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Common Start Up Mistakes

June 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

When it comes to starting a small business, many people make huge mistakes that doom the operation from the beginning. This is obviously affected by the type of business that you are running, but many of the general mistakes can be applied to a wide variety of industries.

If you are deciding to go into business for yourself, you probably have a good deal of confidence in the industry or market in which you are operating. This is a definite factor and a big plus for your company. If you are trying to start a business doing something that you have no clue about running, the learning curve is harsh and unforgiving. Don’t get me wrong, taking chances is usually the way to get ahead; just don’t get in over your head in a trade that you know little about.

On hand cash is a major downfall for many startup businesses; the lack thereof is the problem. In general, you should not plan on making a profit for at least six to twelve months into your operation. This is dependent on your type of business, but is a good rule to follow. You must make sure that you have the capital to operate for this period of time without having any positive cash flow. Paying your employees, rent, purchasing inventory and buying or leasing necessary equipment is a major consumer of the company’s cash flow in the early stages.

These expenditures never disappear, but in time your company should be bringing in the cash to maintain these costs, with money left over to grow. The key factor is realizing that the positive cash flow will take some time to generate. Buy having the reserves for at least six to twelve months can be the difference between getting off the ground and closing your doors.

Growing too fast is another major downfall for the upstart business. Of course, everybody wants their business and profits to grow. The key to pulling off proper growth is patience. I have personally witnessed many businesses going out of business because of this fact. You are in the position to grow because you are doing something right to start with.

When a company grows too fast it can cause the quality of your services to decline by not having a true grasp on the growth of your company. The details are missed, the proper personnel are not up to par as your core group was, you start cutting corners to maintain deadlines, ect. This can be easily avoided by planning your growth in a detailed and maintainable fashion. Be sure that you have a grasp on where you are going and how you will obtain that objective in the same manner that your success was accomplished in the first place.

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Expanding Your Company’s Reach

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A lot of small business owners struggle to find ways to get their company’s name out to the general public. They also can find it difficult to establish a good pipeline of leads to continue reaching more customers. These problems can be addressed several ways, but not every approach will work for everyone. You have to consider your service or product line and find something that works well for you.

Telemarketing can be an easy way to build up a list of quality leads. If you do not have a couple of employees who can devote an entire days worth of work to this task, you may want to consider outsourcing the project to a telemarketing team. These teams focus on generating high quality leads to feed your company. They can also schedule appointments for your company and handle basic customer services. This allows you to run a smaller company but still have the man power to handle a larger base of customers and clients.

Depending on your services and or products, telemarketing may not be for you. It might also be too expensive for a smaller company to do, so hiring an in-house telemarketer may be easier. Just about anyone can be a telemarketer and can do the job, assuming they have a script to work from. These scripts are designed to quickly relay the information and the goal of the company to the customer. Telemarketing can be a very difficult job for someone without a thick skin. People generally do not care for telemarketers and are quick to hang up or yell at the telemarketer.

You can also look into localized advertising by getting active with some of the local schools. You can become an activity part of the schools in your community and during newsletters or social events, be allowed to market your company to the parents. This works on a multiple of levels. It gets the company into the public eye in a very positive manner but it also is an easy way to advertise your services and products.

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Giving Your Employees Additional Health Coverage

May 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the largest factors people take into consideration before accepting a position with a company are health benefits. Healthcare has become one of the leading concerns of most Americans, so much so that a lot of people will accept a smaller salary in exchange for more insurance coverage. For small business owners, that can sometimes become a problematic situation. The increasing cost of health insurance premiums has made it increasing difficult to offer our employees the type of coverage they want, without asking them to pick up the bill themselves.

When considering insurance coverage for your company, take into account the size of your business. A lot of insurance companies will require you to have a minimum number of employees to qualify for certain types of coverage. They could also require you to pay a larger monthly premium if you have a small number of employees. While this may seem to be an unfair circumstance, this could end up working to your advantage.

Do not be afraid to shop around when considering an insurance provider. See what kind of insurance companies will cover a small business and what type of coverage options they can offer you. You can also look into insurance programs that allow you to join an existing network. These networks were created specifically for small business owners or self employed members to get the coverage they need, without paying an increased premium. These networks place the employees into a “family” so to speak, that allows the members of those “families” to qualify for the larger coverage plans.

You can also spark the interest of more candidates by looking into optional disability insurance. This will not cost you anything but it gives your employees the added peace of mind. This type of insurance coverage is offered to employees on a voluntary basis. They assume responsibility for the premium for this insurance coverage, giving them additional security that most other businesses do not. This optional disability insurance is a great way to show your current and future employees that the company cares about the well being of its employee’s and their families.

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Things to Remember When Starting a Home Business

April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A lot of small business owners will start their companies from in comfort of their own homes. It allows them to save money while establishing the necessary contacts and client base they need to expand into a successful business. During this time it allows the business owner to scale his business at a rate that matches the demand of his business. It is a great way to get your feet wet and learn what things you are going to need to expand, and gives the owner the skills to run his own business. The owner will be able to do every task in the daily operations and once the company is ready to hire additional employees, the owner will be able to supervise the daily operations in confidence.

