don't loose profits

When the discussion comes to entrepreneurial profits, the business owners are often puzzled how they can increase net income. The real question first is how to use the whole potential of an existing business.

My favorite small business - beauty salon has recently bought artifitial tan station. They need to pay off the credit. But since it is working no announcement came. Of course, best clients know about this service. But not all of them. I asked them to put info note at the wall close to reception area. Three times. Today I will check if they managed that.

Inform! How your clients can buy if they don't know what to?

pleasure

What MBA really gave to me is a pleasure of choosing a place to work. Not companies are choosing me, but I'm really choosing my future employer.

A pleasure that requires a great deal of responsibility, but it is still a pleasure.

entrepeneurial spirit

Today I had a talk with my friend. She is around 50 and she is an owner of small beauty salon close to my appartment in Ryazan. This lady is a very active person, she's about to open her own kid's store here, in Ryazan (they're remaking an appartment at ground floor to a shop now) and also is an active member of one of the churches (she coordinates also a rehab center project for ex-prisoners).

Yep, she has a typical entrepreneurial soul with a lot of personal time devoted to her business activities. She understands the necessity of establishing the contact with her clients, she has a high percentage of clients who visited her salon more than 1 time. She has a bit higher prices than most of the hairdressers close by, but still, she has her clients. She loves her staff, her girls treat her as a close elder friend. She has a great inner ennergy sourse, that helps her to make actions even if she doesn't know how to act.

Well, she does a lot of things successful entrepreneurs do. But she doesn't know her profit. Yes, she has all the figures for taxation purporses, but she never counts the difference between revenues and costs. She operates on a basis of cashflow - if she has enough cash to pay her rent and public utilities, she's happy. Sometimes she knows that she hasn't earn enough money to cover them in curret period, but she has some money left from previous one.

I asked her to provide me with all data about receips and expenditures to understand her profit picture. I hope understanding inflows and otflows of cash will help her to understand her situation better and improve profit. I also asked her to make minutes about all the small expenses left unaccounted - at least this will give me a full picture to start my recommendations for improvements.

I will keep an eye on this company.

marketing essence

Marketing essence from Seth Godin:

Make big promises; overdeliver.

Mistakes:
- Making too big promises - unrealistic.
- Making not enough promises - not attractive.
- Deliver less than promised.

self promotion

Seth Godin's post about different approaches of self promotion: me-centric vs. client/customer/audience centric.

I published a book so I need you to read it
vs.
There’s something you need to read, so I wrote about it.

Tradeoff

I have a tough decision to make. The simlest tradeoff between stable position of brand manager with local operational challenges and a very challenging position of strategy consultant, which gives a lot food for brains but also requires a lot personal resources (time, attention).

Yes, after MBA I feel tired. But I had 4 months of my family period and recovered a lot. And passive way of leisure is not a best way for me. Consulting offers a constant thinking process - I love it, the same to challenge. Branding offers me a stable work in a field I know, lower cost comparable to consulting (region location, less requirements to lifestyle).

The only question that is crucial is if I'm ready for stable family life now. Not a professional one, not a financial one.

Phuf...

Mauricio again

Well, my bad influence went to its peak - my coachie finally became an official blogger and wrote his first couple of posts in his blog. In his very first post he kindly made a piece of PR for me:

Marina’s role in all this was pivotal. She was the first avid blogger I had ever met in depth that can actually claim to have a significant level of daily readership of her online conversations. Most impressive was her discipline in terms of keeping her content constant and fresh, despite the heavy academic workload demanded by our program. After watching her do this for some time, it became evident that the main driver behind this discipline was the relationship she had forged with her readers who looked to her for advice on obtaining scholarships in Russia for academic programs abroad, as well as everyday girl-talk (Marina is also a contributor to the Russian COSMO blog). All in all, a very special cyber-relationship indeed! One that peaked my interest and drew me into the sport of blogging.

From my point of view I can add the followng. Blogging is a process that corresponds to my nature - I can easily and quickly write all the posts and find interestng information to be posted. I love sharing - sharing thoughts, knowledge, things that make me smile. I love receiving feedback; of course, I prefer a good one to a bad one. And having a loyal audience, it is easier to get a good comment. And the last but not the least is that my blog becomes a good tool for network and relationship creation, it makes the process of people knowing me better faster. and I appreciate that very much.

Good luck, Coachie, and thank you for PR:)

My Netvibes

What are you reading now? What do you read on regular basis?

My answer to the last question is my gmail and blogs.
I can't share my private email, but I certainly can do this with blogs. Netvibes, to be exact.

Here is my universe. Here I posted two pages of blogs I usually read - English and Russian ones. Thanx God, now the public profile is available to everyone.

twitter2

What is more important to have: a love to a product you manage or a match to people you will work with.

meeting time

I entered labor market for active job search a bit less than a month ago. It´s really a time when my ambitions meet market requirements, supply meets demand.

Sometimes it hurts. E.g. when demanding part doesn´t understand that it asks a bit different things the supplying one can offer (I'm speaking about overqualified personnel who is offered lower position just because (s)he can do this) and demanding part starts pressing. Sometimes you have a perfect fit but too low-start position. Sometimes it is a total dismatch.

The thing I use to forget about labor market is that information is not perfect here. If you don't want to loose time for interview, you'd better clarify positions and interests. Just to save time.