Month: December 2019

Standardization

The first thing I will like to mention is standardizing services or products. In the onset of a business, an entrepreneur figures things out as he/she develops. As time elapses, the entrepreneur figures out what works and settles into a way of doing business. This usually happens at the $100,000 mark. The problem with this is the knowledge is embedded in the head of the owner. The owner often fails to communicate this knowledge to new hires. There is kind of an “unspoken standard” or “way of doing things”. People learn “the unspoken way” haphazardly. By not standardizing, the owner’s loses 50% of the value of the business when it is time to sell. Nobody wants to buy a business when all the knowledge is in the owners’ head and if they do there are usually lots of contingencies tied to the Nsouly.

Delegation

Most entrepreneurs have this false belief that they are the best: No one can do anything as well as they do and without them the business will fail. This false belief enslaves them into believing they have to work harder than anyone to achieve success. They have a hard time even getting away from their … Read the rest

No matter the individual, there will always be some aspect to a business where they could use additional assistance. Trying to figure out this the aspect of the business on an individual basis is possible, but can be costly by costing them valuable time, resources and money. Whether it is accounting, technology, marketing, legal, etc… there are outside resources and individuals that can assist an entrepreneur in building the business. Strategically partnering with someone who compliments your own given skill sets will help a business grow that much faster and can be a great determining factor on whether or not the business is a success.

There are disadvantages to bringing in a partner or additional help. When bringing in an additional partner you may not retain as much equity in your company as you originally had wished. A lot of entrepreneurs struggle with this notion because they feel they it is their idea and they deserve to own all of it. What entrepreneurs need to understand is that a strategic partner can be the difference between succeeding and failing. It is better to own part of a successful business, than all of a failing one. Even if not giving up … Read the rest

According to Wikipedia “brainstorming is a group creativity technique that was designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem.” Brainstorming business ideas should be uncensored. No idea is dumb or impossible and each person’s contribution is equally valuable. The mail clerk’s ideas are as valued as the President’s.

In order to step outside of the existing business or industry framework, participants must “erase” their memories and pretend they know nothing about what is (or is not) possible. Consider each idea with equal thoughtfulness, no matter how outlandish. The task at hand when brainstorming truly unique business ideas is to free-associate, generating as many ideas as you can.

Brainstorming via the Five Senses

There’s nothing more boring than a sterile conference room. Yet this is where many new business idea / concept development sessions take place, in a room with four blank walls and no stimuli (far from the best atmosphere for brainstorming new ideas). Brainstorming sessions need “springboards” to get the creative juices flowing.

One technique for breaking out and generating innovative business, product, or service ideas is to get all of the external senses involved. Try filling colorful gift bags with small items … Read the rest

A Small Business Cannot Run on Passion Alone

Passion is critical in small business, but it must be channeled and directed. Single-minded focus is gained only by going through a deep thinking, soul-searching process that delivers a clear sense of Mission, Vision and Values.

This process must occur at the personal level and then be reflected in the business itself, through words that spell out the Mission, Vision and Values in easily understood language.

These words become the primary essence of the business. For the small business person, these statements spell out their beliefs and assumptions about their business and inform everything that they think, say and do.

Every morning, when the successful small business person gets out of bed, it is with a real sense of purpose, namely, to fulfill his or her Mission.

Their Mission, Vision and Values are well understood within their business, and they are the critical clauses of the employment contract that everyone in the business signs up for.

Mission, Vision and Values inform and shape all business policy development and the processes and measures that are put in place to ensure disciplined execution.

Making Good Strategic Decisions

Once the value base of the business … Read the rest

True success is found when you win awards over and over again. Wealth goes up and down, but winning awards means you are solidified in history. There are cases where you might want to take advantage of building money values to get into the books, but you ought to think twice. Entertainment usually serves as the perfect catalyst to intellectual property. When you work in entertainment almost nobody cares about your success unless its worthwhile. Entertainment is one of the most crowded fields in the business. If you pay close attention you can design your winning ways by winning awards. Awards help carve out excellence. Let me explain.

When you submit your body of works for award eligibility you craft your work for excellence. Anyone can make a project, but those who exclusively chase awards quickly find success. There is no limit to the amount of success you want to achieve. If you believe you can be the best you will be the best with superb work ethic. Never shy away from success it isn’t dangerous. The biggest names in the business will tell you over and over about their failures. The main topic when rising again is to learn … Read the rest

When you are looking for a way to advertise or promote your brand, posters are some of the cheapest tools that can be used as a form of marketing. These are especially handy for smaller businesses that are operating in a small country wherein every money making opportunity is very important. Aside from purchasing a cheap promotional material for your advertising campaign, you can further reduce your costs by finding a printing service provider that offers discounts to their clients.

There are many small businesses that place their posters in places wherein people can pass by and see them all the time. This kind of successful business campaign strategy arouses the interest of many individuals and is a good way to convince them to do something. These posters are flexible tools that can also be customized for large or small initiatives. They can act as teasers for an upcoming campaign or even that is run by your brand, getting existing and potential customers excited on what is about to come. You can also design your posters to give the public a full campaign instead and show your target market what the latest trends are.

Sophisticated software applications today allow a … Read the rest

Earn Some Extra Money

Renting office space can be very expensive, especially if you are doing so in a prime location. Therefore if you have some desks going spare you might find that renting them out to another person or company can help earn some extra money for you to put towards your own rent.
Having extra money coming each month can help with your cashflow and even help to expand your businesses by potentially increasing the amount that you feel able to spend on wooing new clients.

Reduce Overheads

When you are running your own business one of the main things to think about is how to keep your overheads down. This is a key contributor to good cashflow management which is at the heart of business success.

Sharing office space helps you reduce the amount you spend on rent each month. As such it is an excellent way to reduce your overheads and manage your cashflow.

Expand Your Business

As well as saving and even making you money, sharing office space can be provide a great opportunity to expand your business.
After all, if you share an office with people in synergistic businesses (in other words whose area … Read the rest