A friend and colleague emailed me that she's starting her own business and asked for my advice. It made me think about what I did right and what mistakes I made in starting my own business. I came up with my sage advice for her:
Some of the things that I wish I had done better -- were:
Number 1 and the biggest is the books. Right from the start set your bookkeeping up right. use a program like Quickbooks. I think I have every program except Quickbooks and there are many other good ones. I hear most people using Quickbooks. I use Microsoft Small Business Accounting. One of my greatest weaknesses in tracking money. This has been a challenge for me. I have studied the concepts and understand the bookkeeping. I have a couple of great books that I recommend, BUT they are packed for our move! I will add them to my blog once we unpack.
Operationalize! Creating effective and efficient operational procedures from the beginning is a key to success. Once you have them, you can tweak them as you need to. Operational procedures will aid you as you grow. They lay the foundation of how you do business and give your staff a framework to work in. Write down the procedures and keep them all in a centrally located binder. But also important is to follow them!! Many people create systems and then don't follow them, and then they create a new system and don't follow it. Give your systems a chance to work and don't waste all your time creating and recreating.
Build a website. I prefer building my own because I can update it easily. There are some great tools now for building your own site with little knowledge of the HTML code. It's important to have a professional looking site and one that offers great content. Adding content regularly also helps the site to remain interesting for people to revisit and also have a better page rank. the site builder tool that I am using right now is: Site Sell. Part of what I like about it is the extensive training they provide via video tutorials. If you have never built a site this program can really teach you more than the basics. The other feature is the tools for researching and optimizing your site.
Be ready to wear many hats and figure out how to love them all. As a business owner of a small business owner you often are wearing the hats of service provider, marketing director, business development, finance director, janitor, bookkeeper, webmaster, networker, sales manager and more.... So many of the business owners I work with say they hate marketing or sales. You have to find a way to love each part of your business if you don't have the resources to outsource those things. If you do have the resources then by all means outsource!
Work on your marketing plan. How will you get clients? Why you instead of all the other service providers on the corner will people pick you? What's your unique selling proposition? If you are new to business and new to marketing, this could be the most important piece of your planning. Marketing, becasue without clients/customers, you don't have a business!! Develop a complete plan including a comprehensive follow-up plan.
Network everywhere and have a postcard or memorable business card to hand out. My business card is orange and often when I hand it to someone they recognize it and say, oh I have your card and I get your newsletter! Make your materials memorable.
Over deliver to your clients and take care of them when they make referrals to you. We call this "wowing your clients". Go above and beyond what they expect. This will keep them happy and keep them talking about you and your business. When people are "wowed" they will tell their friends and you will increase your business! This fits in with a good customer service approach. And, when they do refer people to you, say "thank you". Don't forget to say thank you. You can also give them a gift, a free service, a significant service discount or other reward for their efforts to help you build your business!
What lessons have you learned? Let me know by emailing me at: info@compassroseconsulting.com
To learn more about each of these lessons join the Business and Marketing Mentorship where I will guide you through developing an effective strategy and marketing approach.
To your business success!
Donna
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