By Debra Thompson The world is in a state of flux and business owners are very concerned about getting back on track and seeing their business levels return to growth and profitability. It is difficult to say what is going to happen with the economy right now, but I do know one thing for sure. This is the opportune time to position your business for the future. The business owners who realize this are the ones that will definitely have a competitive advantage in the very near future. What every business owner should be focusing on right now is their infrastructure. If you don't have a strong infrastructure in place, you will not be able to grab the golden ring when the opportunity presents itself. To evaluate your infrastructure...

When a managerial position opens up, it is usually an opportunity to move a top performer into the position. No one would argue that promoting from within sends a strong message to the rest of the company about investing in people and cultivating management talent. Unfortunately, when it comes to actual qualifications, current job performance is given greater weight than the competencies required for a managerial position – most notably, management traits and/or experience. The fact that individual job performance and management are two entirely different sets of competencies too often gets ignored. Before you know it, you have someone in the position that doesn’t know the first thing about managing a group of people. Dr...

As printers search for new revenue, selling and supporting websites is becoming an exciting new product to sell. Websites integrate easily with printing companies since many printers are already working closely with customers to manage their message. But there are some printers who do not want to get into Web services. Printers do not have to sell Web services, but they must realize that it is important to understand the Web if they want to continue printing for a company. Printers will have to become “Web experts†because they need to help customers integrate their print collateral with the current website information, even if they don’t maintain the websites. Combining the power of the Web with print is proving to be...

I heard this from one of the attendees during my seminar at the Mid-Winter Conference. I thought it was so appropriate. There are many shops out there that will never be as good as what the owner desires, because they continue to put up with underachievers or bad-attitude employees. Even though finding a replacement for this type of individual is a top concern for owners throughout the nation right now, these employees must be addressed. The first recommendation is to “Coach Your Underachievers.†The second recommendation is to “Get Rid of Them.†Underachievers come in every shape, size, educational background and ethnic group. The only thing they have in common is that they are not living up to the potential that...