Business Management

How to Create a Procedures Manual For Your Cleaning Company:

While most companies have specific policies and a printed procedure manual written up for employees to follow, your cleaning business may have started on a part-time basis with you doing everything. Most likely, nothing was put in writing. With many different tasks pulling you in a thousand directions, putting your procedures down into writing has most likely not made it to the top of your "to do" list. But what happens when you want to go on a vacation? Or if you become sick or injured? Having a written policy and procedures manual for your cleaning business means your business can keep running if you do become sick or injured or if you decide to take some much needed time off.

So how do you go about writing down the procedures you do to keep your business running? Start off by realizing this is an important task to take on. Following are a few tips to help you create a procedures manual for your cleaning business:

1. Don't try to sit down and write out your manual in one sitting. You will get discouraged and most likely set the document aside and never get back to it. You do not have to tackle this project all at once. Instead, set aside a block of time every day or once a week to work on your manual.

2. Set up your manual as a Microsoft Word document and password protect it. Microsoft Word is an easy program to work with and allows you to easily make changes. By password protecting the document it will not be accessible to anyone else. Just make sure you share the password with a spouse or trusted assistant in case something happens to you.

3. Start by putting basic information into your manual. This is the information that you needed to get your cleaning business up and running and is probably scattered about your office in numerous documents. Some of the information you'll want to document include: your business address, e-mail, phone number, fax number, your attorney's name and address, accountant's name and address, bank account information, Employee Identification Number (EIN), sales tax number and credit card information.

4. When you are working on specific tasks for your business, whether that be sending out billings, making sales calls, etc., write down your procedures. If there are particular tasks that have to be done regularly, or other tasks you feel are important to the business, make sure you document the procedures, step-by-step. You can even dictate the specific procedures into a tape recorder and have those transcribed.

5. If you have other people helping you, such as an assistant, bookkeeper, or salesperson, have them document what they do. For instance, if your bookkeeper is responsible for paying sales tax she should write down all relevant information including when to send in the taxes, where it goes, who she or he calls if there are questions. Keep your manual consistent by creating a simple template that you use for all of your procedures. Following is an example for the format of a section:

1. Date Updated: _________________

2. Updated by: ___________________

3. Procedures Required to ____________________________________

4. List step-by-step procedures

A filled out page might look something like this:

Date Updated: 9/15/06

Updated by: John Jones

Procedures Required to CheckVoicemail.

- Call 555-5555

- Press the # key to stop the message

- Enter code: 9156

- Listen to messages

- Press 3 to delete message, press 7 to save message

Listed below are additional items that you will probably want to include in your cleaning business' procedures manual. This is just a general list. One of your first steps in putting together your own manual will be to decide what information you need to include.

- Important contact information.

- Customer contact information and contract information.

- Account numbers and passwords.

- Vendor lists.

- Legal information

- Type of business entity, important account numbers.

- Computer procedures, software and product ID's, back-up systems.

- Website designer, website host and registrar for domain names.

- Bookkeeping procedures.

- Procedures for paying taxes.

- Payroll procedures.

- Employee evaluation procedures.

- Where to find equipment warranties and service information. Information on your safety program including where to find MSDS sheets.

The easiest way to begin putting together your manual is to make a list of all the things that you and others do for your cleaning company that need to be documented. If you can delegate some of these items to others then do so! That will make your job all that much easier. Put together a template that works for your cleaning business and then start filling in the blanks. Before you know it, your manual will be completed. Print it off and put it into a three-ring binder so you can use it as a reference. Then if for some reason you cannot work or if you decide to finally take that vacation there will be procedures in place so your cleaning business can run efficiently in your absence.


A Virtual Assistant Can Help You Grow Your Small Business Or Home Based Business:

A virtual assistant can help you grow your small business or home based business by handling your administrative support tasks. If you're a successful small business entrepreneur, you've already learned the value of outsourcing tasks (even ones you're capable of doing yourself) in order to spend your time strategically growing your business and working on bottom-line functions.

You probably already outsource tasks like your accounting and advertising. But did you even know that you can outsource your clerical and administrative support tasks to a virtual assistant? Also called a VA, a virtual assistant is an independent contractor who works from his or her own home or office space. A virtual assistant works virtually, thanks to technology like email, telephone, fax machines, postal mail and courier services. Virtual assistants can work for you on an hourly basis, project basis or on a monthly retainer basis.

