For more than 30 years I have been searching for the answer. What are some small businesses doing to make them successful that others aren’t doing?
I think I found the answer.
One
of my favorite small business gurus, Dan Kennedy, writes in his book No
BS Pricing Strategies, “One of my pet principles is that, whatever
success you have, you get out of bed and earn it by your own successful
behavior each and every morning.”
Another
one of my favorite gurus, Michael Gerber, teaches that you should start
with what your business will look like when it is done. How many
employees will you have? What are sales going to be? What is your
profit gong to be? Where are you going to locate it? Who are going to
be your customers? By figuring that out, what is your business is going
to look like when it is done, you actually have set your goals for your business. Now lets put together a plan to reach your goals.
The
problems is that I am like most small business owners, to busy doing
what my business does, to take the time to put together a plan, let
alone follow it. So like most of us, I stumble forward, and by accident
customers find us, and we do the job or sell them the merchandise and
move on. I am so busy doing it, doing it, doing it, that I don’t have
the time to work on my business. Almost all decisions are seat of the
pants. Certainly no well thought out. Guess what? I am doing the things
that unsuccessful business owners are doing. I am caught in that trap.
Like a boat without a rudder. Putting out fires on a daily basis. I
should know better. Managing my business by intention is the thing I
really need to do to be successful. But planning is really hard to do.
Until
I stumbled upon Chris Guillebeau. Guillebeau is the author of the $100
Start Up. The book is about finding value from your work and having
the freedom from your work to do all the things that are important in
your life. It takes stories from people literally all around the world,
that maybe never thought about being entrepreneurs but through layoff’s
and hard times were pushed into that role.
The
stories are great because it’s people who started businesses with
little to no money but with planning, hard work and hustle, found a way
to make it work. They’re an inspiration to the average person because
they are average people doing it in a way that we can follow.
Guillebeau
has taken the business plan and stripped it down to the basics, one
page to be exact. I have included in this newsletter. It is simple.
Takes a few minutes to fill out. It allows us busy small business
owners to really get to the meat of the matter. What will my business
look like when it is done. Finally a chance to do the things that
successful business owners are doing to be successful. We have posted a link on our blog to his website. You will find even more very simple
easy to fill forms that will help you manage your business. I challenge
you to fill it out and use it. More next month
Things you should be doing right now.
Rethinking
your record keeping. Whether you are having us keep track of your
books, you use the ubiquitous quick books, using a check book, or a spread
sheet, the fact is your record keeping system is the key to a better
April 15th. We believe that a system that will accurately reflect your
businesses income and expenses, yet not become so burdensome that you
won’t do the things needed to do be on top of your record keeping is
not only crucial to your success but also easily obtainable. Call us we
can help.
Our staffed office hours have changed.
We are open week days with a much earlier closing time this based more
on work flow than the clock. We are still available to meet with you
evenings and weekends. The only thing we as
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