Make one change

As a lifelong sucker for the new year's resolution, it's not surprising that I'm also an advocate for using January 1 as an inspirational start point for business change. However, just as a list of five or ten personal resolutions is hard to remember, let alone to achieve, let's agree that in business too, less may be more.

Start with one important change you want to make. Make it the challenge, concern or irritant that:

A) keeps you awake nights

B) makes Monday mornings tough to face, or

C) drives you to drink... or whatever.

For some business owners, cash flow or profitability rises to the top. For others, it may be the long hours they perpetually work, or an employee that is a perpetual challenge. Maybe you need to write an employee handbook, or promote or reassign a key staff member. Whatever it is, you've been putting it off.

Once you've identified your #1 trigger, the real work begins.

Let's take a complex example first. Cash flow and profitability is a big issue. What is the first and most important step you can take to improve your company's financial situation? Write it down. Write down subsequent or supplemental steps as well. Don't know what the first step is? Do some research, or get some help. This blog and many books on the topic will help. Try Six Steps to Creating Profit for starters. Your accountant may have recommendations for improving your numbers as well. Then, get to work.

In some cases, the change you need to make is less complex but difficult for other reasons. Take the example of working overly long hours. You've probably developed the habit over years. Again, break the problem down. Figure out why you are working too much, and what you can do about it. Do one thing to reduce the hours you work on a regular basis. For example, leave work an hour earlier one or two days every week. Or delegate a few additional tasks to staff members.

When you have addressed your most important single change, or at least have set the desired change in motion, you can move on to a second challenge.

While this approach may sound overly simple, it works well. Business owners have a raft of everyday responsibilities, so big changes tend to get pushed back. By focusing on one important change at a time, you can make it happen faster and more surely than if it remains one item on a long list.

Here's to a happy, productive and successful new year.

Post adapted from Michelle van Schouwen's article in Succeeding in Small Business.

Ten books... one life...

There are perhaps ten books I would like to write. And that's just today. On how many of them am I actively working? Well, that's another matter.

I've gone through major life changes in the last several years, including the passing of a spouse, the growing up and (successful) moving on of my two sons, the closing of one company (a stock photo firm) and the happy growth of van Schouwen Associates into broader areas of public relations and interactive marketing work.

I'm left with lots of work to do... and ten books to write. I read a question recently: what is so important that it keeps you from living the life you want? (Or, in the echo in my head, "writing the books you want to write?")

In fact, there can be situations so important that you need to sacrifice your own desires and life plans. The trick is to decide what situations qualify. I suspect that we often give priority to needs and demands we've outgrown. Such as my need not to do the research that will allow me to progress on any one of my ten books. On a recent vacation, wandering around Key West, Florida (I recommend that as a way to change your perspective, for sure!) I encountered the book Quit Your Job and Move to Key West. I resisted buying it and hope no vSA employee will get any ideas. It was the underlying premise of the book that really caught my attention: who says you can't make radical life moves? Alter something fundamental?

Even if you want to keep your job (sure, I do too) it's great to think about your life plan, and the quality of your days. Are you enjoying yourself? Spending your time on things that make you happy or are useful - or both? Having the courage to change and grow?

Challenge your assumptions, even the ones that seem too solid to re-examine. News flash for the settled, middle-aged or complacent among us: Taking risks can be a great adventure. People have asked me where I get the nerve to be an entrepreneur or take other risks I've elected to assume. Well, I start by asking what the worst case scenario will be if things go wrong, and whether I can face it. (For example, "I could end up living in a cardboard box..." then I decide well, okay, that's really not very likely, and I guess I can deal with less drastic downsides that are more possible).

Not everyone's dream is the same, obviously. While one person wants to leave the proverbial rat race, another wants to build a tech empire. Or write ten books, or maybe just finish developing that one book. Or get divorced. Or find someone to love. Develop an organic garden. Live in a happy place. Adopt a teenager.

What's yours?