what they want in life or dealing with any situation that they may have to face. They have an aura of self-confidence and self-assurance, which is apparent to others. People like to spend time with them; they feel comfortable and secure in their presence.

In contrast, there are many people who are reasonably talented, but who lack self-confidence. These people are victims of the several myths that surround self-confidence.

1. One of the foremost myths about self-confidence is that people are born with self-confidence. It is a quality that cannot be acquired. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Self-confidence, like other skills, can be built. All that you need is right guidance and a belief in yourself.

2. There are others who blame their low self-confidence for their lack of good looks and poor upbringing. They don’t realise that self-confidence has nothing to do with their looks. It is a reflection of one’s confidence. The only way they can overcome this myth is by learning to believe in themselves. In fact, talent and self-confidence are not inter-related.

There are scores of talented actors and actresses who do very well in their professions but whose personal lives are torn by lack of self-confidence. It may sound contradictory, but this is how life is.

Talent can be an important component of self-confidence, but it is certainly not a substitute for self-confidence. So, don’t worry about lack of talent. Harness the skills that you possess.

3. Another myth is that self-confidence is directly proportional to the recognition and praise that an individual gets in his or her life; the ones who are not so lucky wallow in self-pity. Once again, there is little doubt that recognition and praise make you feel good about yourself, and boost your self-confidence.

But you can’t simply depend on the praise lavished by others. You have to work hard to earn that praise, and you can do this only if you are self-confident. The same applies to those who are not successful. They, too, can earn praise if they work hard and win people’s respect.

Such people should look at children. Children believe in themselves, and this gives them the self-confidence to try to do things they have never done before, be it learning how to cycle or how to swim.

In fact, no child comes into the world knowing all the skills. But it does not take long to teach children most of the basic skills. Then, why should it be difficult for adults to learn new skills or brave new challenges?

4. Another myth is that only self-confident people can afford to take risks. This again is not true. In fact, self-confident people are more realistic about their capabilities. They know what they can do, and what they can’t do. More importantly, they know how to deal with failures.

In contrast, people who lack self-confidence are afraid of failure. This fear prevents them from taking on new tasks. They constantly pine for the approval of others, and when they don’t get it they end up losing their self-confidence.

What is apparent is the lack of understanding. People must realize that self-confidence is a state of mind. It is not dependent upon a person’s beauty or looks. It flows from a person’s self-belief, and this belief can be built.

All that a person needs to do is to debunk myths that self- confidence cannot be acquired or that self-confidence is a byproduct of exceptional knowledge, skills and luck. Once they do so, they will find it easier to acquire the same magnetic powers that self-confident people have.

Recommended Reading

Self-Confidence: The Remarkable Truth of Why a Small Change Can Make a Big Difference

The 7 Wastes of Business

 

There are 7 wastes that every business should be looking at to try and reduce or eliminate as they influence the efficiency of your business. The 7 wastes were first identified by Taiichi Ohno who was a Japanese industrialist and father of the Toyota Production System also known as Lean. The 7 wastes that were identified by Ohno are:

  1. Transportation
  2. Inventory
  3. Motion
  4. Waiting
  5. Overproducing
  6. Over-processing
  7. Defects

This can be remembered by using the acronym TIMWOOD

What does this all mean? We will break them down and give a summary of each of the wastes.

Transportation

Any form of transportation that does not add value to the process is considered a waste. Therefore, processes should be as close together as possible so that material flow can go from process to process without any significant delays. Poor layout tends to be the main contributor to transportation waste which includes multiple storage locations.

Inventory

Inventory waste is classed as all stock and work in progress that is more than the requirements necessary to produce goods or services. Excess inventory can be usually recognised by the amount of work in front of or after the process. This needs to be changed to a ‘Just In Time’ (JIT) requirement where inventory is produced as it is needed, and always work on FIFO (First In First Out) basis. This will help get the workflow through the processes quicker.

Motion

The waste of motion is basically any non-value-added movement by people or equipment that does not increase value to the product or service. This waste usually comes from a poor layout of the work area or station so there is excessive walking, reaching, bending etc. The term here is to work smarter not harder.

