July 6, 2022
The domination of Joey Chestnut continues ā he conquered the annual Nathanās Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest for the 15th time, beating the competition by a cool 20-dog margin. No biggie.
In this weekās edition:
CYBERSECURITY BEWARE
No one would launch a cyberattack on my little SMBā¦ right?
Most small business owners tend to think that way. In a recent small business survey from CNBC, only 5% of American SMB owners reported cybersecurity as the biggest risk to their business (ranking as the lowest priority in a list that also includes supply chain disruptions, COVID-19, and inflation).
So Iām probably good!
Not so fast. The consensus amongst SMB owners is very different from the thoughts of the American public. According to a poll done by SurveyMonkey, 76% of Americans believe that U.S. businesses will experience a major cyberattack in the next year. And whatās even worse ā over half of Americans stated that theyāre less likely to do business with companies that fall victim to a cyberattack.
So even though small business owners donāt see cyberattacks as a major concern, itās best to be prepared for worst-case scenarios.
Okay, so what can I do?
There are a few steps that small businesses can take to beef up their cybersecurity. Start by strengthening your passwords and backing up all your files on an external hard drive. You should also consider installing antivirus or malware protection software, and enabling automatic updates as well as multi-factor authentication. Another option is obtaining a virtual private network (VPN) which encrypts your internet traffic to protect your online identity.
Admittedly, the last few options include monetary costs that will contribute to your businessās overhead. But youāre paying for both cybersecurity and peace of mind.
SCALE YEAH
My business is ready to scale, but Iām juggling too much right now.
You canāt do everything yourself. At least, not if you want to scale your business with your sanity intact. Youāre going to need to free yourself from some of the tasks that come with running an SMB so you can concentrate your efforts on ābig pictureā initiatives that fuel growth. Thatās where āsystemizingā comes into play, AKA organizing steps and processes according to a specific plan.
Alright, Iām listening.
Great. Adi Klevitt, leader of the Business Consultant Group, uses her experience as a trained industrial engineer, management consultant, and business executive to successfully help organizations and companies of any size dramatically improve their efficiency and performance. She says that growing your business and taking it to the next level can be done sustainably ā or chaotically. āOften, a business that has grown without putting systems in place will be wildly inconsistent with their success ā and that can be discouraging to everyone involved in the company.ā
She says that there are eight areas a business needs to systematize in order to scale sustainably.
1. Sales.
You can systematize almost every aspect of sales. Prospects should be put into customized sales funnels to ensure their questions are addressed, theyāre qualified to purchase the goods or services offered, and then sold the product or service. This type of systematization must be documented and connected to a customer relationship management (CRM) tool and any other systems used to ensure every step is tracked.
2. Human resources.
Hiring, managing employee complaints, firing, mediation, and any other actions that fall under human resources (HR) must be systematized. Not only do you need to guarantee that the same actions are taken for every employee to ensure fairness, but implementing systems in HR will help your company avoid legal trouble.
š Check out the other six areas.
LISTEN UP
Have you subscribed to Organize Chaos yet? All the cool SMB leaders are doing it. Every weekday, Trainualās Founder and CEO Chris Ronzio shares entrepreneurial and small business leadership advice in lip-smacking, bite-sized episodes. And on Fridays, you can look forward to in-depth interviews with SMB thought leaders and inspirational drivers of change ā like Adam Posner, founder and president of NHP Talent group, who provided great insights on how small businesses should think about their employee talent acquisition strategy. Wait, are you still sitting this out? Subscribe now!
TERRIBLE TWOS
Ish happens.
And itās all around us: on TV, on social media, in day-to-day conversations ā inevitably seeping into our daily lives (even at work). We might feel angry, sad, or completely distracted when trying to carry out our daily responsibilities.
After all, weāre not robots. Weāre going to experience a whirlwind of emotions after learning devastating news ā whether it directly impacts us or not.
Thereās nothing I can do about it.
We can feel helpless to the seemingly out-of-control outside world. But we can help team members cope just a little better when things are just plain terrible.
Here are five ways you can support your team:
1. Speak up.
It might be tempting to pretend that everything is business as usual. Work distractions will sufficiently keep everyoneās minds off whatās going on, right? (Wrong.)
Staying silent in the midst of detrimental current events will lead your team to think you donāt know or you donāt care. Either way, itās not a great look.
You might not know exactly what to do or say, but be sure to outline a path forward for your team members and your company as a whole. This might look like offering extra PTO or sharing helpful resources and policies for support.
2. Create a safe space for underrepresented groups.
Unfortunately, many tragedies affect underrepresented groups. Those who identify with these groups may feel that they, their families, or their communities are unsafe. And yeah ā thatās gonna make it hard to work.
So before crises happen, create a safe space for conversations. When your team members are comfortable telling you theyāre not doing well, it makes supporting them so much easier. A great place to start is launching an affinity group.
š Learn all five ways.
TRAINING DAY
We get it, onboarding is important.
The employee onboarding process is a crucial stage in your new hiresā journeys, one that will equip them with the knowledge and skills required to excel in their roles. But itās not enough to just have one ā with all the time and money you put into your new hireās training, you want to know that itās actually effective.
Youāre right ā so how do I actually know itās working?
There are some obvious signs that your training is still a work in progress. Watch out for red flags like constantly confused employees, woefully inefficient processes, and the worst-case scenario: unhappy customers.
A lot of times, itās not immediately apparent that training is ineffective. In those cases, youāll need a comprehensive system of checks and balances that you can utilize to get a clearer picture.
Welcome to the four levels of training evaluation.
Donald Kirkpatrick, president of the American Society for Training and Development, lays out this system in his book āEvaluating Training Programs.ā Here are his four levels of training evaluation:
š Find out the fourth level.
TL;DR
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
Been busy at the grill this weekend? We got you. Hereās what you might have missed last week: