Four Obstacles to Fame and Fortune for Small Business Owners
Four Obstacles to Fame and Fortune for Small Business Owners
*
thinking small
*
poor marketing
*
poor time management
*
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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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
*
poor marketing
*
poor time management
*
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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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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