Often times, small business owners are unsure about the types of services or products the company will need in order to protect itself and remain successful. A home based business owners may not consider looking into a business insurance policy to cover any products, services or contact they have with other professionals. While it is true that your home owners insurance policy may cover a vast majority of the items within your home, there are some aspects that it will not cover. If you have clients over to your home for business purposes or have something delivery for your business by FedEx or UPS and someone gets hurt or injured, your home owners insurance will not cover those costs or expenses. Those injury claims will fall directly on the business and ultimately, the owner.

You can find several insurance policies to cover the needs of a home based business, most of which are fairly inexpensive. Some of these policies will only cost the home business owner, about a hundred dollars per year for a bare bones basic policy. You can also get several advanced policy options that will cover a great range of services for your home business, such as any additional employees that you may hire or equipment. It is really a matter of what kind of coverage you want and are able to afford. The best thing to do is to contact a local insurance agent and see what kind of coverage options are available in your area and find something that is going to work well for you. An injury claim can bankrupt an uninsured business quickly, and a hundred dollar a year invest to protect your business is well worth its weight in gold.

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Prevent Chaos in Your Offices

April 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I have been very fortunate in my experiences and have been more than happy to share what I have learned over the years with those who could benefit from what I have to say. One of the most important pieces of advice I could give to any small business owner would be the understanding of good office management. Without good office management, your business can quickly fall into chaos. It is important to take the time to create a few office routines to keep your offices running smoothly and efficiently. The smoother your office can run the easier it is to keep up with the local demands of any clients or markets that you are working for or with.

Every couple of months I like to do my own little version of a time in motion study. I will walk into my office and take the roll of one of the members of my office staff. I will move around the office to make sure that each employee has quick and easy access to any equipment or supplies they are going to need and that they are able to move around to these key locations quickly and safely. Over the years, I have had to go through and reorganize the office a little here and there to help keep things running smoothly. It has always been minor changes but it is still very helpful to keep things as easy and free-flowing as possible.

It is also important to note that every small business owner should make sure that the office has proper routines set up for all of the companies daily tasks. The last thing you want to see if a lot of paperwork piling up on someones desk and eventually some important paperwork getting lost or misplaced. Creating a system to handle all incoming paperwork can easily prevent this from happening as well as keeping employees from becoming bogged down. All paperwork that comes in should be addressed as soon as it arrives. You can categorize it, record it and then file it. This way it is easily found and accessed once it is needed. It also prevents items from being misplaced or thrown out.

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The Importance of Good Business Planning

April 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A lot of small business owners spend most of their time acting and reacting to situations in their office or local market. This causes a lot of small business owners to feel like they are just spinning their wheels and not making any type of progress at the end of the week. It is not difficult to get caught up in this type of routine but it is also easily avoidable. Take the time to make sure you do proper business planning to help avoid these types of conflicts. You can involve your staff either directly or indirectly into your business plans, whichever is more comfortable to you. You should map out what you want to do over a predetermined amount of time and then take steps to put those ideas into action. This way you can ensure your business is always taking steps in the right direction

A new small business owner will already have a basic plan from which to work from, but knowing how and when to adjust those plans comes with experience, even the best laid plans will need to be revised at one point or another in your career. The local market that you are trying to tap into could change or need a new demand and the sooner a small business owner can identify these changes in the market or demand the more successful they will become.

While some market trends may require you to alter your current business plan or approach it is important to keep in mind that you do not want to change your companies image by introducing drastic changes. It can be hard to find a good balance with any potential changes that you may want to incorporate into your business. I have always found that talking with members of your staff about some of these changes and getting their feedback before you implement any of these changes can help your office from spinning into complete chaos. Often times you can get a lot of valuable feedback from your staff. They are on the front lines of your business and can tell you what trends they are seeing on a daily basis.

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Allowing Your Employees to Work From Home

April 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I had lunch with a friend of mine the other day and he was asking me for some advice on different ideas for his own business. He is going to be opening his first office and wants to allow his employees to work from home or the office. He gave me a basic run down of what his business is going to be doing and what types of things he would like to see. I gave him a little bit of advice and decided that I wanted to share my ideas on this subject with you.

If you are going to allow your employees to work from home you are going to need those employees to have some of their own equipment. A lot of information can be handled through email or fax machines. You can fax just about all the documents that you need to back and forth from a home location to a central office. I recommend that he makes sure any of his employees that work from home have their own fax machines that way it eliminates any additional delays in sending or receiving the information that he would need. 

Email is also another good approach that can be used by anyone running a home office or central office. Email is a very cheap, fast and effective way to communicate with anyone. It also helps prevent miscommunication by allowing everyone the ability to go back and review the emails and confirm any information they may have forgotten.

It should also be noted that using free standard programs such Skype are invaluable tools for just about any business. You can set up live chats and conference chats through Skype and keep in touch with all of your employees. I suggest that you set a required amount of uninterrupted time for each employee to be using this software. This way you can quickly and easily connect and communicate with your employees.

