Small business management
Ask a business person and he will say that it is better to have a nine-to-five job than to face uncertainties of selling and buying. Business in any form, whether big or small, requires certain skills such as taking risks, marketing strategies, inventory planning and knowledge. If owning the small business then it is double responsibility as person managing is answerable to himself/herself, to family, to employess and customers. There are no dearth of management books, E-business gurus, Management schools or often unsolicited advice from family and friends but a successful manager is one who is able to mix knowledge with issues and situations. The litmus test of small business management is the crisis time of slow returns when person managing small business fails to blend experience with knowledge and waqits for rebound to happen.
One is not necessarily born with business acumen but with application and sincerity one can work wonders. As management guru, Peter Drucker puts it, To be effective, you must accomplish the greatest amount with the least wasted motion. The fewer people you need, the smaller your organization, the more effective and profitable your business will be. Small business management is attracting men and women wanting to experiment with business knowledge gained through work experience. Compared with men the women business managers and owners are late entrants into this field but they are busy notching success stories
.Women in Business:
Women are turning to small business opportunities and in USA alone they own nearly 48% of privately owned businesses. According to Center for Womens Business Research women business entrepreneurs are touching nearly $2.5 trillion sales figures helped by employment figures at more than 19 million workers . The reason for this quantum rise towards self employment is business opportunities that were unavailable a few years back. Whether single or married, working at own hours and looking after family women are setting their priorities to achieve targets. Small business management options such as interior or web design, food, insurance, child care, flower arrangements, hospitality or catering are luring married or single women to chuck nine-to-five jobs in favor of small business enterprises . Sometimes hitches materialize in form of children, spouses or supper time, illnesses or school schedules but with understanding family, interest in work and creation of condusive environment they are to cross self imposed hurdles. The spoilsport could be location or product as not everyone has the skills to merge evolving business trends, taxation and legal affairs to what is learned in school or home. They either lose track and end in red or learn from mistakes to develop business plans, forecast revenue and manage cash flow.
The initial euphoria of Having plans and will fly does not work forever as unidentified disasters related to license, taxes, registration, insurance, employee peevishness or marketing product constantly puts small business management person on trail. This particularly applies to women managers who have to deal with gender bias and self imposed goals of breaking through the glass ceiling. Women small business managers acknowledge that majority of times they feel hampered by existing notions of women being unable to handle crisis financial or emotional. Debra Burrell, a psychological social worker and regional training director of the Mars-Venus Institute in New York writes that "Women managers tend to have more of a desire to build than a desire to win," and that they "are more willing to explore compromise and to solicit other people's opinions."
A conspicuous similarity between successful men and women small business managers is the desire to launch and expand their business both nationally and globally. Following ther women women are moving out of traditonal bsuiness ventures relating to hospitality and service industry to more competitive ventures. Information Technology is one such field and though women have been cautious in dealing with computers they are entering this line in large numbers. The reason is their problem solving and controlling skills and communicative abilities . Another reason is that they are encouraged by fathers, husbands and families to enter small business management simply because small business is regarded as minor work or as an extension of their major field of action.
Technological Benefit:
Women entrepreneurs are turning to information technology and computer skills to manage sales, inventory, purchase and payroll functions, customer data and contacts. With easy access to computer classes and finding an apitutde for it, women are no longer intimidated by software application . In fact their natural instincts of taking care finds outlet in small business management. They are helped by business management software readily available for application to small or medium businesses, along with inputs from software developers, graphic designers and consultants in different work areas. The business software is particularly supportive for a start up with limited staff sharing different chores from communication, storage of digital documents, and keeping track of quotes and proposals. The small business manager can rely on a handful of staff and even work from home or from anywhere. Another advantage of installing small business software programs is that manager has ample time to concentrate on improving business by managing customer and employee relationship, look at new projects and their feasibility and streamline accounts and liabilities. If a family business then women get grounding in business practices while in the job. They can later join professional courses to further hone in their skills of marketing divas.
Whatever the liabilities and short comings the opening up of small business management field has given women a vast playing field to utilize their inherrant management skills.
