Steve Marr.org

Many business leaders have great vision and a clear idea about what needs to be done in order to accomplish that vision. Setting deadlines with accountability is a major step in taking vision to reality. King Solomon gave us an example when he, “had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace.”  (2 Chronicles 7:11, NIV) Solomon was successful because he went from an idea to implementation. 

A key element of growing a business is a commitment to improve everything within that business.  Jesus taught, "Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." (John 15:2, NASB) Jesus was speaking of branches that already produced fruit.  He was explaining that even fruitful branches need pruning in order to grow more fruit in the long run.

Don't just focus your pruning on the problems. Spend time pruning the fruit bearing parts as well. Even a productive fruit tree will slowly bear less fruit without pruning. The first year’s fruit loss will be subtle, and you don’t pay a high price for it. However, when you see an overgrown apple tree with little fruit; the loss took several years. It will take drastic pruning to return the tree to a fruit producing tree.

Fay was unhappy with her current accounting software package. She had studied many alternatives and reviewed six proposals; but didn’t pick one. Knowing Fay was stalled, I explained to her, “Well, you have made a decision, a decision to do nothing at this time.” I reminded her that the reason for upgrading the software was to improve operations. Every day nothing happened was a day lost. 

A tremendously successful CEO steps down. Perhaps they had a 30 year tenure or served during a time of excellent growth. How does a business replace an irreplaceable leader? In two words, “they don’t”.

Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple. Steve was involved in many decisions in the company; he made many technology decisions that CEO’s typically don’t make. Delegate, train, empower is the system used by most CEO’s. Steve Jobs has an uncanny ability to be involved at a much higher level of detail with great success. He made tremendous investments on new products and consistently pulled those efforts off well.

Families across America have been moving in together to save money. Many adult children have moved back home while more elderly parents are moving in with children. One of the motivating factors is saving money. Likewise, businesses can save money by doubling up. Also, for someone ready to move from a home office this could be an excellent first step.

Many professional organizations have extra office space.  Rather than allow extra space to just sit, consider looking for a tenant.  You may get $250.00 to $800.00 per month, depending on the space and location. That’s between  $3,000 and $10,000.00 per year of potential income.

Small business with leases coming up may want to think through is this good option to cut costs? I know a number of people who have taken this step. A law firm renting to an insurance agent, a financial advisor renting to an accountant while another insurance agent rented to a small marketing company. In each instance the arrangements have worked well.