Page 28 - NSPIRE%21+Magazine+NSPIRED+July+2017+%281%29_Neat

The Braves of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship has traditionally been defined as the process
of designing, launching and running a new business, which

typically begins as a small business, such as a start-up company,

offering a product, process or service for sale or hire. The people
who create these businesses are called entrepreneurs. It has

been defined as the "capacity and willingness to develop,

organize and manage a business venture along with any of its
risks in order to make a profit".

3 Elements of Successful Business

Operational excellence: Businesses require a general framework to ensure
effective operations and continual improvement. Elements include definitions of
systems and standards such as scope of work; quality plan and measurement;
employee manual; organizational charts; hiring policies; training systems; and so
on. These elements provide structure that can be seen, felt and replicated. In a

successful business everyone at all levels must march along with these standard
operating procedures that define who is doing what, where, and with what. If your
business does not have operational excellence, you’ll have problems with the next
two components.

Customer relations: Customers should be given an idea of, if not a copy of, your
business’s operations framework. Based on this framework, invite customers to
provide feedback. Maintain customer relationships by making yourself and your
staff accessible. Many businesses are doing this through the use of technology,

such as Black Berries. Conduct customer surveys and evaluations, review the results
and follow up with customers to make sure you are meeting the scope of work. In
addition, include your customers’ customers — the building occupants — and make
sure they are aware of your organization’s role.

Financial management: To manage your monetary deposits and withdrawals, you
have got to have a financial management system or you will go broke. Business
owners should always have an awareness of what accounts are profitable and what
accounts are not (and give the latter to competitors). From bidding to budgeting,
you should have a system in place for estimating costs. Systems should consider
labor costs, materials, overhead, profit, taxes, insurance and miscellaneous costs.

Article contributed by: www.thecreditgem.com
empowering the business community!