How to achieve your goals as you emerge from the recession is disclosed in SCORE’s workshop. Beat your competition now!

Workshop: Creating the Business of Your Dreams
When: April 14, 2010, 1:30p – 4:30p
Where: SCORE Atlanta, 233 Peachtree Street, NE, Ste. 1900
Details: Online at tinyurl.com/cydufq or call, 404-331-0121

Think big and bold as we emerge from the recession.
SCORE’s workshop outlines the required steps and skills

By: Jerry Chautin, SCORE volunteer, business columnist
SCOREing small-business success

The deadline for paying your taxes ends April 15. But catapulting your business toward your most ambitious vision starts the day before — April 14, at a workshop in downtown Atlanta. That is when George Horrigan, CPA, founder of Fountainhead Consulting Group, presents Creating the Business of Your Dreams. The SCORE-sponsored workshop will give you the tools to think creatively about where your company is going, where it can go with strategic planning and what you must know to get there. It is perfectly timed to help you succeed as Atlanta emerges from the recession.

“Proper leadership is absolutely fundamental to a business.” Horrigan says. “But what does that really mean?” He believes that it starts with developing “a compelling vision for your business” and creating “the organization to accomplish the vision.” Even thought it seems overwhelming at first, the workshop will detail the proven steps that successful business owners must take to become outstanding leaders. Keep in mind that leadership and management are learned skills.

In addition to learning how to create and execute your strategic plan, the workshop will help you set goals, measure, and manage your vision along the way. More specifically, you will learn how to “oversee your business’ operations and manage it via metrics,” Horrigan says. “I have great news for you as a business owner because we will be covering the four things that you must do in order to be a successful leader of your business.”

You can learn more about Horrigan and Fountainhead Consulting Group online at gotofcg.com.

Unlike creating a conservative business plan, strategic planning requires you to think ambitiously toward your most grandiose dreams. That is what the most successful executives and managers do, according to Atlanta-based Kraig Kramers, president and chief executive of CEO Tools, Inc. He is a consummate entrepreneur and headed up some of Georgia’s best-known companies. Set “big audacious goals,” he advises. “Results happen by reaching higher, not just by setting logical goals.”

But setting big goals without managing them can be a prescription for failure. “What gets measured gets done,” Kramers says. “Set goals jointly (with your employees), communicate them, build trust, track results publicly.” More specifically, write your goals down, put numbers to them and empower your employees to help you get there. “Put the right people in the key customer jobs and support them,” Kramers says.

Go to ceotools.com for more information about Kramer and to subscribe to his newsletter.

Horrigan says there are six areas of running a business that requires constant attention. Yet, they are often neglected because business owners spend too much time favoring what they like best such as “marketing and sales or finance and administration.” As a result, they “end up neglecting the other critically important areas of their business.” He cites consequences such as “going backwards economically and in their business,” and “not reaching their goals in life.”

Without written goals and planning how to get there, Horrigan says that unexpected consequences can “blindside a business owner.” He warns that there can be a “gulf or chasm between a business owner’s dreams for their business and the business they actually have.”

Pundits say that the economy is emerging from the most severe recession and financial meltdown since the Great Depression. Your competitors know it and are planning to take advantage of opportunities as better times begin to surface. This workshop will cover the steps that you must take to beat your competition and propel your business to the top.

OTHER INFORMATION:

About SCORE:
Since 1964, SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” has helped more than 8 million aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling and business workshops. It is a nonprofit resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. More than 11,200 volunteer business counselors in 370 chapters serve their communities through entrepreneur education dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses. The Atlanta chapter has 100 volunteers in conveniently located branch offices.

Note to media: Photos of the SCORE counselors quoted and interviews are available upon request. For interviews with SCORE business counselors or SCORE small-business clients, contact SCORE’s chairman, Jeff Mesquita: e-mail, scoremarketing@joimail.com, cell: (770) 713-1702. You may use this article in part or in its entirety and distribute copies with credit to SCORE Atlanta www.scoreatlanta.org. The columnist’s CV is online at: tenonline.org/sref/jc1bio.html. You can follow him on Twitter, www.twitter.com/JerryChautin

SCORE Atlanta | Publish Date: 04.08.10 | Back to home |