Small Business Roundtable July 11, 2012 Earl Hadden presented 'The Keys to Small Business Success' at the July Small Business Roundtable. Hadden, who has more than 30 years of consulting and small business experience, has developed a proven accountability system that will keep your business on track. The Roundtable discussion covered the six factors that lead to dramatic business improvement and how to implement them. Hadden also discussed three action items that will help improve your business immediately.

1. small business success project
business improvement model
Plan
Act Do
Check
The Deming-Shewhart Cycle
of continuous improvement

2. “If we are going to improve our business
we have to improve ourselves.”
Jim Rohn

3. Six Activities for Major
Business Improvement
• Align your business with your personal goals
and values
• Develop your Strategies and your BHAG
• Build a Success Model for your business
• Execute the Plan – IPAs and your Ideal
Calendar
• Monitor your performance and results
• Continuous Improvement

4. Your Why?
Spiritual
Relationships
Health & Family & Friends
Wellness
Business, Make a
Career, $$ Difference
Other motivators???

5. SWOT Analysis
• Strength – important to our goals, we do it
well
• Weakness – important to our goals, we do it
poorly
• Opportunity – not important to our goals, we
do it well
• Threat – not important to our goals, we do it
poorly
For more information on SWOT analysis see my video on YouTube

6. Your Personal Goals and Values
Provide the Context for your
Business

7. Developing your Strategy

8. Components of your Strategy
To Achieve Your BHAG
• What “tribe” are you going to try to create?
• What product or service are you going to provide?
• How will your “tribe” be different from the rest of the
market?
• Why are you creating this “tribe” – what is the
compelling message that will draw people to you?
• What are the high-level activities that you will perform
to attract members to your “tribe”

9. Creating your BHAG
(Big Hairy Audacious Goal)
Your BHAG should be scary and a little
embarrassing to discuss with your
friends and associates – Mel Robbins

10. Creating your BHAG
• Establish your Target Date
• Set a Specific Target (# of new members, # of
policyholders, $ income)
• Define what that Target will allow you to do – how will
it support your personal goals?
• Visualize what that will look like and how it will feel
• Is this your BHAG or someone else's? (e.g. your
mom’s?)
• Develop a visual of yourself achieving your BHAG and
put it somewhere you will see it several times each day

11. Developing your Business Model

12. Typical High-level Activities
To Achieve Your BHAG
• Plan
• Acquire
• Manufacture or create (optional)
• Market/Sell
• Deliver and Support
• Measure
• Administer

13. Components of your Success Model
• How – activities you need to perform
• What – information (forms, lists, documents) you need
to have (and manage)
• Where – you perform your activities (and what do you
need to know about these types of places)
• Who – people (individuals or groups) involved in each
activity
• When – the “trigger events” that drive your business
• Why – the motivators for you and your
prospects/customers to take action

14. Your Business Model
Personal Your BHAG
Goals &
Values
Inputs Activities Desired
e.g. prospects 1 Results
2
3
Mechanisms People
Desired Results – for each strategy, the tactics that will be used to
ensure success. For each tactic, the activities that you will perform
and measurements to track to make sure you achieve them.

15. Refining your Business Model
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
1.2 1.2
1.2
1.1 2,2
1.1
1.1 2.1
Each High Level Activity is “decomposed” into more detailed
activities.

16. Do a SWOT Analysis for the Activities
In Your Business Model
O S
Performance
T W
Importance

17. Develop your Action Plan
• Identify which Activities must be improved
(High Importance, Low Satisfaction/Performance)
• Identify which Activities lead to desired results
(Income Producing Activities – IPAs)
• Put your top priority Activities on your “Ideal
Calendar” before anything else.

18. Monitor your performance and results
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure”
• Evaluate your performance against metrics on a
periodic basis
• If you are above your goals, identify what is
working better than expected and put those
expectations into your model
• If you are meeting your goals, evaluate what you
can improve (one or two activities)
• If you are below your goals, evaluate which
activities are not meeting performance standards
and improve them.

19. Continuous Improvement

20. Follow the
small business success project
business improvement model
Plan
Act Do
Check
The Deming-Shewhart Cycle
of continuous improvement

21. 4 Techniques to Improve Your
Business Immediately!
• Establish your personal goals and values
• Define your strategies
• Identify your tactics/activities for each
strategy
• Track your activities and results daily, weekly
and monthly

22. Earl Hadden
the small business success project
earl@earlhadden.com
(919) 593 – 1804