How is Your Ecosystem?

Whether you work for someone or you run your own company, you should ask: "How is the ecosystem of my company?" The whole ecosystem consists of everything A-Z from pens and pencils that the company owns to the staff, suppliers, partners, etc. If a company is being ran across the board with a quality ecosystem, chances are that the company is more stable.

A lot of entrepreneurs put off minor problems or issues they face, which leads to big pot holes in the ecosystem, bringing down the quality of the whole network. It doesn't matter whether "Joe" is running a $10,000 company or a $100,000,000 company, he better make sure that his ecosystem is healthy or he is going to face problems from every direction.

"Things done right"

What the heck does that mean? I know numerous entrepreneurs who are running small companies and take shortcuts, but it all ends up affecting their ecosystem. Five years into the future when "Joe" is running that same company worth $10k previously, that small issue might turn into a big situation.

"The right staff"

It is tough for all entrepreneurs to find a great staff, at startup pay, but it isn't possible. A lot of entrepreneurs look to save in the short run or hire the underdogs, but that all plays out to a weaker ecosystem. If "average" employees are pumping out "average" work, that equates to an "average" company. Average doesn't cut it in this day and age.

"The right partnerships"

We all face this question regardless of any business we run. A partnership can range from which staff members work on what project or it can mean which people are on the advisory board of the company, or even companies that work with your company to get things done. If these bonds are weak, it hurts the ecosystem.

Sometimes there are ways to cut back and take route "B" instead of "A" and other times it will only make sense to take that route if an entrepreneur is willing to face a bigger pothole in the future. It doesn't always mean that there will be trouble, but in a company's infant days, if things are contributing "softly" to the ecosystem, it is hard to change course and make it a quality ecosystem in the future.

Is Outsourcing Viable?

A lot of businesses do it these days and there is usually one major benefit to the company, if not more, which is cost effectiveness. Outsourcing has its ups and downs, but in my opinion, I would rarely, if ever, outsource any of my business work. Now that doesn't go to say- you shouldn't hire companies to handle "one time" work, but you should consider the following when you outsource your work.

There are too many loose ends. Any new entrepreneur that is starting out a company, probably doesn't have much start-up capital, so they look to outsource some work, instead of hiring help to work under them. This is usually okay, but sometimes when starting out a new venture, you are really worried that your project will be exposed or even worse- stolen. Yes...you can probably sue someone or a company if they steal your ideas and make them their own, but honestly- if you didn't have the capital to hire someone to work under you- what say's that you have the capital to hire a lawyer and destroy the opposing party. So the bottom line is- hiring in house, can keep loose ends limited.

Time is wasted. Just like when you purchase a custom product from a company and then you want to make changes to the order, it sometimes cannot be done or it will just take a longer time. When you outsource, every change, be it minor, will take time to implement. If you are doing something in-house, changes are followed through on much faster and easier to work with.

You don't know what's going on. What does that mean?...Exactly what it looks like. When you outsource, you rarely know who is working on your project and beyond that- you just don't have the power to know what is going on at all times. Whenever we're working on a big project at any of my businesses, I always check in on the progress and anything else that has came to be a possible road block. I'm pretty sure most successful entrepreneurs I know, always like to have that power.

Quality is unknown. Whether you are outsourcing a small project or a long term part of your business, you don't know how the daily operations are actually being handled. For example, a lot of companies outsource their customer service call in centers, outside the U.S. I'm not saying that it is a bad thing, but a lot of customers are often dissatisfied, from what I hear, by the inefficiency to communicate clearly. If you are outsourcing some of your business, how do you know that the company will uphold the quality behind your company in the same way?

Employee talents are YOUR asset. As previously stated, outsourcing can mean various people working on your project. It could be a team of all stars or a team of people who know very little about what they are doing. Whatever it is, you just have access to their talents (or lack thereof), for the time being. When an employee is working for you, in-house, you have access to their talents, until the remain your employee.

