Today even William Dunkelberg, the chief economist at the National Federation of Independent Business, is saying that times are getting a bit tough. The price of gas and food are up and with the world market for oil only growing, this trend may continue. So what is a small business owner to do?
For most of us the cost of labor is the biggest expense we face every month so sometimes we solve cash flow problems by not paying ourselves or we ask employees to cut back their hours and sometimes we have to cut our staff.
Running an open-book office is an excellent way to engage employees in the hard decisions so that there are no surprises, even when times get tough. Employees should see numbers for the business and understand how those numbers relate to running the business day-to-day. Moreover, sharing the information is a way to challenge employees to make changes to reduce overhead, improve efficiency and customer service or increase sales. Lorraine Miller is just one of the owners we know who believes in sharing information to celebrate success, improve operations and to prepare for the bumps in the road.
