PREVIEW OF STEP 1 TO SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS
PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT
RATIONALE:
"Know Thyself" is a crucial piece of advice for someone anticipating
small business ownership. Whatever strengths you have will be tested and whatever
weaknesses you have will be magnified in the pressure-oriented life of most
small businesses.
Going further with that theme, it is strongly believed that a major reason
for such a high failure rate in the small business area is that too many individuals
are simply not aware of all the challenges that exist in running a small business
before they get into it. Truth be known, if this knowledge were readily available
and honestly acted upon, many individuals would not go into business in the
first place or at least they might delay their entry until they were more prepared
for the challenges. The reason why these "pre-assessments" are so
critical is that any problems that exist before entering business are often
greatly magnified after entering business due to increased time and performance
pressures. And then it is often too late to pull out or back off without major
financial and psyche damage.
This Step of PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT is designed to provide just
that kind of information to you. It will give you an important initial indication
as to whether or not owning a small business is for you at this time.
There are three (3) parts to Step 1, Personal and Professional Assessments.
The Personal and Professional Assessments are treated separately, initially,
so that their distinctiveness can be better appreciated. But then they are “combined”
in the final part because in practice they are virtually inseparable.
SPECIFIC PRODUCTS: (91 Pages, 14 Exercises, Questions and Readings)
- PERSONAL ASSESSMENT: Starts with two fundamental questions:
Personal Goal Assessment: (Exercise)
Why do you want to go into business?
If you don't have a clear sense of why you're going into business in the first
place, then the slightest setback (and there will probably be many of them)
is likely to be more discouraging than it should be. Personal Financial Assessment: (Exercise)
What are your financial expectations
for going into business? Many individuals go into business with inflated expectations
about the financial returns, especially in the short run. These unrealistic
expectations can easily run into standard of living issues for your personal
life and/or serious cash flow problems for the business.
The PERSONAL ASSESSMENT section then looks at several individual issues thought to be
particularly important to the success of small business owners/managers. Learning Style Assessment: (Exercise)
What is your natural learning style?
Since a great of time will be spent learning a wide range of new things, how
you learn is very important. Learning takes time and energy and if you are not
learning in the most efficient way possible, you are wasting both, and to boot,
you're probably not even learning the material very effectively. Not every one
learns the same way and if you are not learning with your preferred style, it
can be a real problem. Personality Type Assessment: (Exercise)
What are your personality characteristics
and how will they relate to the running of your small business? An assessment
of your personality characteristics will provide important clues to you regarding
how you are likely to engage many facets of your business. There are no right
or wrong answers here, just awareness that can help you become a more effective
owner/manager. Life Energy Assessment: (Exercise)
Are you consuming more energy than
you are creating? An often overlooked or misunderstood individual characteristic
has to do with the life energy (mental and physical) that you create or consume
in your everyday living. Since most small businesses are personally energy intensive,
it is very helpful to know where your energy level is before going into business
so that you can better anticipate the demands on your energy after the business
is launched.
PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT: In the next section of Step 1, the focus shifts
to the PROFESSIONAL side, to those characteristics/activities that are directly
related to the running of a small business.
Potential Roles of the Small Business person: (Reading)
What roles will you
have to perform as owner/manager of your small business? More than you probably
realize is the short answer. The section starts out with a discussion of the
possible roles of a small business owner/manager might have to perform. Of course
not all of these roles will have to be performed all the time for every business
but this presentation will give the uninitiated a taste of the quantity and
complexity of that awaits many of them in the field of small business. 
Management and Leadership: (Reading)
What is the latest thinking on the
important twin concepts of management and leadership. A discussion on the Nature
of Management and Leadership leads off this part where similarities and differences
of the two concepts are highlighted. Leadership is presented as an integral
part of Management as well as a concept unto itself.
Management Abilities Assessment: (Exercise)
On the basis of the material
covered in Section 7, what are your Management Abilities? This exercise will
help you to assess your Management Abilities using the general functions of
planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Leadership Style Assessment: (Exercise)
What is your leadership style? This
exercise will help you to assess your Leadership Style and relate it to your
management abilities. Small Business Operational Management Skills Assessment: (questionnaire)
What is your knowledge and strength of the various functional areas of small
business (e.g. human resources, finance, marketing etc.)? The final part of
this subsection on PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT relates the Management/ Leadership
issue to the specific functional areas of a hypothetical business and helps
you to determine your level of strength in a variety of standard small business
operations areas.
-
COMBINED PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL: The last subsection of Step 1, PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL
ASSESSMENT, integrates the individual components of PERSONAL and PROFESSIONAL
ASSESSMENT through a variety of exercises and supporting readings. As was discussed
earlier, in practice it is very difficult to separate the PERSONAL and the PROFESSIONAL
so recombining them provides a more realistic, holistic picture.
Important Personal/ Professional Qualities: (Reading and Exercise)
What personal/professional qualities are most important to the success of a
small business owner/manager? This subsection starts out with a discussion of
Personal/Professional qualities that are commonly mentioned as important to
an individual achieving small business success. You might be surprised at the
answer. The section then concludes with an exercise that will help determine
your personal/professional quality profile.
Personal/Professional Profile for Small Business Success:
This Questionnaire is developed from the key points in each of the components in STEP 1.
By numerically rating the answers and verbally elaborating on the question, a unique
quantitative/qualitative profile is generated. The end result is an in-depth
"picture" of how ready you are, personally and professionally, to launch into the
world of small business. The final section of the profile enables you to address any of
the issues where you might need some additional assistance. Variations of Personal/Professional Qualities During Different Business
Timeframes: (Reading)
Of course not all of these personal/professional characteristics
are needed at the same level in all periods of a business. This discussion on
provides one author's idea of how these characteristics might vary. Compensating for Personal/Professional Weaknesses in the Small Business
Environment: (Reading)
Few individuals are totally endowed with all the personal/professional
abilities to successfully run a small business. This component offers some suggestions
for making up any shortcomings that might be detected and need to be covered.
EXPECTED BENEFITS:
With fourteen (14) different exercises, questionnaires, and related readings,
this PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT Step should provide for you a comprehensive
qualitative and quantitative "read" on how ready you are, personally
and professionally, to enter the demanding world of small business ownership
at this time. Keep in mind the general caveat to the participants in this process.
The quantitative indicators used in these exercises are just that, indicators,
not assurances. Even if you "scored" poorly on one or more of the
exercises, it does not necessarily mean that you should refrain from a career
in small business. It means simply that you need to be careful of the indicated
soft spots and have a strategy to cover them if the need arises.
|
|
|
|
Purchase This Best Step Only!
$25.00
|
Purchase Two (2) Best Step Packages!
$40.00
Click on "Add to Cart" then click on "Continue Shopping" to
choose your other step.
To receive your package discount,
enter the code below when completing your order.
Discount Code = 2Pack
|
Purchase Four (4) Best Step Packages!
$60.00
Click on "Add to Cart" then click on "Continue Shopping" to
choose remaining 3 steps. To receive your
package discount, enter the code below when
completing your order.
Discount Code = 4Pack
|
Purchase Entire 6 Best Step Package!
$75.00
|
|
|
|
|
|