There is a lot to digest when thinking about outsourcing, in which some cases it can be a great opportunity, but sometimes turn into a disaster. Entrepreneurs who are looking to outsource should always map out two scenarios. One of the possible outcomes if they do outsource and one where they don't. After everything is mapped out, it gives a better prospective on what route should be pursued.

No Industry Is Recession Proof

It may be ironic, but I hear entrepreneurs say some businesses are "recession proof" or even that their income will never be affected by economic factors. However, I've always thought the economy plays some roll- even if it is a small role, in every business. Whether or not entrepreneurs decide to participate in the recession, I still think things can be done to minimize the effect overall. Below is a video which talks about what Hollywood stars used to make and how much they are making now. And how the economy is playing a roll in Hollywood. One celebrity is only getting paid $250,000 for a film.

(Video)

Failure Into Success

I've talked about failing before, stating that most entrepreneurs fail sometime in their "careers"-if you will, and it should be considered an achievement. I've also stated that I have never failed before, actually it is kind of a fine line between temporary failure and long term achievement. I get emails asking me if I have ever failed, if so, how. So I decided to write about how I actually "salvage" businesses that might have tanked and turn them around, in order to break even, if not profit from them afterwords.

Usually, no business tanks so horribly, that there is nothing left to use in a new venture. For instance, if I were to build a candy shop, from scratch, which later failed, I would still be left with the building and even the equipment inside as long as it wasn't financed or I keep paying the loan off. So after I close up shop, I would sit down and think about what would work at that location and how I can use the "bad investment" I have made in the building and make a profit from it. In most cases, I would probably go ahead and put another type of shop up at this location or try selling the building. Now, one may argue that the candy shop was still a failure, but I look at it as just a higher investment for my next business that I put at the same location.

Another good example would be if I had an internet business which failed, and then I somehow managed to use the code and setup from my previous venture in a new one and try to salvage anything and everything I could, so I could lower my new investment. By doing so I would be able to save on new programming costs and perhaps launch the new venture sooner than later.

Sometimes it just isn't practical to try to use assets of a failed business in a new one because people try to save money and adjust their new business to their old one, leading to starting another failure or at least something not as good as it could have been, given you didn't use anything from a failed venture. I would only use parts of an old business if it naturally fit the new business concept.

I would say some of the prime assets of a failed business can be its staff and the other connections you have made in the industry due to starting your failed business. It can be of great benefit to have a skilled and ready to go staff to implement into a new business venture, instead of having to find the right team and take your chances. And any networking ever done, is never a waste, part of a failure, or ever forgotten, so those contacts could very well be used to kick start a new business.

Setting Up Good Pricing

Setting up good pricing structures can be harder than they sound. Even the slightest difference in pricing can mean the difference between many sales or no sales. There are many things I look at when pricing out products for different businesses, but I base my pricing off of some base factors.

A few things to look over:

Exclusivity: Is the product or service a premium luxury or is it something people use on a daily basis? If any of my businesses provide a luxury service or product, I don't rip people off, but I am not jumping around giving out a bunch of deals. If you look at real life examples, you will see that if you want to buy a regular, everyday car, there will probably be some kind of "special financing" or "cash back" going on. On the other hand, if you go out to buy a Tesla, in this case, there is no special pricing, in fact, you end up paying a deposit upfront and are put on a waiting list before the car is even manufactured.

Competition: When someone is determined to buy, they are either going to buy from company A or company B. There is nothing more to it. Capturing a customer in this case, heavily relies on pricing factor. I always try to price products at all my businesses fairly and under my competition, in most cases. I don't always undercut the competition, because in ALL cases, at any of my businesses, the service is TOP NOTCH. Employee attitudes are always positive towards customers and the purchasing experience is ALWAYS delightful. Even if your prices are a little higher, you can win on service. But you should always consider what others are pricing similar products at.

Hot Product: If a product is hot, it is just that. There is no need for discounting the product. If everyone is coming to me for what I offer, I will charge full price for as long as I can and make all the profit possible.

