Business Security and LED Lighting - Light Pollution, Crime, Energy Efficiency

Lots of light at your business may make you think you are reducing crime, but that's not always the case. In fact, you might just be stealing dollars from your bottom line and wasting energy without any real benefit. Sure, you can go with LED Lighting, but it still uses energy, so why waste it? Okay so, now that I have your attention, let's talk.

Not long ago, I wrote an interesting piece on the importance for lighting at Convenience Stores, Gas Stations, Car Washes, and other types of business to assist in reducing crime. The essence of that article was to get business owners to consider the value of lighting and also consider the costs. But, as I began to get feedback from the industry and other sources, I learned that business security is not guaranteed to reduce crime, in fact, in some studies, actual case studies crime has not been reduced much at all.

In fact, I was alerted to an interesting research paper from the "Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority on the effect in Chicago Alleys when lighting levels were substantially increased." That is to say "for many types of crime, the increase in lighting levels resulted in higher crime levels - not lower rates." Indeed, Leo Smith (a board member) of IDA or International Dark-Sky Association informed me that;

"Light and crime may not be as related as some might think. Yet there's an inherent fear of darkness in many people."

Thus, in the name of safety and in the name of energy conservation businesses need to use the correct levels of lighting to achieve both goals. Too much light also causes light pollution which is a huge problem for many reasons. Leo Smith also suggests that for instance;

"A gas pump island at a convenience store needs no more than 5 footcandles of horizontal illumination on the ground. In perspective, 5 footcandles provides 500 times more light than is provided by a full moon on a clear night - plenty of light to see well for the immediate surrounds. Yet some stores will try lighting to 50 footcandles - a total waste of energy and a major problem in terms of light pollution."

Indeed, mega-thanks to Leo Smith and the entire team at IDA for this valuable information and this research paper. It's great to see empirical data and evidence which business security professionals and small business owners can use to save money and reduce crime. In fact, I've often wondered about that myself, having owned many businesses, and been mostly car wash business.

Mastermind Your Way to Small Business Success - Part 1

The concept of the Mastermind was made famous by Napoleon Hill about 100 years ago. In his classic book, "Think and Grow Rich", he wrote about the Mastermind principle as "the coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony."

Dr. Napoleon Hill interviewed the most powerful, wealthiest people of his time so that he could unlock their secrets to success. There was one secret he revealed after 20 years of research. It was that the most successful people never reach the top all by themselves. That might not come as a surprise to you, but have you noticed just how many business owners try to do it all themselves? You might even think that many successful people started with family connections or wealth in the first place. Dr. Hill discovered that was not the case.

He found that the most successful often became that way because they collaborated with other high achievers to supplement their insights or bridge their knowledge gaps. In my own experience in high-level masterminds, I have found that my Mastermind colleagues ask questions that I wouldn't think to ask because I'm so close to the issue at hand.

When in the right Mastermind, you create exponential leaps in mindset, insight, and success. I have found that to be true in my own experiences with Masterminds.

If you've never been part of a Mastermind, I want you to imagine for a moment what would happen to your results (in the most important areas of your life) if the top three things holding you back were instantly removed. Think about it for a few seconds.

What three obstacles are preventing you from achieving your goals? If removing your top three obstacles would make a huge difference and help you achieve your goals, you would benefit from a Mastermind. Throughout history, nearly every great achievement came about because of a team of minds that were engaged in achieving a defined goal.

You know you need a high-level Mastermind Group if you:

• Have very few people to bounce ideas off of. You're "at the top" and need a trusted group of mentors and colleagues to exchange ideas.

• Would describe yourself as a high achiever but performing at a low level. You are not performing to your true potential. You feel like you're settling and that doesn't feel good.

• Are excited but don't know where to start. You're savvy and have been in business a while, but you lack critical knowledge in how to do business in this new marketplace.

• Often feel overwhelmed. This happens when you're working in your business trying to get your task list completed and haven't taken time to work on the essential strategic elements of your business in order to take it to the next higher level.

• Feel frustrated and not passionate about your work. Your alarm goes off in the morning, you press the snooze button several times, and dread getting out of bed.

When run well, Masterminds leverage the power of a collective group. Questions are asked that you didn't even know needed to be asked to solve problems and overcome challenges you didn't realize you were about to face. The payoff is priceless!