Once you find a virtual assistant that meets your criteria, you will develop a long-term working relationship so that you can call on this VA for years to come. As your business grows, you may even develop working relationships with multiple VAs who can handle your administrative business needs. That way you will always have the administrative support you need at a moment's notice and you can outsource projects to various VAs based on their specialties such as Internet research, press release writing and distribution or translation. That's in addition to the ordinary administrative tasks a virtual assistant can do for you like database entry, updating your Outlook contacts, mail merges, creating reports and more.

Here are 12 reasons that you want to hire a virtual assistant now:

1. You will have more free time to spend with your family and friends.

2. You will have more time to work on growing your business.

3. Pay only for work you need completed.

4. Reduce your business overhead costs. You don't provide benefits, office equipment or office space. You don't even provide a paid lunch hour and holidays!

5. No need to train staff. VAs come equipped and trained in their specialty areas.

6. You will be provided with skills that you don't have but need (e.g. Create PowerPoint slide presentations).

7. Virtual assistants provide you with additional help. VAs are an additional set of hands.

8. You will have someone who helps you implement your great ideas quicker to build your business faster.

9. Virtual assistants do even your boring tasks! Hate data entry? Hire a VA to do it for you.

10. Get help with emergencies quick. 24 hour support available (by some VA's and VA agencies).

11. Use software you don't even own (many virtual assistants own and use PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat and more).

12. VAs are professionals and independent business owners. They understand better then anyone your needs as a home-based or small business owner and give your business the same care and service they expect in their own business.

When you use the services of a virtual assistant, you're investing in your business growth.


The Conference Call:

Conference calls are not a new thing, I can still remember that conference calls were held fifteen or maybe twenty years ago, but the main difference then was that this was something special, that an event has occurred that required a conference call, just the way you learned of an upcoming conference call would make you nervous.

Today things have changed significantly as conference calls are used on everyday basis not only by businesses and company managers but also by the general public and individual people. The reason that conference calls have become so wide spread is that it has become more available for people to communicate this way, conference calls rates are down and the public pays less for them, this makes conference calls a very powerful tool to use in business and marketing.

The main power of the conference call is to bring a detailed presentation of a service or even a product to a potential costumer, this is usually a situation where one company offers its services to another company, a demonstration can be synchronized with a conference call in a way that the people who are in the call will get the information and answers immediately from the people who are directly responsible for the actions they are viewing.

The conference call is particularly efficient when it comes to online services or internet services, since this is a computer based service you can have all the people involved in front of a computer screen and upload a certain program that is tailor made for that costumer needs, once the program is running you can walk the listeners through the complete process of the software and involve other experts on your part to further explain the benefits of the product.

The great advantage of the conference call is that unlike the usual "cold call" you will be able to form a relationship with a few of the people working for the other company, you can try and locate a person that you will find more cooperation with within that group and you could also control the way you make your sales by having a few of your manager on the line to make sure that the presentation is done according to the general plan that you had.

The development of the conference calls has also created a large product market, special conference phone products and companies that give full support for conference calling can be found on the market and they supply companies as well as individuals with all the services needed to conduct conference calls on a regular basis, this has led to the increase of non business related conference calls.

The latest way to use conference calls is to form social connections, for meeting other people and having the opportunity of an open discussion, this is a simple way of using this advanced idea in order to expand a phone call into a large meeting room in which people can wonder around and meet new and exciting people by phone.


How To Calculate CRM Total Cost Of Ownership (TCO):

Although it may look and sound complicated, calculating the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for on demand CRM is as simple as elementary subtraction. Or to go one step further, more money will be going into your business rather than the system that struggles to support it. The on demand model affords customers greater flexibility in accessibility and product, hassle free hosting of information, upgrades year round and greater security of information, just to name a few perks!

For those not using on demand CRM allow me to break down its cost effectiveness versus out of the box or custom built solutions:

For starters you can take your current IT costs and subtract all your hours and dollars spent on system maintenance, upgrades, integration and up keep.

Now further subtract the cost incurred for hosting your current network or CRM application. If it is in house then you can deduce server costs, power costs etc... If you host via third party you can go ahead and drop that cost all together.

So things are starting to look a little brighter!

