4 Areas On Which Every Business Owner Must Focus

Running a business is complex, but, from my experience, there are 4 things that business owners should be thinking about. It’s not easy, but it’s relatively simple.

Are my clients delighted?

A business owner ought to be thinking, “How do I delight my clients?” That starts with assessing where you are and having to face the truth. The truth hurts sometimes. But if I don’t know what my clients are thinking, how can I improve? So I always talk about beginning with an assessment and then trying to close that gap. Read More

Are my employees engaged?

Are they all in? Do people get excited about coming to work? Would they recommend my company as a place to come work? Do they have a good friend at work? This also has to begin with an honest assessment, and your employees need to feel safe to tell you how things are. There are ways to measure engagement that are objective and able to be benchmarked. And engagement does need to be tracked. Read More

Are my resources being optimized?

I find so many business owners who are embarrassed because they can’t read their financial statements. They don’t know which numbers they should be looking at, and they’re not tracking the proper metrics. Like a lot of things, less can be more. Pick a few metrics that are important to your business. Those critical metrics differ based on the industry or situation. And some metrics are useful for a period of time, and once that issue is resolved, they shouldn’t be on the front burner. There’s no shame in not knowing something, either—if you need help making sense of your financials, get it! Read More

Am I seizing opportunities?

Those opportunities could be buying another business, expanding my current business, forming strategic alliances, or changing the way I compensate employees so everyone’s interests are aligned with mine. Read More It’s not easy, but if you can get your mind around these four areas, you can feel relieved and there’s real value in that. If you want help with any of these areas, call us! Let’s start the conversation and find out if we can help you go places faster.

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–Jim Wiginton is the founder and managing partner of Broad Insights, an international business coaching firm based in Greenville, South Carolina. Jim possesses a wealth of business expertise, much of it gained as an executive for Michelin North America, Plastic Omnium, and Alfmeier Corporation. He has more than 5,000 hours of coaching experience, and a Doctorate of Business Administration from Paris School of Business.