It’s funny to read the majority of traditional news outlets talk about small business ownership. If you didn’t know better from reading their articles, you would swear that we are all a bunch of whining, fearful incompetents. Are they right? So what is it that smart business owners do to get through these tough times?
Forward to a story written yesterday about Jon Erisey owner of Power Media. http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2009/01/jon_erisey_of_power_media_says.html The story captures the essence of how a lot of small business owners run their business as Jon states “by the seat of my pants”. What I really appreciated about Jon’s story was hos self awareness. Instead of blaming the economy for his problems. He owned up to areas where he hasn’t been doing the best job and looked for ways to overcome them through planning and innovation.
This brings me to the question that we all need to ask ourselves and the question that I will be examining all week: What do I know that I don’t know? It’s important to ask that question periodically and then look for places to find the answers. It may be a coach or a mentor, it may be found in a book or magazine, it may be found by asking your customers/clients or by asking your employee team.
So what do smart business owner do? They don’t wait for things to get bad to get a firm grip on their business and if they do, they are self aware and humble enough to recognize what they need to fix and where the gaps are that need filling. Then they go out and plug those gaps. What gaps do you need to fill this year?