Waiting

Waiting is the idle time in between processes so people are standing around or work slower whilst waiting for the next job to come in. This waste comes about from poor synchronisation of the processes, incapable processes or not enough time is available to perform the work.

Over Producing

Over Producing is classed as the worst of all the 7 wastes as it causes other wastes and prevents the need for improvements. Overproduction is caused by producing things faster or more than is required. Therefore, batch sizes need to be reduced and the processes need to be made more reliable and the work needs to be done to demand not to forecast.

Over Processing

Over Processing is about putting more into the product or service than the customer demands. An architect, for instance, may call for all doors to have four hinges as it looks ascetically pleasing whereas three hinges would be practical, and the cost would be reduced. To avoid overprocessing standard work instructions should be produced so that people know what is required and should not deviate from it.

Defects

Defects is a waste where additional work is required for a product or service due to it being wrong. The cost of a defect may be low if caught at the start of a process but will be significantly higher if found by the customer as this can lead to warranty claims or court proceedings. This waste is usually caused by poor or non-existent work instructions or specifications, poor training, incapable process, or incapable supplier.

As many people work in an office or run their business from home we can see how these wastes can be applied to this environment.

Transportation – Interoffice Mail

Inventory – Full inboxes, Lengthy To-Do lists, long work queues

Motion – Walking to the copier/printer

Waiting – Delaying a meeting because someone is on holiday

Overproducing – Excessive email CCs

Over-processing – Documents going to different people for approval

Defects – Documents containing spelling and grammar errors

 

Summary

The 7 wastes can be seen in any business regardless whether it is office based or manufacturing the scale may be different, but they are still there if you look. By eliminating or reducing the 7 wastes you will find that your business will become more efficient therefore saving you time and money.

Risk Managing your Business

Introduction

So you have built up your business and things are going well when all of a sudden you are hit with something unexpected that has an impact on your business could you deal with it? Most entrepreneurs will fail at this point and maybe have to rethink their strategy and lose time and money implementing the changes. Most problems can be managed if you take the time to consider the risks to your business and have processes and procedures in place that kick in when there is a problem. As property investors or entrepreneurs we are considered risk takers or chancers by people that will not take the same risk as us. Let’s consider that for a moment, did we just take a risk without thinking things through and hoped for the best or did we do our due diligence and analysed things first? Although there are some people out there who did things on a wing and prayer, the majority of people analysed things first, so it is a risk, based on thought and data. By doing our due diligence we can decide what is an acceptable risk before taking the plunge. Therefore the perception of being risk takers and chancers is wrong, what we have become is informed business people. People associate risk with negativity, this, however, is incorrect as we can also use risk in a positive way because we have identified what it is and where possible we eliminate it.

Tools for Risk

There are a number of ways that we can look at risks to see if they are acceptable depending on the type of investment we want to undertake, these can range from a simple SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis to a more sophisticated PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) analysis. There are also a number of other tools that can be used in conjunction with the above analysis tools such as Pareto analysis, FMEA (Failure Modes and Effect Analysis), Fault Tree Analysis, Is – Is Not, etc. The main thing is that the tools are there to be used and failure to do so could result in you making the wrong decision which in turn could lead to losing money on your investment. However if you have taken your time to consider and manage the risk then if a problem arises it will not catch you out as you will have been prepared and a plan to mitigate the risk will then come into play.

If you are looking at property then you need to analyse the area for comparable properties in price, to see what the is the maximum done up value is for the property. You would also look at what the maximum rent you could charge, as both price and rent have a ceiling. You would also use one of the above tools to analyse the area to see if there are some plans or issues that could affect the price and rental of the property.

Conclusion

Due diligence should be the norm for an entrepreneur or property investor, and analysing the risk should become second nature. Failure to do so will eventually catch you out as there are only so many roles of the dice where you will be lucky. Failing to plan is planning to fail, therefore get acquainted with the tools that can help you understand, manage and mitigate risks, do not be afraid to ask questions and get into the detail of your planned investment, and get it right first time.

Recommended Reading

Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure- Proofing Your Project