Opening a Small BusinessOpening a small business has been one of the greatest joys of my life - next to my family of course. From a very young age - I have had a burning desire to own and operate my own business - and fortunately I have had the opportunity to do just that - several times - with success. Opening a small business can also be a huge thorn in your side - so - go into it with both eyes opened. Best Small Business to Start
Read my short article on balancing the needs of your customer - your employees - and yourself or the owner. Start with a good - solid - business plan. Don’t take short cuts - do your homework. You have heard me harp on this in other areas on this website - but doing your homework is critical to success. There are some computer programs that are great at assisting with this at a reasonable cost - research and find which one you are comfortable with. Of course you can hire someone else to do it also - at a greater expense. You decide - but don’t cut this out of your planning process. You may - let me change that to - you will - learn valuable information by taking this step that will pay big dividends - unless you rush through.
I have had the wonderful experience of owning and operating the below businesses - and will go into detail on each one - look for those pages to come out in future.
Opening a Samll Business - A Cafe Opening a Small Business - Sales and Marketing Plan...One of the biggest mistakes people make - that I hope you don’t - is that they do not have a well thought out sales and marketing plan.Don’t kid yourself - the key to opening a small business - is sales and marketing. Without it - you are pounding sand. You can have the best product or service in the world and if no one knows about it - how are you going to make any sales - which translates into profit - which translates into - surviving or not. Now keep in mind I am not telling you that you should ignore the other parts of your business - but focus a significant amount of time - effort - and resources - on this. Also - it does not matter what the product or service is - the principals of your sales and marketing plan are the same. Bottom line - inform the people that would be most interested in your product or service. Now I can hear you say - no kidding - of course I already know that I need to inform the people that would be most interested in my product or service. As a matter of fact - I’m hearing you say - everyone knows that already. Do they! Then why do so many small businesses fail? If all you have to do is inform the people about your product or service - why aren’t they all overwhelming you - wanting your stuff - whatever that stuff is. I can make it simple - they don’t know you - and because they don’t know you - they don’t trust you! Sorry but that’s the truth - the cold hard truth. So you ask - how in the world do they get to know and trust me? Become the expert in your specialty - whatever it is - through educating the people who would be most interested in your product or service. The easiest way would be for them to come to you - so think in those terms. Successfully opening a small business depends on you having a good product or service - but of most importance - is having a good - no great - sales and marketing plan. So as you are developing your small business management plan - You Are Creating a Small Business Management Plan Right! - I would strongly encourage you to do your research. There are some places to start with your research that I feel strongly about - but you be your own judge. Again - keep in mind that for the most part - sales and marketing - is - sales and marketing - no matter what the product or service is. So it is the philosophy and method of sales and marketing - more than the product or service - that is most important - at least until you establish yourself.
So go about it right.
Opening a Small Business - and Employees...If possible - I would recommend that if you can initially avoid it and not hurt your business - don’t take on employees until your are ready. No one wants you to succeed more than you - and I am counting relatives in that equation also. Relatives - although they don’t mean any harm - can sure create hate and discontent.Never - never - never - did I say never - think about opening a small business with anyone else unless you want to become enemies. That includes friends and family. Of course the only exception is your spouse - and even then it can be trying. If you do not have enough funds on your own - or - can’t get funding on your own from a funding source - think about some other type of business that you can fund on your own. Start smaller - you will be glad you did. There are plenty of businesses that I have owned and operated that did not take enormous amounts of cash to get started. Use your small business management plan - you do have a business plan right - to determine how much capital it will take to start and sustain your business for a set amount of time. If you do have to start by bringing on employees - make sure you read through the other web pages I have provided on this website.
Opening a Small Business - Book keeping...The big question is - hire it out - or do it yourself.Before you put one dime into opening a small business - do the numbers - before deciding on opening a small business and review your business plan to determine - can you afford it? Will you loose your house - your car - everything you own if this does not work out? If so - my recommendation is not to do it. Risk only what you can afford to loose - even though it is a calculated risk - it is still is a risk. So - do the book keeping yourself - or - hire it out? There are plenty of great computer programs for bookkeeping - payroll - inventories - and more - that are relatively inexpensive and easy to operate and understand. So when opening a small business remember that you do not have to reivent the whell. The key here is how much time do you have. This is not an area of your business to put on the back burner. It deserves attention. If you loose track of this it may be the end of your business - and the personal items I mentioned earlier. When opening a small business remember also that inventory sitting on the shelf - is money that can not be used for anything else. Inventory control is very important. If possible - make arrangements with your vendors - so that you can get product quickly - or better yet - it goes directly from the vendor to your customer. If your operating a restaurant or janitorial business - product sitting there not being used - can not be used for anything else if you needed it. Each day it sits on the shelf you must think in terms of it losing value. Again - search for a vendor that can supply you within 24 hours - you may have to pay a little more for the product - but it could save you money in the end. As an example of this - I have spoken with some individuals that thought they were getting a great price on a product if they bought in large quantities - and ended up having to throw the product away when it outdated two years later. Great bargain - right. Hiring it out to companies that are at a remote site can be effective as well - of course it comes with a little higher price tag. But remember - in the end - it may be more cost effective to allow someone else to do it. This is also a way to do it without hiring an employee. Employees cost you a lot more than you think. I have already said - no one wants you to succeed more than you do! Again - do your research and go with what fits your needs best. If you have the time - do it yourself - if you don’t have the time - make sure that you hire the right organization - at a cost you can live with. Good luck and do not forget to check out my articles on businesses that I have owned and operated - there is money to be made if you have a good plan - have the time - the resources - and the right information and attitude. Thank you! The information contained in this article on opening a small business or any article provided by Good Leadership Skills on the website Leadership-Skills-for-Life.com, has not been prepared, endorsed, or reviewed by any form of licensed legal professional including but not limited to an attorney. Nothing on the Leadership-Skills-for-Life.com website should be taken as legal advice, but instead should act as a useful resource in providing general information that may be useful to members of the general public. All visitors are encouraged to consult with a licensed attorney/lawyer in all legal matters. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information on this web site. This information does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Thank you for reading my article on Opening a Small Business - click here to return to my Home Page
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