Our goal with Help Start My Small Business is to help you achieve the dream of successful small business ownership. This doesn’t mean you’re ‘getting by’ running a small business. This doesn’t mean you’re struggling financially both in your business and personal life. It means you’ve found that perfect mix of business and pleasure in your life. This fulfillment of family, spiritual, financial and work life goals makes you feel complete.
For everyone this mix will be different. Some people will want to work more and play less while others will need more time for hobbies and family. The type of business you build and how you set it up will dictate your level of success no matter what your goals are. Don’t fool yourself; there is nothing easy about running a small business. It takes hard work and persistence to achieve true success!
Despite much of our best efforts to the contrary everything in life seems to be getting increasingly complicated.
Technology, relationships, sales, finances….I could go on forever. Every aspect of modern life has more and more layers as time marches on. The latest technologies are sold with the promise of an easier life and while they may make a specific task easier, they can add another layer of debt and complexity.
Small business success and organization is not complicated.
Some technical aspects of your business may be complicated but running the business itself needs to be made as simple as possible.
It’s about keeping the directions easy to follow and bite size while not losing sight of the big picture. Process the information piece by piece, make sure everything is right and move to the next logical step. It’s very much like assembly instructions for my daughter’s new bike. I scan them over quickly to get the big picture and then dive into the step by step knowing generally where I’m headed. This approach helps me avoid many annoying problems.
It’s no different in operating your small business. Work to gain proficiency in certain aspects and by default you succeed. Ignore one or more of these aspects and you could be doomed to mediocrity. I say ‘mediocrity’ and not ‘failure’ on purpose. The business usually doesn’t fail but instead spend years bumping along with no hope of really taking off.
By honing your skills in these principles of small business you will find a path that leads to freedom. Whether you’re looking for freedom from your job or the freedom to do what you love these SIMPLE principles will provide the small business structure you need.
Let’s examine each of the SIMPLE principles of small business success and your path to freedom.
S – Service
Our business philosophy thrives on the concept of killer customer service. Doing everything we can to wow the client and exceed their every expectation. This creates a consistent stream of referral clients and repeat customers. Exceptional service will help your business succeed beyond your expectations too.
Great customer service makes for less confrontation, confusion, faster turnover and lower marketing costs through repeat business.
Serving the community is good for your soul and the reputation of your business. Every small business should find ways to get involved in their community. It’s a great way to give back and usually results in additional business.
- Serve your clients well and keep them coming back.
- Community service builds a better business.
- Service to your employees, consultants and trade partners.
- Maintain high moral standards of service for your business.
I – Improvement
We are big fans of constant self-improvement and discovery. True success and change in your business starts within you. The business is an organizational clone of its owner/owners. As you grow and change for the better, so too will the business. If the owners neglect themselves and their families the business will certainly suffer.
Even the best achievers and business people need help and support. Some can’t see the forest for the trees while others are moving so fast working ‘in’ their business that they don’t have time to work ‘on’ their business. We’ll show you ways to improve and work ‘on’ your business.
- Constant self-improvement through learning and growth.
- Learn the empowering attitudes and drop the defeating ones.
- Your mindset is everything.
- Discover the inspiration that fuels your motivation.
M – Masterplan
Every successful business has a plan. Some are very simple and effective while some others can be very complicated and hard to follow. Both can work but we believe simpler is better (duh!). How do you plan the future of your business? What are your goals? What are some potential pitfalls that maybe you’re not seeing?
Your company should have a mission and vision for success. This is the only way to truly know where you are going and how to get there.
- Discover your road map to freedom.
- Plan for your ultimate success.
- Develop a consistent message and mission for your business.
- Set realistic goals and achieve them.
P – Promotion
Your business will struggle and languish if nobody knows about it! You’ll need to get the word out in a way that’s effective and economical. There are some methods of marketing and advertising proving to be more effective than others in today’s consumer climate. Finding the one that works best for your community and business type could require a little trial and error.
We’ve worked hard to identify the most effective strategies for us and ditch all the others.
You’ll also need to track the progress and success of your marketing program so you don’t fall behind.
Sales should be a main focus of energy for your small business. No matter what business you’re in sales will always be important. Even when you think things are going great.
How to sell more work at a higher price will become top priority. If you’re swamped with business and stressed about getting everything done, then chances are you’re not charging enough for what you’re doing!
- Advertise your business and find your formula for what works and what does not.
- Always be networking to get your name out there.
- Develop sales techniques for getting business.
- Accurately track your results to measure success.
L – Logistics
How do you set up your new business, hire employees, get a location, incorporate, manage, write job descriptions, file taxes, etc? There are a million things to get done and you’ll need to know how to organize all these things while maintaining your sanity!
It will all be fairly simple in the beginning, but as your business grows, things are sure to get a little more complicated. An investment to set it up right at the beginning will return to you ten-fold later.
- Setting up the legalities for your business right the first time.
- Deciding on a physical location.
- Finding the best business structure and management type.
- Your key employees and their job descriptions are imperative.
E – Economics
This is the part where some small business owners blow it and end up driving their business into the ground! They don’t know if they’re making any money and just assume everything’s great. Eventually the business runs out of cash and they have to close the doors. Afterwards they can’t figure out what happened. We were always busy, had tons of work, a great reputation and people were paying us promptly. A further analysis of the numbers would reveal that they were slowly bleeding money because the accounting was flawed or sloppy.
Even if you don’t like working with numbers, it’s important you realize their significance. You don’t have to become an accountant but you do need to know how to manage one. Be able to recognize the key metrics to monitor the financial health of your businesses.
- Make sure your business in profitable.
- Pricing your products and services to cover expenses and a reasonable profit.
- Effectively deal with your competition.
- Small business budgeting and job costing.
- How to structure employee compensation.