Is your business juggling at a gallop ${first_name}?

Continuous improvement is a real benefit.  I am truly grateful for my ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 integrated management system because it saves me so much time and I don't need to juggle.

Links to Articles

• Pulp mills, Forests and Tasmania
• Tell It Like It is
• Why Managing Waste is So Crucial in Your Biz
• Problems with Fair Work Australia’s Small Business Fair Dismissal Code
• The Amazing Power of Mushrooms

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Hi${first_name}

You started your business with energy and enthusiasm. You’re really good at what you do –and if you’re like so many small business owners, you knew you could do it better on your own when you started your business because you really dislike working for the inefficient, old-fashioned bosses who didn’t care about their clients …

But along the way, as you’ve become “successful” –something isn’t quite right.  Your business runs at a gallop and you are juggling like mad. 

You juggle your friends and family, putting the business before them sure that “one day” you’ll have more time.  And you may even wake up in the middle of the night, that familiar tightness in your chest, not knowing where the next client is coming from even though you work public holidays and weekends and although you hated being employed, your envy your friends their weekends, holidays and steady paydays.

What happened to those dreams?  This sounds so like what happened when my ex husband started his computer business.  It simply took over our lives. 

………………….Until I decided to learn about quality systems, procedures and continual improvement. 

Then we got our lives back.

Then we started having weekends again and we built a beach house.  And we actually had holidays.

That was 20 years ago and when we left that business I started my own business, doing what I do now

- helping small to medium businesses implement simple and effective management systems. 

And that is what I have been doing for the last 12 years.

My own business is coming up to audit time again.  On Tuesday my bookkeeper did my internal audit for me and on the weekend I will spend a little time doing my annual 'housekeeping". 

When you keep your system simple without very much paper or red tape it is simply the way that you run your business and the external audit is a great excuse to do a useful review and tidy up. I am certified to ISO 14001 and ISO 9001and find them a big help and have for six years now.  It was a real pleasure to check my power bills and discover that I have used a lot les power in the past 12 months than previously, simply by being careful about turning unused things off and being more aware.

I actually find that the discipline of having an external audit every June is helpful because it pushes me into a review whether I have time or not.  I never do have time for a big tidy up but I love the opportunity for the audit and review process because my business grows as a result of that critical review.  It is never a drama, because my system is simply the way I run my business.

Continuous improvement is a real thing not simply lip service and it is a real benefit.  I am truly grateful for my management system because it saves me so much time.
 

My kindest regards,

Jean

Articles

Why Managing Waste is So Crucial in Your Biz

The oil spill is now estimated to pouring up to 40 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico. This is four times that of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, this makes it the worst environmental disaster in US history, and one of the worst oil spills in the world.   And this is not nearly over yet.

No one will ever be able to calculate all this waste generated by the Gulf oil spill. Wasted energy, time, livelihoods, resources, biodiversity, productivity and reputations are just a few that immediately come to mind.

Where are you wasting in your business?  And what impact is that having on everyone involved................

Problems with Fair Work Australia’s Small Business Fair Dismissal Code

Fair Work Australia senior deputy vice president has raised questions about whether the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code designed to help protect companies with fewer than 15 employees from unfair dismissal claims may really be deficient...............

Tell it Like It Is

A few years ago a client, Leica Theodore, said that “Jean always tells it like it is” and at that stage I was not quite sure – but now I am so glad to own that character trait.  Yes I do tell it like it is because it is important to get to the truth.

Until you face what you do and what you miss out in your business you cannot improve your situation and you cannot make the business improvements that are needed.

The major problems that clients come to me for are:........................

The amazing environmental power of mushrooms

Pulp mills, Forests and Tasmania

When I was 17, which is more years ago than I want to admit, I visited Tasmania and took lots of photos.  When I visited again 20 years ago I was horrified to see large cleared areas where there has been dense old growth forest last time.  .......but this video is worth watching!

p.s. Most  of my readers tell me this newsletter is a great way of getting up to date information easily but if you are really snowed under by lots of emails from other sources you can chose to keep in touch by emailling jean@enviroaction.com.au and go onto the monthly list.