The Importance of Business Consulting
All of us who are entrepreneurs know that there just isn’t enough hours in one day to accomplish our weekly and monthly goals. As 
entrepreneurs, we set the standard high and sometimes high enough where it’s just not reachable by ourselves. I have most definitely felt this way before. Ummm actually I feel this way often. Hahaaa. Always too much to do and not enough time to do it. Trying my best to learn from my mistakes, is the issue really that there is too much to do, or is the issue a lack of focus or over analysing a part of your business? Maybe none of the above, maybe all of the above? When starting a new small business or even when you have been in business and you are trying to grow your business, it is extremely easy to become numb to certain things. For example, you have created a user experience that makes money, it works, it flows however, does it need to change and why does it need to change? Would change or evolution of a certain process or product or service in fact generate more revenue? If your like me and your responsible for 1,000 different things in your business, then having the ability to see parts of your business is almost impossible. Entrepreneurs are alive and thinking constantly about the new idea, the new sale, the new partner, and how your going to buy Google some day right? We think big because it’s all we know how to do.
My father had introduced me one time to a gentleman who was very successful and had just sold his business for $200 million dollars. I asked him what the secret was, like there is one, and he told me “Trey, the secret is to hire people smarter than you. They will make you successful” After listening to the entire story this guy was extremely arrogant when he was in business and his ego never allowed him to hire someone that knew more than he did. Business consulting and business consultants are extremely valuable because of one underlying reason………they don’t know your business as well as you do. THAT’S IT!!!! They have the luxury of being free of all the craziness that fills your head all day long. They are great about being completely non-emotional. A business consultant will never have the passion you do about your business and that’s a good thing. They are non-bias and don’t care about how attached you are to this one part of the business or that one part of the business. They will give good, solid business feedback based on reality and what they see. Business consultants have the awesome ability to come into your business with a fresh pair of eyes not knowing the mundane day-to-day details and operational issues. They come to the table with a clean slate and the only thing they will know about your business is what you decide to tell them.
When hiring a business consultant don’t just look at expertise and knowledge, make sure the consultant you hire also works with your team. Some one too serious can cause problems and someone a bit too loose could also cause some issues.
Think about why you are hiring this business consultant. What is the reason? What are you trying accomplish? Make sure you have a defined role for this consultant so your meetings don’t find themselves in the middle of nowhere.
Think about cost. What can you afford to spend and what can you afford not to spend. Be realistic with yourself. Don’t tell yourself you want to spend gobs of money because some times you just get a bad egg (consultant).
Listen to everything the consultant says and take it for what it’s worth. Remember, the business belongs to you and not the consultant.
lately, make it fun. Laugh with the consultant, joke with the consultant and make it fun for you and your team.
[...] For the last 4 years I have developed a number of compensation plans for sales people in the Internet lead generation industry. A job that requires quite a bit of phone calls, different product offerings, and a short sales cycle. I wrote a lot of great plans that employees flourished on, and I wrote quite a few terrible plans that employees hated. I sat down one day and tried to find a common denominator in all my successful plans and why they were successful and on the opposite side, I tried to find a common denominator for my unsuccessful plans and why employees hated them so much. I found some interesting results. [...]
Compensation Plans That Keep Employees Motivated « Treyt3's Blog
April 5, 2010