How Quick is the Sale Executed: Time is money. If a product or service takes more time to complete, the price should definitely be in correlation with the time involved. For example, I do a lot of consulting for various companies. I charge a fixed price, in addition to per day, plus travel costs. The companies that find true value in my consulting will not hesitate to pay, other companies won't waste my time or theirs. By charging per day, instead of hourly, I can be sure that I set aside the whole day for the company that wants me to consult. If they use me for 1 hour or 3, it remains the same price.

Location: When dealing with retail business, pricing always factors in location and area demographic. The product prices for a store in Beverly Hills, would usually be higher than the same store in neighborhood with less average household income.

Don't Create A Company To Sell It

Mergers, Acquisitions, Buyouts, they are all common terms, and usually when a company is acquired it is extremely beneficial for the owner, especially when we're talking a 7+ figure deal. But the reality is that you should never create a company and build it under the assumption that you will sell it. Operating under such a thought will eventually drag your company down or even drag you down at a personal level, financially and more.

Whenever entrepreneurs are under the assumption that a bigger company will come by, offer them a high valuation for their company and they will sell it, the tend to just pour money in blindly while they are operating the company. The also don't care about profits and cash flow through the company because they think that they have a "phenomenal product." While it is true, especially in the tech space, if you come up with a great product, chances are there will be a lot of offers on the table, it is necessary to keep things in prospective. If you just keep pouring your own money into the company and nobody offers to buy you out, then you will be in trouble because soon enough, you will run out of money and at a personal level, you will be struggling. It is a must to be wise when you pump money into your business. You also have to keep an eye on cash flow constantly. If you aren't making a profit, you should at least be aware of your losses.

There are times when company funds might be drying up and investors are willing to write you a check, buy you have to remember that each time you cash their checks, you are giving up a portion of your company. That said, taking the less money from VC's as you can, will probably be beneficial to you in the end. I personally believe, most that say that "Oh, we have the VC's money to burn through, who cares about making money," are foolish people.

Other times when entrepreneurs are under the assumption that they will just create a company and sell it for multiple folds of its value, they tend to just focus on the end picture. Any other partnership offers or deals that might pass them by, before there are any buyout offers will be ignored. I always think, it doesn't hurt to review offers, even if you are not going to accept.

Now lets say an entrepreneur has been running a company for five years, hoping for a buyout, but there are no offers on the table and they have been careless with the company. Chances are they are holding a rotten apple and each day it is getting worse. Any chance that there was for the company to strive and be profitable might be lost and eventually someone might just acquire the company for a "steal" leaving the founder with pebbles instead of boulders.

I feel that is it always beneficial to run a company as if you will run it forever. If and when the time comes that you are looking at a buyout, you will have two options:

1) continue to run the company because it is doing better than you expected and you planned to run it and not just sell.
2) sell the company because the offer is more than you expected or you feel that it is the right thing to do.

...not to mention that you will probably hate running a company if it doesn't sell.

Gaining Credibility As A Start-Up

After writing a post on how Credibility Houses ROI, a reader requested that I talk about gaining credibility as a start-up business. Sometimes it is tougher for some start-ups to gain credibility, but if the person behind the start-up is well known, it isn't too difficult, if they have a good reputation. However, known or unknown, an entrepreneur who starts a new business, always has to build individual credibility for each of their ventures because more often than not, no customer or user knows nor cares who owns a company.

1) Don't be foolish- As simple as it sounds, a lot of companies mess up during their early phases. Whether it is providing bad customer service or doing something that upsets users or customers in another way, you have to make sure that everyone is always satisfied with what your company is doing.

2) Stay trustworthy- What is a good company? A company that users or customers can rely on and trust. Building trust obviously comes over a period of time, but your start-up has to be trustworthy from the beginning. Any wrong actions can especially get a lot of media attention when your company starts to grow, which can cause people to question your company, even though it was an issue of the past. If you advertise that you have the lowest price in town, make sure you maintain the lowest price in town, otherwise people will view your new company as a bunch of lies.

3) Get consumers talking- If your company is providing lousy products or is a bad company in the consumers eyes, people will talk naturally. But if you are providing good products, try to get testimonials from people and get the consumers stating their thoughts so you can show your future customers how people view your company.

