At the start of a business venture, there are a lot of things to consider. Some of the considerations revolve around market research, putting together a business plan, assembling a team among other things. The one area that doesn’t get as much consideration is you and what you bring to the table. You are the key to your companies’ initial brand.
As I said in yesterday’s post, how well you manage the internal aspects of your business will dictate how positively the public perceives your business. In the beginning of a companies’ life cycle, the business owner is the foremost dictator of how things play out in their business. This is why when you consider your companies brand, you identify concisely what you want to be known for.
Once you have done that, you can then identify what you personally bring to the table. Start by looking at your strengths, your weaknesses and what resources you bring to the table. One of the personal assessment tests that I took a couple of years ago was the Kolbe A index. This assessment breaks down 4 categories: Fact Finder, Follow Through, Quick Start and Implementation. It scores you on how heavily you rank in each category and there is no right or wrong to the assessment it just shows how you get things done and how you process information. One thing I have found with entrepreneurs is they tend to score high in the “Quick Start” category which means they don’t take a lot of time to think about moving forward on an idea which can be a great asset for an entrepreneur. While they tend to take action quickly I have noticed that entrepreneurs aren’t “Follow Through” people. Again this isn’t good or bad it just shows how you do things.
The follow through aspect is the most tricky for entrepreneurs. Because they don’t normally have the attention span to see things to completion, things always fall through the cracks. They don’t return calls or e-mails on time, they are frequently unorganized and unprepared for important meetings, communicate poorly and most importantly activities that need to be accomplished seem to pile up. These areas affect customers, vendors that do business with you, partnerships and employees. Ultimately being poor in these areas affects your brand as it starts to break the trust that you are trying to build with these different groups.
This is why I mentioned putting a list together that identifies strengths and weaknesses. Look at where you are weak and then figure out what personnel or system needs to be in place to make up for your deficiencies in this area. The Kolbe test is one great resource for helping you hire the right team. A common mistake that I see business owners make is hiring an assistant to help them with follow through and then you find out that the assistant isn’t strong in follow through either. Math is still the only area I have seen where 2 negatives can become a positive.
There are resources to help you create a great image for your company and insure that your weaknesses don’t become your firms weaknesses and ultimately cripple your brand in the process.
What resources have you been able to use to ensure that your company operates smoothly and your weaknesses aren’t exposed?