What's Paining You Today?

The following are just a few of the common pain points for most small business owners, and very often just the tip of the iceberg. If you can relate to any of these, something needs to change. At Hayes Resource we help you help yourself.

Stability, Profitablility, & Growth:

These three words say it all. If your organization isn't stable profitability will either suffer or cease to exist, and if you're not profitable you cannot grow, and if you can't grow your business you will most likely never be able to sell it.  

To Grow or Not To Grow:

How long do you think your business will last if it doesn’t grow: one year, five years, ten years? Discounting the effects of inflationary growth, if you’re not doing something to grow your business, it will deteriorate, and at an ever increasing rate. We refer to this as being in the state of 'positive deceleration'. Telltale signs include: loss of a key employee, loss of customers, and strained relations with your suppliers, and bank. At Hayes Resource we can show you ways to earn new business and effectively grow your business. 

Do You Cure Problems or Are You Just Treating Symptoms?

As you know there are two parts to every problem, and in this order: Cause, then Effect. The effect(s) created by a problem is what gets your undivided attention. It’s like getting a flat tire when you’re going 60 mph. You know you've got a flat but you don't know why. Sometimes the cause is pretty easy to determine, like finding a nail in your tire. But very often it is not so obvious. Fixing the effects is easy, i.e. get the tire plugged. Fixing cause, however, can be very time consuming, and often requires testing a possible cure before implementation. Only after a thorough evaluation will you then be able to take proper corrective action, and permanently solve the problem.

Procrastination:

As the old expression goes: Why is there never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over? Procrastination will kill you. My favorite mantra is: Do It! Do It Right! Do It Right Now.  When an issue arises what do you do? Do you try and fix it immediately, band aid it until later, or ignore it to death? In a perfect world you would address it immediately and move on. In a not so perfect world you would put it on your ‘To Do List’ and fix it later. But if you’re the type who puts things off, or decides to ignore them to death, you may as well be planting landmines. Whatever the problem is, it will not cure itself, and when you step on it again - it will go off.  

Balance:

Is your organization balanced? If not, it's is no different than driving a car with one wheel missing. Without balance your organization is constrained, and less efficient than it could be. Work integration should be seamless, like a baton pass in a relay race, each department must hand-off perfectly to the next. A dropped batton or sloppy baton pass can cause costly bottlenecks and setbacks, wasting precious time and money.  

It's Your Baby:

So what would you do if someone tells you it's ugly? Pride of ownership, ego, is a wonderful thing, it can motivate and drive people to greatness. If not controlled, however, it can drive a successful company right back into the ground. Myopic management and the old, "don't confuse me with the facts, my mind's made up" attitude can sour employees, kill inertia, and destroy all that is good. It's not just being open minded, and willing to listen, it's having the willingness and ability to act that makes the difference.  

I'll do it:

You may be able to play every position, but there is no way you can cover all the bases. No matter how good you are, there is nothing that you can do, that a disgruntled employee can't sabotage. Strategic-minded leaders give their team motivation through focus, structure and direction. They don't micro-manage, and they don't put their thumbprint on every low level function in the company.

Managing Human Assets:

It's not what you pay a someone, it's what they cost you. Having the wrong person in the wrong job is not only costly, it is exhausting. Misplaced employees are maintenance intensive and emotionally draining. Microsoft's reputation for screening and assessing it's employees is well known. Bill Gates know how expensive it is to have a square peg on a round hole. This is a true for any organization, and the smaller the company the more dramatic the effect. We can help pre-screen, assess, develop, train and coach your people.

But It's Not Perfect:

This can be a very slippery slope. Not only is perfection unaffordable, it is unattainable. Marginally acceptable products or services are more common than you may think. This is not to be confused with the need for continuous improvement , which should be an ongoing discipline. Nor does this mean you should deliver shoddy product to the marketplace and destroy your reputation. Simply stated, don't price yourself out of the market by trying to build the perfect mouse trap. An imperfect plan executed beats a perfect plan unexecuted, every time.