4) Try to hire a credible staff- For example, if you are starting a consulting firm, try to employ a staff that is known to the public and has some credibility of their own. If people know that your company employs trustworthy and credible people, they will view your company the same way.

5) Be transparent- Tell people what is up. Don't mislead people even if you're not lying. Short term gains can turn into long term pains. More people will instill their trust in your company if you tell them things straight up instead of taking them down a curvy path.

6) Stand behind your work- The one thing all consumers look for is a company that can stand behind their work. If you are providing a service or product and your company messes up, you should stand behind and fix your problems. You shouldn't drag the customers through a long battle and either reject or fix their issues, but by doing it quickly and making it simple, people will definitely look back at your company the next time they want to make a purchase.

7) Don't irritate people- Something every person hates is when a company is irritating them. Whether a company is wrongfully billing them, trying to sell them more than they need or whatever else it may be, you can't irritate people. It doesn't hurt to up-sell your products, but don't go to the point where people are annoyed.

8) Communicate- The key to helping people out is to communicate. If you run away from your customers questions or concerns, they will think that you have something to hide, which is why you are ignoring them. If you can face your customers and answer 100% of their questions and concerns, people will find your company more credible.

Everything comes down to the BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE you can provide. From the moment a customer steps in your front door or visits your website, you have to provide the BEST user experience ever. You have to maintain that experience at the same level forever. Keeping people happy from the start is the only way to create a bigger and better company.

Experiment Wisely

Businesses always evolve with their line of products and/or services. Product/Service innovation is one of the biggest factors involved in business growth and customer usability. It is basically common sense, you offer products or services that people truly want and they will come to you first. The problem is though, some companies decide to pull out products or services that work well with customers, in order to "make room" or draw attention to new products or services. Instead of gaining customers, companies end up losing more customers in the long run because the new things might not satisfy certain customer needs. Obviously is a product isn't profitable or can't work out within the company itself, it should be pulled, but if it is making a profit, why not keep it around.

As many of you know, I own some franchise quick service restaurants. I see this happen quite often with these businesses because each company is constantly coming out with new menu items, so they have to "make room" for the new ones. Unfortunately, not all the new items work all the time, but the biggest problem I have with "new product experiments," is that they don't pull the plug as soon as they see the product doesn't work and need to bring the original products back. I am a franchisee of some of the biggest names in the restaurant industry and they all seem to have this same problem. You would think that a large company would be able to execute and identify things that don't work and then restructure their plans for the future, but they aren't as fast as it as I would like them to be, most of the time.

When you are running a small business on the other hand, it is easier to change the plans and see when things don't work. I would always say, with a small business, never discontinue products and services that work because you never know if new products will work or not. When people are satisfied with something and you take it away, they will probably check out what other things you have to offer, but if they don't like that, you are likely to lose that customer, even if you bring back the discontinued products.

You will also see this with online businesses. They bring out new services or products, take away older features and then consumers are upset. I usually try to give as many options as I can to customers, while still maintaining profitability, so it hopefully remains a "win-win" situation.

It is a must to innovate within your established company or your new business venture, but you have to remember to experiment wisely or it can turn into a costly experiment, sometimes even fatal to your business. You should also never suddenly change things overnight because that is when you catch consumers off guard and they can be more "upset" by the change. On the other hand if you innovate correctly, sometimes you will gain a bigger and more quality of a customer base, faster.

Do People Understand?

There are many new products or services that come out all the time, but the problem is, people don't understand the use for half of them. Especially with internet services that people provide, sometimes people just don't get what the reason for using the service is. Maybe you have a great product or service, but if you don't "teach" people how to use it in 30 seconds, they will be gone, forever.

"The Dumb Down Theory"

I think that businesses who come up with new products or services that people don't have any knowledge about, should "teach" their consumers about the product in less than 30 seconds. While you teach your consumers about the product in 30 seconds or less, you also have to appeal to them and make them truly understand what you provide.

