Casual Articles - Business

Intranets: A Powerful Solution for Small Business Owners
As a small business owner who works virtually to collaborate with team members, contractors and clients it is often necessary for me to send very large files or to share documents. While I try to keep up with the proliferation of bells and whistles that are currently available; there are times when I just can't get a file through to someone. Inevitably it is always in what seems to be a "life or no invoice" type of situation when I am extremely crunched for time. There was the occasional moment when I would miss my corporate days...no, actually it was just their intranet that I missed. Why couldn't I have one? How much would it cost?The extreme

e PC systems out there such as Linux can run Open Office for free - and a spreadsheet looks the same in both. Your guest check-in system will run just as well on a free Unix system. And so on. Hospitality businesses are one industry that consistently overspends on business software. Your needs are not that fancy; any program that can open, edit, and save a text file will do just fine for writing that memo. And why pay for anti-virus software when a system like BSD or Linux doesn't get viruses in the first place? Every program you run should be free of cost, and for that matter you can run a hospitality business on "outdated" hardware, at least for a small-scale company.

Five Words to Never Use in an Ad
Google the term "magic advertising words" and you'll instantly get over 8 million results. But caveat emptor -- don't buy into everything you read, because your prospective buyer certainly won't.From the time marketing began, there has never been a shortage of self-appointed experts who claim to have identified the words that will unlock your customers' wallets. In the Internet age their advice is even easier to come by. They promise that words such as "you," "guarantee," "easy," "limited-time," and the old standby, "free," will generate surefire results. If only it were that simple.As a smart business person, you probably know that there are

With the low margins in the hospitality industry, you need every edge you can get. You've probably seen many articles on how to spot the bad employees. But what about warning signs that your own performance is lagging? Here's a list of mistakes to avoid which will help you get the most out of your employees and your hospitality business, be it restaurant, banquet, hotel, or casino.

Have no annual plan. This is the measly scheduling that all businesses have to do. Hospitality is a seasonal industry - scheduling maintenance and review tasks during non-peak hours will help you keep everything running smoother. This doesn't mean you have to stick to the plan when the inevitable complications arise, but over all your foresight should keep things running smoothly.

Don't invite inspections. Whether it's a fire code or a health code, periodic "friendly" inspections will help you identify problems and fix them early before they become accidents that will result in an "unfriendly" inspection. It also puts polish on your halo in the eyes of your insurance company.

Don't spend time in the trenches. Time and again, the most successful hospitality managers show up on the event floor or the dining room every now and then and pitch in for a shift. It helps communication between you and your staff, who have the opportunity to point out what needs fixing instead of trying to write you a memo. It boosts morale in the lowest levels of staff - their respect for you skyrockets when they see you aren't too much of a big shot to get your hands dirty. And of course, nothing puts your staff on it's best work ethic like having the boss working elbow to elbow with them.

Ignore the calendar. New Year's Eve coming up? Oh, well, we'll be busy anyway. Summer here? Well, let's see how the vacation crowd treats us. Instead of sitting there letting the holidays and seasons happen to you, you could have planned a special event or an aggressive marketing campaign in advance to make sure you take full advantage of the rich times. Making the most of the fat times helps you survive the thin times.

Ignore your competition. Nothing is more directly competitive than the hospitality industry; three restaurants on every corner, a chain of hotels along each street. You should be constantly thinking of what you can offer your customers that your competitors don't.

Micromanage the staff. The flip side of being in the trenches should be the confidence to lead with authority by delegating responsibility efficiently. If you feel you have to follow up every detail and make every minute decision, your staff will feel that you lack confidence in their abilities. You should just be able to give an order and have the employees scurry to carry it out, reporting back to you only if there's problems. Micromanaging is also a sign of a work-a-holic boss, and those aren't always the most successful ones.

Expect the business to run itself. Avoiding micromanaging doesn't just mean you can spend all week at home and check in on the phone twice a week. Nobody cares about your business as much as you do, and if you aren't there, things are likely to skew farther away from how you originally designed them to run.

Don't innovate. What could possibly be creative about our business? It's just providing the service of basic necessities of life, after all. That's when businesses fail; when they just keep doing what everybody else is doing. Innovation is when you offer a new service feature that nobody else does, create a hot new menu item and promote it in advertising, and a new luxury to your hotel property. Every time you innovate, you are temporarily in a market of one until your competitors copy you.