For those who currently use an out of the box CRM system, you can go ahead and knock off the costs incurred for support, training, customization and yearly upgrades, and every other hidden fee you incur.

I am sure that by now some of you are probably feeling a little skeptical; and I don’t blame you, the potential to save this much money definitely warrants some initial second guessing. But don’t let me convince you, see for yourself and put your worries to rest once and for all.

No upfront costs – with on demand CRM, the software is already built and it is entirely hosted online, all you have to do is subscribe and start using it.

No downloads – the on demand CRM platform ensures you are never burdened by continual downloads cluttering up your computer and network while slowly eating up your memory.

No hosting fees – the on demand platform is designed, built and maintained by an expert IT staff, hosted at an external secure location with manned security personnel. Enabling you the user to focus solely on your business and only your business.

Customizable platform – the on demand SaaS platform is readily customizable by expert developers and product engineers. No longer will you have to fork over thousands of dollars to mash stand alone legacy systems into a tedious and often bug ridden enterprise solution.

Free upgrades – with the flexibility of the on demand CRM model, top CRM vendors can offer continual and seamless updates and enhancements to their solution. Security of Information – a common misconception with the on demand platform is the issue of information security. While many find comfort in having their information hosted on site, they are in fact more vulnerable to intruders or hackers, or disgruntled employees then they would be by using the ASP/on demand platform. A good CRM vendor out sources the hosting of their servers to ISP providers, thus guaranteeing greater security and up time for their customers.

There is no denying the aforementioned facts, on demand CRM offers you greater bang for your buck when compared to the conventional out of the box offerings. On demand CRM removes the headaches of IT maintenance along with its hefty costs, it optimizes your employee work rate and in turn, allows you to bring in more money while spending less. Not to mention your company info could not be more secure!


Invest In Your Internet Business Education:

There is a common misconception among some online business-owners: That everything you need to grow your business can be found online and you don’t need to pay for it. This is a belief that can have you running around in circles trying to figure out how to run your business online. I know because I’ve done it.

There are so many sites on the internet that offer you free business information, free courses, free forums and all kinds of things to help you grow your business. Now I’m not saying that these sites are not incredibly valuable (many are, many are not) but you need to know what is good information and what is not. Many times the only way to do that is to pay for it, that’s right, with real money.

I stress the money part because for a very long time I myself was under the impression that I need not pay out money for information I could find for free online. You see, the problem is much of the information is scattered all over the place, in no clear order, so it makes it very difficult to determine how to apply it to your business.

When you pay for a course, book or service you are buying information that someone else (who hopefully knows what they’re doing if you’ve chosen right) has taken the time to organize and prioritize so that you can learn from what they’ve already learned and save yourself tons of time in the process.

Even if you only earn a little back by using what you read it will increase your knowledge and allow you to make informed choices about what you need to know next time you invest in your business. Often the return on your invest will be huge and you will wonder why you didn’t invest in your Internet Business Education sooner!

Here are some steps to take when looking to purchase business self-education materials online:

· Read the sales copy all the way through – There will often be a lot of valuable information in the sales copy of someone who knows what they are doing. You can go through their sales page and learn just from that! If you are reading a page that is full of ‘fluff’ and ‘promises’ but no real solid facts or information, move on because they are probably selling you something not worth your money.

· Look for testimonials and check them out - Almost all reputable sites will have testimonials of people that have used their product and were very pleased with it. Often they will include a link to the site of the person who wrote the testimonial. Check out their site, have a look at what they have done with it and you may also learn a few things.

· Contact them and ask questions – If you have any questions about the product or service being offered use the contact information available and ask them. The amount of time it takes for a response and the quality of the response should give you a very good idea of whom you are dealing with.

· Ask around – If you belong to any discussion groups or forums, etc, ask around and see if you can find someone who has purchased what you are interested in and what they thought of it. I have done this before and it is great to get feedback from someone who’s already spend money on what you are looking to purchase.

The important thing to remember is that if you learn from it and grow your business it is not a waste of money. If you only break even you are still getting education that will help you in the future with your business.

I have used some online courses and services that I have found invaluable. It took me a long time to decide to invest in my business education, but once I did I was sorry I waited so long to start really learning!

