Small business advice: How Core Activities help your business succeed
- Business Rescue Business Growth
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Here at Be Rescued, we love giving small business advice. The Business Model Canvas is an essential part of a small business owners toolkit and provides a blueprint for success. Step Six: Core Activities details the key activities you need to perform to make your Business Model succeed and keep your business running.
What are Core Activities and why are they essential for your business?
In a nutshell, Core Activities are essential for your business to run effectively and make a profit. They include Research and Development, Production, Operations, Problem Solving, Marketing, Administration, Training and Resources.
These activities will vary from business to business depending on the nature of your products and services.
Core activities are the most important actions your business needs to perform to make your Business Model Canvas work and your company succeed and thrive.
Not sure which activities are relevant for your business? Maria at Be Rescued can help. For small business advice book an appointment with Maria.
Small business advice: Core Activities explained
To work effectively, The Business Model Canvas needs to include a range of key activities:
Research and Development
Research and Development (R&D) activity is vital, it focuses on looking in-depth at the market businesses operate in and their customers.
The R&D activities you perform ensure that your products and services are relevant and meet your ideal customers’ needs.
R&D helps business owners to establish, improve and grow their businesses.
Production
Production does what is says on the tin!
It focuses on creating products and services for your business.
Operations
Activity centred around Operations manages the process of creating products and services in the most efficient, streamlined way.
Operations management involves planning and coordinating every element needed to produce products and services and deliver them to the customer on time and with quality standards met.
Problem solving
You know the feeling when a business problem strikes – it can ruin your day! You can’t just brush it under the carpet, you have to deal with the situation head-on.
But that’s easier said than done. Sometimes when the s**t hits the fan, it’s hard to see a way out. It pays to have an expert, fresh pair of eyes to help you find a solution.
Problem solving is a really important activity for businesses and is central to the Business Model Canvas. Not only because it helps you turn a tricky situation around and build resilience but sometimes surprisingly it can result in a positive outcome.
Maria at Be Rescued specialises in helping small business owners see problems as opportunities.
Contact Maria for help and support to solve your business issues.
Marketing
Marketing activity includes business development, market research and finding, securing and retaining customers.
Your digital and traditional marketing channels are used to communicate your Value Proposition - the reason people buy from you and not your competitors.
When it comes to small business advice for marketing, at Be Rescued, we recommend helping your ideal customers see your business as the best choice by highlighting the benefits you offer and the problems you solve for them.
A great Value Proposition will help you increase brand awareness, customer engagement and revenue. So, use a Core Activity - marketing - to get the message out.
Administration
Administration is a Core Activity for any business - big or small.
Key activities within administration include Human Resources and Finance which are essential for the effective running of a small business.
As a small business owner, you don’t need teams of people to carry out these activities. You might have a sole employee or rely on external consultants, but you need to ensure that administration activities are covered.
Having a sound Administration system pays dividends for small businesses. Maria at Be Rescued can help you identify what’s needed and put effective processes in place. For small business advice contact Maria today!
Training
One of the best pieces of small business advice we can give at Be Rescued is to ensure your staff get the skills and knowledge they need to carry out key activities.
Whether your employees work in production, create marketing strategies or have a customer facing role, they need training and development to help them perform their role to the best of their ability.
Training is a key activity for businesses, helping to encourage productivity and staff motivation.
As a Business Owner, it’s important that you never stop learning. You can’t know everything but you can pick up lots of tips and tricks along the way. We hope our Be Rescued blogs help!
The importance of Essential Resources
Let’s take a moment to give a shout out to Essential Resources, Step Seven in the Business Model Canvas.
This is where you document the essential resources you need to operate, get business and generate income streams.
Performing Core Activities would be virtually impossible without Essential Resources which include:
- Assets such as a factory, office buildings and company vehicles.
- Human resources such as your employees and any external support such as a marketing consultant and business advisor.
- Financial resources such as a business loan or start-up funding.
Core Activities and Essential Resources are interdependent – one can’t function without the other.
Production can’t happen without a factory; administration can’t take place without people and a business can’t operate without funding.
So any discussion on Core Activities must acknowledge the significant role played by Essential Resources. A round of applause if you please!
Key takeaways
Core Activities are the actions you need to take to make your Business Model work and help ensure that your business runs effectively and turns a profit.
Essential Resources enable Core Activities to happen, the two are inseparable – a perfect pairing!
Whether you need help with your Business Model Canvas or general small business advice, Maria at Be Rescued can help. Book an appointment with Maria today!