Small Business Opportunity Faux Pas
Small Business Opportunity Faux Pas
1. Missing Deadlines
Have you ever requested tender documents, known about a business award or wanted to do something else, but then have realised you have missed the deadline? I have spoken to quite a few business owners recently who have done just that. Let’s face it, you’ve made the effort to find out about the tender, award or other thing you wanted to do. Make sure you put the deadline date in your diary and then also the date it needs to be returned by and when you need to start completing it. Don’t let yourself miss the deadline for something that could be a great opportunity for your company.
2. Not going to things
I don’t know about you, but I often have networking events in my diary and sometimes when it comes to the day, I have to admit I do think “I’m too busy” or “I can’t be bothered” or whatever. But, sometimes you just never know who you’re going to meet at the event – I met up with a business owner the other day who hadn’t gone to an event because he was too busy and the chairman of a major company who he’d been trying to get into for months was giving a presentation at that meeting – what a great opportunity wasted because he didn’t go. Come on guys – if you’ve got a networking event booked into your diary, go to it – you never know who you might meet!
3. Not following up
Why is it that many of us are put off following up with people? You don’t have to only follow-up by phone these days – follow up by email or by post, but do follow up. A business owner I was talking to the other day had been contacted eight months ago by someone wanting her services and had not contacted her again because she didn’t like picking up the phone. Unfortunately it may now well be too late for that person to do business in that company – what a shame. If you don’t like following up by phone, that’s fine – follow up by email, by post or get someone else to do it for you, but you must follow up or you will lose the business.
4. Not paying attention
There are things going on around us all the time that we miss and in business it’s really important that we pay attention. There are many, many articles, radio talk shows and events happening all over the place that may talk about something related to your business. If they are, you should be contacting the show or paper and giving your opinion – sure they might not pay attention at the time, but they may well contact you if they’re doing a piece on that subject in the future. Don’t miss out on this opportunity for your business – it may well pay off for you in the long term.
5. Not thinking outside of the box
Finally, I meet many business owners who tell me “I can’t” for whatever reason. My answer back to them is “why not?” If you really want to do something, find a way to do it. We mainly put our own blocks in the way and if we take these away, we can often think of a different way around the problem. Next time you have a challenge in your business where you’re stuck, forget about traditional methods and think outside of the box to come up with a solution.
Small Business Opportunity Faux Pas - To learn more about this author, visit Helen Dowling's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Running a successful small business is definitely partly about identifying opportunities and acting on them. However, I see many small business owners missing out on these opportunities due to one of a number of faux pas. Here are my top five opportunity faux pas and what to do about them:
1. Missing Deadlines
Have you ever requested tender documents, known about a business award or wanted to do something else, but then have realised you have missed the deadline? I have spoken to quite a few business owners recently who have done just that. Let’s face it, you’ve made the effort to find out about the tender, award or other thing you wanted to do. Make sure you put the deadline date in your diary and then also the date it needs to be returned by and when you need to start completing it. Don’t let yourself miss the deadline for something that could be a great opportunity for your company.
2. Not going to things
I don’t know about you, but I often have networking events in my diary and sometimes when it comes to the day, I have to admit I do think “I’m too busy” or “I can’t be bothered” or whatever. But, sometimes you just never know who you’re going to meet at the event – I met up with a business owner the other day who hadn’t gone to an event because he was too busy and the chairman of a major company who he’d been trying to get into for months was giving a presentation at that meeting – what a great opportunity wasted because he didn’t go. Come on guys – if you’ve got a networking event booked into your diary, go to it – you never know who you might meet!
3. Not following up
Why is it that many of us are put off following up with people? You don’t have to only follow-up by phone these days – follow up by email or by post, but do follow up. A business owner I was talking to the other day had been contacted eight months ago by someone wanting her services and had not contacted her again because she didn’t like picking up the phone. Unfortunately it may now well be too late for that person to do business in that company – what a shame. If you don’t like following up by phone, that’s fine – follow up by email, by post or get someone else to do it for you, but you must follow up or you will lose the business.
4. Not paying attention
There are things going on around us all the time that we miss and in business it’s really important that we pay attention. There are many, many articles, radio talk shows and events happening all over the place that may talk about something related to your business. If they are, you should be contacting the show or paper and giving your opinion – sure they might not pay attention at the time, but they may well contact you if they’re doing a piece on that subject in the future. Don’t miss out on this opportunity for your business – it may well pay off for you in the long term.
5. Not thinking outside of the box
Finally, I meet many business owners who tell me “I can’t” for whatever reason. My answer back to them is “why not?” If you really want to do something, find a way to do it. We mainly put our own blocks in the way and if we take these away, we can often think of a different way around the problem. Next time you have a challenge in your business where you’re stuck, forget about traditional methods and think outside of the box to come up with a solution.
Small Business Opportunity Faux Pas - To learn more about this author, visit Helen Dowling's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Helen's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Managing Customer Relationships Book of Leadership Leadership Style Assessment Recession Proof Capture More Clients |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2007
Top SEO Posts of the Year | |
 |
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||