The perfect gift for small business owners is a map to the how-to of positive transformation for their business operations. Key information that will also transform their life!
When owning a commercial printing company, in my office I kept many copies of a business book titled, "The E-myth." The intended purpose was to give a free copy to business owners who stopped by our facility.
These visits usually turned into long conversations concerning various frustrations they had in their business operation.
Make no mistake, most EVERY small business struggles with operational frustrations and how to fix them permanently.
Listening to owners tell about their frustrations, gave me the perfect opportunity to give them a perfect gift; a free copy of "The E-myth." Also, to tell the owner how the book greatly affected our business and my life, in particular.
At which point, I guided them on a tour of lean business management, showing them our comprehensive "Operations Manual" (hard copy & digital). More importantly, explaining in detail how systems eliminate ALL predictable business frustrations.
For most of the business owners, this tour of our facility was an eye-opener.
From this owner-to-owner interaction, and then working with them as clients, we had an up-close view of how their company operated. The bad and the good.
Most business owners would agree, when working with various companies, some are easy to do business with, and others can be frustrating.
For this reason, ISO companies track all non-conformance of their vendors. For example, late deliveries, poor packaging, poor quality product, and many other strict standards required.
Consequently, if a vendor does NOT meet ISO standards, and has a certain number of mistakes/non-conformance, they are removed from the ISO company’s preferred vendor list. Not good!
Our printing company became a preferred vendor of several Nintendo subcontractors who produced their games. In fact, Nintendo conducted an extensive audit of our company’s facility and QUALITY standards. We passed the audit convincingly, due to our systematization and continual improvement efforts.
Paying It Forward to Other Owners Pays Dividends
Giving away free copies of "The E-myth" book all began when another business owner, gave me a free copy of that same book. In truth, that book so impacted my business and life, it is only reasonable that I pay-it-forward.
To sum up, after spending years systematizing our own business, I authored a book titled "System Busters; How to Stop Them in Your Business." Thereafter, we gave all our clients free copies of our book also; a book that shared the years of knowledge we gained.
Yep, the tours increased and so did our sales.
Did I mention? Great systems pay dividends. It’s the PERFECT GIFT!
Philip Beyer, founder/president of Ebiz Products LLC and founder of Beyer Printing Inc. in Nashville Tenn., is a chronic entrepreneur, business systems analyst and consultant. Author of "System Busters: How to Stop Them in Your Business" and recipient of an InterTech Technology Award for the design and development of System100 business process management software. Beyer speaks to business owners across the country on how to bring lean, sustainable order to their businesses. Contact him at (615) 425-2652.