Sustainable Business/Evaluating your business
ABOUT THIS BOOK | THE BUSINESS PLAN | BOOKLETS | PRINT THIS BOOK
This should not just be an exercise in ticking boxes but is a principles and methods based report where preset monitoring points are addressed in sentences. The HC would be done with the SBN co-ordinator.
Consider the output measures that should be included in each Methods booklet.
The end of a financial year brings with it the opportunity to look back at what happened. One of the very difficult things for the small business person to do is to extricate themselves from their day-to-day role and review their business. Some term this working on the business not working in the busienss.
In the world of bigger business this is the role played by directors at monthly or bimonthly board meetings.
When managers are involved in this process it is not uncommon that they go away somewhere where there are no phones and place themselves in a different environment. For the small businessperson this role has been filled by there accountant or by a business coach. One of the challenges for the small entrepreneur of future will be finding somebody able to help them work on their business in a holistic way. The traditional training of accountants and business coaches does not encompass the wider issues we have been dealing with.
review business performance
as already mentioned review sales weekly and have a more thorough review each month.
what would we do differently
could we do better?
How does the business fit with my personal life?
Reviewing The Value Proposition edit
Alternative TBL approach
Customer targets edit
- have you met your customer service targets
- number of liaison calls
- repairs done on time
- have you met your product or service targets
Life style targets edit
- income
- hours
Financial targets edit
- profitability
- leverage
- is wealth being accrued?
- by repaying term loans(that are secured)
- by increasing the value of the firm
Community targets edit
- Hours spent helping
- advertising placed
Environmental targets edit
- waste recycled
- electricity consumption (as related to activity)
Money edit
Business edit
Are surpluses maintainable edit
For next year edit
For the next 3 years (forecasted) edit
Assumptions edit
Are the assumptions related to income fair? Are any cost savings over optimistic? Contingency fund
The Owner edit
Will the businesses surpluses be sufficient for personal spending and investment in the nest 12 months. What needs to change
- better returns from the business
- revised personal goals of the entrepreneur
Community edit
Internal edit
Staff edit
- Staff morale
- Staff training
- Staffing issues
- Staff turnover
- Encouraging staff innovation
- Family
- Friends
- Business enhancement (innovation)
- Your ideas
- Staff ideas
- Implemented
- Fraud prevention
External edit
- Relations with local businesses
- Relations with industry groups
- Participation in Chamber of Commerce
- Participation other networking groups
- Relations with customers
- Relations with suppliers (days to settlement of invoices)
- Financiers/bankers
- Community engagement through charity support
- Contacts ideas
Environment edit
Internal edit
- Power usage
- Managed waste
- Un-recycled waste
- Material use efficiency
External edit
- Customer carbon footprint
- Our pollution
- Visual
- Noise
- Physical
- E waste
- Improvements during the year
- Our image to the outside world
- Positive
- Negative
- Improvements during the year
How we interpret the results edit
Change method
Change the ethics (Change value proposition) CGY reminder note
Rules of thumb on when to change.
Is this business working for me edit
Are you feeling stressed? Is the business encroaching on other areas of your life?
- time with family
- time with your local community (friends?)
- leisure activities
If yes are you prepared to tolerate this for another 12 months? 2 years? how many years?
If the business(s) is/are unreasonably encroaching on your life then: how can you lessen your involvement. go back to.......