In Part 2 of Mastermind Your Way to Small Business Success, I'll reveal how to spot when your Mastermind isn't working. I'll also outline the essential elements of highly-successful Mastermind Groups that are designed to stop you from spinning your wheels and start turning your mindset and your business toward prosperity and passion.

Get Your Business Ready for Tax Time - The End of Financial Year

The end of the financial year is an extremely important period for all pharmacy business owners. It is a time to understand your financial position as well as plan for the year ahead. If you did not have any accurate monthly financial reports last year, now is the best time to start.

The best way to begin is by organizing your bookkeeping systems and financial procedures in order to ensure that you maximize returns and have full control over your pharmacy. This is a critical part of running a successful business.The majority of time business owners, especially pharmacists who work long hours, do not have the available time to accurately organize their financial papers. A bookkeeper however, can help you improve and make the job easy and painless. Generally, bookkeepers are able to take care of all the paperwork and manage the payroll.

Generating and understanding financial rations can be a complicated process. For this reason, it is important to seek a bookkeeper's advice when it comes to analysing your business performance. Bookkeepers are able to give the business owner monthly accurate financial figures and rations in an easy to understand format with an explanation. This whole process can be linked to the pharmacy industry as a whole, which enables you to see how your pharmacy compares with the rest.

There are bookkeepers that specialize in the pharmacy industry, who have the means and experience to further assist pharmacy owners. These specialists know everything regarding pharmacy bookkeeping, from specific suppliers (API, Sigma, Pfizer), to pharmacy wage awards to dealing with service trusts. They are able to deal with processes that pharmacies require, easily and correctly.

Director of a bookkeeping firm, Anatole Kabov says that, "most bookkeepers are unaware of how to process invoices correctly in order to receive the full GST amount back. Entering forward charges can be a complicated process that not all bookkeepers might be familiar with."

Most importantly, bookkeeping specialists are able to identify specific areas to claim back GST and tax. Understanding which monthly adjustments are required in order to generate 100% accurate financial reports for pharmacy owners, banks and accountants. Expertise in these areas is something that general bookkeepers may not be aware of. Anatole says that bookkeepers should "work with the majority of banks in providing financial figures for quarterly reviews... advise clients of specific financial changes to the pharmacy industry, such as wage awards."

The End of the Financial Year is only around the corner, and keeping these tips in mind, businesses as a whole, can see why it is essential to seek professional advice during tax time. Having a professional help with your tax returns is an essential way to make sure you maximize on your returns- making sure that the new financial year is more successful than the last.

Make Networking Part of Your Business

Now to get 'Ted's Toddler Toys' (or whatever) in to the public domain. Eventually, this will require some paid marketing, even if it's just a few words in the local classified ads. But there are numerous ways to get your name out there, that are completely free, and, more importantly, they work

Networking. Don't ignore this, it's crucial to your growth and survival. You've all heard the saying, 'people buy from people', and this is so very, very true.

You may at first be a bit of a shrinking violet, I certainly was, and the mere thought of standing up in a room full of successful, or so I believed at the beginning, business men and women, was more than I could handle.

Don't worry, a lot of people feel the same, although if you're like me, you'll believe that you are the only person there who's quivering in their boots, stilettos, roman sandals, or whatever your preferred form of footwear. I suggest looking around for groups that have been formed entirely for the benefit of new start ups, or those still considering starting up. There are plenty out there, and usually free.

One word of advice, and I am by no means an expert, and would never attempt to imply that I am; I'm just speaking from experience, and from advice given to me. Do not try and sell your business when networking. By this I mean don't cram it down everyone's throat.

Go along to a few meetings or groups; get to know people, and get them to know, like and eventually trust you. Find out if there's any way you can help them. Now, you may be thinking, 'how on earth can I, a complete novice, help anyone else?' You will be surprised.

We all know someone whom others won't know. The person you're chatting away to at a networking event may be further down the line with his business venture than you, but he may need to be put in touch with someone who can provide him with an essential, reliable service. There's every chance you can point him in the right direction.

Trust me, it will happen. I was just a few weeks in to running my first business, and at my first networking event, when I got talking to someone who wasn't very happy with his accountant. How about that? I'd recently been referred to a young single mum who specialised in small business accounts. She gained a valuable customer; I gained the respect and trust of both the guy at the event, and the accountant, who by the way, has just joined me in my network marketing business, and also become one of my closest friends.

