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Getting into Quarterly Meeting Rhythms and habits that will keep you on track

Follow through on strategy and goal setting with regular quarterly meetings.

As we now pass the 6 month mark, the second half of the year becomes increasingly important to ensure we meet our targets. Assuming you set out plans and objectives for your company this year (as we talked about in earlier postings), now is we the time to get together with your team, your managers, or just yourself to see how you are making out compared to your targets. (more…)

Staying motivated is difficult even in the best of economic times. I suspect many of your staff members count on you each day for their motivation. So that begs the question – “Where do you find your motivation?”

I was recently speaking to a group of business students at the Atlantic Business College. During the Q&A, I was asked by one of the attendees where I found my motivation and how I stay motivated each day.

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier posting, a true entrepreneur is motivated by challenges and creating opportunities. But how can you stay motivated, especially when things are tough, and you never seem to get a break? Here are a five strategies and sources of motivation that work for me.

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Your company name and brand should be your most valuable asset and the best way to build value in a business is to build your brand.

Recently, I read Richard Branson’s new book, Business Stripped Bare. There were some statements that Branson made in his book about building and the power of a good brand that resonated with me.

Branson stressed that your name and your brand is your most valuable asset in business and will be what helps you grow your company. It can also be a real asset you can lean on to help you navigate through tough times.

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Set the right priorities for more effective time management and see what it does to your business operations.

In 2004, The Harvard Business Review published an article entitled What Makes an Effective Executive by Peter Drucker, one of the biggest selling business authors and management gurus of the 20^th century. Two concepts that really stood out for me were the importance of writing an action plan and re-evaluating priorities regularly.

Drucker writes that effective executives (or business owners) first start with a detailed action plan. Do you want to expand your store into a new product line? Have you thought about offering a new service to your customers? This article suggests that you must first start with a detailed action plan. An action plan helps by ensuring you take the time to think through your strategy and where you want to be in one year from now, but also so that you and your team know where you are going. He goes on to write that often reality does not follow the plan, however you must first start with a plan and use that plan as the basis for your time management.

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Long-Term Planning and Outlook

How are you going to get to your destination if you don’t know where you’re going?

Your business may be brimming with success, but if you don’t have a goal, where is your business going? Before you can set out to go anywhere, you must first have a plan.

Do you know where you’re going to be one year from now? How about five years from now? What about 20 years? If you don’t know where you’re going with your business, how do you know which direction to head in the coming year?

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