All Entries in the "Volume 5, Issue 6" Category

Learning Comes in Many Ways: What Will You Learn Today?

by Michael Brito

When we as DBE’s & MBE’s consider our businesses and their futures we must also realize that educating ourselves and our staff is the foundation on which we must build success! Learning comes in many forms through many experiences and from many areas of our lives. Do we have a standard of learning? Do we have defined methods by which we learn? Do we ever really think about how we learn? Here’s what I’ve figured out…

From my early days in the heavy & highway construction industry as an employee to my later days as an independent contractor and business owner I’ve always lived by the words of my Dad: “Mike, always be a student!” My dad was born in this country however still had troubling experiences through school as a very darkskinned, Cape Verdean boy coming through the depression, life wasn’t easy. He worked very hard learning through his own mistakes, working in a factory in Bristol, RI then building his construction company along side his Father. His own life showed him the true value a good education offered and how those possessing such were afforded better opportunities. He was driven by his passion and pushed himself to go beyond his peers. Yes, it was a tough time back then when learning came from doing and doing may or may not have been the only option for our minority brothers and sisters.

Things aren’t the same today! Now we must realize that we as minority business owners have far more opportunities and educational portals than ever before. It’s time to push away from generational standards that have held prior companies form realizing their full potential. Being Rhode Island residents and minority & disadvantage business owners we now see a clearer picture for our companies. As entrepreneurs we need to be aware of the wide range of programs now available to us as well as our staff. Select classes, seminars, twilight meetings, webinars, industry sponsored events, materials supplier training, trade shows and much more! We can realize a better tomorrow based upon the decisions we make today.

My Dad was savvy enough to know that times change so what worked for his father and himself wouldn’t necessarily be the right answer for his employees or family so he showed by example that without continued education there is little chance of continued success! Now we may have to work twice as hard to get and stay ahead and we know that finding these opportunities takes perseverance, diligence and commitment. If your business is a member of any specific agency, union or trade association chances are there is some form of training available and it should be on-going. If you don’t belong to any trade or industry association, join one or two today. Reap the benefits of membership and search out all resources!

It is our responsibility as certified DBE’s & MBE’s to provide educational opportunities for our employees thereby providing a better way for us all. This publication is a dedicated tool focused on the small business community, use its resources well, the website is loaded with events, archive articles and various advertisers offering enrichment opportunities. Don’t be fooled by your need to be seen as the know-it-all, seek out men and woman that can be advisors, mentors and leaders on your team. Remember to question everything and always look for better ways to run your business. The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones…it ended because we found a better way! Forever a student!

Professional Growth for the Entrepreneur: Achieving Business Success Through Effective Networking and Communication

by Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro, PhD

As part of a series focusing on Rhode Island small businesses whose mission includes helping organizations, their owners and employees grow throughout 2016, we turn to Rich Austin. Rich is an expert networker and networking consultant, speaking coach, teacher and writer.

Rich earned his undergraduate degree in environmental biology at Johnston State College in Johnston, Vermont and spent much of his career in large business before opening his consulting practice. What led Rich to evolve from a career in environmental science and big business to a career in communications? Rich is a life-long stutterer. As a young by Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro, PhD adult he decided to address his stuttering by learning all he could about speech and participating in speech therapy. Rich evolved so that today he is known in Rhode Island for publishing a leading networking newsletter, organizing premier networking evenings, serving as a Master of Ceremonies at events, business writing and for teaching challenging populations. Rich evolved from being impaired by his stuttering to becoming empowered. As a professional speaker and communicator he decided to share what he learned, his experiences and successes with people who want to improve their business results by communicating more effectively.

One of the programs Rich offers is a three-part series: Build your Recognition, Education (educating your clients) and Persuasion (REP) to help his clients improve business results through more effective communication. Today, he is sharing the questions he asks his clients in the Recognition part of the program to help them turn networking contacts into customers. Rich encourages every business person to answer these questions and discuss the answers with trusted colleagues and friends. If they have difficulty answering the questions, or would like to have a professional speaking coach review their answers (or go to the next level with education and persuasion), he invites contacts at info@SpeakingOfSuccess.US.