There are also several online networking groups or forums, most of them free to join, where again you will gain support and advice, without having to meet face to face. Personally, I would suggest considering these as an extra method of getting yourself known, not the only method.

Positioning Your Business So You Can Charge More Money, And Have Happier Customers

If you're on this page and your business doesn't have a USP, you're exactly where you need to be.

These days a USP is critical to your business. Gone are the days where you can rely on not having any competition. Now you have to make sure you can stand out from the pack, and that your customer knows it!

A USP is a unique selling proposition (or sometimes known as a unique sales position, or some combination of the two). And it is a short (less than 90 words) concise statement that can tell someone exactly what they will get by shopping with you, that they can't get from the competition.

This is critical because if your customer doesn't know what you do... why would they ever try to find you?

You can't talk about USP's without mentioning the one that put Domino's Pizza on the map:

"Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed."

This tells you everything you need to know about them. This was done in a time when pizza delivery was slow an unreliable. You had no idea when your pizza would get there, and by the time you did get it, it would be cold. This USP is clear, concise, and addressed a need that was missing in the industry at the time. A need that is important to your customers.

Do you remember why you started in business in the first place? Most business owners notice a need in an industry that's going unfulfilled, and they start a business to fill that need. Why did you start up your business?

There are a couple ways you can differentiate your business from the competition. There's price, being 'different', or becoming more targeted.

Price is the obvious way to differentiate yourself, but I urge you to try something else. Unless there's a reason that you can offer a low price that your competitors can't match, you're asking for trouble. All it takes is someone to come in and take less profit for you to lose your position, and there's no glory in being second cheapest.

Positioning your business as being 'different' is a much better way to go. This can be things like offering a bigger selection, a better guarantee, more convenience, better performance, etc. Find something that you can do that none of your competitors can. (Or something that no one knows your competitors does... but make sure you know for certain what your competition is doing!)

Becoming more targeted is also a great option, especially with the internet and the fact that you can now easily run a nationwide company from the comfort of your own home. What I mean by 'more targeted' is by taking a section of your existing customers that have something in common, and position yourself as a solution just for them. An example of this would be an attorney that specializes in elder law, an engineering firm that specifically works on motorcycle engines, or a health food store that sells specifically to hockey players.

A great way to do this would be to find a bias in your existing customers, and target all of your marketing directly to that niche. All customers lists have some kind of bias if you look hard enough. Maybe most of your customers belong to the same religion. Maybe they all drive the same kind of car. If you can find your bias, you've been unconsciously attracting these customers already, now you can consciously go after them.

In this day and age, if you don't set yourself apart from the rest of your competition, you're not going to be able to take your business to the next level (unless you're really lucky... and a business is not something that should be based on luck).

Personal Management, How You Can Accomplish Your Personal and Business Goals

Personal management is the process of planning and fulfilling personal goals for your life. These goals include all pertinent areas of your life, like business, career, family, health, finance, time management and education.

Many people struggle with knowing which of these to do when and how much, without feeling totally overwhelmed and stressed. That is why knowing the one thing to do in any given moment is the true secret of achievement at home and work. That is what personal management is all about.

Brian Tracy addresses this issue in his book entitled, "Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals."

In this article, you will learn some tips from this book to help you develop clarity and satisfaction, both professionally and personally.

Are you frustrated with too many professional and personal demands on your time?

Are you working long hours? Ir the quality of your time at home being affected by the quantity of time you spend at work? Do you feel overwhelmed? Are you unsatisfied and stressed out?

This book proposes that the secret to high achievers is their ability to know their focal point at all times. The focal point, as defined by Tracy, is the one thing you should do to get the best possible outcome at any given moment.

Here are key concepts on personal management covered in this book:

1. You should determine the things you do that give the greatest value to you and your business and spend more time doing those activities. By spending more time doing those things, you will get better at them and it will take less time to accomplish those activities.

2. You should determine the activities that contribute little value to you and your business and make up your mind to either delegate them or eliminate them altogether.

3. Personal management includes continuous learning for personal and professional development to achieve any goal you set.

