I’m excited to talk about business processes because I have over 15 years of experience as a technical project manager while working in Corporate America. The importance of having business processes in place is vital because they help create an organized environment. Having an organized environment can help you be more successful.

So what can be considered a business process? Good Question! According to Wikipedia.org, a business process is “a collection of interrelated tasks, which accomplish a particular goal”. In other words, it’s when you pre-determine which tasks work well together to create a seamless way to achieve what you want to do in your business.

In my business, I have many business processes in place that help me to create a seamless environment. During my business makeover, I have been able to refine my processes and become more efficient. Below is an example of a refined business process.

• Old way (calendar): receive appointment request, then open calendar & review to see open slots, determine where the appointment could be placed then notify the appointee about the time and date
• New way (calendar): receive appointment request, forward to my Business Coordinator, who schedules on my Google calendar (which automatically updates my Outlook calendar) & notifies appointee about upcoming appointment
• Advantage: by allowing my Business Coordinator to manage my calendar it frees me from worrying about how to arrange things and also it allows me to dedicate more time to my clients

By me implementing this simple business process improvement, it put time back onto my calendar that I could invest in other areas of my business. One practice that is also good for business owners is to set aside time occasionally to review your processes to see if they can be improved.

Do you have business processes that you need to refine? Have you recently refined your business processes and have a success story? Please feel free to share.

First, if you don’t know who Michael Phelps is, you can read more about him by clicking here. But if you do know who he is then you know that he has been very focused on winning Olympic Gold medals for swimming. His goal has been to beat World records too and so far he is doing a great job of it.

I haven’t been watching the sporting events of the Olympics as intently as others but one thing for sure is that hearing Michael’s name mentioned almost everywhere has become a norm. As business owners, wouldn’t it be great to have positive brand recognition like Michael?

Well I’ve been giving this some thoughts over the past few days and during my business makeover I have realized that I’ve become very focused on what’s best for me and my business. Having targeted goals in mind has helped me to define specific areas of my business and cause it to grow quickly. Below are some of the areas that I have been focusing on and have obtained success:

• Developed a strategic business plan
• Streamlined services that are offered through my business
• Streamlined pricing for the services
• Developed a new product line
• Hired Virtual Team to handle outsourced tasks

In thinking about your own business, have you been as focused as Michael? Do you know the direction that you are taking with your business? Do you have goals that you want to accomplished with targeted dates? Please share about your experience.

If you need help in going through your own business makeover, watch for more details about an upcoming opportunity. Or you can complete the contact form on this website and make sure to state that you are interested in going through your own business makeover.

As I write this post I’m thinking about all the people who have been givers in my life. I feel fully blessed because my life has been impacted so that I became a giver too. Being a giver is living the practice of giving to others without expecting anything in return.

An example of me being a giver in business is my practice of paying it forward on Twitter. For my birthday in 2008, I had two people who asked their followers on Twitter and Facebook to follow me and wish me a Happy Birthday. It was declared “Kim Beasley Day” and many friended me and sent me greeting. The two people who did this for me wasn’t expecting anything in return but they gave a great gift that impacted my life. The two people I’m talking about is Coach Deb (@coachdeb) and Warren Whitlock (@WarrenWhitlock).

Their powerful example of giving encouraged me to start my own “Pay It Forward” campaign to those that I felt would appreciate it on Twitter. So every once in awhile, I request that my followers on Twitter follow different people that I communicate with on Twitter. I call this activity PIF because you can only use 140 characters on Twitter and I want to get in as many names as I can.

I don’t use a criteria list of who I add to my PIF except that it will always be someone that I have been communicating with on Twitter and who has communicated back to me. I love giving into the lives of others and this is just another example of being a giver.

Have you been a giver through your social media activities? Do you have someone that you want to do something good for without expecting anything in return? Be encouraged and just do it!

While I was watching a commentary regarding the psychology about the persona of Bruce Wayne/Batman, a thought came to me that as a business owner there is a dark-side we have to deal with too. The dark-side consist of anything that is negative or fearful.

As a business owner, we have to be careful that the dark-side doesn’t rule us and cause us to run our business unwisely. So what are some of the dark-side issue? Glad you asked. Below are a few of the things that I consider as the dark-side of business.

• Stealing clients
• Adding extra time to client projects
• When bartering or exchanging services, you intentionally make sure that you get more than what your barter is worth
• Lead new clients to believe that you have more experience than you actually do to win their project (this means that you don’t let your client know that you are outsourcing their work to someone who does have the skillset and then you take the credit)

Sharing about the dark-side of business which is something that I’ve experienced first-hand, is something that I feel strongly about. Conducting business on the dark-side will catch up with you someday just like Batman always catch his nemesis. I want to encourage all to be truthful in conducting business and making sure that your business is ethical and that you are not only after the money.

Have you experienced someone dealing with you from the dark-side of business? I would like to hear about your experience and how you dealt with it.