Here are some courses/services I would recommend to start your internet business off right:

· http://www.marketingtips.com - Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business On The Internet
· http://www.sitesell.com - Make Your Site Sell
· http://www.mommasterminds.com - Mom Masterminds
· http://www.perrymarshall.com - Perry Marshall’s ‘Definitive Guide To Google Adwords’

I would love to hear of any you have found to be worth your money, please let me know.

Good luck and Best Wishes In Your Business!


The Legal Issues Of Starting A Business:

When you want to start your own business, it is not just a matter of setting up shop and waiting for the customers to come to you. Depending on what kind of business you want to start, you may have to get permission from the town or city. Some areas of a city have special zoning regulations in place that do not permit a business in a residential area, even if you plan to operate it out of your home. You do have to get a license from the government for taxation purposes and so that you can claim your expenses when you have to file your income tax return.

Other issues that you have to look at when starting a business relate to finding a suitable location, a building and the staff that you can work with. Of course, you do have to have insurance on the building and the stock if you sell products and if you provide services, you will need to have your equipment insured. You might say that you plan to run an Internet business out of your home so none of these issues will apply to you. No matter what kind of business you have, you need to have a business taxation number that allows you to collect taxes from your customers. You also have to pay taxes on the income that your business generates.

If you plan on opening a business where you prepare or serve food, then you have to deal with health and safety issues. Government inspectors will do regular inspections to make sure that your premises are clean and that you prepare the food in the proper way. If you wish to serve alcohol, you will have to obtain a special licence.

Having your own business also means that you have to deal with issues of hiring and paying staff. Accurate financial records are necessary in order for you to determine whether or not your business is making a profit. If you don't have the talents to do this on your own, you will have to hire an accountant to help you out. These are all issues that you have to consider when you decide to start your own business.


What Makes A Great Working Environment?

We know a lot about what a great working environment is.

In a great working environment the mission is being accomplished and morale is high. It's the "user" side of the two key leadership objectives: accomplish the mission and care for your people.

Most people know exactly what I mean by a great working environment. They may not be able to list characteristics, or point to research, but they've usually experienced one. So have you.

Think about a time in your life when it was great to come to work. If you're lucky there are lots of them. If you're really lucky, now is one of those times.

What was it like then? I'll bet you were excited about the work you were doing, and you knew that it was appreciated. You almost certainly felt that you were being treated fairly and that you had some control over what you got to do.

There's been quite a bit of formal research into the factors that make up a great working environment. Here's a quick summary of what the research tells us make for a great working environment.

* Interesting and Meaningful Work
* Clear and Reasonable Expectations
* Frequent and Usable Feedback
* Fairness (Consequences = Performance)
* Consistency (Predictability)
* Maximum Control Possible Over Work Life

In my training classes, I often do an exercise where participants identify the times when they were in a great working environment and what that was like. The language is often a bit different from the formal research, but the same things come up over and over again.

Interesting and Meaningful Work

People want to do work that's interesting and meaningful. They want what they do to be enriching for them and important to others.

Different people define interesting in different ways. For some people, it means that they're learning a lot, having lots of personal growth. For others, the most important thing is that there are lots of different situations to deal with or lots of different problems to solve.

Sometimes "interesting" is not so much about the work itself as it is about the people you work with. This selffulfillment comes from being part of a team, an elite group, or just a bunch of folks you like working with.

It's also important for the work to have value to others. The "others" can be the whole world, or just your customers or the people you work with.

Clear and Reasonable Expectations

People like to know what's expected of them. They like to know the rules of the game.

Expectations need to be clear. At the supervisory level, that may mean laying out detailed, stepbystep procedures. At the management level expectations may come out of discussions with several people. At the leadership level, slogans and other brief statements that people can use as a "test" of their plans or actions are usually the most effective.

Don't underestimate the values of frequency, simplicity, and memorability when you're communicating expectations. You have to communicate the important things over and over in memorable terms.

In fact, repeating things is one way of telling people what's important. Slogans are great for this. So are devices like pocket reminder cards with simple messages or messages in table form.

Use your regular forms of communication, like newsletters, emails, sales bulletins to reinforce your leadership message. Reinforce your written communications of expectations with oral communications. Reinforce your formal communications with informal ones.

Remember that you need to state expectations for the performance you want, but you also need to be clear about the consequences of performance that's beyond or not quite up to standard.

Frequent and Usable Feedback

People like to know how they're doing. Feedback is how they find out. To work, the feedback must be frequent (lots of small course corrections) and usable.

