Here are a few suggestions to help you establish and enforce boundaries of employer/employee relationship.

Define relationship. Keep your seat, Dr. Phil, this won't take long. The employer/employee relationship should be well-defined from outset and parameters understood by all parties. Some call it "defining pecking order" or "establishing food chain." Whatever colorful term you use it all boils down to this: You can be their boss or you can be their buddy. You can not be both.

Don't hire friends or relatives. This rule is certainly bendable if you are owner of business and you hire your children to work for you. Chances are your offspring already accept you as ultimate authority figure and managing them in a business environment is second nature. However, even this situation could have a negative impact on your business as non-related employees often expect boss' son, daughter, or best buddy to work less, make more money, and be treated better than everyone else. Whether that's true or not, nepotism and cronyism can create an underlying tension among ranks.

Establish and adhere to company policies. It's a good idea to have published policies concerning every aspect of your business, including employee behavior and performance expectations. By it's very nature employer/employee relationship is prone to favoritism. Managers can't help but favor those employees who work harder, longer, and faster, but when it comes to adhering to company policies, there should be no preferential treatment of favored employees. Every employee should receive a copy of your published company policies and sign a form stating that they have read, understand, and agree with same.

The Bottom Line: treat everyone same. It does not matter if employee is a vice president or a janitor; everyone in your company should be treated same when it comes to adhering to published company policies and performance expectations.

While it is true that a vice president may be of more value to company than a janitor, it is also true that a vice president who is running amok can do far more damage to your company than a janitor who lets a toilet back up every once in awhile (there's an analogy there that I will let you figure out on your own).

It's not personal, it's just business. This is what movie bad guys say to one another right before shooting starts. "Hey, Paulie, it's not personal. It's just business." BLAM! BLAM! This is dating equivalent of saying, "It's not you, it's me." These kinds of statements are not going to make anyone feel better when they are getting dumped or fired. Just ask any former employee or old girlfriend you've used this line on.

If you have to fire an employee - even a friend - do it by book in a professional manner.

It won't be easy, but you have to remove emotion and do what's best for your business.

Here's to your success.

Tim Knox tim@dropshipwholesale.net For information on starting your own online or eBay business, visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

Now just fill in each quadrant accordingly. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors that affect your business. Opportunities and threats are external factors. Let's look at a quick overview of each.

Strengths are those things that make your business stronger. Strengths might include: a product or service that sells well; an established customer base; a good reputation in marketplace; a good track history; a high traffic location; strong management; qualified employees; ownership of patents and trademarks; and any other aspect that adds value to your business and makes it stand out from competition. Strengths should always be gauged by strengths of your competitors. If your business does something well just to keep up with competition, it is not a strength. It is a necessity.

Weakness are antitheses of strengths. Weaknesses are those areas in which your company does not perform well or could stand improvement. These are areas of your business that make you susceptible to negative market forces and aggressive competitors. Weaknesses might include: poor management; employee problems; lack of marketing and sales expertise; lack of capital; bad location; poor products or services; damaged reputation; etc.

Opportunities are those things that have potential to make your business stronger, more enduring, and more profitable. Opportunities might include: new markets becoming available or old markets that are expanding; possible mergers, acquisitions, or strategic alliances; a competitor going out of business or leaving marketplace, making their customers open to you; and potential availability of a desired employee.

Threats are those things that have potential to adversely affect your business. Threats might include: changing marketplace conditions; rising company debt; cash flow problems; a strong competitor entering your market; competitors with lower prices; possible laws or taxes that may negatively impact your profits; and strategic partners going out of business.

Once you have filled in all four quadrants, you can use this information to create strategies that will help you make best of information learned. For example, once you have identified your strengths you can better use them to determine which opportunities to pursue and to help reduce your vulnerability to potential threats.

Now that you know your weaknesses you can formulate strategies to overcome them so you can pursue opportunities. Knowing your weaknesses can also help you establish a defensive plan to prevent your weaknesses from making your business particularly susceptible to external threats.

Whether you use a consultant or create a SWOT Analysis on your own it is important to remember that a SWOT Analysis is a subjective analysis tool that can be strongly influenced by opinions of those performing analysis. For small businesses especially it is imperative to keep analysis simple and to point. Don't overanalyze and don't immediately take results as gospel.

Remember, it's an analysis tool, not a magic 8 ball.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox tim@dropshipwholesale.net For information on starting your own online or eBay business, visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net