3 Ways Small Business Owners can Help Employees Out during Tough Economic Times

Strangely, no one is lining up outside the body butter and toothbrush rental stand. How odd? Who would have guessed such an idea wouldn’t take off? After all, you have a huge selection. So, there are plenty of choices. Yet, no one is interested. Something’s amiss here and you can’t quite put your finger on it. Even Good Business Ideas are Not Guaranteed Winning Strategies Okay, so the headline says it all. It’s a totally ridiculous business model. There’s not a person near or far interested in renting body butter or a toothbrush. Yet, people do come up with some strange concepts to sell and are surprised when they don’t pan out. You’ve created something unheard of. You’re passionate about it. You believe in it. You’ve also spent an insane amount of time figuring the whole business out down to the tiniest detail. By now, you can talk about it for hours — and to top it off, it actually is a great idea. But for some reason, you can’t sell it. So, what’s the problem? —Forbes.com On the flip side, there’s no guarantee a really good idea will widely succeed. Even the best concepts run into problems. In other words, solid products and services aren’t immune from the realities of the marketplace. Put another way, there is no straight path from unknown to sensation. How to Test a Business Idea So, how do you know if a business idea is worth pursuing in the first place? How can you determine if it’s something which has a real chance of making it in the free market? Try these suggestions to establish a baseline: Look for successful competition. Everyone wants to believe their idea is “new.” But, that’s usually not the case. In-part or whole, it’s likely been done before. So, look for examples and see how they fared. Test different versions several times. There’s no such thing as perfect. Meaning, your business idea isn’t without some sort of flaw. Even if you’re really confident in what you’ll offer, it could perform better or worse, depending on a few tweaks. Offer a variety and see which works. Explore the industry to gain an understanding. It’s certainly true good ideas are boxed out of the marketplace because they aren’t allowed. Perhaps it’s too heavily regulated or there are just too many obstacles to make it feasible. Think about how it can scale and adapt over time. If the business can’t scale up to meet demand, that’s a big, red flag. And, if it’s not able to evolve with the changing times, that too, is a big obstacle. Think about creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Ok, what the heck is an MVP. A minimum viable product (MVP) is a concept from Lean Startup that stresses the impact of learning in new product development. Eric Ries, defined an MVP as that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort. This validated learning comes in the form of whether your customers will actually purchase your product. A key premise behind the idea of MVP is that you produce an actual product (which may be no more than a landing page, or a service with an appearance of automation, but which is fully manual behind the scenes) that you can offer to customers and observe their actual behavior with the product or service. Seeing what people actually do with respect to a product is much more reliable than asking people what they would do. If the business can’t scale up to meet demand, that’s a big, red flag. And, if it’s not able to evolve with the changing times, that too, is a big obstacle. How do you test a business idea to ensure it’s a viable one? Please share your thoughts and experiences by commenting! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

How do you tell your employees you’ve fired someone? The topic makes most entrepreneurs very uncomfortable. But, there are certain situations which call for this type of action. Previously, we’ve talked about how to fire someone. However, what happens thereafter? It’s not like people won’t notice he or she is gone. So, how do you deal with remaining employees in a way that moves your company forward? The truth is, there is no such thing as a perfect transition. However, there are ways to make it go smoother. Signs it’s Time to Terminate an Employee Before you do take the final step of termination, you should be totally sure it’s the only recourse. For instance, a team member who consistently drags down productivity (and, won’t take steps to correct their behavior). Or, an employee who drains morale or constantly stirs-up drama are also toxic — don’t let your organization suffer unnecessarily. Also, an employee who is apathetic doesn’t care about their work product or customers isn’t worth keeping around. One thing we know about human nature is that when there’s a mystery, people will solve it themselves: They make up the ending, and it’s almost always worse than reality. And that’s the problem–if you don’t tell people why, they’ll make up why. And the wrong why is almost always destructive. Information vacuums fill with rumors, and rumors lead to anxiety. —Inc.com Then, there’s the serial rule violator. Someone who just refuses to play by the rules. It’s time to stop banging your head against the wall and do your business a favor. These situations are typically the most disruptive and harmful to a company. How to Tell Your Employees You’ve Fired Someone Now, if it’s time to let a team member go, you’ll have to navigate your employees through a weird experience. Here are some helpful suggestions for how to tell your employees you have fired someone: Make a simple announcement. Convene a meeting or send out a memo. Simply state, “Bob no longer works here. Our transition steps are 1, 2, and 3. If you have any questions, please see Sue.” That’s it. Straightforward and to the point. Don’t share details or communicate negatively. After terminating an employee, the human temptation is to share your reasons for the termination in order to rationalize your decision. And, sometimes this leads to making negative comments about the terminated employee. Do not fall into this trap! Be a leader. Otherwise, any other communication is destructive and deteriorates your culture and you lose respect with your existing employees. Don’t tolerate rumors. Rumors are inevitable in these situations. Keep your ears open and if you hear one, nip it in the bud. Be polite but direct and firm. Do not let rumors become a distraction. Give people a chance to step-up. Since there’s an open position, you can ask who is willing to step-in and fill the void. This is a great chance to see which team members are the most eager and loyal. Seize the opportunity. This is likewise an opportunity to reset the company narrative. You might want to take it in a different direction or get back to fundamentals. Whatever change you’d most like to make, now is a prime opportunity. How do you tell your staff you’ve let someone go? What other suggestions do you have for these situations? Please share your thoughts by commenting! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.