Business Solutions for Fall 2017

FALL 2017 7 SOLUTIONS Common Distractions What kinds of noncore tasks are pulling small business owners away from their primary functions? It varies depending on the type of business, but some of the most common ones are: Small business owners may think they can do it all—wear many hats—but this approach can really stall sales and growth. In fact, business success depends in part on management’s ability to wade through the distractions and focus on critical business tasks. Every minute spent managing noncore tasks is a minute not focused on core competencies. These are defined as skills at which an individual is especially proficient, or a set of activities that a business performs better than other functions—whether more efficiently, at lower cost, or at higher quality. Look Into Outsourcing To get help with noncore tasks, you may want to turn to outsourcing. This strategy offers many valuable benefits, the first of which is freeing up time to focus on your core competencies. Everyone can concentrate on what they do best, allowing your business to derive maximum benefit from each person’s talents. Another benefit of outsourcing is that bringing in specialists often results in faster completion of projects. After all, which makes more sense—having you struggle through an IT challenge for days, or hiring an IT consultant who could complete the project in a few hours? In addition, outsourcing allows your business to access people with a high level of training, education, and experience in selected areas, which often pays off in the long run. For example, an accountant may find little-known tax deductions or a human resources contractor may be able to recommend ways to save on employee benefits. These specialists are also able to stay current with all the changes in their fields, which is difficult (if not impossible) for you to do as a stretched-too-thin small business owner. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers several suggestions for staffing a growing business at sba.gov, including outsourcing business functions. The site notes, “Whether you turn to a virtual assistant for help managing your calendar, voice mail, and perhaps some basic bookkeeping, or you need help with core business functions such as accounting, marketing, or HR, outsourcing can be a low-overhead option that lets you concentrate more on business growth and less on day-to-day distractions.” Interested in no longer wearing the IT Manager hat? Panora Telco and Guthrie Center Communications can take some IT responsibilities off your hands. Call (641) 755-2600 to schedule your one-on-one consultation. THE WORSENING CULTURE OF DISTRACTION “We are creating and encouraging a culture of distraction where we are increasingly disconnected from the people and events around us, and increasingly unable to engage in long-form thinking,” says Joe Kraus, two-time entrepreneur and current Google Ventures partner. “People now feel anxious when their brains are unstimulated.” Kraus knows how to start and operate a successful business, particularly in the technology space. He’s in demand as a speaker and blogs at joekraus.com, where he wrote, “We are losing some very important things by doing this. We threaten the key ingredients behind creativity and insight by filling up all our ‘gap’ time with stimulation. And we inhibit real human connection when we prioritize our phones over the people right in front of us.” The effect of all of this, Kraus argued, is that we are increasingly distracted and less able to pay attention to anything for a reasonable length of time, and this distraction is a “wors- ening condition.” When you practice distraction (which is what multi-tasking really is), you’re training your brain to pay attention to distracting things. The more you train your brain to pay attention to distractions, the more you get distracted and the less able you are to focus. “It’s shown not only that we’re dumber when we do this—an average of 10 IQ points dumber— but that we’re also 40 percent less efficient at whatever it is we’re doing,” writes Kraus. • Information technology (IT) • Telecommunications • Marketing • Web development • Social media • Bookkeeping and accounting • Taxes and payroll • Human resources • Administrative support