How frequent is frequent? The answer, which sounds something like a copout is: "As often as necessary?"

Some people want and need a lot of feedback. Other people prefer to be left alone most of the time to do their work. You have to know who needs what and in what situations.

The idea is to make lots of small course corrections on the way to the clear target you've established with your expectations. Lots of small adjustments are almost always easier and more effective then a few giant ones.

Feedback also has to be usable. Time your feedback so it reaches people when it is the most helpful. In most situations, that means you want feedback as close to the performance as possible. If you can set up a system so people can get their own feedback, so much the better.

Work on your communications skills so you deliver feedback in the most effective way possible. Learn about different ways that people process information, and match your communication to their preferred style. Learn about Social Styles and other ways that help you communicate with people in the ways they most like to be communicated with.

Fairness (Consequences = Performance)

People want to know that they (and others) are being fairly rewarded based on their performance. This is one of those words that requires definition. Otherwise, it becomes one of those words that everyone agrees with, but no two people have a common definition for.

For us, fairness means that the consequences of the performance are determined by the quantity and quality of the performance. One of the people in my class put it in almost Biblical terms: "The good shall be rewarded and the underachievers shall be punished in accordance with their results."

This ties back to reasonable expectations. It depends on regular and usable feedback.

Consistency (Predictability)
Consistency means predictability. Subordinates want to know how their supervisor will react in a given situation. Consistency also relates to predictability in terms of performance.

Your people want to know how to predict your reaction in different situations. If they can't, they worry about whether or not to trust you.

According to some management studies, consistency (predictability) is the single most effective standard to establish with your own leadership behavior. It's actually another form of communication. It's a way of walking the talk.

Leadership by example means that you act out the values and principles that you say you and others stand for. To quote Howell Raines on Bear Bryant: "Coach Bryant had an idea about how a man ought to act and if you watched him, you could figure out what it was."

Leadership by example means that you consistently pay attention to the important things, consistently reward good performance, consistently see that rewards and punishments are meted out fairly.

Maximum Control Possible over Work Life

People want to have a say about things that affect their life. You can make that happen for them by giving them as much control as possible over issues that affect them at work.

Obviously that varies from person to person and situation to situation. Some people like to be left alone. Others want to see you frequently.

Some people are qualified to make lots of decisions about their work. Others need to develop their skills a bit before they can do the same.

Some people work hard and make an effort to do the job. Others slack off.

It's probably a good general rule to allow individuals as much control of the basic decisions about their work as they are capable of handling and willing to handle. In today's flatter organizations, this is easier to do from an organizational standpoint, but it's hard for many of us from a personal standpoint.

Part of your job as a boss is to create a great working environment for the people who work for you. It's not easy, but the result can be both high morale and high productivity.


The Functions Of Effective Management:

ou may have used the word ‘management’ thousands of times at personal level in the context of leading a hassle-free life. Today this term is used at commercial level too. It has entered all spheres of human life and its popularity has reached an unavoidable stage. This can be accounted with the needs of the present socio-economic structure of every society. Management has been in great practice in the recent past though it is true that earlier it was practiced at a very subtle level. Now it has become a profession and one of the most over-rated characteristics in the economic sector. At personal levels also management has become an essential virtue. This is the reason that more people are taking tips to manage their life with efficiency and pleasure. It cannot be denied that all this has happened for betterment as significant progress is witnessed in all the economic sectors as well as personal domain.

In economic terms, you can describe management as the process of leading and directing all the parts of an organization or a business. It is basically done through an analysis and application of recourses (human, financial, strategic and intellectual). Management is an art to get things done correctly at right place and on right time. You can realize management as a very intrinsic quality that needs to be displayed with confidence at various extrinsic levels. There are many organizations, institutes and consultancy firms that offer management studies, training and tips. However, it entirely depends upon your observation and learning ability to make the best use of the studies. Following guidelines with discipline is a key factor in growing as a good manager. There can be nothing better than self coaching and it can only be accomplished when you are confident of yourself.

Management is a skill that is polished through regular practice and up-gradation. Understanding of the situation and determining the advantages and disadvantages is a primary task in management. An experienced manager will listen to suggestions and find a well-thought solution to some issues or problems. Management is also an art of balance between personal thoughts and influencing factors. Apart from personal management, every other form of management has to be directed towards group interest. Here lies the success of a manager and organization as a whole.

