Monthly Archives for February, 2009

The Matrix of Business

The Matrix of Business

There are 4 acknowledged pillars of business: marketing, production, human resources and finance. The theory is, if you can master each of them separately, you will have a successful business. Let’s look at this a different way. What if they are inter-related and the goal isn’t to master each separately, but to master the relationships […]

Hard Skills/Soft Skills

Hard Skills/Soft Skills

What do you call HARD SKILLS? Accounting (my fave), copywriting, inventory control, employee relations, sales, collections, purchasing, etc. These are acknowledged to be essential for business success. Then there are the SOFT SKILLS: listening, empathizing, being optimistic, problem solving, showing compassion. They are much more difficult to measure. They are not the focus of the […]

The Peter Principle

The Peter Principle

Most people start a business because they are good at what they do – bookkeeping, hairdressing, selling, fixing cars, cooking etc. They start off as self employed…(bookkeepers, hairdressers, mechanics ) and do fine. Over time they decide to grow their business. Soon they find they spend less time doing their business and they have to […]

Why do 80% of Businesses Fail?

Why do 80% of Businesses Fail?

The statistics tell us that 80% of businesses fail in the first 5 years. The reasons cited include: lack of basic business skills not enough good advice cash flow problems lack of sales losing focus pricing poorly not seeking help underestimating the competition and the market undervalueing promotion Usually the reasons are directly related to […]