Like any component of a successful business, the better you plan the greater your chances of succeeding. The same principle applies to the goal of becoming the ultimate corporate citizen. Making up a plan for how you and your business will play an active role in your community is a wise choice of action.

This plan should address the following:

1. Identify which types of organizations you would like to get involved with.
2. Determine how much time each week you can spare.
3. Specify how much financial support you can afford to give.
4. Identify what products and services you offer (remembering they still have cost).
5. Identify ways to encourage your staff to get involved.
6. Be specific about how you will tell your customers that you are community spirited.
7. How will you recognise other people in the community who get involved?
8. How can you share your own knowledge and experience?

This doesn’t need to be a big and in depth plan, just a few pages addressing each of the questions above. Start a file called “Becoming the Ultimate Corporate Citizen” and you are well and truly on your way to achieving this goal.

Once you have your plan in place, take the time to share it with your staff. They will after all, be playing an important role.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY? Develop your own plan to become the “Ultimate Corporate Citizen”.

Just as I feel that it is important to be a good corporate citizen I certainly don’t see anything wrong with telling people you are. Put the certificates on the wall in a public place, include what you do in your company profile or on your website. Larger organizations actually make up entire brochures showing what they do in their community and again, I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing this.

As explained earlier in this section, consumers want to deal with companies that are good corporate citizens and it is up to the business to let them know. Don’t be afraid to blow you own trumpet and say that you are actively involved in your community – it is something to be proud of not embarrassed about.

Don’t think that is has to be just big things either. Something as small as donating a few dollars to a local charity is significant in the scheme of things and it is all relevant. Giving too much may cause your business to get into financial difficulties which does no good to anyone so get involved at a level that you easily manage, both financially and time wise.

Do what you can and be prepared to let your customers know what you do. They will appreciate it and you for making their community a better place to live, regardless of the size of your contribution.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY? How do you let your customers know that you play an active role in the community? Today is the day to put the certificate on the wall or include your community involvement on your web site or in your promotional material.

I recently helped to organise a large outdoor concert where all of the funds raised went to an organization called Lifeline. Lifeline does an amazing job in the community – mainly focusing on a 24 hour telephone crisis line for people who need someone to talk to in a dark period of their lives. The concert was great and the event was considered a success on many different levels.

A few days later I received a letter in the mail from an old lady thanking me for getting involved in this concert. She explained how Lifeline had helped her when she had lost her husband to cancer and she was feeling very alone and she had seriously contemplated committing suicide. I couldn’t help but have tears rolling down my face as I realised the human side of getting behind my community.

Since that day I have made an effort to drop a short letter or email to people who I see playing an active role in making my community a better place to be. Sometimes its just to say thank you, sometimes it is more personal, maybe an experience that I have had just like the lady who wrote to me.

Taking the time to say thank you to people who give tirelessly of themselves is a good thing to do. It will mean a lot to them and they certainly don’t expect it but I am sure they appreciate it – I certainly do.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY? The very next time you read about someone who has gone out of their way to help make your community a better place do some detective work and track down their address and send them a card or a thank you letter.

Small businesses form the backbone of most economies. As populations grow worldwide, so do the number of small businesses staring up. Millions of people around the world continue to opt for running their own business instead of working for larger organisations. As a result, there is an incredible knowledge and skill base tied up in running these small businesses. There is an enormous amount of expertise and specialist knowledge that thrives in this economic sector, the value of which is often underestimated.

From my experience, small businesses generally offer far better levels of service than do their larger counterparts. This is due, in most instances, to the key personnel being involved at the front of the business. They deal with their customers face to face, and the business is small enough to ensure that communication is open and continual.

There is no doubt that there are many trials and tribulations when it comes to running your own business and, of course, there is the ever-present risk of financial failure. However, this doesn’t seem to deter people from choosing this alternative career path, and for that, I think they should be admired.

The problem facing most small businesses is the ever increasing competition from other small businesses. This dilemma is here to stay; in fact, it will only increase. With the advent of the Internet and other new technologies, the competition we all face now comes not only from the business up the road, but from businesses on the other side of the world.

Small businesses need to be smart. They need to be built on solid foundations and to be proactive. They need continually to strive to provide exceptional levels of customer service and value for money. Consumers are better informed and more discerning than ever before, and are well aware that they have a choice when it comes to deciding on where they will spend their hard earned money.

Business survival is about facing these ongoing challenges with a commitment to being the best at what you do. It is about treating consumers with the respect that they deserve, while standing out from the sea of other businesses that offer the same or similar services.

It’s all about attitude

From my experience, there are two very distinct types of businesses and business operators. There are those people who are really unhappy doing what they do. Everyone else is to blame for the problems they experience. The customers are an inconvenience, and are always causing problems. Advertising is just a waste of time and money. The accountants are no good, the staff are nothing but trouble, and the future always looks glum. These businesses struggle to survive.

The other type of business that I have observed is run by positive and enthusiastic people. They take what they do seriously, they believe in offering excellent customer service and value for money, and they are continually looking for ways to make their businesses better. They don’t act like victims. If they face a setback, as we all do from time to time, they pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get on with it. They dwell on the positive, rather than the negative, aspects of the situation. These businesses have a far better chance of surviving and flourishing than the first type, due, I believe, to the attitude of the business operator.

From my experience, there are more of the negative types of businesses than there are the positive ones. So, the first step top boosting your business is to ensure that you have the right attitude about running your business.

If you already own or operate a business…

People who have been running their own or someone else’s business for a long time are often set in their ways. They may have formed bad business habits and may regard ‘change’ as a dirty word. I doubt that this describes you, because if it did, it’s unlikely that you would have purchased this book.

The greatest personality trait that any business person can have is an open mind. We live in an age where there is an over-abundance of information, a lot of it conflicting. The fact is that the amount of information available is only going to increase, so we need to be able to use this wealth of information for our own benefit.

Successful business people have two striking characteristics: a very clear objective combined with an air of detachment about their business. I have run a number businesses that were unprofitable because, while I had the clear objective, I didn’t have the air of detachment. The clear objective gives you the passion and the enthusiasm to keep going, but the detachment stops the business from taking over your life. It enables you to be somewhat clinical about what you are doing: if it’s not working, let it go.

A business is just a business. There is life before, during and after. If you are not enjoying, or worse still you hate, what you are doing, maybe it’s time to cut your losses and make a break. Detachment lets you do this.

If I had learned to let go at an earlier age, I would have saved myself a lot of grief. Now I find it easy. If it’s not working and I know I have given it 100 per cent, I will simply cut my losses and move on. There will be other business opportunities that will come my way and, most importantly, I will have learned a few new lessons.