When we finished up our lunch I did mention to my friend that I thought he would be better off giving some more thought to his current plans. If he is going to offer the employees the chance to work from home like this, he is better off saving the money on leasing an office space and putting that money back into his company. If he does want to have his own office, then it would be better for him to have his employees work in the office, that way he can remain in contact with them and put the office to good use. I am not a fan of wasting resources and really would like to my see everyone who wants to start their own business succeed.

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Ideas for Starting a Small Business

April 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you have ever thought of starting a new business, then you have probably been to one extreme on ideas or the other. Some people have a million ideas flood their head the instant they think about small business, while others have one idea trickle through their mind after giving it a week of thought. For people who are on the latter end of that scenario, there is help. There are quite a few ideas that can be building blocks for a new business to spring from, and maybe a few of these ideas will help inspire your creative juices.

First of all, there are small business ideas for the creative people in the group. Businesses such as making custom jewelry and clothing is something that is always selling between local markets and the online environment. This allows for new business owners to work as much or as little as they want and be able to sell their wares as they have the time.

Second, there is a huge demand for household labor. If you want to help out people in your neighborhood by doing some of the not-so-pleasant chores for them, you can make a great deal of money and have a thriving business in a very short amount of time. Chores such as cleaning out a garage or attic, or organizing an entire household are highly sought after because it is always the chore that is pushed to the bottom of the list. There is always the option of hanging pictures, putting up wall paper, painting, or other custom jobs along with the main part of your business to be able to quickly expand your customer base.

Finally, there are many people looking to hire people with skills they do not possess. For instance, if you know how to teach something unusual, then your skills will be in higher demand than someone who can only teach the basics of any topic. You can teach people how to read, use computers, or even exercise properly, all from the convenience of your own company. You get to make the rules, and you get to choose what you do. Even if your skills fall into a category that is not quite standard, you can be easily utilized. If you are able to grow plants really easily, for example, then you can start a business tending to plants for people who have less than a green thumb.

There are basic ideas that almost anyone can use, and make a small business that caters directly to the skills that the owner already has. It does not matter what type of skills you have, there is a way to make a successful small business from it. All you have to do is to believe in yourself and learn how to market your skills. Once you come up with the perfect idea, then you are definitely heading in the right direction and have the groundwork started to become successful.

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Building Relationships to Expand Your Small Business

April 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A lot more small business owners need to begin utilizing the potential of the Chamber of Commerce. If a small business joins forces with a local Chamber of Commerce an entirely new world of opportunity can open up for the business. The Chamber of Commerce sets goals for itself, which are designed to help find customers for local small business owners and increase their odds of success. The Chamber of Commerce is a very good place for small business owners and potential business owners to collect information on running or starting a business. Depending on your local Chamber of Commerce, it may also offer programs that will share invaluable business tips and the commonly forgotten steps to success.

You can become a member of your local Chamber of Commerce and request to sponsor a mixer at your location. This will benefit you in a multitude of ways. You will be able to put on a demonstration of your products and services for other members of the Chamber of Commerce to see and experience. This is going to be a great way to get your name and product out to other small businesses that may be able to utilize the talents and products your company has to offer. It also allows you to see what other options are available for you in the area. You could in theory also scout the competition if you wanted, during this event.

The mixer will also allow you and any employees that you have invited to the event, to do some networking. Networking is a great way for a company to expand its resource base. It is always beneficial to have additional contacts that would be willing to help or offer advice if you are ever in need. That is one of the aspects of the Chamber of Commerce that make it such a power resource for any small business owner. Giving you and your employees other people to contact and learn from while your business starts to grow is nothing short of life saving at times. You are also going to be able to bounce around ideas between some of your contacts and find out what is going to work for your business and what will not.

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Is Micro-Managing Right For You?

March 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A lot of young business owners often take it upon themselves to try and oversee all aspects of their business. While I can not blame anyone for doing this due to the financial invest and commitment that is required, it is not something that everyone should or can do. If you drive head first into every single project or task your business is responsible for, you not only risk personal burn out, but also burning out your employees. If you are going to try and micromanage your business make sure you are still giving your employees, namely those who are in positions of seniority or authority, the ability to do the job they had been hired for.

Some employees often feel under appreciated when put in an environment that is micromanaged. After awhile they can begin to doubt themselves or their abilities and this is something that can bring chaos into the work place. They may begin turning to you to answer all their questions on what steps to take or what things to do instead of having the confidence that they know what to do. I do recommend that all business owners know what is going on within their business and take steps to remain an active part of it, the trick lies in finding a balance that allows you to still have control of your business while giving your employees the chance to shine.

One thing I can suggest, if you are going to be a more active part of various departments or areas of your business, is regular meetings. Use these meetings to get the feedback that you want and offer any suggestions you may have. In the end it boils down to what you want or think is best anyway, but giving your employees a voice and ability to do the tasks assigned to them helps give them the sense of worth that so many are looking for. It is also important to keep in mind that you hired these people to do a job, and you feel they are skilled enough to handle it. So if they have an idea or suggestion that is worth considering, let them know that. Even if you do not decide to support or use the idea, you have at least given them the sense and approval they crave from management.

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