Posts Tagged ‘Business’

Are you ready for the New Year?  Do you know your intentions, your expectations, and your goals?

Now is the time to set your business agenda for the coming year. Now, as you close out your books, it is time to determine your 2011 goals and to develop your strategies to meet those goals.

If you do nothing, nothing good will happen.

My theme for this the last month of 2010 is “Vision and Mission”.  Now during the holiday down time is the time to review your vision (What it is you are doing?) and your mission (Why you are doing it?) and to renew your intentions for the future.

To get started check out these tools in the Working Miracles Library of useful business building tools;

• Vision Statement Worksheet
• Mission Statement Worksheet

My posts for the rest of this month will focus on providing tools and guidance to help you begin the New Year with specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely goals.

If this season is about peace and good will, I can think of no better way to generate such feelings than to clarify the value you bring to your clients and customers and to set goals to share that value as widely and effectively as you can.

Sharing the value I have to offer widely and effectively is what I intend to do with the posts I offer this month.  If you find them valuable, please let me know.

Image by Flickr user Martin Borjessen, licensed under CC 2.0

Should Be Like This

Many small business owners still struggle to perfect their elevator speech. An elevator speech, for those who have never been to a Chamber meeting, or other networking event, is a short synopsis of a business. Ideally the elevator speech provides a description so concise and so compelling that, in that magical moment when an entrepreneur finds herself in the elevator with Donald Trump, she is able to parley that 60 second ride into a d $2M investment.

Are so Yesterday

Elevator rides are no longer just rides. It may take 60 seconds to descend from the 19^th floor to the ground but 60 seconds is WAY too much time to waste listening to a stranger. In sixty seconds Donald Trump can have his I-phone out of his pocket and have dashed off two tweets and an e-mail. He is not going to stand around listening to one person pitch one business idea.

Are Old Technology

The 14th Annual Webby Awards, held in New York on Monday night, honored the best on the internet.  By rule, all acceptance speeches can be no more than five words!  Check out these videos of some of the winners.  What can you say that is meaningful in five words?

Social media strategy consultant and blogger Jay Baer,  claims, “We’ve gone from thoughtful to concise.” Jay suggests we pare down our business value statements to 120 characters to allow for re-tweets.

Are Getting Faster All the Time

It sounds short but it is not that hard.  I managed the following brief statement about who I am and what I do and even how I do it in just 78 characters with room to spare.

“I turn business owners into confident business leaders through focused personal coaching.”

Please give it a try and share your results in the comments.

 
 

photo by sachman75

I have argued for small, very small, businesses over big business.  To pursue this non-conformist philosophy requires a certain level of rugged individualism.

Take, for example, Guy Kawasaki’s advice in The Art of the Start: regarding managing for cash flow.  Kawasaki says that managing for cash flow isn’t a long term practice. Eventually, he claims, a business builder will want to strategize for “paper” profits like growth, market share or brand recognition.  Management for cash flow is a strategy only for early stage bootstrapped businesses.

If your intention is to be a very small business owner, his advice for bootstrappers is useful, just don’t be sucked in by the claim that cash flow is not a long term practice. It can be.

If your choice is to create a business that will afford you a certain, adequate lifestyle, consider the life you will create as you follow Kawasaki cash flow advice for early stage start-up businesses.

Happiness is a positive cash flow. Fred Alder

Kawasaki gives the follow advice to maximize cash flow from your business:

Choose A Product That Is Easy To Sell

He is right. As you choose a business, don’t make it hard for yourself. I have worked with clients who chose to sell a debt reduction tool. They always struggle because, despite its proven success, the product is expensive, the usefulness of the product is difficult to demonstrate and the market, by its nature, is cash strapped.  Better to choose a product your market already knows it needs. Even though the market is highly competitive, there will always be someone selling easy weight loss and get rich quick schemes because these products meet a widely recognized need.  Choose a product that is just as compelling as beauty and wealth – but look for a niche with less competition.

Position Your Product

Once people recognize their pain, you want to make it an easy step to buy what you are offering.  Develop a marketing funnel.  Give your prospects a chance to experience your wares with little or risk as they come to know and trust you.  Keep your entry level product affordable, risk free and provide plenty of opportunities to build the relationship.  Remember running a successful, very small business is all about cash flow and relationship. Give your customers every chance to deepen their relationship with you and with your product.

Fill a Need

Another mistake I see my clients make early on in the business start-up process is choosing a product that fills an narrow market need. Usually this need is based on the client’s personal interest instead of a true market analysis. I’ve seen clients struggle to sell designer cat food to co-workers, or premium travel vacations to the ladies in the Fire Hall Auxiliary.  Don’t start a business, even a very small business, without first considering the size and level of need in the market. Also check for competition. If there are only 10 customers in a 100 mile radius and someone already sells high end cat food to them, you will have an uphill climb.

Follow Trends

One way to identify a need is to follow the trend. Social Media is an obvious trend but there are others: green technology, being frugal or alternative health care, to name a few. Beware. There is an art to this part of the start.  For the very small business owner, the product and the market can consume a large part of your day.  Seek a balance between following a trend and finding a product you believe in.  You will want to enjoy your customers. If you don’t like young people, don’t open a tattoo parlor.  You will want to find meaning in helping the people you serve.

Choose the right trend and you can create the good life.  Follow the trends blindly and you may become a success but miss being happy. Choose wisely.

Piggy Back on Someone Else’s Success

Like those birds that live on the backs of water buffalo, look around and see who or what is big in your world. You could create the next killer I-phone application, if you are so inclined.  A client of mine provides rides from the hotel district to the corporate office of a local training institute. Another, moves cars around for the local car dealership when a new order arrives.  Be creative. Let someone else create the need, you fulfill the demand.

What is your product?  Share it with the Working Miracles Very Small Business community by leaving a comment and test the market.