Ask yourself this: How many times have you visited a new site, but you didn't get what the point of using their service was, or even how to use it?

When a first time visitor, visits your business or website, you have to make sure they "get" you, and get you fast. If you don't do this, no matter how hard you try to get them to come back, they won't, unless you change the name of your product.

How can you help people understand what you do?

Show! Don't tell - This is probably an easy way to help people understand what you sell or provide because they will have a walk through from start to finish. Seeing is better than telling AND it is believing. You can easily show people what you do by making an introduction video on your website or having employees demonstrate the product if you run a retail business. There is no such thing as not getting when you have a human to ask questions to!

You should ask yourself, if your business is easy to understand- for a 5 year old. If you achieve this, you might be able to increase your sales because people will start understanding why your business exists.

Instinct

Yes, no. Right, wrong. This or that. Everything that you have to make a decision for basically has two or more options. There are always different outcomes for each decision you make, but you never know the outcome until the decision actually plays itself out. I often see people hesitating or debating endlessly over taking route A or route B, when clearly they are just wasting time still standing at the point of origin. I think that many entrepreneurs slow their development by pondering upon options.

Why is it beneficial to go with instinct?

Less time wasted- Mapping out all decisions can take a matter of minutes, but it is the analysis of how each decision can possibly turn out that can take a long time. If you go with your instinct, you will waste less time on possibly the same result.

More time for trial and error- Failure happens. The more time you use debating which decision to make the first time around, the less time you will have to make the same decision the second time around. You can't possibly expect to know what to look out for before you have actually experienced something, so usually it is beneficial to have more time to make a decision the second time around, since you will have more data and factual information to look at.

Not as much "second guessing" yourself- This or that? Have you ever found yourself unable to come to a decision because you have scoped out alternatives? But then you find yourself going with the first decision you made anyways resulting in a positive outcome? The more time you take to map out alternatives, the more options you will come up with and the more you will second guess every decision. This can possibly be an endless route.

Less controversy- If you make a decision and think about what you will need to look out for while you are implementing it, you will have some idea of a buffer. If you have to map out the possible damages for 5 options, you will have more to dispute between. Going with what you think is right, will probably help you think more clearly through the process. You won't be as confused and there is probably a higher success rate with your instinct.

To conclude, I would say that in reality, about 75% of the time I go with my instinct. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to go over all of the possible scenarios and play each one down to how it can work out. By going with your instinct, I don't mean to say that you should just go with any weak decision, but you should go with what you feel is best...in your mind. As soon as we start thinking about options, our minds automatically start thinking of how things will play out. This is what causes instinct feeling to be usually right.

I would also add that when making major decisions, instinct may also not be the best way to tackle things. Instinct is usually for more micro-situations. Obviously if you were planning to make a major move, you should map out everything you can possibly think of and plan, plan, plan until you can't plan anymore.

Taking A Web Business To Retail

There is no doubt that many businesses have transited to the web space and established high sales through the internet over the years, but what is really different, is taking your web business to the “real world.” This might not work for every web business, but it can work for many. Especially businesses that are selling some kind of product that can be also sold in a retail showroom. You would also be surprised what kind of businesses that most would not think can be taken off the web, could very well be taken off the web- to a certain extent.

Do you think that an online service like YouTube can be taken off of the internet?

Probably not in a so called “retail” experience, but YouTube could profit in different ways by selling their most famous videos on a DVD or something along those lines. Imagine if they put together a DVD, broken down into different categories that showed the most viewed YouTube clips. YouTube might also be able to sell “cooking clips” or “craziest home videos” on DVDs. There are many things you can do with content-based services that can be monetized beyond the web. I’m sure that if YouTube ever decided to do something like this, they would give royalties to the people who created the videos being sold.

Why would people benefit from taking a web based business to the real world?

Simply because people would be able to touch and feel products or actually get the experience of purchasing a product, that you cannot achieve on the internet. It is like purchasing a television from a retail store versus online. In a retail store, you get to actually see the TV, watch the actually clarity, and actually touch and feel the product itself. People can be convinced to purchase products they are sometimes skeptical about, if they actually see how something works.

