RUN YOUR BUSINESS LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR

‘Coach” Bob Manasier is Founder and Managing Partner of Diamond Point Advisory Group, President of IFP Films and CEO of In Focus Brands. As a multiple entrepreneur with a suite of firms focused on supporting their clients’ needs from finance to branding with start ups a special passion, he brings a networked culture of doing to the discussion- from Idea to Action.

As a company and advisor that focuses on the positives first, we need to look at entrepreneurs and how they start businesses so that we can all jump start the economy. Fear and paralysis naturally settle in with the economy not picking up and no tangible signs of improving in the near future. Now, fear as an entrepreneur or business owner is a good survival reaction in moderate doses but paralysis is never a good reaction since it only leads to failure. Companies need to keep learning, exploring and reaching out both internally and externally to stay relevant and engaged in their clients/customers/staff’s lives and financial dealings. So, let us examine some methods in the entrepreneur’s playbook to benefit all our business efforts.

Here is a good list to start any discussion when discussing business startup, growth or change:

Don’t get bogged down in detailed, large overriding business planning. Start with an outline of what you want to do, how you want to do it & what you will need. Here is a main reason for a team approach within your organization or with the assistance of outside resources, especially with the marketing side of knowing who your target is and the  financial side of getting what you need, not always what you want.

Be Honest. Know what you want to do, what you love to do, what you do best and what you have little or no skill/interest/passion for. This point is key as we later decide how to fill the holes in your business swing (as a side warning: this is a baseball reference-you may run into a number of them throughout this series-can’t help being a coach).

Capital or access to it is key. Be aware of costs, needed expertise and what you have to work with. Here is a reason for a good fiscally conservative money manager on your team. Any talent can be bought or found if you have a clear and direct plan of attack that has some funding available in a transparent model of capital use. Quick actionable steps to get real time results to test your ideas & fine tune as needed also limits capital outlay.

Know or learn who your target market is. What value do you bring to this market; how to talk directly to them in their voice not jargon, sales or biz speak and how to engage them are some key takeaways . Relevance and honest dialogue create loyalty. (We spend a lot of time with our clients refining the messaging and outreach to make it a unique experience for their targets.)

Don’t be afraid to “field a free agent” team. No one or very few can do it all in business nor have the internal resources to properly “field” a complete solution. Here is where vendors, affiliates, consultants and other companies can complete your roster. This can be a hazardous journey to find the right fit(s) but well worth the discovery in new ideas, methods and connections. Hire slow and fire fast.

To sum up: Business is a MARATHON made of SPRINTS. Business is a marathon to a defined end point set by you ( be it: retirement, buyout, ipo, whatever you delineate as the goal of the company). This business marathon must be structured as a series of sprints (short, actionable programs with a defined and measured result-which is the accelerator model of business start up) to keep the energy, focus up and the possible costs down. We will explore the sprint test method in more detail later in this series. Whatever your business need (examples: hiring, new marketing, business development, increased sales activity), structure a 2-4 week plan to accomplish some measurable activity (be it: new candidates, more sales outreach, more networking-we will discuss this in depth in a later article); designate a lead on the activity and get it done. From this exercise, define the good, the bad and the waste of time and structure a calendar of business sprint exercises for all your activities. Try to make it fun, add prizes if needed and create a self-refining, dialogue-creating environment for your team(s).

Having spent my life starting companies and consulting companies, it is a good time to explore the local scene for business and entrepreneurs. We will focus in this series on actionable steps and real world examples of ongoing consults and market builds to guarantee we give real time direction and ‘no-box’ ways to look at a problem that might be plaguing your company and your sleepless nights.

Our goal here and in our suite of firms is to start or grow companies with conservative fiscal planning, to make a more sustainable job environment, to be more active in our communities and to balance work/play/life (if there is such a thing). We like to see all of our efforts as a mosaic, no defined walls in an entrepreneur’s thinking.

We will be visiting some of our clients as well as start ups throughout this series (names will be withheld to protect the ‘errors’ which will always happen). If you have questions or comments-email me at robertm@infocusbrands.com. Enjoy the month.

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