MAINTAINING ACCOUNTABILITY: SEGREGATION BETWEEN BUSINESS AND OWNERSHIP Measuring Success:
A DIFFE RE NT TAKE ON ME ASURING ACHIE VE MENT 5 TIPS FOR
JUGGLING THAT NEVER ENDING TO-DO LIST
Building, Executing & measuring your strategic Plan with Micheal Lambie ISSUE 11 $8.95 CAN www.dreamer2creatormag.ca
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20 Micheal Lambie: BUILDING, EXECUTING & MEASURING YOUR STRATEGIC PLAN
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EDITORIAL K A R E N M. LOWE Executive Editor F R A N C I N E GREY Creative Editor K I M BL EY LOWE-B EN N ETT Editor N I C O L E LOWE Editor
6 STRATEGY: WHAT IS IT? AND HOW TO NOT BE A STATISTIC by Karen Lowe
12 MEASURING SUCCESS: A DIFFERENT TAKE ON MEASURING ACHIEVEMENT by Jenne Todd
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RESOURCES
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 16 MAINTAINING ACCOUNTABILITY: Segregation Between Business & Ownership
8 SETTING GOALS AS AN ENTREPRENEUR by Sarah Olding
by Gary Wright
Page 32 COLLABORATION WITH OTHER BUSINESSES: Important & Successful Networking Tool or Group Projects by Michelle Elliot
34 5 TIPS TO SUCCESSFULLY MANAGE RELATIONSHIPS IN A BUSINESS
Page 42 5 Tips for JUGGLING A NEVERENDING TO-DO LIST
by Jennifer and Andrea Lee
38 GROWING YOUR CREATIVE BUSINESS ON INSTAGRAM: An Illustrator’s Journey by Denise Foley
by Amanda Gobatto
editor’s note I
have a dream. That dream is to start my own consulting company to support education settings to provide access to quality education and support services for children, young people and adults with Special
Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). At a glance, that should be pretty straightforward for me to do. After all, that is my day job. I develop customized education programmes that meet the needs of children with SEND. To date, I have met and exceeded performance management targets everywhere I have worked in this capacity. Equally fascinating, employers have been keen to retain my services, despite the remunerations not being parallel to my performance. One of my greatest fears is failure. The dread of failing motivates and fuels my determination to succeed. My work ethic throughout my adult life enables me to succeed at every job, and in the career I pursue. Yet the fear that propels me in my career is the same thing that paralyzes my dream. Let us be analytical for a minute. Some PROS: √
I have the skillset, expertise and experience to deliver the service I
have on offer. √
I do not need start-up funding
Some CONS: √
I need a steady source of income.
√
The nature of my business prevents me from doing my 9-5 and run the business simultaneously. This means I need to quit my 9-5 or reduce my hours to get the business going.
Typically, businesses need the first two years to be established and start making a profit. Therefore, I will need enough funds to replace the deficit in my earnings for potentially the first two years of starting my business. You see before my editing role for Dreamer 2 Creator Business Magazine, I knew nothing about business. That compounded my doubts that I would ever be able to do it. However, through my journey with Dreamer 2 Creator Business Magazine, I garnered a wealth of knowledge about the principles and operations of a business. As a result, the barrier preventing me from going after my dream, fear of failure, is no longer a paralytic catalyst because the knowledge I have gained has replaced my fear with confident hope. Fast forward to 2022, I have registered my business, opened a business bank account, secured my website domain, Social media handles and email address and I am now refining my business model. Thanks to our contributors and the team at Dreamer 2 Creator Business Magazine. Your articles served as the links that connected the dots for nudging me towards my dream. They taught me about Business in a practical way I was able to engage with issue after issue. The knowledge, insight and inspiration I received and continue to receive have served me well, as it has countless others who engage with each issue. Be motivated; if I can do it, so can you. I have not given up my 9-5 just yet, but I am taking steps towards it. So my encouragement to you is Just Go For It, one issue at a time, one step at a time.