Ignore the computers. A hidden drain on the hospitality industry is the high cost of software. Maybe LucasFilm needs that $950 copy of Photoshop, but you're just as well off making your advertising flyers on the free Gimp. You really don't need Windows office software when the free PC systems out there such as Linux can run Open Office for free - and a spreadsheet looks the same in both. Your guest check-in system will run just as well on a free Unix system. And so on. Hospitality businesses are one industry that consistently overspends on business software. Your needs are not that fancy; any program that can open, edit, and save a text file will do just fine for writing that memo. And why pay for anti-virus software when a system like BSD or Linux doesn't get viruses in the first place? Every program you run should be free of cost, and for that matter you can run a hospitality business on "outdated" hardware, at least for a small-scale company.

Take the First Step Toward Finding Your Ideal Job
If I asked you to describe your ideal car...assuming no limits...how would you describe it? Most people can describe their ideal car in great detail--from the make,model, features, and color, to any accessories to how it would feel to be behind the wheel. When I ask people to describe their ideal job, however, most people are far less clear. They may describe one or two attributes, like how much it pays, and/or the job title. That’s it. If you were shopping for your ideal car, it would be easy to find because you could eliminate the thousands of cars that weren’t a fit. You would focus exclusively on dealerships that offered the car that ‘fit’ you. It’

It also puts polish on your halo in the eyes of your insurance company.

Great Waiters are Not Born - They're Made (Part 3)
Restaurants rely on good food and quality customer service to retain loyal customers and succeed in a competitive industry.Food and beverage serving and related workers who exhibit excellent personal qualities—such as a neat clean appearance, a well-spoken manner, an ability to work as a member of team, and a pleasant way with patrons—will be highly sought after.In many fine-dining restaurants where more complicated meals are prepared and often served over several courses waiters provide a more formal service. This takes some skill and is known as ‘full silver service’, emphasizing personal, attentive treatment at an elegant and leisurely pa

full advantage of the rich times. Making the most of the fat times helps you survive the thin times.

Calendars and Cubicles
Calendars and cubicles, do you wonder how they could possibly be related? Calendars have been around for hundreds of years. The primary practical use of a calendar is to identify days. They help us to be informed about a future event and to record an event that has happened. They allow us to plan ahead and to record events, dates and appointments that are important to us. For example, a calendar provides a way to determine which days are religious or civil holidays, which days mark the beginning and end of business accounting periods, and which days have legal significance, such as the day taxes are due or a contract expires. So where does the cubical co

all week at home and check in on the phone twice a week. Nobody cares about your business as much as you do, and if you aren't there, things are likely to skew farther away from how you originally designed them to run.

Making the Merger a Success
I was reading an article on Seeds of Growth on how individuals impact the branding and goodwill of an organisation. I found it quite easy to parallel to what they were saying about Corporate Branding and what I call Company Culture.See I'm a consultant that helps companies with divestments, carve-outs, post mergers, or post acquisitions. After the deal is done, I'm usually appointed to guide the organisations through all that is involved in the merger, and make sure they derive the value from the deal. Sometimes this gets lost in transition - people tend to focus on what's easy or important to them.The Seeds of Growth article was saying that

Ignore the Internet. Why should a hotel have a web site? So guests can get directions to the place and make reservations online. Why should a pizza parlor have a website? So customers can order online. Why have wireless web access in the lobby? Because traveling business guests bring laptops and want to stay online while they're there. Web space these days goes for as cheap as $5 per month, and building a website on it will be a one-time expense of $100 to any random online freelancer. You pay more than this to advertise in newspapers, yet the Internet can reach millions more customers!

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The hotel business has numerous franchise offers. With the hotel industry gaining prominence, more and more franchise offers are always coming up. You will find various franchise hotel offers if you are searching on the web. Leading hotels have started offering franchise offers with a view to attracting more and more business entrepreneurs. Hotels offer franchises basically to expand their business. However, you have to careful while opting for hotel franchise offers. It’s advisable to check out the economic viability of the hotels.

If you are of a certain age you will vividly remember the following names: Helena Rubenstein, Faberge, Germain Monteil, Trigere, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Max Factor, Schwinn, W. T. Grant, Montgomery Ward and Chuck Taylor. Each name represented a hugely successful consumer product brand. Each of these brands was grown from the entrepreneurial seed of a visionary. Unfortunately, each was subsequently abused, in several cases terminally, by non-visionary corporate bean counters.

Interviewing a new job candidate sounds easy. After all, you are in control. You have something to offer. You can select anyone you choose to select. Right? That sounds good but in reality interviewing a person to fill a job opening is one of the more difficult tasks you may face as a manager. It does require specific skills to do it right and increase your chance of hiring the ideal person for the job; the person that will stay and fit in with the culture of your company. That being said, I personally don't know of one company that has a formal program to train their managers on how to conduct an interview. Interview training is much the same as training managers how to conduct a performance review. It is a rarity to find a company that actually does it.

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