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Archive for Starting a Business

Is Your Business Too Rigid?

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Thursday, December 10th, 2015

rigid

Most small businesses started off with a business plan and while most business owners tend to keep to a plan, schedule or set of goals, there are many whose “sticktoitness” actually keeps them from attaining what they’re aiming for – a successful business.

All business owners should believe in their product or service. It’s your sincerity that helps customers to trust you. When they know you believe in what you’re doing, it helps them to believe in you too. It’s when your belief starts to verge on the fanatical that it becomes a problem. You know you’re becoming a fanatic when you can’t see the mistakes you make or improvements that could be made.

We all like our businesses to have a brand and to be different than those who compete with us to a certain extent. ‘A certain extent’ is the important phrase here. Taking things too far and tweaking your products until they don’t resemble anything useful is going too far and if it’s just for the attention factor it won’t be of any help to your business or you.

There are business owners who refuse to give up even the slightest bit of control within their business. When this concerns finances, that’s one thing but if you are buried beneath a pile of work, need help and refuse to let anyone help you because you can’t control every little thing they do, your business is going to go downhill quickly. Even worse is the business owner who hires an assistant and then insists on everything being done his way. It was his way that got him in trouble in the first place.

Don’t compromise? A business is a series of small comprises. You can’t have everything exactly the way you want it to be and remember, you are working with customers. At some point, you have to give a little. The same thing goes for those who insist on sticking to the smallest possible budget. It will show in what you are offering your customers. Cheap is cheap.

To avoid becoming rigid, choose the right type of business for yourself. This may not be that dream business you had always envisioned. Pick a business that you know something about, not what is popular at the moment.

Always keep an eye on the future, advice given by many business gurus. Don’t forget to look to the past sometimes. It helps you to see how far you’ve come and also shows where you made mistakes. Concentrate on the present. That is where you are now and if you want a successful business future, it will always be based on what you are doing at any given moment.

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2015

image courtesy of lightshouse

 

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Productivity, Small Business, Starting a Business
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Accidentally in Business

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Friday, September 19th, 2014

Failure
Source: Online-MBA-Rankings.com

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Entrepreneurial News/Stories, Starting a Business
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The A-Ha Moments: How People Realize What to Do in Life

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Friday, September 12th, 2014
The Aha Moments: How People Realize What to Do in Life

by annavital.

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Motivation, Starting a Business
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It’s Never Too Late to Learn

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Friday, August 29th, 2014
Too Late to Learn?

by annavital.

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Starting a Business
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Why You Aren’t Getting Your Work Done

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Wednesday, August 20th, 2014

team

There are many types of small business owners, some just starting out and many who have been in business a long time. They tend to have one thing in common, they aren’t able to get their work done.

It isn’t that they aren’t capable of doing the work or not smart enough. The problem is they are trying to do too much, a variety of tasks, many of which they aren’t suited to. If you’ve read some of our other posts, we stress how each of us has genius abilities, those things that we are naturally very good at and love to do.

These business owners haven’t quite figured out yet what their special abilities are, or they want to do it all. Once they do realize what they’re best at and want to spend time working on that part of their business, that still leaves them with all of the other business tasks that will have to be completed by someone.

There is the administrative work, the marketing and advertising, customer calls to make, emails to be sent and newsletters. Someone needs to oversee projects and manage employees once they are hired. Payroll and financing, appointments and correspondence. All of these need to be looked after and you, as the business owner, somehow need to keep your finger in all of the pies also. It’s no wonder you aren’t getting your work done.

The answer is to surround yourself with a team of workers, each with their own special talents, who also know how to collaborate because they are used to working as a team. Virtual teams are experts at looking at what needs to be done, discussing it with you and doing it to your standards (or even higher!). They have project managers that take all of the extra work out of your hands so you can get your work done and leave the other tasks to those members of the team who excel at them. While you are still responsible for running your business, the team is responsible for understanding what you want done and completing it efficiently and to the best of their ability, all on schedule.

Yes, your business may be complicated and you may have multiple deadlines. Take your capabilities, focus on those and let the team take care of all of the other distractions. Yes, the work has to be done but it doesn’t all have to be done by you!

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2014

image courtesy of socialmediadelivered

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Starting a Business, Virtual Teams
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Growth Hacking Strategies for Business

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Friday, July 25th, 2014
Growth Hacking Strategies

by borisbenko.

Categories : Marketing, Sales, Starting a Business
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Will a Business fit into your lifestyle?

Posted by: admin | Comments Comments Off on Will a Business fit into your lifestyle?
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014

imagesHaving it all means different things to each of us. For those of us who wish to build a business, or switch to our own business from being employed elsewhere or even start a business once retired, fitting a business into our version of our lives will look different from those of others, depending on what we want out of life.

Family changes

For many of us with older children or those who have children who have already moved out on their own, a business can fit well with our lifestyles as we have finally reached a time in our lives where we are freed of responsibility for all of those around us. Our lifestyles are changing to one centred more around ourselves – our tastes, our schedules and what we feel comfortable doing. We are looking for a business that isn’t going to take over all of our time, one that fits in with our values and our new lifestyle changes.