Here are his questions:

1. What is the Return on Investment (ROI) for your networking time and expenses?
2. Do you “Network Smart?” Do people really understand what you do after you deliver your networking message? Rich for example, helped a local home based small business who specializes in healthier chemicals for use at home develop their tag line I can help you get out of toxic relationships!
3. Is your networking message conveying your most profitable offering? (Rich reminds us that 80% of our profits come about form 20% of what we do.)
4. What do you love to do? (Does this match up with the most profitable part of your business?)
5. What do you dislike doing? (Can you afford to discontinue it, or is it the most profitable part of your business?)
6. What do your clients say about you?
7. What makes you unique?
8. How do you know that you are great at what you do? Who told you? How do you tell this to your clients? (Rich, for example, encouraged a real estate agent to discuss her national industry wide award recognition.)

One of Rich’s favorite tips is to remind people to use pauses effectively when they speak. He says that if you have something really important to say that you want listeners to remember, pause for a few seconds before saying it.

If you want to meet networkers in a lively, fun, enjoyable setting and practice giving a one-minute networking presentation at a nominal cost, observed by Rich, check out the www. SpeakingOfSuccess.US website. If you notify Rich in advance, upon request, he will offer you a few suggestions to improve your chances of networking success (at no additional charge).

Tools To Help Keep Your Manufacturing Business Efficient

by Peter W. Lang, MBA

Today, the manufacturing industry faces many challenges. There is global competition, the economy is still rocky and technology is constantly changing. On a positive note, lawmakers are working to find ways to revive an industry (manufacturing) that once fueled our local economy.

As a business owner, it is important to be proactive and find ways to keep your manufacturing business running efficiently. Below are a few steps that can help your bottom line:

• Identify wasted time and effort and make changes.
Typically, the longer it takes to produce and ship a product, the more costly it becomes. If a product sits unfinished or is held in staging areas, the clock keeps ticking and costs are accumulated.

Did you know that, on average, the actual processing or conversion time to produce a product is approximately five percent of total product lead time to the customer? The remaining time and effort can be considered non-value added or wasted time! By identifying and eliminating the non-value creating tasks in business operations, your business will become more efficient, which should result in a reduction in product cost. Work to create protocols to drive time out of processes and continue to challenge your organization to reduce the product to customer lead times. The better you get at identifying and eliminating these “time wasters,” the more efficient you will become.

• Stop trying to find temporary solutions to a problem. Instead, identify and address the root cause of that problem. We see it all the time – quick temporary fixes that mask bigger problem areas in manufacturing operations. In many cases, management is focused on addressing the symptoms of the problem and not the problem itself. For example, if an operation or piece of machinery is constantly breaking, some companies will stockpile inventory so that production is not impacted. The company may become so focused on reducing the inventory that it fails to address the root cause of the problem: the reliability of the process or piece of equipment. The bottom line: tackle operational problems as they happen. Do not hide them, or focus on the symptom; address the root cause and fix it!

• Make an effort to understand your customers.
To sell your product, you need to know what your customers value and what it will take to meet their expectations. We have all heard the words, “Value is in the eyes of the beholder.” In this case, the beholder is your customer. Have you ever asked your customer what he or she is willing to pay for? Some customers may value quality above all else, while others may value delivery time reliability or product cost when deciding whether they want to do business with your company. Sit down with your customers, learn their priorities and reorient or reconfigure your operations as necessary

• It may sound cliché, but never underestimate the power of the team.
Empowered teams that leverage brainstorming and problem-solving techniques are the engine for the most successful and sustainable continuous improvement efforts. We see the results time and time again: a single team member with an improvement idea or solution presents it to his teammates and, through a brainstorming activity or problem solving technique, the team produces a breakthrough for the organization—an approach to a problem or a solution that no one person could ever have imagined! With minimal investment, an empowered team can be unleashed and become the hub for out-of-the-box thinking and innovation within your organization. Empowered teams can be your ticket to a new and improved method of doing business that is innovative, cost effective and critical to efforts in exceeding customer expectations.

