Freedom Countdown

Posts Tagged ‘Six Sigma’

I need to find the drumbeat for my new business.  What’s that you say? Well, in Six Sigma Lean, the goal is to operate a process, like a factory line, in a consistent, efficient, error free manner so that one item comes off the line every set increment of time.  Like 1 candle per second, that’s the drumbeat of the candle production line.  Every second of every minute 1 candle is made, boom, boom, boom, just like a steady drumbeat.

As a part time business owner, I find myself rushing to get orders placed, then waiting for the merchandise to come in, then rushing to process the merchandise.  Or letting the accounting pile up for weeks, then cramming for hours to get caught up.  Or blogging.   There’s nothing steady about any aspect of my business and it contributes to an overall feeling of being out of control.  Things that were manageable when I began the business are totally unmanageable as the business has grown.

My options all revolve around becoming more disciplined in my activities.  Perhaps, I do accounting every Saturday morning, or divide my orders into smaller orders and place them every Monday and Wednesday so that there is a steady drumbeat of merchandise arriving every week. This becomes especially important if I hire someone to work with me because I’ll need a predictable amount of work for them to do.

It’s weird, but it just might start looking a little more like a job and a little less like a dream.  Hmmmmm.

A common theme for my business seems to be that I know what to do, but I just don’t have the time to do it the right way.  Some business gurus would argue that you can’t afford not to do things the right way from the start and I’m sure that’s right.  But when you’ve got a job and a business, your lack of time leaves you wanting to focus on the fun part of the business, the part you’re passionate about, or perhaps the part that actually makes money.

This week a key supplier of mine suddenly disappeared from the internet and I didn’t have a backup plan. The possibility hadn’t even crossed my mind.  I’ve spent a week getting past the denial that they’re gone and then exploring ways to fill the gap they leave in my business.

When I first decided to go forward with the business, I did a Risk Assessment, which is a Six Sigma tool to identify things that could go wrong.  My mistake was doing it, shelving it, and never updating it.  It should be a living document that you update as your business changes and grows.

A Risk Assessment can be very complicated or very simple.  Mine falls into the latter category and is a list of things that could go wrong with a column for how likely the event is to happen and a column for how I will react if it happens, or my mitigation plan.  For example:

In some cases your risk assessment may result in implementation of tactics that almost ensure that the event never happens or it may simply make you more aware of the risks and able to respond more quickly.  Obviously, events with a high likelihood of occurring need more of your attention and a robust mitigation plan.

In addition, you might want a column for the impact of the event.  If the likelihood is high but the impact is low, it doesn’t warrant a lot of attention.  Conversely, if the likelihood is high and the impact is high, you may need to change your strategy, make different investments in your business, or hire a key employee.

Just don’t forget to update it.

Most of the books I’ve read about how to find work that you love  ask you to perform an exercise where you write down what you would be doing on a perfect work day after you quit your job.  Over the last three years, I’ve done this several times and it always ends up with something like:

• Wake up when I want to
• Spend a couple of hours reading the paper/internet
• Start working when my body wakes up (usually around 10 AM)
• Have a variety of tasks to chose from so I can do what matches my mood for the day
• Work about 4 hours
• Have some tasks that involve going places and doing things, not just sitting at a computer
• Have the flexibility to not work at all if I don’t feel good or have a better option
• Have time to actually go out to eat lunch vs. sitting at my desk eating beanie weanies (ughhh)

In the Six Sigma world these become  your CTQ’s (Critical to Quality).  Things you must have in a new product/process/whatever.  Some of your CTQs are more important than others, so you rank them as to which ones are the most important.  As you start to evaluate options, you prioritize them based on whether or not they meet your CTQ’s. Certainly if a business idea you are considering doesn’t meet your top CTQs, you should think strongly about tossing it out.  After all, this is about creating a better life for yourself, not trading one thing you don’t like for another.  If that’s all you’re doing, just keep your job.  It’s a lot easier and has a steady paycheck.