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Business advice from James G. Ellis, continued ...
While small businesses and entrepreneurs
examine their focus, they need to keep a related value in mind. Their
success is integrally tied to their high performing employees, and they
must continually look at ways to keep their employees even when times
are tough. That can mean focusing on the details – from reducing travel
to conserving energy to cutting subscriptions – to keep overhead down
and cash reserves up.
Maintaining employee morale is also
linked to communicating clearly and effectively about the successes and
stresses of the business. My experience has led me to believe that
businesses should err on the side of over-communicating their strategy
to employees during challenging times; this will keep employees
engaged, and they will feel that they are part of the game. Employees
must feel like partners in a small business, and this is especially
true during down times.
During my years in the business world
and higher education, I have seen the peaks and valleys of the American
economy. Make no mistake – these are unique times. For the last two
years, we have experienced economic upheaval that we have not seen
since the Great Depression. While I think we are slowly moving toward
stability, the key to continued recovery is tied to our enduring
entrepreneurial spirit and the health of small businesses. Small
businesses are started by people with passion for an idea or a product,
and I would encourage small business owners to remember that passion
and clearly focus on their strengths and core vision. By doing so, I
believe that we can move past this perfect storm and find more
prosperous times ahead of us.
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Andrew J. Policano | Anil Puri | Esmael Adibi
Abe Helou | Linda A. Livingstone | Timothy Peters
Ahmad Hosseini | James G. Ellis
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Business advice from James G. Ellis, continued ...
While small businesses and entrepreneurs examine their focus, they need to keep a related value in mind. Their success is integrally tied to their high performing employees, and they must continually look at ways to keep their employees even when times are tough. That can mean focusing on the details – from reducing travel to conserving energy to cutting subscriptions – to keep overhead down and cash reserves up.
Maintaining employee morale is also linked to communicating clearly and effectively about the successes and stresses of the business. My experience has led me to believe that businesses should err on the side of over-communicating their strategy to employees during challenging times; this will keep employees engaged, and they will feel that they are part of the game. Employees must feel like partners in a small business, and this is especially true during down times.
During my years in the business world and higher education, I have seen the peaks and valleys of the American economy. Make no mistake – these are unique times. For the last two years, we have experienced economic upheaval that we have not seen since the Great Depression. While I think we are slowly moving toward stability, the key to continued recovery is tied to our enduring entrepreneurial spirit and the health of small businesses. Small businesses are started by people with passion for an idea or a product, and I would encourage small business owners to remember that passion and clearly focus on their strengths and core vision. By doing so, I believe that we can move past this perfect storm and find more prosperous times ahead of us.
<<< Previous page
Andrew J. Policano | Anil Puri | Esmael Adibi
Abe Helou | Linda A. Livingstone | Timothy Peters
Ahmad Hosseini | James G. Ellis
BACK TO MAIN PAGE
Andrew J. Policano | Anil Puri | Esmael Adibi
Abe Helou | Linda A. Livingstone | Timothy Peters
Ahmad Hosseini | James G. Ellis
BACK TO MAIN PAGE