• Act. Identifying improvement opportunities may be the easy part.
Everyone has ideas, especially in our workplaces, but how many good ideas ever get implemented? Unfortunately, implementation of productivity improvement ideas is not as common as it should be. Regrettably, many organizations have a graveyard full of great ideas and solutions that were never implemented, including some that may have saved failed businesses. It is much harder to implement change than one would think. Why is that? People are slaves to routines, creatures of habit, perhaps unwilling to change or may not see the benefit of change. To overcome complacency, you must act quickly when you have good ideas and solutions, as time can be your enemy. Organizations that are leaders and innovators in their fields or industries do not let good ideas and solutions die or sit too long, they act.

• Continuous improvement is not a program.
It is a culture and a philosophy that must be embedded in the DNA of an organization. Programs come and go. They typically start with a lot of momentum and some excitement, but then run their course, people get tired of them, resources are diverted elsewhere, and they die a slow death. An effective continuous improvement culture requires an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes. These efforts may involve small improvements over time or a larger improvement all at once. Either way, it is dependent on diligence and a team effort in which each member is held accountable.

These tips are a guide to improving your business through efficiencies. They will assist in dealing with today’s constantly changing technology which, in turn, will lead to greater profits.

Innovative Option to Reduce Healthcare Benefits Costs for Your Business

by Lauren Hedde

Last year, CNBC aired a special on five ways small businesses can save on healthcare costs. “Robin Wiener [‘owner of health-care IT firm, Get Real Health in Rockville, MD’] has achieved something many small-business owners have struggled to do: She has lowered her firm’s health-care premiums.”

One of the five recommendations highlighted by CNBC and implemented by Wiener is to “Explore Direct Primary Care.” They highlight that “a growing number of primary-care physicians are partnering with employers to deliver affordable preventative and primary care on a fixed-monthly membership model, in what is known as direct primary care. Instead of billing patients’ insurance, direct primary care providers charge users a monthly fee for unrestricted access to their doctor….Unlike in concierge practices, which also charge monthly fees, providers in direct primary care do not bill insurers or Medicare for medical visits.”

According to last year’s article in Time Magazine, Qliance – which is the largest Direct Primary Care practice in the nation – has “signed up previously undreamed-of populations: big private employers like Expedia and Comcast, public and industry employee unions like the one for Seattle firefighters and–most radical of all–at least 15,000 Medicaid patients….Treating a wide variety of patients – young and old, healthy and chronically sick, well-off and poor – Qliance claims to be saving approximately 20% on the average cost of care compared with traditional fee-forservice providers.”

One of Qliance’s largest clients is Expedia. According to Time, “Expedia was motivated to try direct care for reasons that are familiar to business executives everywhere: health care bills were skyrocketing, but employees were not getting healthier. ‘We had a number of catastrophic illnesses in 2011 and a disturbing number of deaths–12,’ vice president for human resources Connie Symes tells me. ‘We found Qliance and their model of spending quality time with patients addressed our need to get employees involved in their own care….’ At the end of last year, Expedia surveyed the staff, Symes says, and the response was emphatic. More than half the employees had tried Qliance, and of those, more than 95% said they were satisfied. ‘They love the doctors,’ Symes says. ‘They love the personal relationships they’re forming.’ And although Expedia still classifies Qliance as an experiment, Symes says direct primary care, with its emphasis on prevention, ‘is taking us in the right direction on lowering costs.’ ”

Local small business owners and larger company CFOs in Rhode Island now have access to a similar option for covering their employees’ healthcare benefits – Direct Doctors. As a Direct Primary Care practice already established and seeing 100s of patients on an individual level, Direct Doctors physicians are now starting to branch into the world of employers/small businesses by discussing wrap-around types of health insurance plans (at lower premium costs to business owners and their employees) alongside employee memberships in this DPC practice. This is an extremely unique, new, and exciting alternative to the traditional health insurance benefit offerings most companies can provide to their employees. And, unfortunately, in this world of ever-rising premium costs & deductibles, employers are struggling to provide affordable benefits to their employees without sacrificing access to their physicians/health care (in the form of higher copays, narrower provider networks, etc). In other words, health insurance is being offered instead of health care.

Direct Primary Care practices, on the other hand, are able to provide patients (including employees of member businesses) 24/7 cell, text & email access, same day visits, convenient scheduling with longer appointments and no waiting. They can even see employees at their job site if feasible. All together, this can reduce employee absenteeism (no inconvenient visits during the middle of the day with long wait times, less preventable chronic illness, and less time out of work for acute illnesses that can be treated quickly and conveniently at the office).

