Small business owners numbered over 5.5 million in 2001 and generated over one billion in annual payroll. Sam Walton was quoted as saying "There's a lot more business out there in small town America than I ever dreamed of." and looks like Sam was right.

During the last five years as THE small business coach in the Chicago area, I have discovered 7 mistakes that small business owners consistently make. These small business help tips should guide you as the small business owner, entrepreneur or executive around these pitfalls as you work to dramatically improve your business results.

1. Work on your business not in your business Mistake: Most new business owners and many experienced business owners are so busy working in their business, they fail to work on their business and demonstrate the leadership that the business demands. In the book, Its Not the Big that Eat the Small, But Its the Fast that Eat the Slow, the authors revealed that executives spent less than 15 minutes each day thinking about the future of their business because they were so busy dealing with yesterday and todays events.

2. Assess your business both externally and internally Mistake: Dont presume that you know what is going on in your business. Take the time honestly and objectively to assess your business both externally and internally. Using an organizational assessment or survey based upon proven criteria such as Baldrige may help you to focus on the directionally correct actions.

3. Develop a strategic plan Mistake: If you dont have a plan, you are on someone elses plan. A strategic plan indicates who does what by when. Remember, hope is not a strategy.

4. Work your plan Mistake: Pay for a plan and leave it on a shelf or in a desk drawer. A plans purpose is action. Without action, the plan is useless and the dollars invested in creating the plan are wasted.

5. Invest in your people Mistake: Spending dollars on things such as technology and not people. People make the business. They create the loyal customers or disloyal ones. Employees dont come to work thinking how they can mess up the company. Invest in people development and watch your investment quickly multiply.

6. Pay yourself first Mistake: Wearing all the hats and not paying yourself what you are worth. Entrepreneurs wear many hats when they establish their business. As time progresses, they continue to wear these hats because money is tight and they believe that they can do things better. The end of the year approaches and the company made a profit. By paying yourself first, you will focus on what you do really well and delegate those other activities to others at a far lower rate.

7. Keep balance between your personal and professional lives Mistake: You are too busy to take the time with your family or friends. By attending to your work life balance as well as your personal and professional development, you will see incredible results happen within your business.

These 7 tips will help you catapult your small business in warp time. Of course, if you like where you are now, then ignore these tips. However, can you be sure your competition will also ignore these tips? And what would happen, if they just implemented one tip less alone all 7?

P.S. In future articles,as the small business coach, I will provide some additional coaching advice by expanding each tip so that you and your business can reach incredible heights.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Good Day. Thanks for visiting. I hope that you have enjoyed my articles. In 1999, I founded ADVANCED SYSTEMS because I saw that performance could and should be doubled in warp time. Individuals, small and large businesses could not afford expensive solutions that may or may not deliver improved results in 12 months.

From my corporate, small business and education experiences, I recognized the individuals must have opportunities for connecting their passion to their purpose to secure the desired performance results, but many lacked the necessary skills, strategies and tools.

With over 20 years in sales management and 10 years in education, I understand how to unite productivity with profitability by developing a proactive working culture. My previous experiences resulted in cost savings through one of the first implementations of a computer software in a wholesaler distributor to the creation of a vendor performance assessment.

Since facilitating over 500 sessions, developing and editing over 25 training programs and writing numerous articles focusing on performance improvement, I bring a results focused approach to my clients. Also, I am proud to be one of the first five nationally certified facilitators of America’s Rising Stars (a Student Leadership developmental curriculum).

My passion is to help others connect their passion to their purpose to double performance. As The small business coach in Chicago, my clients have easily doubled their performance. Since our greatest resource is our young people, I am now working with large urban schools to generate the same results.

Education Background

• Graduated with honors from Purdue University with a B.A. in Education
• Earned M.S. from Purdue University in Instructional Design and Curriculum
• Published in the national trade journal, The Supply House Times, and numerous national newsletters
• Developed seminars and training on diversity, communication, leadership, sales, effective trade show behavior, networking, knowledge management, goal setting and improved educational outcomes
• Co-authored M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capicities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement, to be available in 2006
• Working a another book focusing on performance in public education
• Speaker in a national bureau - Resource Associates Corporation

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