Improve Your Business: Handbook (ILO, 1986, 144 p.) FOR YOU IN BUSINESS (introduction...) Your aims in business You and your business The business and profit You and improve your business Finding out your strengths and weaknesses

Improve Your Business: Handbook (ILO, 1986, 144 p.)

FOR YOU IN BUSINESS

It is for you in business that we have written Improve your business. Why? Because every business has scope for improving its sales and profits.

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Even if your business is already doing very well, there are always things which can be done in a better way which you may not have thought of.

It is you, as the owner/manager, who has to make those improvements. You are the person who is responsible for everything that goes well and for everything that goes wrong in your business. You are also the one who sets the example to your employees.

All this means that you have to understand the working of your business very well, and also that you must be capable of putting that knowledge to good use by applying it in the actual management of your business. This is where Improve your business can help you. When you go through this Handbook you will acquire all the basic knowledge which you require to succeed in business. At the same time you will find that the material can help you to improve your management skills so that you can put your management ideas into practice.

Your aims in business

Before you start reading Improve your business, sit down for a while and think carefully about your business. Ask yourself what your aims are. Do you know exactly what you want to achieve with your business? Have you thought of what your activities in the market should be? Whom do you want to reach with your products or services? Do you know who your competitors are? Do you produce your goods or services in the most efficient way? Where do you want to go with your business in the future?

Having a clear idea about your goals in business is very important when you plan your business activities. Only if you know where you want to go will you make good use of your resources and be successful in business.

You and your business

To run any business means that you gather together things and people and put them to work to earn money for you. These things may be in the form of your own personal skill, the money you have saved, borrowed money, machines and raw materials and the skills of the people who work for you. If you are to earn your living from the business, then you must employ these things and people in a good way. This means that you must learn to think of these things and people as a separate group of assets called "the business". The business assets must be kept separate from your own private assets and from the members of your family.

BUSINESS AND
FAMILY: KEEP THEM
SEPARATE

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The business and profit

The major objective for being in business is to make a profit (or "a surplus", as some people prefer to say). Profit is made when the money which flows into your business is greater than the money which flows out. The greater the difference between money in and money out, the greater is the profit.

HOW PROFIT IS MADE

Now you know how profit is made:

You and improve your business

If you read the ideas in this Handbook and think about them, you will know how to do two things:

1. You will know simple techniques which will help you to expand your market and increase your sales. Your sales will grow bigger, as you can see below:

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2. You will understand what are the various types of costs which your firm will have to pay. By understanding these costs you will be able to keep them under control and maybe even cut some of them.

If you can learn to do this even in a small way, you will control the money which flows out of your business. Your costs will become smaller.

In these ways you will earn a greater surplus or profit from your business and you will make your business more successful.

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Finding out your strengths and weaknesses

Before you start using Improve your business, you may wish to find out about your performance in business. You can get a rough idea about your strengths and weaknesses by answering the questions below. Each question concerns one area of management and corresponds to one particular section of Improve your business. For example, question 1 corresponds to section 1, question 2 to section 2 and so forth. Find out from your answers in which area(s) of management you are weakest and start reading the corresponding sections of Improve your business.

How good are you at...	Good	Average	Bad
1. Buying, selling and stock control?
2. Production management and production technology?
3. Bookkeeping?
4. Costing and pricing your products or services?
5. Marketing?
6. Management accounting?
7. Planning your business activities?
8. Organising your office?