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Archive for October, 2015

When Your Business Becomes a Numbers Game

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Wednesday, October 28th, 2015

numbers gameNumbers game: the use or manipulation of statistics or figures, especially in support of an argument.

Whether it is financing, sales or clients, your business is based on numbers. Some are more important than others. But when you start to spend most of your time juggling those numbers, you’re in trouble.

A small business that grows exponentially, in other words in proportion, is the best way to keep your business on track without having to worry too much about any of the numbers. Those of us who have been in business for some time, made sure that once our financing was in place, we started with a small number of clients. We made sure to satisfy those client’s needs and wishes in order to bring in the sales we needed. From there we slowly grew our business.

But what happens when you don’t handle your business in an organized way and your numbers begin to skew too much one way or the other?

This is when you look at your business and ask yourself if you are still concentrating on your customers or if you have started to think too much about making money. Focusing on your customers always leads to the best results in your business, which means success financially. Running your business as a numbers game translates to a business without values or ethics.

A good example of a business running more for profit than to satisfy their customers, is currently JCPenny. At the moment, under the reform of their current CEO Ron Johnson, JCPenny no longer offers discounts, among other detrimental changes. Because of this, their stock has dropped over 40% and sales have dropped almost as much. The numbers game is not working for them.

At the other end of the scale is the Ritz-Carlton, where customers mean everything. They plan ahead for everything, including long wait times, where a waiter will show up with an entree, appetizer or drink to keep you satisfied while you wait to order. While this is just one example of the Ritz’s exemplary customer service, this is also how a customer focused business works. Make your customers happy and you won’t have to worry about the financial end of things.

Remind yourself, if you see your business losing its balance, that it’s your customers who count. Regain your focus on them and you will start to see your business moving in the right direction again.

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2015

image courtesy of juleskalpauli

Categories : Customer Service, Marketing, Sales, Small Business
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Some Surprising Facts About Entrepreneurs

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Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

entrepreneursThe average entrepreneur is 40 years old when they start their business. People over 55 are twice as likely as people under 35 to begin a high-growth business.

Older entrepreneurs usually have more business experience and are more willing to take risks. Many people choose entrepreneurship after honing our skills in a particular profession first, and based on their expertise.

The majority of entrepreneurs we see now have already worked all their lives or been part of a hugely successful company. They’ve retired, tried the travelling and leisure for a few years only to find out it wasn’t for them. They needed to be doing something. They’re bored and miss being involved in a business.

To most “gray” entrepreneurs, age is not a factor or a detriment to their working. They are active, both physically and mentally, tend to look younger than their years and have no problem taking on new challenges. Actually, they welcome it and will be the first to tell you that challenges are part of a well led life. They know that they might not necessarily succeed and don’t expect everything to go right because after a certain age, you learn that mistakes are made and failures happen.

With the present economy, we look more to small business and entrepreneurs to help with available jobs and though we tend to think they are younger and focus on programmes for younger entrepreneurs, the majority are actually older and more experienced workers. They are more efficient for they have learned how they do their best work and the risks they take also differ from those who are younger.

Many older entrepreneurs are turning a hobby into a business. If they have a retirement fund, they’ll apply what they have saved into their start up and use the business to carry them through their retirement. Sound risky? Maybe, but to them it’s worth it to be doing something they love, rather than passing the time in boredom and feeling useless.

Entrepreneurial ability does not change as you get older. If you are the type to start a business and have the business knowledge and ability at 30, you will still have those abilities at 60, only you’ll have more experience to go along with it. You’ll have an increased understanding of people, demographics, products and services and most of all, what you want to do with your business.

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2015

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Small Business
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What do You and Your Business Lack?

Posted by: admin | Comments Comments Off on What do You and Your Business Lack?
Wednesday, October 14th, 2015

happenClients. Many small business owners start out with very few clients. Dependency on only two or three clients puts your business in jeopardy and upsets the client/business owner ratio to a point where you are almost an employee and no longer really in charge. Though adding clients and building your business is a challenge, it’s a necessity if you want to keep your business going and lower your risk of losing your business all together.

Business skills. Though you may feel your grasp of technology, marketing and accounting are more than  you will need to succeed in your business, the real challenges tend to crop up when you don’t understand the industry you are involved in. Competitors, trends, client diversity and demographics are just as important as the soft skills necessary to run a business.

Focus and organization. Working on your business means you have to pay crucial attention to details. Though many business owners tend to follow a business plan to the letter, others know that in order for any plan to work, they must be thoroughly immersed in all aspects of their business. Knowing your business inside and out, concentrating on the necessities and staying organized help your business grow.

Innovation. Without new products and services and the ability to improve those you have, your business will stagnate and others will move ahead in the marketplace. Though there will always be a place for the tried and true, if what you have works best for your customers, you should be reminding them of this. Don’t be afraid of change and don’t resist the necessary changes you need to bring to your business.

Self confidence. Just like everyone else, business owners will sometimes feel that what they are doing is not good enough or maybe just not enough. The economy may have them worried and there is always the fear of failure. When you focus too much on the “could happens” and not the “what will I make happens”, you run the risk of beginning  a vicious cycle that eventually leads to a business slowdown. If lack of confidence is a problem for you, look for a mentor, someone who has already been through what you are now going through.

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2015

 

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Motivation, Small Business
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How Do You Spend Your Life?

Posted by: admin | Comments Comments Off on How Do You Spend Your Life?
Wednesday, October 7th, 2015

your businessHow we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives.
~Annie Dillard

For most of us, especially business owners, our days are spent chasing what we call productivity. The more we feel productive, the more we manage to pacify ourselves with the feeling that we are doing what’s right, what is important.

Is it really that important? Is most of what we’re doing, in our bid at success, nothing more than coasting through the day, not being totally aware of what’s going on around us?

What are the three most important things in running a business? The first is your product or service. Is it needed? Are you able to provide it with relative ease and at a competitive price? Is there a market for it?

The second most important thing is your customer base. Who will purchase this? What problems will it solve for them? Do they absolutely need it and if not is it needed enough that it will sell? Included in this are the activities involved in providing it.

The third is relationships. Yours with your customers and how you will relate to them to create a demand for your product, answer their questions and provide a valued service or product.

The realities of running your own business have always involved long hours, intense work and an ability to market to customers well. What you have to decide is what is more important to you. Running a business and having a life or running a business and only running a business. Efficiency is not a trait that many of us are born with but it can be learned. Many business owners are as easily distracted as the rest of us and just like us, they like to play hookey and spend their time doing what they want to do, rather than work. Wise business owners have also learned to concentrate their time and effort on the customers that buy from them the most. That way they aren’t putting in wasted minutes or hours dealing with the difficult customers who don’t end up purchasing from them, but go elsewhere. Learning to decipher one from the other is worth your effort.

The most successful business owners have a vision and they keep it in mind while working. If you look at your time each day and divide it into chunks that are worth so many dollars, you will quickly decide what is worth doing and what isn’t. Concentrate fully on your market and be consistent with your products and services. Decide what is most important about your business, what you can offer that will bring the most value and then go after it. This way, you are working only a certain amount of hours where you concentrate fully on the most important aspects of your business. If administrative work and details are taking up too much of your time, hire a virtual administrative assistant – one that can keep up your website, take care of your email, write your blog posts for you and handle all of the other little things that are needed to fully operate a small business.

Decide what you love to do, what is most important to you and do it. Realize that productiity isn’t everything, having a life is much more important. Your job and business may be rewarding but there are other things in life that bring much greater rewards when they are combined with your small business.

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2015

image courtesy of thevisualcommunicationguy

 

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Productivity, Small Business
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