Is it risky taking your business into the real world?

You bet it is. It is probably more risky to do business in retail, than it is online. Of course when you start a web business, you have expenses that you incur if you sell 1 or 1,000 products. The same goes with retail businesses, but at a more intense level, in my opinion. When you lease out a space to use as a shop for your business, you start an expense with rent payments or payments to the bank if you have bought the property. There are also insurance costs, payroll costs, and other hidden costs that are involved with a retail business.

Overall, it truly depends on what kind of product or service you are trying to market, to make your business successful or a failure in the real world. Some products are better kept online and some are better kept offline, but some you can really benefit from selling offline, if you are not already. If you are selling fast food, it can only be done in the real world and if you have some type of internet service, it can only be done in the online world. Doing your homework and research on what would or what would not work, is a must.

Learn From Competitors

In most businesses, it’s common to have competition. In fact, I think there is some sort of competition in every business. Even a lemonade stand has competition because there is probably another kid down the block who has a slushy stand. If you are running a professional service, like a law firm or medical practice, you also have competition. Running a web 2.0 service or business can be really competitive because users get to chose from numerous possibilities across the web. You probably get the point that there is competition anywhere and everywhere. I’m going to talk about how you can analyze your competition and acquire their good parts an implement them into your business model. I often speak of providing a great service or sell quality products, which can help attract new customers by viral marketing, but often times that simply is not enough to draw in a big crowd around your businesses product or service.

When I was a young boy, my parents always told me to be nice to everyone and try to adapt other kids’ good qualities and not their bad habits. I think this really explains how I do business now. I am always analyzing my competitors and seeing what they are doing better than I am and I often times implement what they are doing better in my business. This usually gives me leverage over them because I still provide the great customer experience I have been, in addition to what I have adapted from the competition.

How do I “Analyze” My Competition?

- Figure out how they are attracting the customers I am not.
- In retail business, I try to see if they have a better location or better property than I do.
- On the web, I try to see if my competitions interface is more user friendly than mine.
- Find out how they promote their product/service.
- Analyze how they handle daily operations.
--See how I can implement everything my competition does well, into my business.

By figuring out how competitors are attracting customers I am not, it gives me an idea of how their promotions are working to reach audiences my promotions are not. For future marketing, I get a prospective of how to appeal to those customers.

If my competitors business is located at a major intersection, it shows that they are probably getting more customers by visibility. Some of my businesses don’t have the best visibility so I tend to have to advertise more in some markets. I try to put most businesses up where there is high visibility so I rarely run into this situation.

In a web-based business, it is probably –by far- the most important thing to have an easy to use interface. People really hate when the product search process is web 1.0 and now a day’s people really want “1 Click Shopping.” With a web service, you have to make sure that the user-friendliness is better than your competitors; otherwise you can count on losing potential users.

I see how many competitors are promoting products and some of my biggest competitors in retail business really blow advertising dollars like it’s a walk in the park. I don’t take an approach where I blow a lot of advertising dollars in most businesses, but price my products lower than my competitors, so while they might attract more customers by reaching an audience that doesn’t know about them, my customers market my products by word of mouth. However, I do find that there are some marketing tactics that work really well, which I learn through my competitors.

I would say if you really want to learn how your competitors handle and do business. Try out their service or product. It is really the #1 way you will learn how they work. I own many fast food businesses and I am always visiting my competitors. I judge the experience I have, what I like and dislike about it, and see how I can capitalize on the good and bad things they are doing. By “capitalize” I mean implement the good things I feel they are doing and stay away from the bad things I experience.

Overall, there are plenty of ways to run an analysis on your competitors, regardless of any industry that you are doing business in. I think it really is necessary to learn everything you can about your competitors to really provide better products and service than them. If you implement all the good things they do, in addition to the good things you do, your product/service might end up at the winner with the customer base. Learning from your competition doesn't even have to do with direct business. You can learn from anybody in your industry that is your competitor.

How do you learn from your competition?

