Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Small-Business-Tips-To-Ensure-Your-Business-Survives-Christmas.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Small-Business-Tips-To-Ensure-Your-Business-Survives-Christmas.html In Australia many small businesses go through a very quiet period from about mid December until the end of January. It is when people go on holidays, focus on Christmas parties and generally do anything except think of work. Many small businesses close down after Christmas because they failed to adequately plan in terms of cash-flow or how to maximise the use of their time. Instead of planning and taking action, they sat and worried about lack of customers. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Small-Business-Tips-How-To-Turn-Around-A-Business.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Small-Business-Tips-How-To-Turn-Around-A-Business.html No-one likes to fail. In these past few months I have watched as a few otherwise great businesses have folded. But what could have been done to turn the business around from disaster? What does the owner really want? This is the hardest part – if the owner is ambivalent at best about the business, they are not sure if they really want to be there, then no business intervention will work as well as it could. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Small-Business-Tips-Insuring-Your-Business-Success.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Small-Business-Tips-Insuring-Your-Business-Success.html Over Easter there was a large fire at Coorparoo in Queensland, where a number of small businesses were burnt out. This is a devastating event for any business, but what made it more so was that a number of the small businesses were not insured. What was the effect? Let me tell you about one small business and the effect this has had on them. This small business was a service business; they were starting to get a brilliant reputation in the industry and had a number of major contracts on the go. They had employed a number of staff to work in the business and things were looking rosy. Insurance was on their to do list, but as things got busier and busier it never seemed to make it to the top of the list. As their information was critical to their business, they regularly backed up all of their computers. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Is-Your-Leadership-Characteristics-Limiting-Your-Business-Success.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Is-Your-Leadership-Characteristics-Limiting-Your-Business-Success.html I have worked with stacks of businesses over the years. Often I am asked to name the most important indicator of whether or not a business will succeed or fail – my answer is always “Look at the CEO”. CEO’s and their personal leadership characteristics can make or break a business. A good CEO sets clear direction and boundaries, provides assistance and support to the team and then gets out of the way to let them accomplish what needs to be done. They help unblock roads if needed and provide guideposts along the way – but their management style is such that they do it in a way that creates independence of action rather than dependence. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Small-Business-Tips--Lucky-Door-Prizes--Competitions.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Small-Business-Tips--Lucky-Door-Prizes--Competitions.html Many small businesses use competitions and lucky door prizes as a way of generating leads or building their data base. But if done incorrectly you will end up losing customers and could even find yourself on the wrong side of the law. So how do you run lucky door prizes or competitions that are legal and get you brilliant results? http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Change-Leadership-Management.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Change-Leadership-Management.html Many small businesses experience change. Change leadership is the art of helping your team through the change management cycle. Each person shows different emotions and behaviour during change. It’s perfectly normal to experience a real mix of emotions. Not everyone feels all of these feelings intensely and people don’t go through them by numbers. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/A-Leadership-Guide-To-Managing-Change.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/A-Leadership-Guide-To-Managing-Change.html Leaders play a key role in managing change. Effective managers help find and crystalise future direction, set expectations for behaviour and performance and priorities, walk the talk and influence the direction of future systems and procedures. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/A-Leadership-Guide-To-Managing-The-Generations.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/A-Leadership-Guide-To-Managing-The-Generations.html One of the most common questions I am asked by managers is “how can I manage the ‘younger’ generation?” It seems every second workplace is having challenges between different generations …with differences in expectations of managers, work approach and style. Let me start by saying that what I am about to tell you will be discussing the generalities of generations. Before you leap in and yell “stereotypes” … listen up for a moment. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Leadership-Characteristics--Managing-With-Feeling.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Leadership-Characteristics--Managing-With-Feeling.html Many business owners feel that they need to have “hard” leadership characteristics in order to get ahead or be successful. They believe that if they show any weakness or flexibility, that staff will “pounce” and take advantage of them. When you look inside their companies, you see unhappy people (both managers and staff), all tightly hanging onto what is right in their view and making sure they get what they are entitled to. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Marketing-Plan-Template.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2454/Marketing-Plan-Template.html Marketing plans sit within an overall business plan – they are one of the vehicles to help you deliver your business goals and objectives. Without a clear business direction and strategy, your marketing plans will never be 100% effective. Always start with gaining clarity on the direction of your business before filling in your marketing plan template and the activities you will undertake.