Kimbley Lowe-Bennett Editor
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Copyright 2019 Dreamer 2 Creator Business Magazine.
ISSN 2562-5330 (Print) ISSN 2562-5349 (Online)
All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be copied, reprinted, displayed, edited or distributed without the written consent of Dreamer 2 Creator Magazine Inc. Dreamer 2 Creator Business Magazine is a Canadian Magazine, published and distributed by Dreamer 2 Creator Magazine Inc, located in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
Strategy: What is it? And How to Not Be a Statistic
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Photo Credit: Victoria Malanowski
trategy has been talked about a lot! Most, if not all, micro-entrepreneurs have been told to create a strategy, start a business plan of some sort, and we have spoken about business plans in multiple issues. So why do statistics keep saying micro-businesses fail at an alarming rate? My dissertation thesis is understanding why micro-business fail to achieve strategic goals. I was
recently asked what exactly is strategy and how to make it happen. First of all, understanding strategy is essential because researchers have proven that strategic goals drive behaviour. Specifically, we will be talking about business strategy.
What is Business Strategy According to my research dissertation, a business strategy is a set of initiatives and actions to improve a company’s financial stability. These actions are used to identify, drive, and execute the business’ vision and objectives position in terms of operational conditions and competitive advantage. In entrepreneur speak, a plan of action to improve the company’s financial stability. As a micro-entrepreneur, I start with the result I wish to achieve and work backwards (more on that later). Strategy is not just a simple plan. Strategy is how, when and who will execute so the destination can be arrived at.
How to implement and track results Think about strategy by starting with the big picture and breaking it down into categories, milestones, timings, and tasks, down to the most minute level. Below is a concept, scenario and examples all woven into one. What do you want to achieve in the next 1, 3 and 5 years in terms of money and market saturation? How do you want people to see your product or service, your brand? What do you have to offer that is different from your competition? How will this be achieved, and who will do the work to achieve it.
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Micheal Lambie of Micheal Lambie Interiors said no matter how talented you are; talent is not enough to succeed. First, where do you want to be in 5 years? $100k in sales or 100k clients? How can you achieve that? To get to 100K by year five, you need to be at about 50k or more in year 3. You need about 20k at the end of year one. Now how do you achieve that? Who are your demographics? Who will be doing the marketing to understand the demographics? If marketing is your strong suit great, you are the person who will be responsible. If not, find someone good at marketing who can attract the correct client to convert to sales—some tasks to consider.
“Think about strategy by starting with the big picture and breaking it down into categories, milestones, timings, and tasks, down to the most minute level.”
two farmers’ markets per month. What do you need, and what will be the cost of each event you attend? The product you sell is a passion of yours, but you need to spend time understanding changes in the marketplace. This means time. Consider weekly commitments such as: five hours on training (technical, marketing and financial); five hours researching the business you are in; three hours attending networking events; five hours working on the business’s financials; and fifteen hours developing your product or service.
A Final Thought Ultimately, no matter how much information we get, if we do not take the time to focus on the back end of our business, we will fail. Micro-entrepreneurs operate in an informal scenario, and we need to formalize the way we do business to succeed. Once we decide on the destination of our business and how to get there, a good tool that should be utilized is efficiency programs and software. How well communication, productivity and documentation are tracked will impact success or failure. Check out our resources section in all our previous issues for some ideas. Photo Credit: Mike Chajeski
To make 20K sales, you need to sell 2000 products at $10 per item in 12 months or ~167 items per month or 42 per week. This brings us to financial projection. Are you good at financing? If not, get an accountant (inexpensive ones can be found or take an online course) and create a 1-, 3- and 5-year financial projection and track your progress weekly. Pivot when necessary to be able to achieve the goals. Back to marketing, how do you find the customers who will buy your products? Another goal is to align yourself with ten organizations or influencers who have relationships with your potential customers, attend five networking events per month, and attend
By: KAREN LOWE Founder/Owner of Epigram Consulting Email: klowe@epigramconsulting.com Social: @epigramconsulting
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