Qliance has shown great cost reductions with this concept for both employer and employee. By reducing the amount of claims sent in to an insurance company (no copays for visits, no bills to the insurance companies, and no charging patients coinsurance), premiums stay lower, coverage costs picked up by employers and employees are more manageable, and everyone is happier and healthier.

Dr. Lauren Hedde & Dr. Mark Turshen practice Direct Primary Care at their Direct Doctors office in Wickford. They are hosting an Open House geared toward introducing and explaining this concept to employers June 9th 4-8pm at the Quonset Annex. RSVP to directdoctors@gmail.com.

Last year, CNBC aired a special on five ways small businesses can save on healthcare costs. “Robin Wiener [‘owner of health-care IT firm, Get Real Health in Rockville, MD’] has achieved something many small-business owners have struggled to do: She has lowered her firm’s health-care premiums.”

One of the five recommendations highlighted by CNBC and implemented by Wiener is to “Explore Direct Primary Care.” They highlight that “a growing number of primary-care physicians are partnering with employers to deliver affordable preventative and primary care on a fixedmonthly membership model, in what is known as direct primary care. Instead of billing patients’ insurance, direct primary care providers charge users a monthly fee for unrestricted access to their doctor….Unlike in concierge practices, which also charge monthly fees, providers in direct primary care do not bill insurers or Medicare for medical visits.”

According to last year’s article in Time Magazine, Qliance – which is the largest Direct Primary Care practice in the nation – has “signed up previously undreamed-of populations: big private employers like Expedia and Comcast, public and industry employee unions like the one for Seattle firefighters and–most radical of all–at least 15,000 Medicaid patients….Treating a wide variety of patients – young and old, healthy and chronically sick, well-off and poor – Qliance claims to be saving approximately 20% on the average cost of care compared with traditional fee-for-service providers.”

One of Qliance’s largest clients is Expedia. According to Time, “Expedia was motivated to try direct care for reasons that are familiar to business executives everywhere: health care bills were skyrocketing, but employees were not getting healthier. ‘We had a number of catastrophic illnesses in 2011 and a disturbing number of deaths–12,’ vice president for human resources Connie Symes tells me. ‘We found Qliance and their model of spending quality time with patients addressed our need to get employees involved in their own care….’ At the end of last year, Expedia surveyed the staff, Symes says, and the response was emphatic. More than half the employees had tried Qliance, and of those, more than 95% said they were satisfied. ‘They love the doctors,’ Symes says. ‘They love the personal relationships they’re forming.’ And although Expedia still classifies Qliance as an experiment, Symes says direct primary care, with its emphasis on prevention, ‘is taking us in the right direction on lowering costs.’ ”

Local small business owners and larger company CFOs in Rhode Island now have access to a similar option for covering their employees’ healthcare benefits – Direct Doctors. As a Direct Primary Care practice already established and seeing 100s of patients on an individual level, Direct Doctors physicians are now starting to branch into the world of employers/small businesses by discussing wraparound types of health insurance plans (at lower premium costs to business owners and their employees) alongside employee memberships in this DPC practice.

This is an extremely unique, new, and exciting alternative to the traditional health insurance benefit offerings most companies can provide to their employees. And, unfortunately, in this world of ever-rising premium costs & deductibles, employers are struggling to provide affordable benefits to their employees without sacrificing access to their physicians/health care (in the form of higher copays, narrower provider networks, etc). In other words, health insurance is being offered instead of health care.

Direct Primary Care practices, on the other hand, are able to provide patients (including employees of member businesses) 24/7 cell, text & email access, same day visits, convenient scheduling with longer appointments and no waiting. They can even see employees at their job site if feasible. All together, this can reduce employee absenteeism (no inconvenient visits during the middle of the day with long wait times, less preventable chronic illness, and less time out of work for acute illnesses that can be treated quickly and conveniently at the office).

Qliance has shown great cost reductions with this concept for both employer and employee. By reducing the amount of claims sent in to an insurance company (no copays for visits, no bills to the insurance companies, and no charging patients coinsurance), premiums stay lower, coverage costs picked up by employers and employees are more manageable, and everyone is happier and healthier.