By Al Lopez, EGBI Executive Director
For small business owners and entrepreneurs, one of the keys to success is staying focused. That may sound obvious, but too often, small business owners get so many new ideas and opportunities early in the life of their business that they lose their original intent or business plan target. With that in mind, here are three ways to stay super-focused during your first 12 months as a new business owner:
TIP #1: Start small and start slow
Yes, everything’s bigger in Texas, but that doesn’t mean your business is going to become a giant overnight. In fact, there is no such thing as an “overnight success” in business. The path to future success is filled with many mini-steps along the way.
One big reason why you want to start small and start slow is because growth requires capital, and that’s something most new business owners don’t have. That’s why you’ll hear about startups “bootstrapping” their way to success, by being very careful about how much cash they are spending before they make their first sales. When you stay focused, you’ll be able to control how much cash you’re spending.
One way to bootstrap your new venture is to consider a co-working environment. Instead of splurging for an expensive 12-month lease, you can often rent a co-working space on a month-to-month basis. Plus, as an added bonus, you get to network with similar types of entrepreneurs in an incubator-like environment.
TIP #2: Put your business plan in writing
One way to stay focused is by putting down your business plan in writing. Most business plans include discussion of topics like: market opportunity, finance and operations and marketing strategy. By carefully thinking about what market niche you are going after, how you are going to fund your ongoing operations and how you plan to reach your target consumer, you will be in a much better position to evaluate new offers and opportunities as they arise.
For example, say you are a Latina entrepreneur who would like to open a nail salon business in downtown Austin. Your business plan would include details about what part of the nail salon market you are trying to reach, some information about pricing, and some details about how you plan to reach women within certain neighborhoods within Austin (e.g. via social media, print ads, billboards). Then, when someone proposes a new idea to you, you will be able to see how it matches up with your own vision for the business.
TIP #3: Create a mission statement
Too often, small business owners come up with a great business concept but don’t have a way of communicating what makes the business special to other people. One way to do that is by crafting a mission statement that you can share with other stakeholders in your business – employees, partners, vendors and investors. The most effective and exciting mission statements are those that explain how you plan to change the world with your new business.
Maybe you’re thinking of opening a store selling clothes for women. Your mission statement might include a description of some under-served market that you are reaching (e.g. “single moms who want fashionable but low-cost clothing for the workplace”), or some description of what makes your product different from every other product (e.g. “all clothes made from 100 percent locally-sourced, natural materials”). Then, when you get a new offer or opportunity, you’ll be able to see how well that opportunity fits in with your unique vision or goal for your company.
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Being a small business owner is challenging enough without being caught up in lots of new ideas too fast. Start small, map out your business plan, and come up with a mission statement. By doing so, you will prepare your new business for future success.
By: Luis Delgado, The Critical Update
Let’s play a game!
Take a minute to picture the best day at your business. Everything is going right, business is moving along, staff is productive and the planets are aligned. Ahhh, feels great doesn’t it? Just like a cool breeze.
Now, let’s throw a bit of reality into the mix. Suddenly, one of your employees says…”My computer is acting weird”. You think nothing of it and just tell the employee to restart the computer. After all, that is the most common “fix” to weird issues. Unfortunately, once this happens, the computer does not work. What do you do?
Let’s add a little more flavor to this mix. Let’s pretend the computer that just failed has your QuickBooks® file and client list, payroll is supposed to run today… Now what? The cool breeze is now a category 5 hurricane!
If you are like most business owners, you have a technical resource that you would call in a panic. Then the recovery and troubleshooting process would begin and take from one day to several days to return to normalcy. That is, assuming you did not lose data and get sticker shock.
Let’s stop the game now and consider some options.
Many businesses have a reliable technical resource that keeps everything working. The problem is, most of the time, as technicians, we assume certain things. If you ask a techie what it means to “take care of everything”, you will get a different answer from what a business owner would think. Planning for the gaps in this is where a bit of communication can make the difference between expensive chaos or getting back to work with sanity.
Here is an example; I just talked to a member of a medical organization who said the IT company handles everything. When I asked him the above scenario, he said he has no idea about a continuity plan. This is not unusual. Business owners have so much to think about, that business continuity planning is usually overlooked or not even thought of.
There is a technical side with backups and replacement computers, but there is also a critical component that most IT companies do not provide. The side that affects business operations.
There are a great number of companies out there who are fantastic at providing technical support and managed services. Truth be told, Austin has a large number of them competing for clients.
