Are you like the multitude of small business owners that flies by the “seat of their pants” when it comes to running their business day-to-day. It is the same for many business owners, we love the thrill of running our business, but we never seem to have enough time to get everything done that needs done.

Most small business owners are doers. They are the kind of people who can take on any task and get it done. This is generally why they are successful in owning their own business. The trick is to harness that ability and energy that allows you to get things done, organize it, and make it work for you.

I follow a simple process to make myself as productive as possible. Here it is:

1. Plan the next day – Every day before I leave the office I spend the last 30 minutes planning my next day. My daily plan includes an hour-by-hour plan. No matter the task I make the effort to dedicate time to getting the task done. After a task has made my calendar, it then goes on a task list. The next day as each task gets done I earn a check-mark, my reward!
2. Utilize your time – When I am in the office, I work on the things that need done, I don’t allow my time to get away from me, Too many people get distracted with what is not important. This includes those lunch and breakfast meetings. Make sure when you dedicate time to someone at lunch or breakfast, that there is an objective, and it is time well spent. Building relationships is time well spent.
3. Balance – If you do nothing but work, even if you enjoy it, you will burn out. Our brains need diversions or distractions. Give yourself time with your family and friends. Shut off your email, turn off you Blackberry. There is nothing there so important that it cannot be answered the next day.
4. Exercise – My workout regimen in the morning is recharge time. It gets my brain and my blood moving. It also allows me to burn off that excess stress that tends to build up for all small business owners.
5. Be flexible – Having a planned day is critical to getting stuff done; however, business is dynamic, so our schedules need to be dynamic as well. Don’t become so focused on following a daily plan that you lose sight of other opportunities.

Here is some more good advice on making the most of every day.

In today’s world we seem to be working hard to teach the next generation the wrong principles of success while burdening them with even greater life and social challenges. The lessons of success being learned in the reality television classroom teach younger generations that 30 days is a “long time” to work to earn $1,000,000, that lying and disloyalty are key success factors, and that not much is off limits! These are not lessons for success, they are the basis of a workbook for achieving mediocrity!

We often referred to our family business  as a 40-year-overnight success. The successful people I know all put in the time to move their venture or their career forward. They made sacrifices, whether personal or financial, over an extended period of their lives to get to where they are today. Many of these people were just pursuing something they were passionate about, they had no time-line!

I have come across many people in my career in business who expect to get to the top, but not put in the time. These are the folks who want to put in 40 hours every week, and believe that is all they need to do to move up the ladder or create a successful business. To be successful you will have to put in the time. The people that move ahead are the ones who are committed, whether it is in sports, business, or any other venture, those that put in the time will achieve some measure of success.

On occasion you will fall short of your goals, the most successful people know have learned to cope with these challenges and keep moving forward. They do not allow a set-back to be a take-down. They learn to deal with adversity, pick themselves up and keep moving. They understand that the road to success is a long journey with many twists and turns, failure is just one of the stops along the way.

Here are five things to remember as you chart your course for career or business success:

1. Set a goal – Without a goal or a direction there is no telling where you will end up. Make sure you start by knowing where you want to finish.
2. Craft a plan – This does not mean the plan won’t change, it just means you will have a general idea of how you plan to achieve your goal.
3. Commit – Be prepared to put in the time and a long term effort. Overnight successes in business are rare. Make sure you have a long term view of success, and enjoy the ride.
4. Prepare for adversity – Most successful people will tell you that their journey was not smooth. Creating true business or career success is more about how you deal with set-backs rather than victories.
5. Update your goals – You should constantly be revisiting your goals and your plans and make sure it all still makes sense. The business world is dynamic, therefore, our plans need to be dynamic as well.

If you want to move your business or career forward, be prepared to do the hard work. Those that do will reap the rewards, those that don’t will reap what they sow!

Durable Goods orders fell 5.3 percent in January. The drop was greater than consensus expectations and the largest drop since August of last year. The softness was across the board in all areas of spending with electrical equipment being the only area of increase last month. This is just additional evidence that points to the current overall slowness in the U.S. economy.

I know many prospective entrepreneurs who have an idea, but are not sure how to get it to reality. Here is an article from Fortune Small Business which has some tips on how to go from an idea to an operating business. Here are a few things I suggest to keep in mind that are less operational and more inspirational.

1. Persevere – You will hear no a lot. Remember when you stop the pursuit of your idea, you are killing your idea. It won’t take off on its own. If you need funding, find funding. If you need suppliers, find suppliers. Always remember it can be done, even if no one has done it yet.
2. Have a vision for success – I always suggest painting a picture of what you believe your business will look like once you have reached your goal. Keep that picture in mind, especially on the tough days!
3. Be patient – It will not happen overnight! The quicker you understand this, and embrace this the better off you will be. Too many entrepreneurs get discouraged because things don’t happen quickly.
4. Have fun – The most successful entreprenuers I know are usually doing something they are having fun with, something they are passionate about. If you are going to jump in and take the risk make sure it is something you can stay committed to.

I was once told that starting a business will be one of the most challenging things I will ever do in my professional life, and it will be one of the most rewarding!

The Producer Price Index for January rose 1 percent, and core prices (less food and energy) rose .4 percent. The overall index was pushed up by higher oil prices and continued price pressure on consumer’s food purchases. The slowing economy and rising prices are continuing to weigh on consumer sentiment. The Conference Board reported today that February consumer confidence had dropped to a five year low. The index dropped to 75 from 87.3 in January. The data continues to paint a picture of a slowing economy with continued price pressures, stagflation!

One of the most challenging things for family businesses to work through is management succession, getting your business from one generation to the next. Each time a family business goes through a generational transition the odds of success go down. For example, the odds are not in your favor going from the first generation to the second, and they get worse going from the second to third, and so on.