4. Successful people have the following qualities:

a. Future orientation - envision a better future, continually imagine the perfect outcome

b. Goal orientation -- constantly think about your goals and achieving them

c. Excellence orientation -- commit to becoming excellent; be in the top 10%

d. Result orientation -- focus on results; successful people are paid for outcomes, not activities

e. Solution orientation -- think about how the problem can be solved, not about who to blame

f. Growth orientation -- become a continuous learner

g. Action orientation -- have a sense of urgency to accomplish your goals

5. Personal management requires a strategic plan for your business and personal life. You will need to identify what things are important, what you will do to achieve your goals, and what steps you will take to accomplish your goals.

6. For personal management to work there are seven things you should make time for every day:

a. Goal setting - what will you accomplish today?

b. Planning and organizing - how will you accomplish those things?

c. Priority setting - when will you accomplish those things?

d. Concentration - focus on the desired outcomes

e. Exercise and nutrition - maintain good health

f. Learning and growth - if you aren't getting better, you are getting worse.

g. Important people in your life - maintain relationships with family and friends

The personal management points covered in this article are worth a second read, particularly when you start to feel overwhelmed and stressed. However, the book, Focal Point, covers these points in more detail and offers a unified approach to accomplishing your goals at home and work. I recommend you read this book. If you do, you will want to re-read it when you start to lose your focus or feel stressed out.

Are Government Business Grants a Myth?

I have received numerous emails and phone calls asking if there are any more government grants for starting or expanding a business. People sometimes state that they have been talking with a government official who told them that there are no government grants anymore. While this isn't surprising to hear it is bothersome because it is simply not true. There are government grants available for starting or expanding a business.

I could list several examples here but frankly that is the information we reserve for our website subscribers. I will share one excellent grant program with you however, the Self Employment Benefit program. Here is a program that will pay you a grant of approximately $450.00 per week while you are preparing your business plan and or operating your business. The grant is payable for a maximum of 52 weeks, 78 weeks if your are a person with a disability.

With programs such as this available, why then are some government officials advising people that there are no grants anymore? There are primarily three reasons:

1) The Specialist - Having been with the Government of Canada for 14 years, I can tell you that bureaucrats are famous or infamous depending upon your perspective, for lacking knowledge of what goes on outside of their own departments/agencies. Often they are not aware of the programs of another division within their own departments. They are not to blame for this however.

Historically, governments have delivered their programs using the "specialist" model whereby an individual can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about his or her area of expertise but precious little about anything else. There have been attempts at using a generalist service delivery model i.e. government employees who have a working knowledge of many programs but lack expertise in any of them. You've probably heard terms such as "the single window approach" being used to explain this philosophy. Unfortunately this approach has been slow to catch on and the specialist method of program delivery is still prevalent. Consequently a government employee may advise you that there are no grants available simply because they don't know the difference.

2) Terminology - I hate to state the obvious, but government terminology is confusing. Many government programs provide funding that is non - repayable but are not called grants. There is a legal basis for this however it is beyond the scope of this article. They are sometimes called "contribution agreements" or some other similar name but the bottom line is they are "non - repayable." The next time you are talking with a government employee, don't ask if there are any grants, ask if there are any non repayable contributions available. You may get a different answer.

3) Third Party Delivery - Some government departments finance third party sectoral or community based organizations to administer funding on their behalf. For example: In British Columbia, Canada there is a company called Forestry Innovation Investment Limited. They provide funding for applied research, product development and international marketing activities. This is not a government department or agency. This is a company that was incorporated under the Company Act of British Columbia but guess what? The Province of British Columbia, as represented by the Minister of Forests, is the sole shareholder of the company.

There is nothing deceptive here on the part of the government. I'm sure they have their reasons for taking this approach to service delivery. The point is if you ask a government employee if the Ministry of Forests provides funding for product development, you may be told, no and technically that would be correct. Forestry Innovation Investment Limited, which is owned by the Ministry of Forests, does provide funding however and that could be the very funding you need for your venture.

I hope I have helped you realize that your search for government funding involves a lot more than asking a government employee if there are any grants available because depending upon who you talk to and the terminology you use, you may come away misinformed.

Sharon Monahan is president of The Business Guide Incorporated. She, is a Business graduate of Memorial University with over 14 years experience in the public sector. She has been personally involved in the assessment and awarding of millions of dollars in government grants. Ms. Monahan left the public service to pursue a career in the private sector.