It would be beneficial to know that there are five functions of management. They are planning, organizing, leading, coordinating and controlling. You can understand that there is a need of dynamism for effective management. All these functions are directed towards the six separate branches of management that are categorized to facilitate the studies and application of management. Human resource, Operations management, Strategic management, Marketing management, financial management, and Information technology management

The one who manages various departments is called a manager. Every person is not blessed with this art of management but he or she can be a better manager with a disciplined approach towards learning management. Managers are responsible for all the planning and application of strategies. In an organizational set-up there is a hierarchy of managers who take care of all the management activities within and outside. CEO (he/she is the topmost authority responsible for the success and failure of the company. Sitting at the top of any management, every policies and activities pass through a CEO. Understanding the work of a CEO can give a complete insight to a management activity. Vice president, marketing (he or she is responsible for marketing strategies, advertising, promotions, sales, product management and pricing), Marketing managers and Promotion managers follow the footsteps of a CEO.


Growing Your Small Business With Honesty And Integrity:

Small business is America. Almost every person has at one time or another dreamed of owning their own business. Why not? I don't have to answer to a boss. I can set my own hours. In 10 or 20 years, I can live a life of leisure or somewhere at the top of the food chain.

So the goals are set, the die is cast and off you go into the world of owning your owm small business. You make a business plan, get some additional capitol financing, align personnel, arrange a facility and your off.

Now comes the real fun. Decision after decision on the best approach to service, products, marketing. You've done your homework. Your happy with the initial results. You say let's let this profit machine start rolling.

Six months later you get a real shock when the profit/loss statement comes out of the printer and the bottom line is still red. Your financial partner has called you a couple of times on the return on his investment. The spouse wants new livingroom furniture. The vendors have put you on COD. The pressure is mounting. You feel the weight of the organization on your shoulders. Then the test comes.

Fred's produce down the street pays you in cash. The thought occurs to you to keep the cash off the books to pay for the spouse's livingroom furniture and no one will be the wiser. Gee, that worked so well, why don't I cut back on the product quality, save a few bucks there and see if I can get my investment partner off my back.

Every small business owner has been at this fork in the road. Each one must make his own decision as to which road to take. Looking the other way is the easy route at first but it is costly in the long run. A small business should be built on partnerships of trust with customers, vendors and financial partners. Honesty and integrity in the marketplace are wonderful pillow partners. The kind of partners that will let you go to sleep at night with the satisfaction of knowing you were truthful and honest at any cost. There are no skeletons hidden in your closet which can rear their ugly heads. You don't have to be looking over your shoulder while your trying to move your business forward. At the end of the day you can say "It's been a good day!"


The Basics Of Project Management:

Any project can only be successful if the people behind the project implements proper project management skills or hire a reputable and dependable project management group.

Project management may sound like a complicated term and it really is as it involves the process of organizing the different factors involved in creating and completing a project.

All projects should start out with a good plan so that the project creator would know the things required for the project to proceed as well as the necessary timeframe within which these requirements must be accomplished. The project plan should identify the scope of the project and the people accountable for the various aspects of the project.

The plan should include the costs involved in managing the project including the costs involved in hiring human resources and materials for the project. A good and realistic plan will enable the project manager to fulfill the project requirements on time and in an efficient manner.

Like every other project, a project management plan should include a good plan for human resources as they will be the best resources the project manager can have. Another important aspect is the communications plan not only between and among the project manager and the employees or workers. It should also include a good communication system with the outside world.

The project manager should be more wary of a good communication plan especially if the project has a very great impact in a certain community. If this is the case, the project manager should also make sure to include a public relations plan as well as a communications plan in cases of emergency or negative reaction from the public.

Risk management should be one of the most important aspects of the project plan. The project manager should avoid being reactionary whenever emergencies or negative publicity comes up. To avoid this and to become proactive he should establish a contingency plan for possible situations.

One of the most challenging projects to handle or to manage is a software project because of the technical emergencies that may happen, the sudden changes in costs and the sudden changes in technical people involved in the software project. However, a project manager should always be prepared for any eventuality for any type of project he is handling. The best thing to do is to prepare a very efficient project management plan so that he is not caught unaware of very important aspects of the project.