Managing the Human Being Behind the Business

It’s a common problem and we’ve all seen it – business owners that are just ‘too busy’ all of the time, and as a result, do not enjoy the success in business they had hoped for. Let’s not kid ourselves, there is a lot to focus on: technology, employees, sales, marketing and so on. These functions are essential and need to be well organised and managed. But there is a second aspect to business success that is often overlooked – the effectiveness of the person running the show. Businesses are a reflection of the people who run them. If those people are ‘too busy’, stressed, or poorly organised, then these characteristics are reflected back in the business. The underlying behaviour and values of the business owner drive how much control they need, how they will delegate and how they use their time. Growth of the business and the business owner need to match up
If the business is to grow, then the owner has to take the necessary time to learn the new roles and skills that a growing business will demand. Imagine for one moment where you would like your business to be in 5 years time. Then ask yourself: “Is it possible that I can be exactly the same person in 5 years that I am today and fulfil that growth strategy for my business? The answer has to be no. Business owners need to be prepared for new learning and taking on new, different, and bigger responsibilities – without fear or hesitation. The reality is that the owner is usually the limiting factor in growth – the business can only grow to the extent to which the owner grows. When owners feel out of sorts, overworked, and like they are running on a treadmill, it is almost always because they have fallen victim to the reactive “let’s go faster” management approach. They are forced to live from problem to problem, and may fail to see their own (lack of) self-management as part of the problem. So why aren’t we better at managing ourselves? There’s really four reasons:

Being comfortable – we all do what we are comfortable with – it’s human nature. So we keep doing what we have always done
Not knowing what else is possible
Not knowing that there are other ways to do what they are doing
Actually getting energy (and maybe some identity) from being stressed and overworked

There are 5 steps to take on the road to better self-management: 1. Clarify personal goals for the future.
Many business owners lose sight of these as they get immersed in the day-to-day running of the business. Articulating your personal goals can reveal any issues about whether these support or conflict with their business goals. These goals need to cover both the immediate and future plans. What do you want to achieve personally in the next 1 to 2 years. And where do you want to be in ten years time?
2. Clarify the business goals.
Having spent some time expressing personal goals for the future, take a look at your business goals and rethink them. Are your personal and business goals working together, or are they working against each other? If they do seem to be mutually exclusive, what choices will you make next? Putting the business goals ahead of your personal ones will inevitably lead to stress and feelings of overwhelm. Determine instead whether the business goals can be re-oriented or modified to support what you would like to achieve personally.
3. Identify the owner’s ideal role 3 years from now.
Think about who you want to be – what role you want to have in the business – in 3 years time. Will you still be doing the majority of work? Will you have others doing the work and your capacity is more advisory? Or perhaps you would like to remove yourself completely from the operational parts of the business and focus on product or business development? Thinking about what you want as an owner in the future can give you great insights into what strategies you may need to put in place now. 4. Conduct a detailed personal time analysis for a one-week period.
This is where the rubber hits the road. If you really are true to yourself when you do this exercise you will learn a lot about where the potential lies for making changes. How are you really spending your time? Break your day down into at least half hour slots and write down exactly what you do in each 30 minutes. 5. Create a plan of action for the next 30 days.
Based on the data from steps 1-4, create an action plan to cover the next 30 days. Your plan should include:

steps to align personal and business goals
strategy for moving to the role the owner wants to play in the business in the future
analysis of the results of the one-week detailed monitoring exercise
deciding which activities add the most value and planning to spend time on those
identify how much time is spent on low value activity and planning to delegate or stop doing those things

There is never a better time than right now for planning to do things differently. Take charge of yourself and your business by choosing a direction that allows you to meet both your personal and business goals, and still retain your sanity!

News media has evolved a great deal, from newspaper to television, and from television to Internet. Online media has played a large role in taking the news to much wider audience. Business media caters to a section of the society that is interested in this kind of news.

News, as some believe, tells what’s happening NEW and the NEWS word is just the plural of it. However, as per folk etymology, the word NEWS stands for all the four directions – North, East, West and South. In any case it tells us an update of what’s going on.

There was no proper media for news until the 17th century, when the newspapers came into being. The typesetting technology fostered the beginning of newspapers. Before that, it were the couriers who circulated the news. With time the new media kept on evolving. In 20th century, Business News emerged as a distinct stream of news.

The technology has evolved a great deal and so has the media for news, from Paper to Television, and from Television to Internet, more advances have come in the late 20th century than the rest of the history. With the advent of Internet, News has made its reach much wider.

Business news, as the name tells, is all about the business and commerce. Today, there are dedicated news channels, newspapers, magazines and digital media groups. This section of media caters to a section of the society that is interested in this kind of news.

With business news one can get

Updates about the Stock Market: There was a time when people lost a lot of their money in stock market through ignorance and carelessness. Now, with the stream of stock market news and experts’ advice on disposal, there is little chance that an updater investor would lose his/her money. News channels keep giving the updates about the trends in stock market. There are interviews with people who know as well about the markets as the back of their hands. This helps the medium and the small investor to minimize the risk while putting in their hard earned money. One also can check how particular stocks stand in the market and get instant expert advice by contacting the experts.

Information About Corporate World: These news networks keep a full coverage to what’s going on in the corporate world. They keep track of all mergers and takeovers and keep interested people informed. As the goings on in the corporate world have bearing on the stock market, it is important for the people to keep themselves updated about the corporate sector.

Budget Analysis: The budget gives an idea about the government policies regarding industry. This is the reason people are interested in knowing about the government’s outlook regarding various industries and budget gives enough indication. Hence, whenever the government announces the budget, there is full coverage on the TV, with complete analysis. Reactions from the common citizens are also accommodated in the budget. News channels simplify the budget report so that a common man can also understand what the budget aims for and what impact it would have on the industry.

Product/Service Reviews: Business news media provides the product/service reviews which tell us about particular products or services and advice whether they should be bought or not. These programs are very useful for the people who have little or no knowledge about new gadgets and services. More aware is the consumer, better is the service.