The Customer Experience

In the business world, it is very important to always deliver great customer service, but as we all know, it doesn't always take place. If you went somewhere and had a bad experience, what actually goes on in your mind? The same thoughts flow in the minds of customers that can come to your business and are unsatisfied. On the other had, if there was a good experience taken place with a customer, it can be extremely advantageous to a business.

Watch the video for more of what I think on the whole "Customer Experience" issue...

5 Factors to Question in Regards to Your Business

Management- Are you successfully distributing duties throughout your company. If you are not looking over daily operations, is the person in charge of operations, looking to see that every task is completed to the company’s benefit? Depending on how big your company is, you may ask, is the company’s board of directors making good decisions in regards to the future of the company? You will want to make sure all management staff is motivated, performing to the best of their abilities, and effective in the company’s operations.

Uniqueness- How different is your product from the competition? What are you doing to make even the most common and simple product that you sell, a better choice for your clientele? How do you plan to gain an advantage over the people in the same industry as you? What will give your company an edge over pricing, product, and service? Creativity must be implemented in every part of your business in a unique way.

Resources- How knowledgeable are the company’s staff and the people behind it? Does the company have strong finances, assisting in the growth of the company? Does your company have enough physical resources to increase output, leading to bigger orders or increased ability to serve clientele?

Strategy- How will you get that big client to sign that contract that will turn your company around? Every business, big or small, needs to have a strategy that it will follow through on in order to raise the business to a new level. How are you going to deliver a lower cost product or service than your competition and still provide uniqueness?

Opportunity- Are you taking the most advantage of opportunities presented to you? Big or small, you should take the time to review each opportunity that is presented to your business and see if you think it would be better to accept or decline each opportunity after you have fully reviewed it.

Saving My Business From Heading South

Right now, everyone will agree that the economic slowdown is forcing a lot of businesses to close their doors for good. So, being a business owner, what steps can you take to save your business from heading south?

-Analyze Payroll. - Most businesses blow a little extra payroll here and there, during a well balanced economy, you may not notice the extra savings of scaling back on a few hours here or there on scheduling, but in a bad economy, you will definitely see some sort of savings by putting some extra hours in as the owner and minimizing the employees' hours.

-Check With Your Suppliers Before Ordering. - This could mean the difference of a dollar or a hundred dollars. You should check with your suppliers, no matter what kind of business you are in, to see which supplier has the cheaper product. Saving a few pennies even, will help control inventory costs.

-Control Utility Costs. - If you have more of a corporate setting, See where you can saving energy costs by turning the lights off at night or look into shutting down some computers, if you can. Retail locations can also save by watching the amount of energy wasted during non-business hours.

-Perhaps You Should Consider Scaling Back on Advertisement and Marketing Costs. - You may want to consider putting the advertising dollars to a minimum or maybe even on hold. Everyone in the slow economy is hurting, but advertising doesn't necessarily mean you will be immune from the slow down. In good days, most smaller businesses will not analyze ad campaigns in-depth, but in slow days, you definitely should.

-Watch Wastage. - This goes to say for retail food businesses, Try to watch how much wastage of product is done. Tell your employees to be careful when they are handling materials to avoid dropping/having to waste product. If you are running a food business, also let your employees and check yourself, that everyone is watching the portions while preparing products.

Every little step is a great start to help the savings add up and potentially save a business from closing.


* These are just guidelines to think about. You should always make your own decisions before following any of the information. Even if you follow these guidelines, it does not mean there is a guarantee that your business will not close. For additional terms visit the disclaimer. I am not liable for any damage/loss/financial loss as a result of any actions taken off of the content of this website.

Should I Reinvest in My Business?

Established businesses always wonder if they should reinvest in their business. My answer to this would be: If you want to keep growing you definitely should. Why reinvest? What do business owners gain out of reinvesting? How should you reinvest? How much should you reinvest?

