Elements and Roles of a Business
Written by John Struggledork
Words:
ELEMENT: The basic assumptions or principles of a subject. A fundamental, essential, or irreducible constituent of a composite whole business
ROLES: The part played by somebody in a given business context, with any characteristic or expected pattern of behaviour that it entails in the work of a business
ACCOUNTING: Is the measurement, processing and communication of financial information in any business, such as:
· Buying of product
· Selling of product
· Spread of Money over time
· Tax payments
· Wages of employees
AGREEMENTS : Agreed behaviour between parties in business, such as:
· Terms of payments
· Employments
· Legals
· Accounting
· Lease
Agreements are the tension strength of every business. They are the Quality and Standards set by every business. Agreements hold the wealth of every business and each business lives or dies on the ability to keep it’s agreements at all levels. Without agreements, chaos is the norm.
EDUCATION: The process of providing people with information, knowledge or wisdom about business activities, such as:
· Branding
· Systems/Processes
· Products /Services
· Terms of payments
· Profitabilities
· Goals/Values
· Ethos
Accounting, Agreements and Education are the three elements that create the long-term wealth of a business and form the assets of the business. Without accurate records of the business in accounting and agreements, it is impossible to show the ongoing working of a company. EDUCATION is most important element in wealth creation because it is the essence of “MORE WITH LESS”. Without the ability to accurately duplicate a System/Process, the Costs of a business are increased and profitability is made harder to achieve.
BRANDING: The name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller's product distinct from those of other sellers. In accounting, a brand defined as an intangible asset is often the most valuable asset on a business’s balance sheet. Brand owners manage their brands carefully to create business value. Branding is the context (space) of the business and is made of:
· Colours
· Shapes
· Sounds
· Symbols
· Words
Branding is more important than marketing. Without a brand, marketing is very expensive and will lack quality and standards.
MARKETING: Is the process of communicating the perceived value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or service. Areas of marketing include:
· Direct
· T.V.
· Radio
· Magizines
· Internet
Today’s world of marketing is extremely noisy and extremely expensive. Marketing combined with branding is made easier. Marketing must produce SALES. Branding always holds the space in the consumer’s mind, thus enabling ease of marketing. Branding is more important than marketing in increasing the future sales of a business.
SALES: Sales are the maker or breaker of business. Without the selling of a product or service, no money will circulate in a business. Money is the life blood of any business and circulation is created by making sales. As strange as it may seem, a business must make sales and sales must be profitable……. meaning that there must always be money left over from every sale in the form of a margin. Margin is reduced by the cost of a business. After all costs, there must be money left over to re-circulate to create the wealth of a business. Without money left over in every sales transaction, it is extremely hard to create a saleable asset.
Branding, Marketing, and Sales are the flow elements of business. Without flow and exchange, there is no business. Branding makes Marketing easier and Marketing makes Sales easier. The better the branding, the easier the marketing. The better the marketing, the easier the selling. Sales people are always wanting marketing to support their activities…….. The problem in today’s marketing world is that there is no lack of choice in any product or service, making it hard for the consumer to make a decision to buy. All businesses must create a brand in the mind of a consumer in order to be able to market the product. In a start-up of any business, space must be created by branding and selling first. Marketing comes after branding. Selling and branding must start together.
Lesson:
In the beginning, the end must be considered at the beginning. In other words….. why are you business?
For me, JDS, there are only two reasons to start a business!!!!!!!
1. To create a lifestyle. IE: The way I live every day, at all levels. This includes:
a. Family
b. Community
c. Country
d. Health
e. Exchange
f. Relationships
2. To create an asset to sell in the future, by managing the elements of a business. These include:
a. Accounts
b. Agreements
c. Education (NB: The above 3 are the wealth elements of a business)
d. Branding = space holder
e. Marketing = driver
f. Sales = circulator (NB: The above 3 are are the flow elements of a business)
Business is really very simple. It is about buying and selling at a profit. Business is made more complex when creating an asset. Asset thinking must be included in future thinking or why work so hard? All businesses must have an inward and outward focus. All the above is inward. Below is the outward focus
i. A business must have a PRODUCT or SERVICE
ii. A business must have CUSTOMERS that make PURCHASES
iii. Business customers always PAY
iv. Business is no longer about supply and demand. A business must ADD-VALUE and CREATE-DEMAND
v. Business must make a PROFIT or it is not a business
vi. Business must have customers that REPEAT-PURCHASE
“DOING EVER MORE WITH EVER LESS”
Please contribute your thoughts on what I have written above.
Next week will be “Roles of a Business”
Until next week,
JDS out.
Written by Chiwi Struggledork
LAG
I read what John has written above and I agree with it. In conjunction with this, LAG must also be considered and factored into all aspects of business.
LAG: To proceed or develop with comparative slowness (1)
It ain't much I'm asking, if you want the truth
Here's to the future
Hear the cry of youth (hear the cry of youth) (hear the cry of youth)
I want it all, I want it all, I want it all and I want it now (2)
These are the lyrics to Queen’s song “I want it all” and it seems to be a message radiated out to society. Yet the question I ask is…… how REAL is it to ask /demand for “it ALL….and ….NOW”?
It appears that the world is focused on instant gratification and that often LAG is not taken into consideration. I fully comprehend that we must be result driven, focused and deliver in a timely manner. What astounds me is people do not want to acknowledge the LAG. They just want it NOW!!!
Yet LAG is a necessary part of the evolutionary process. In previous articles, I brought forward examples of gestation rates. The elephant, being the largest mammal, has a 22 month cycle. It is nature’s way of dealing with the process. What is happening is that there are things which appear to be invisible. It appears invisible because of a number of reasons:
1 We are unaware of the scenario
2 We are not present enough to observe the effects
3 We do not allow enough time (LAG) for the scenario to unfold
Bucky says “Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable.”
What is it that makes people so needy for NOW?
It is this incomprehension of the relationship between time and timing that causes issues, anxiety and unnecessary stress.
An example of this is MS Dorkette. Last week, I wrote about her exploits and how she was able to generate a number of sales. This week, she says to me, “But I need money NOW.!!!!”
So once again, I explain to her the process:
~ Make a booking - could be telemarketing, campaigning, referral……there numerous ways to generate leads (I will cover this in another time space).
~ Consultation – agreement made for services in exchange for $
~ Delivery of service -provision of agreed goods and services
~ Payment -in exchange for the above.
If you do all of the above to the best of your ability, then coupled with the systems and processes in place, you will be successful. You do, however, have to allow for the LAG.
The stress is not from the process. It is from the external factors like expenses which have to be met. The real issue is to do with cash flow and how it is distributed over time. If we factor into the element of when $ comes in and when it is pushed out, then we can manage the flow, hence alleviating the unknown and transforming this to be manageable.
Fuller also said, “If you observe long enough you will see the gears of the Universe.” He would go on to say that people do not observe long enough to see a pattern unfold and therefore become dismissive.
As such, I am very conscious of LAG and know that if something does not appear in the time frame expected, then that could be due to factors I have not yet taken into consideration and that I should go back and look to refine the process. Thus knowledge gained by experiential learning will assist in optimal efficiency.
Always looking to do EVER MORE WITH EVER LESS (Ephemeralization). By doing so, you will reduce the LAG time accordingly.
Chiwi OUT.
1. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lag
2. http://www.lyrics007.com/Queen%20Lyrics
I%20Want%20It%20All%20Lyrics.html
