Verve chats with Peter Dean, associate and business management advisor at Prime Strategies Group, about how to how to make business dreams a sustainable reality.
What do you do?
I work with SME – small to medium enterprises – business owners to help them improve and grow their businesses. Business advisors and coaches have been popular overseas for a long time and in recent years they have gained much more acceptance in New Zealand.
Why only SME Businesses?
In a smaller business, the owner tends to wear all the hats and spends most of their time just running the business. In other words, they end up working ‘in the business’ but not ‘on the business’. This often means that they don’t deal with the root cause of problems, nor do they plan for long-term success. They’re also often experts in their chosen field, but not necessarily in how to achieve business excellence.
What are the most common issues you find?
Cashflow is often the number one issue followed by simply not making a good enough return for the effort and time invested. People are attracted to go into business for themselves so they can be their own boss, earn more money, and have more time off. However, they can often become a slave to their business and what initially was a dream can sour into a daily grind.
How do you makes things better for them?
I work with the business owner to identify any major issues and quickly address them. It’s only then that we start to work on making the business better, and this is achieved through strategic planning which not only involves establishing the business vision, but also in finding out where they personally want to be in, say, five years’ time. One of the keys is to develop a habit of regularly working on the business, and we recommend this is done for a short time every week as this also creates momentum.
What’s the best part of your job?
Seeing business owners reduce their stress, enjoy their business, and eventually achieve their dreams. Most people tend to spend longer planning their annual holidays than planning their lives, so we help them change that. A dream is just that until you write it down and share it. Then it becomes something very powerful.
Peter Dean – Associate/Business Management Advisor
peter.dean@primestrategies.com
Telephone: 027 484 2472
primestrategies.com