Why Reinvest?
Reinvesting in a company, in this case, your business, always helps on many levels. It always goes to say, when you spend a little you get a little. So when you reinvest money into your business, you are should be seeing a better overall performance of the business. Say your company is not doing so well because of its location. Reinvest from the profits of the business are relocate your office/store. Maybe you need to purchase new equipment to better serve your customers or speed up processes. This all goes with reinvesting because ultimately you will uplift the overall performance.

What Do I Gain Out Of Reinvesting?
Better bottom lines, quite possibly. As stated previously, relocating your current business would give you better visibility, thus bringing in more potential customers. You might just see an increase in sales by relocation and no additional marketing than what you were doing before. I would say a 10% increase in rent or mortgage for a 50% increase in sales is quite favorable, respective that your rent is not out of the roof over the bottom line. After reinvesting business owners are bound to gain something in return, be it small or big you should see change.

How Should I Reinvest in My Business?
Reinvesting does not only mean putting more money back into the business. It can also mean investing more time and energy back into the business. If you work X amount of hours and find the time to put in a few extra hours to work on another innovative idea for your business. The overall outcome will be a few extra hours multiplied by how many days you work and something extraordinary might come out of that. Reinvesting time can help you come up with better strategies to operate your business, better marketing ideas, better ideas to help service your clientele, or just help you come out with better or new products. You do not even have to reinvest time while working. Set aside some time while you are at home, think over some things on how you can grow your business. Draw up some possible outcomes of changes.

How Much Should I Reinvest Into My Business?
You can never put back in a perfect amount. There is no simple formula to how much time, energy, money, etc. you can put back in. You have to look at how your business is performing and see what you think you should put back in. If you want to market your business better, you can think of putting aside a certain percentage of money from profits to advertise more. You may also want to come up with some plans for your business, see how it grows and come up with a full growth plan. Analysis of your current business situation should help you better understand how much to put back.

Big Business

If you want to grow your business to the big league, there is a simple thing you have to keep in mind. Think like a big business. If you think big chances are you will market yourself like the big people do. Although you cannot become big overnight, clients gain confidence in your business and products that you are selling if you present your business like a well established one.

Products should be backed by strong confidence. Large corporations have confidence in their products, which leads to bigger bottom lines in sales. When their products are marketed, products are promoted as the one and only. You should do the same. Back up your brand with support, quality, and the confidence the customer wants to see.

Marketing your company like it's big is also key. No one wants to buy from small companies if the same items or services are available with a big giant, unless you have something more to give. Matching up to big companies' level would give your business a chance to gain leverage in the market. Try to give a little more support or service. People always want to see guarantees with things they buy. Throw in a little something extra. That is a great way to get leverage over a giant. Tell customers about other satisfied customers. Big giants always talk about how many customers love their products.

Remember, even if you are a small business, you are a BIG deal.

Sell Quality, Not Product.

Some people perceive sales people to be "sales weasels" and the reason they do is because they will do just about anything to convince you to buy their product. This means that they will resort to lying to get that 10% commission.

Now I'm not saying that little white lies don't or should not happen in the sales world, but I am saying that do not be a sales weasel. If you want to grow your business, you need to provide decent quality products and not just something that you will have to convince someone to buy that will probably never be justified for handing over $X.

What it all breaks down to: Sell someone garbage and your business will fall eventually twice as fast as it would grow. People love to spread rumors and talk about how they have been played into a sales game by companies or people. You might see that your business grew after you sold product X by being a sales weasel, but like I said, eventually the business with hit rock bottom.

If you sell someone something that is truly what you say it is, you will grow, maybe not super fast, but you will grow.

Why? The people that buy your product obviously see a use for it so they buy it. After they buy it they will see that it was a great product leading to discussions within their communities about your product eventually leading to higher sales.

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Not Personal, It's Business.

In the corporate world, people are getting chewed out by bosses on a daily basis. This goes hand in hand with running a business as well. You will probably get chewed out by clients, sometimes they may be right or sometimes they simply maybe wrong. You should be prepared to have a thick skin and not take things personally.

This also goes to say, don't hold a grudge. It can only escalate situations ultimately leading to a company's fall, especially if it is at the management level.

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