When you're wearing so many hats as a small business owner, it's hard to keep everything you need to do in perspective.
I write about this conundrum in Question 2 of The Small Business Success Guide (get your copy online via Booktopia). You're head of sales, marketing, production and customer service accounts for your business. You hire staff, often do your own Business Activity Statements (BAS) and organise your own business trips, as well as all the other things that go into running your business.
As your business grows, you tend to keep all these same hats on because that's what you've always done. Yet most small business owners I speak to complain about never having the time to look up to see where they're going because they're too busy trying to keep track of all the balls they have in the air.
However, it's vital you make time to control your juggling act. Plan your day. Allocate a specific time to follow up on account queries. If someone calls outside this time, tell them you'll call them back. And schedule 15 minutes a day for this purpose only.
By planning your day in chunks of time, you'll be sticking to your schedule, not someone else's, and you'll be amazed at how much more in control you'll feel.
While you're at it, think about allocating just 15 minutes in your day as "big picture time" where all you think about, and write down, are things to do with your vision, goals and strategy. Do this five days a week for 52 weeks a year and you'll have spent 65 hours ON your business!
Go for it.
Margie
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Taking your business online
I'm in the process of creating a website for The Small Business Success Guide. Having an online presence is such a vital marketing tool for all small businesses, and my book is no different.
The words of two of my 'brains trust' from The Small Business Success Guide keep ringing in my ears. "Consider where you want to be in five years' time and try and make sure that the website will grow with you," said Sharri Boucher of Jakiti Design. Then this from Michelle Gamble of Marketing Angels: "If you don't spend time on it and do it properly, it's a bit like having the TV turned on with the sound turned down."
So before any designs happen, I'm intent on working out how my online strategy fits in with my broader business goals. Using a dynamic website as my 'shopfront' and then social media elements such as this blog and Twitter to spread the word, will certainly stand my business in good stead for a sustainable future.
Stay tuned!
Margie
The words of two of my 'brains trust' from The Small Business Success Guide keep ringing in my ears. "Consider where you want to be in five years' time and try and make sure that the website will grow with you," said Sharri Boucher of Jakiti Design. Then this from Michelle Gamble of Marketing Angels: "If you don't spend time on it and do it properly, it's a bit like having the TV turned on with the sound turned down."
So before any designs happen, I'm intent on working out how my online strategy fits in with my broader business goals. Using a dynamic website as my 'shopfront' and then social media elements such as this blog and Twitter to spread the word, will certainly stand my business in good stead for a sustainable future.
Stay tuned!
Margie
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Thinking strategically
Strategic planning is the key ingredient to small business success, according to research from the Small and Medium Enterprise Research Centre (SMERC) at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. However, it's something most small business owners just don't do.
Why? Because many of us start small businesses because we either get to a stage where we need a work/lifestyle change, we want to be our own bosses and have a really good business idea, or we're forced into business for ourselves after being made redundant. And so we jump in to business, without really having an eye on a goal. (Check out the SMERC research at: www.business.ecu.edu.au/schools/man/smerc/research).
However, there's another group of small business owners who SMERC's Professor Beth Walker refers to as "operators in business to achieve financial goals". They're the ones who've gone in to business wanting to make a financial difference to their lives. They have their eye on the bottom line, and the money they want to make. As a result, they make up the majority of successful small business owners. They think strategically because they know it's what will bring them financial success.
The good news is that it's never too late to start thinking strategically about your business. Remember, it's not enough just to be in charge of the steering wheel. You have to know where you're going (otherwise how will you ever know if you've achieved anything?).
How do you start? Think strategically doesn't have to be convoluted. It's really just about taking the time to consider your big picture and how your business fits into it.
I give you many strategic thinking tips in my book, The Small Business Success Guide (you can buy a copy online, and listen to my first podcast, at http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-small-business-success-guide/prod9781742169590.html).
Here are a few things to ask yourself to get you going:
* Who are my customers?
* What products or services do they want to buy?
* What are my competitors offering?
* Where are my customers located?
* Why would/do they buy my products or services?
* How do I provide the products or services and how do I deliver on my customers' expectations?
The great thing about running your own show is that you have the power to make your small business as great as it can be. So start analysing what you do and why you do it, and get more strategic in your scope.
Here's to your success,
Margie
Why? Because many of us start small businesses because we either get to a stage where we need a work/lifestyle change, we want to be our own bosses and have a really good business idea, or we're forced into business for ourselves after being made redundant. And so we jump in to business, without really having an eye on a goal. (Check out the SMERC research at: www.business.ecu.edu.au/schools/man/smerc/research).
However, there's another group of small business owners who SMERC's Professor Beth Walker refers to as "operators in business to achieve financial goals". They're the ones who've gone in to business wanting to make a financial difference to their lives. They have their eye on the bottom line, and the money they want to make. As a result, they make up the majority of successful small business owners. They think strategically because they know it's what will bring them financial success.
The good news is that it's never too late to start thinking strategically about your business. Remember, it's not enough just to be in charge of the steering wheel. You have to know where you're going (otherwise how will you ever know if you've achieved anything?).
How do you start? Think strategically doesn't have to be convoluted. It's really just about taking the time to consider your big picture and how your business fits into it.
I give you many strategic thinking tips in my book, The Small Business Success Guide (you can buy a copy online, and listen to my first podcast, at http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-small-business-success-guide/prod9781742169590.html).
Here are a few things to ask yourself to get you going:
* Who are my customers?
* What products or services do they want to buy?
* What are my competitors offering?
* Where are my customers located?
* Why would/do they buy my products or services?
* How do I provide the products or services and how do I deliver on my customers' expectations?
The great thing about running your own show is that you have the power to make your small business as great as it can be. So start analysing what you do and why you do it, and get more strategic in your scope.
Here's to your success,
Margie
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