OPERANNG OPPORTUNInES

WALLY LYNCH

Paid Associates PO. Box741623 Dallas, Tx.75243

I r's rHnr TIME of year again. ConI tractors are roofing over and closing in their latest starts. The leaves have gone. Business has fallen off. Turkey Day is just around the corner. It's time to plan for next year.

Another signal has been the annual mailing from the American Management Association on their How To Manuals covering a business plan, marketing plan and analyzing competition. As a sometime participant in that organization's programs, I have seen that it has been easier to be impressed than to put something in the bank. The content o[ their offerings is awesome, but exposure makes one feel more equipped to run a Fortune 500 company than to win the rumble of the Do It Yourself world.

Though not totally clear, it appears that the creators of these sophisticated tools were directing their efforts to those companies run by managers heading a department or section of an operation. The sole proprietor, or small dealer who personally direcs the activities of each employee, is faced with a dilemma in planning to grow without the time or people with which to bring it off. They are in the twilight zone; they are the "tweeners." For all of you in this plight, here is a transitional exercise that will begin to move you out of your shirt pocket to a time when sophistication will serve you better.

In planning, you are programing what to do, how to get it done, the cost and the pay back. Direct these questions to the four major cost areas of your business (labor, communication, inventory and facilities), each with a qualifying question and areas ofconcern.

Labor Costs: Would the company and its people be more effective with a change in: o Training? o Compensation? o Benefits?