There are some things that business owners just won’t do in 2014

The end of a year is the ideal time to reflect. Many business owners also decide just what they won’t do in their business next year.

Some loathe certain tasks that come with running a business and want to outsource it, while others know it wouldn’t take much effort to wipe out a cumbersome and unnecessary process from their business, but haven’t yet got around to making it happen.

We speak to business owners across Australia to find out what they’ve committed to leaving in the past, and why.

No more saying yes to everyone

Elisa Limburg of Elevents creative and managing director won’t be saying yes to every project that comes in, saying she wants to be more strategic about the jobs she takes on board in 2014.

“We’ve learnt from experience that some of the last-minute, unplanned jobs that come in are often the most troublesome. Although we’ve wanted to help clients who have got themselves into a bit of a pickle with a last-minute rush job, it’s been more trouble than it’s worth in some cases. I also won’t be saying ‘yes’ as often to some business partnerships, as these can be quite time consuming, with not much reward,” Limberg says.

“We also won’t be putting together proposals for every man and his dog when they ask for quotes. We’ll be more thorough with our screening processes and how we spend time on potential client’s projects.

“Some organisations waste a lot of suppliers’ time sourcing pricing, information and ideas at times, without much regard for the amount of time and effort put into the proposals.”

No more above-award rates

Xenia Ioannou, director of Wealth Zone Education, has sworn off paying people above award rates to inspire them to do more.

“In the past, we have set up attractive packages to attract the best people who will do a better job for our business. My experience has been that this is a huge waste of profits, because more money does not mean better performance. We now pay people minimum wages and set up reward systems for more work. We also have claw-backs on commissions that haven’t gone through.

“This works better to motivate the individual and is more profitable for the business, because you only pay on what has added value to the business.”

No more staying in the office

Alexandra Tselios says that some of the best business agreements she’s ever made have been over a coffee in a café. This is why she’s decided to get out more in 2014, saying networking is everything.

The co-founder and publisher of opinion site The Big Smoke also admits that some of the most outstanding contacts have occurred organically after an event that she didn’t really want to attend in the first place.

“I’m not talking about going to that morning breakfast that cost you $100 to attend just so you could hand over your business cards. I’m talking about getting among your industry’s local community, in whatever capacity you can.

“This is dependent on your market of course, but I would imagine finding out where the people in your industry congregate is equally as important as knowing how to utilise LinkedIn.”

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