Received this question from a business owner just the other day:

As a business owner, how do I find a good business manager? I am a veteran of finding all sorts of VAs, coders, copywriters and contractors, but the one hump I haven’t gotten over is how to find that person who can actually drive projects and be a decision maker. And paradoxically, if I do find that person, wouldn’t he/she be building their own business rather than build mine?

To answer your first question, it can be tough to find a good business manager… especially for an online or virtually based business. I am asked all the time ‘how can I find someone who does what you do’ and have very few people to refer them to. The business managers that we know are already super busy and not able to take on more clients. At the point of writing this there is a shortage of these professionals out there (which is why I wrote the book and starting an Online Business Manager Certificiation program in April 2009… we need more!)

What I generally recommend to people is that they first look to ‘grow a business manager’ from within their current team if possible. If you have a VA or other team member who has great potential in this area you may want to work with them or hire an OBM mentor to help them build their project management skills. And once they know your business and have a good level of experience under their belts they should be capable and confident in making decisions as well. This isn’t necessarily the answer to ‘I need someone now!’ but it has been a solution for many business owners that I know.

Regarding your second question - a good business manager doesn’t necessarily want to build their own business. I like to look at business as the marriage of vision (passion) + implementation. A business manager is driven by the ‘implementation’ side of things - they like to take an idea and bring it to life, they aren’t necessarily the ones who like to come up with the ideas/vision themselves.

Whereas most business owners are really strong on the ideas/vision side of things but need help with the implementation/management side. I like to joke with a client of mine that I’m too busy ‘getting stuff done’ to try and come up with ideas of my own! And I like it that way, as I find it very fulfilling to help my clients bring their own ideas/vision to life.

Last week I discussed, “My Favorite Entrepreneurial Tool–Deciding My SWOT” and I received dozens of e-mails asking for examples of SWOT in my businesses.

As a reminder, SWOT is a business acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. EVERY single company, no matter what size it is, has SWOT. Success is achieved based on how you leverage this tool. And I also told you last week that I apply SWOT to my companies by:

Deciding what my acceptable weaknesses will be

Predicting the threats to my business

Capitalizing on my strengths

and seizing opportunities

So here are some concrete examples of SWOT in my businesses to help you better understand the tool.

Strengths

1. Business model positions us as an industry leader
2. We are able to attract better partners because we are the gatekeeper to a targeted niche
3. We roll out new products and services quickly
4. We invest in tangible benefits and therefore deliver higher quality than our competitors
5. We measure our ROI consistently and act quickly when we need to shut down a program or service that isn’t in high demand

Weaknesses

1. Our niche is crowded (AWE and NAWW)
2. We don’t offer physical workshops anymore (NAWW)

Opportunities

1. This is a good time to establish a social media presence
2. Our target markets love “hand holding” services
3. We can invest more dollars into marketing than many of our competitors
4. We can publish more print books than our competitors and therefore generate more leads

Threats

1. Great marketing techniques are becoming saturated
2. Competitors copy product and service offerings
3. E-mail delivery is harder than it used to be due to technologies that block out “good” e-mail along with spam

To figure out “your” strengths and opportunities, use my “Leverage Triangle” report to learn more about leverage. For you to capitalize on your strengths and seize the opportunities, you will have to leverage one or all three of the elements of the triangle (time, money, or expertise). You can grab a copy of that report at www.queenofleverage.com.

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Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sheri McConnell is the CEO of Sheri McConnell Companies, Inc. and the president and founder of two national organizations, the National Association of Women Writers-NAWW and the International Association of Web Entrepreneurs-AWE. Under the same corporate umbrella she is also the owner of two high-level product and consulting companies: Create Your Group and My Millionaire Friends. You can visit Sheri, access herfree article archive, and find out more about all four of her companies at www.sherimcconnell.com. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and two cats.

Technorati Tags: Examples of SWOT in a Membership-Based Business, Sheri McConnell, SWOT, Membership-Based Business

As we head into another new and exciting year, I really want to offer you the push you need to realize your potential in 2009. One reason I get so excited this time of year is because I always feel a sense of unlimited possibilities as the new year approaches. I love the starting over and reworking of what didn’t work in my personal and professional life last year. And after years of learning and growing and accomplishing some of the many goals I have set for myself, I decided that no matter what you decide to do in and with your life, your mindset matters most.

In fact, your mindset makes or breaks your success in this life in three ways:

One-Believing in Abundance

Right now you believe many goals are attainable and many are not. The way we were raised and our current environment dictate our beliefs and unless we are challenged and taught to believe differently, we stay stuck. Today-open your mind up to abundance. Take a goal and rewrite it in an abundant mindset. Try to make yourself believe that you can accomplish it even if there is a nagging voice saying “no way!” Then put it where you can see it every day. It can be a financial goal or the number of articles you want to write next year. Whatever you want to accomplish, have, or do. It doesn’t matter. Think abundantly and think big for yourself.

Two-Manifesting What You Want

Once you begin to think more abundantly and do it enough that it becomes a practiced mindset, then you will begin to easily manifest what you need, want, and deserve in life. Since manifesting is done in the mind, it in itself is another mindset. You should begin to consciously manifest what you dream of and what you need to accomplish your dreams. That is why writing down your goals is so powerful. It forces you to consciously manifest your wants and desires.

Three—Welcoming the Change

The third mindset and the hardest and most important is being open to change. Many of us are very fearful of change and don’t recognize that we are resisting an abundant life because of the safe choices we make. Me included. We limit ourselves because of that risk of failure. We get used to believing what other un-abundant thinkers think because at least then we don’t have to put ourselves out there and fail. Change is good-it helps you grow. When you begin to expect change and thrive in the middle of it, you will increase your speed at which you succeed at your goals.

Technorati Tags: Sheri McConnell, abundance, manifesting, mindset