Generational transitions are certainly not impossible. I serve on the advisory boards of several multi-generational businesses, one is currently going from the fourth to the fifth generation of family leadership. I have watched what these families have done and developed some quick tips on how you can get your business from one generation to the next.

1. Set a date – Management succession is not real until the generation in power steps down and lets the next leader or group of leaders step up. Setting a date makes it concrete for everyone. This can give all those involved time to prepare for the transition, and it creates a solid transition. Setting a date makes it real!
2. Define who does what – Too many families don’t define responsibilities for each generation which only serves to confuse everyone involved. When responsibilities are clearly defined and communicated, everyone involved begins to understand that the current generation is no longer calling the shots. Combine this with a set date and you show everyone the torch has been passed.
3. Communicate – The generations need to talk to each other and to everyone involved. Make sure employees are aware of the transition, let them get comfortable with the idea. If the current generation has been leading the business for some time, there will be a major adjustment for the employees as they test the boundaries with the incoming generation. Keep them informed!
4. Hold the line - Many times, simply out of habit, the outgoing generation will make decisions when asked by employees, or act as a go-between when employees have an issue with the new leadership. You cannot allow this to happen. Everyone needs to understand who is in charge.
5. This is not a monarchy – In a monarchy the first born gets the job. Regardless of talent and skill the first born child gets the first crack at leading the business, especially if the first born is male. You need to pick a successor based on who is qualified, not who is first. Making that tough decision early in the succession process will help everyone in the long run.

These are just some simple tips, if you would like to dive in to succession further you can listen to my free podcast on succession here. 

Last October I posted an article about some key indicators which I believed were pointing towards a recession, at the very least I felt we were headed for a downturn. At the time many of my colleagues rolled their eyes with slight indignation letting me know they thought my economic analysis was off base. Today I have seen several articles regarding recent surveys of economist, all of them indicate the likelihood of recession is growing. 

When it comes to discussions about our economic condition we need to ditch the pundits and policy makers who have a hidden agenda, and focus on the realities. If we can shift our thinking from trying to defend indefensible positions and move to rational analysis, then we can address economic challenges earlier in the cycle and attack downturns before they are on top of us! 

Many of our Rough Air clients involved in manufacturing are grappling with the challenge of competing with low cost manufacturing. Two of our family businesses had to deal with this issue, with one we were successful, with the other we were not. You can read about both of these cases in my book Rough Air Ahead, available here, or at your favorite book retailer (sorry about the plug)!

When we were faced with this challenge we put together a strategy that had several key pieces. We worked hard at building our brand and lifting the quality perception of our product. Our belief was that we needed to position ourselves as a high quality, high technology producer. We also developed a lean program to help drive productivity. Our lean expert, and one I highly recommend, was Frank Giannattasio, here is his bio. Frank worked with us to improve our productivity, his efforts helped us significantly improve our bottom line.

One of the challenges we ran into up front was getting the employees to buy in to the lean effort. Many of our manufacturing employees were worried that productivity increases meant job cuts. We reinforced that our lean effort was designed to be able to grow our volume, and at the same time improve the output of each manufacturing worker. We did not want to cut jobs, we just wanted to add fewer than old system would require due to growth. This of course, did not ease their fears, and it took time to get people to buy in.

It strikes me that while no one wants to get forced out of business because of a low cost competitor, our businesses would be far better off if we accepted the reality that we operate in global markets and adjusted our businesses to compete in those markets!

We will get quite a bit of economic data this week ranging from numbers on housing to growth to inflation. We will start the week with Existing Home Sales on Monday, the Producer Price Index and Consumer Confidence on Tuesday, and Durable Goods and New Home Sales on Wednesday. We will end the week with Adjusted GDP numbers on Thursday and more Consumer Sentiment data on Friday. 

A Vice-President that worked for me when I was CEO of our prior family business once told me that good quality is no longer considered a competitive advantage, it is now expected as business as usual. This may be true, but your quality reputation can help or haunt you for years.

It takes years to develop a reputation for good quality, and a very short period of time to destroy that reputation. How many of us are rushing out to buy our kids toys made in China? Once your reputation for good quality or poor quality is established you will carry the responsibility for that reputation, whether it is the responsibility to uphold it, or the responsibility to change it.

Good quality may be understood, but many times it is not practiced. Here are some simple thoughts on quality and building or maintaining your quality reputation.

1. Quality is not just the product – If you believe that your only quality focus is the product you provide you are mistaken. Delivering on time, keeping commitments, ensuring customers stay informed, and providing accurate product or service information, these all establish your quality reputation.
2. Keep Your Balance – Too many business owners, in an effort to boost revenues, emphasize getting the product out the door at all costs. Don’t create the perception among your employees that shipping product is more important than shipping quality product.
3. Know the details – Whenever we would be shipping a new product or a major new customer order, I would go back and spot check the order myself. I remember one experience when I found a manufacturing error when spot checking a new strategic partner’s order. Make sure your employees know you are committed to quality, and you are willing to commit time to the effort, lead by example.
4. Do more than registration – I know many business owners that automatically respond they are ISO certified when asked about their quality. ISO is about process, it ensures that you do things the same over and over again. While certification is good, it is not the end all solution. A company making cement life vests could meet the ISO standard by doing it the same every time.
5. Talk to your customer - Look past all the folks in the middle and speak directly to your customer. They will tell you about your product and your service. Too many times the business owner or CEO gets the filtered view. They get their feedback from the folks around them and not from customers who are willing to give them the straight scoop.

These are just some simple tips in regards to your quality effort. Always remember, while good quality may be understood, poor quality can damage your reputation and haunt your business for years.