photo credit: ManojVasanth

6 Tips to Start and Run a Successful Business

It’s not something that most of us would dare venture, but starting your own business venture does have its share of excitement. There are pessimists who say that 9 out of 10 new ventures fail, but then, failure is a relative term. It depends on how you define it – if you don’t make a profit in the first few months, are you a failure? If you are not busy all the time, does that mean that you’ve failed to succeed? And if you are going through a bad patch, would that count as failure?

The point I’m trying to make is that we all want to succeed, but success means different things to each of us. So when you’re starting your new business, here’s what you need to keep in mind:

• Do something you love: When you’re passionate about your work, it becomes a labor of love, not a chore that has to be endured. And this encourages you to strive harder for the success you dream of. When you’re able to make a business out of your passion, you know you have a surefire recipe for success.
• Do your research thoroughly: You need to use a little of your head as well when starting a new business. Study the market thoroughly and see if there is a need for the product or service you are selling. Only then can you rest assured that all you need to achieve success is a combination of hard work, dedication and initiative.
• Be prepared to work hard: Hard work never killed anybody, especially work that is well planned and equally well executed. Plan your operations ahead so that you get things done efficiently. Know how to delegate tasks so that you don’t overwork yourself. And know where to draw the line when it comes to taking the office home with you.
• Invest in a good team: You are only as good as the weakest person in your team, so ensure that you invest time, money and effort in hiring talented and skilled people who are not afraid of hard work and are willing to learn what they do not know. When you are supported by a good team of employees who work with you rather than for you, you know you’re well on the route to success.
• Remember that the customer is king: And last, but certainly not the least, without your customer, you have no chance of making it big. So treat your customers with courtesy and provide them with services and products that are of good quality. Be ethical and transparent in all your dealings with them, because it is their goodwill and continued patronage that works in your favor to bring you new customers and help your business grow.
• Continue to innovate: So now your business is up and running and you have a steady stream of income coming in. Stay one step ahead of the competition and prevent your business from becoming obsolete or defunct by innovating. Keep in tune with market trends and find out what your customers expect. Cater to their needs and watch yourself taste success after success.

About the author:
This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of executive mba programs. Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com

So You Want To Be An Entrepreneur: How to decide if starting a business is really for you by Jon Gillespie-Brown

I’ve had this on my shelf for a while, mostly because I didn’t think it would apply to you or I.

It is primarily written for people who are in a job, thinking about venturing out as an entrepreneur.

However, it will also remind those of us already in business why we started in the first place! You’ll be reconnected with your passion.

It’s written as an 8-part mentoring session, so the language is very reassuring, but the harsh truth of running a business is laid out in plain language.

By the end of the book (or before) you’ll know if you’re cut out for this whole entrepreneurship thing or not. You’ll know if your idea is in line with your passion and aligns positively with all aspects of your life. Deep stuff, really. Important stuff.

You’ll have access to free resources, tips and worksheets.

My favorite feature are the powerfully inspirational quotes found throughout the book.

You even get to help other entrepreneurs when you purchase a copy (quoted from the SYWTBAE website):

“I plan to donate the proceeds from the sale of this book to an organization that I feel is making a meaningful difference, the Grameen Foundation.  Grameen Foundation is a US-based nonprofit that seeks to empower the world’s poorest people to lift themselves out of poverty with dignity through access to financial services and to information. Learn more at www.grameenfoundation.org”

Find out if you’re cut out to be an entrepreneur, or develop a sharper focus on the vision and future of your current business. Either way, you’ll come away thinking about yourself in ways you never have before.

Happy reading!

A few weeks ago my step-dad told me he wants to start a business selling log homes in Canada as an authorized dealer for a US company. The coach, entrepreneur and Devil’s Advocate in me perked up and started asking tough questions about how he plans to execute his marketing plan — is there even a marketing plan?

In no time, I brought up the target market factor because it’s an important one. My step-dad reasoned that, because the log home company doesn’t have Canadian dealers, the whole of Canada would be an open market and orders would come flooding in from all over the country.

Can you guess what he answered when I asked “Who is your target market?” You guessed it… “Everyone!” Amateurs (sorry, Kim).

I hated to burst his bubble (not really), but I had to lay it out for him. If you’re swimming in the great big ole Everyones-a-prospect Ocean, one of 3 things will happen:

1. You’ll get eaten by a bigger fish. (aka: Being acquired, outsmarted, eclipsed, or squashed by the competition.)
2. You’ll swim around aimlessly for hours, days, months hoping to find a fish — any fish — who wants what you’re offering — and frankly you’d settle for any aquatic vertebrate at this point… after all, you really need the business. (aka: spreading your time, energy, money and efforts so wide that you burn out, or give up from discouragement. “Nothing works. I’ve tried everything. What am I doing wrong?“)
3. Join a school of fish, because it’s just too hard being all alone in this great big sea. (aka:Throwing in the towel and (re)joining Corporate America, ’cause owning a business is just too hard and too much work.)

I told him it’s much better to be the big fish in a small pond, because you’ll stand out from the crowd. There are 2 main reasons for this:

1. You’ll have little to no direct competition.
2. Your target audience will see your business as more closely suited to their particular needs.

So how do you become the big fish? 2 ways:

1. Narrow down your niche and become the expert.
2. Share your expertise in any way possible.

He wasn’t entirely sold on the idea (“But I don’t want to exclude anyone.“), but I think I started getting through to him on the matter.

So, who are you swimming with?

Wayne Hurlbert wrote an excellent blog article on business startups entitled: Entrepreneurship: Overcoming your fears. In it, he lists four common fears people face when embarking on the journey of starting a small business:

1. Losing a steady paycheck
2. Lack of available time
3. Personal lack of knowledge
4. Lack of support of family and friends

In his article, he offers practical suggestions to overcoming those fears to achieve success.

He concludes with this thought:

Don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

The only way to help new entrepreneurs surmount their fears is to talk openly and honestly about them.

What were your fears when starting your business? Are fears standing in the way of your dream? Let’s talk.

Someone on an online networking group I belong to posted this question:

I’ve recently completed my website (of course, it’s a work in progress) and I just don’t know where to go from here. I feel like I’m preparing to no end; but have not had one client to date. [...] How can I really get the ball rolling? E-mail blasts, mailings, registering on the various search engines; I’m not sure which road to take.

Being that she posted on a very active list, she got some useful tips:

1. Get out there. “I cannot say enough about networking. That is what business is all about these days. You really have to put yourself out there and get ‘face-time’ with people so they get to know you and you can build relationships. Building relationships is the main thing. You want people to be able to know you well enough to trust you and well enough to be able to connect you with confidence, to other people.” “Networking is definitely key.“
2. Follow-up. “Implement some sort of follow-up system so people remember you and they have your contact information close by when they (a) need your services or (b) come across a referral.“
3. Start in your own backyard. “I know your business is virtual, but to get the ‘ball rolling’ I would start locally.“
4. Specialize. “When I first started this I was offering a ton of stuff, because I was skilled in all those areas. However, whenever someone would ask me what I do [...] I would try to explain all the stuff I could do, and 5 minutes later both myself and the person I’d be speaking with would be sleeping. [...] Eventually I had a long talk with myself and decided that was not the way to go about getting business. I then thought about the one thing I would most like to focus on and I realized that was what I want to do, and that alone. People tend to think if you do one thing, you do it well.“

Sounds to me like she’s stuck in the very first stage of the marketing cycle, filling the pipeline.

How would you have responded to this question?

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