What are some of the obstacles that stop small business owners from reaching their Biggest Vision for their business? What puts them in the 50% that fail in the first four years? There are four roadblocks that come up over and over with my clients. They are:
*
thinking small
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poor marketing
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poor time management
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under financed (i.e. not enough money!)
Just like many success blocks, these issues are often fear based. Let’s look at how you can conquer them one at a time.
I’ve had several small business clients who felt so happy each time they made a sale that they took time off and "floated" for a day or two afterward. Rewarding yourself after a sale is a great idea; thinking you’ve got it made is not. If you have a Big Vision for reaching your ideal business and life goals and a roadmap to get there, it must include clear bottom line profit goals for the year and for each quarter. Each sale represents just a step toward this goal. By keeping the big picture in mind, you can feel satisfied and even more motivated to go out the next day and take another step toward your goal. Small business owners who think small tend to skip setting clear sales and profit goals. Without these goals, you can have a decent sales volume and barely break even because you haven’t looked carefully at profit margins and pricing. Now don’t tell me you just don’t have time for this kind of planning. To Think Big you need to Plan Big. If you’re feeling uncomfortable with this step, some inner focus work and self-assessment may be needed to uncover what’s causing your "planning phobia" so you can breakthrough it.
We’re all skilled at what we do or we wouldn’t start a business, but marketing is a specific skill set that requires highly creative, "out of the box" thinking. Marketing is not a haphazard activity. If you own a business and aren’t getting significant results from your marketing, a wealth of affordable help is available. You don’t need to have a big company marketing budget to implement a profit producing plan. But you do need to have a budget and a detailed, focused marketing strategy and plan. Again, please don’t skip this step! Anyone who tells you that you can market your business without spending a dime is probably from another planet! Check out the links at the end of this article for low cost, high return marketing help.
With today’s frenetic pace, we all suffer from struggles with time management. More and more it requires laser-like focus on priorities to use our time wisely. Time management is also about outsourcing tasks that are not profit producing for us, or are in areas where we are weak. Although we may not be able to do this from Day One, we can plan it as part of our Big Vision Roadmap. If you who like to micro-manage and are afraid to give up some control you're doomed to stay small, overworked or both. There are dynamic self sustaining systems that you can put in place which will assure that your outsourced tasks are completed properly and that your employees are doing their jobs. This is key. I can’t stress enough how important it is to schedule time to quiet your mind as well, and to reflect and plan. This is how you’ll be able to refresh and renew and when you’ll have access to some of your best ideas. In addition, visualize daily in detail how you’ll look, feel and act when you reach your goal. It’s very powerful. See the links below to download a free Big Vision Tool to assist you.
Finally, even if you’re a solo entrepreneur, running a small business without a budget is impossible. Sit down right now and make a simple plan. In the next 12 months, what are your projected sales? How will you generate these sales? What percentage of sales will you spend on marketing, accounting, consultants, payroll etc? If you’re just starting out and have no current income you’re going to need to borrow enough money to do all you can to get your business off the ground. Doing a business plan will help you figure out how much you’ll need. If you’re already up and running, look at the past year to help you predict what you’ll need next year, but remember to think big. Get the small business help you need. Don’t short change yourself.
Just following the suggestions above can result in a remarkable leap forward for your small business!
Four Obstacles to Fame and Fortune for Small Business Owners - To learn more about this author, visit Janis Pettit's Website.
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