The one thing that I would encourage is to make it part of your yearly business planning to create, review and update your business continuity plan. Invite your friendly IT consultant to be in those meetings and help plan for the worst. Luis Delgado is a Certified HIPAA Professional and the President of The Critical Update inc., a technology consulting firm that works with business owners and non profit organizations in the Austin metropolitan area. Luis and his team help schools, professional service providers, financial services and legal professionals with ongoing support and consulting. Luis enjoys time with his loving family and Church community. Most days you can find him serving people and building community through business consulting and relationship building. Luis graduated from EGBI in 2009.
By Michael Mason
You might have a great product or service, but one of the mistakes people make is assuming that your customers will automatically find you, just because you are a great company. You have to remember that people in general are very visual. Wharton School of Business says that a well-produced video increases information retention by 50% and speeds up financial decisions by 72%. 90% of the communication provided by video is nonverbal, such as body language and tone of voice. In addition, there are all kinds of trust barriers that are knocked down by video, which can mean everything for your company. What not to do when making a video:
The first mistake people make when making a video is the inclination to make something too long. Understandably, companies have a lot to say and want to say all of it. You have to remember, your videos aren’t required viewing. We find 1 minute 30 seconds is usually the sweet spot.
Another common mistake we see is people often come off as too formal in their videos. This is your chance to humanize yourself. Don’t say what you think is standard for the situation. Always speak from the heart. What do you do with your video?
When you have a video you have to post it in the right places. It’s great to send your video to email subscribers, people who are already familiar with you will love the personal touch of video, which will increase retention.
It’s vital to use social media, which is peerless for video sharing. Facebook alone represents a whopping 4 billion video streams a day and video sharing from one’s own network is exponentially more effective.
Posting on YouTube is an absolute must. If YouTube is considered a search engine (as it certainly should be), it is the #2 largest search engine in the world and is largely the preferred search engine for millennials.
And you need to make sure your video is prominently embedded on your website. The average time a person spends on a website with only text is 57 seconds. A website with video? 6 minutes! Can you afford it?
Thanks to new technologies, film production is getting better and better for less and less money. The most significant cost should be the skill and creativity of the filmmaker. You need someone with a great eye for shooting and editing. With the right production team you can have something of cinematic quality for minimal cost. Michael Mason is Owner and Executive Producer of Perfect Chaos Films in Austin, TX, a video/animation production company specialized in corporate culture videos, product explainers, commercials and feature development.
By Jessica Kane
Today, it’s easier than ever before to use your entrepreneurial skills and get into the world of business. With the Internet, it’s possible to reach a worldwide audience from the comfort of your home or office. However, with such an increase in demand for the various products and services that are on the market, time has become a much more valuable asset. Running a business can become hectic, and you can sometimes find yourself feeling as though there just aren’t enough hours in a day to get everything done. When you work smarter instead of harder, however, you solve this common dilemma, and there are five time saving tools for your business you should start using now.
1. Open Platform for All to Use
Especially if you have a number of employees, it can be frustrating to make sure everyone stays in the loop when it comes to projects and other areas that require multi-departmental unity. When you consider the implementation of a project management platform, you can allow everyone in the business to weigh in and actively communicate with one remotely while making the information accessible to all. Basecamp is a software program that allows you to do just that.
2. Clutter-Free Work Space
Let’s face it. Running a business is hectic, and it may seem as though taking the time to do some housecleaning is something that’s better left on the back burner. However, when you choose to invest your time in cleaning up the office, warehouse, or other area that’s become cluttered, you can help save hours of time in the long run. For example, a cluttered filing cabinet may require you to search longer for the documents you need. While it may take you three or four hours to get it organized, it will save you even more time over the course of the coming weeks and months. If you can’t do it yourself, designate an employee to perform the job.
3. Outsourcing Your Accounting and Payroll
A great investment to make is in a qualified professional to take care of your payroll and accounting needs. Not only can they free up a substantial amount of time, but they can also make sure you stay in compliance with all laws and guidelines. You could even consider a software program such as Paychex to make the process far less complicated.
4. 1Password
You likely have numerous passwords in your life, and so do your employees. With 1Password, your life will be made much less complicated. You simply have to remember one master password, and you can quickly access all programs you want to be associated with the account.
5. Trello
Another highly innovative and effect tool business owners should be using isTrello. This app serves as a project manager and to-do list accessible by anyone you want. Here, you can create to-do lists and establish important deadlines to make sure everyone is on board. Best of all, the app is free to use. Best Shot for Success
Every business owner wants to succeed, and the feeling you get when you’re managing and doing well at what you love is hard to compare to any other. Whether you are still in the planning stages of your business or have been in operation for a number of years, now’s the time to begin considering how you can protect the asset that’s all too commonly overlooked: your time. By considering these five time saving tools, you can quickly be on your way to your best shot for the success you deserve. Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who writes for Faxage, a leading company that provide internet fax services for individuals and businesses.