As much work as a business can be, we still insist on not letting it take over our lives. We want the time for our interests, our recreational activities and if at all possible, we may prefer to work in smaller increments of time and not spend long hours on a business that revolves around a product that we really don’t have much interest in. We don’t want to have to turn down attending events because of prior work commitments, yet we want our business to flourish. Since each of us is different – some of us are overachievers, others preferring to take their time, finding a specific business that will allow us the freedom to be ourselves will be the perfect fit.

Indecision over business type

The problem occurs when there is a gap between what your dream business would be and what you are actually capable of, so most of your time needs to be spent on deciding just what you can do that will be profitable, time appropriate and actually do-able for you. It needs to be something that you are good at, will be of interest to customers and is relevant to today’s industries. You know what you excel at and if you feel insecure in your ability to get started, you can start by improving your knowledge of business and taking courses that will bring you up to date on the industry you’re interested in.

Fitting a business into your life

Making work fit your lifestyle isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do. A business is completely different from being employed and isn’t a good fit for everyone. Your business should be enjoyable to you but also mesh with the other things in your life that are most important. Evaluating each part of your life and the business ideas that you find attractive until you find one that feels good is the best way to start. Don’t forget that it will be work and you may find some aspects of running a business uncomfortable. Not all of us are adept at marketing or speaking to potential customers on the phone. Not all businesses are run this way and if you are the introvert type, do some research into what is out there for you.

Understanding your motivation for wanting your own business is the most important thing. If you have always wanted to run a business but never had the time until now, then this may be the time to go for it. If you already have a lot of interests and hobbies and would prefer they remain that way, then perhaps you should think again before getting started. Lifestyle fit is one of the most important things to consider if you do go into business. You want whatever you do to be enjoyable and also give you a sense of achievement, fulfillment and success.

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2014

image courtesy of agentscully

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Starting a Business, Work/Life Balance
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10 Reasons Your Business Needs a Map for the Future

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Monday, April 7th, 2014

Gary EvansThe past: Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I ran all my previous businesses with mainly just a concept in my mind.  I was also involved with several that operated the same way.  And frankly, DemGen started in the same manner.  Sure we ­­had some goals written down and a few bits and pieces of the direction we wanted to go, but we lacked a full fledge well defined map.  Just like many others, I had “tried” having a full business plan in many incarnations all of which collected dust and I just got busy doing the business.

The present: Being keenly aware of the mortality rate that entrepreneurs face is one of the foundational reasons I created DemGen in the first place.  In fact all of our services have been developed with that in mind, that having a good idea and being a nice person is not enough.  I and my team have a ravenous appetite for learning and discovering best practices, continuously improving our systems and services.

The something different:  Sure there is two camps on this issue, one group saying “just jot it down on a napkin and go” and the other saying “no way, you need to create a full fledged marketing and business plan”.  The FVM is something in the middle.  It’s a hybrid marketing/business/quick action plan that’s facilitated over 3-6 weeks.

 

The top 10:

1. Time:  Writing it down saves you days, weeks, months of time over the life of your business. It gets tiring having to reiterate your vision over and over and over again to new team members and partners. I had to go over and over again in layers so that people “really got it”, because it has deep and never ending evolution.

2. Consistency:  Consistency and a collaborated agreement on direction.  I include our strategic team, who in turn include the whole team and client/prospect feedback in formulating our vision.  In the beginning without the map I altered the story depending on my mood or how busy I was.

3. Self-directed teams:  Team buy-in, it’s as much their business and vision as it is mine and they know what needs to get done = priceless!

4. Genius Ability:  Recognizing genius abilities and learning styles.  For me it’s easy to see the “BIG PICTURE” and all that goes with it and I now recognize that not everyone can run with something that way.  Having a map with visuals enables all to get on board.  It also sets the stage to build up a team of collaborative abilities

5. KPI’s:  What gets measured gets achieved.  I find if it’s not written down with a plan to achieve it, it typically won’t be.

6. Speed: As I started to write it down and collaborated with others for buy-in, momentum was a lot faster, frustrations lessened and revenues accelerated.

7. Prioritize: Pieces of the puzzle start to magically connect and priorities are easier to navigate.

8. Living Document: It becomes a living canvas and we revisit and refine on a quarterly basis.

9. Projects/systems: You can more easily break out projects and start creating systems.  We have several hundred projects running simultaneously for ourselves and our clients.  You just can’t do that without a good game plan!

10. Automate:  It became much easier to automate our success and I was able to remove myself from the day-to-day running of the business and work on it instead of in it.  I’ve never been able to do that with any other business I created.

BONUS #11.  When (not if) you need to pivot, it becomes so much easier to see everything in one place and how it applies and adapts or needs to be eliminated.

I find with a lot of clients – they have a series of ad-hoc systems that are not fully defined.  This leaves them vulnerable if there is a change in the business or its people.  And it makes it almost impossible if you are looking for symptoms in order to fix bigger problems.

 

The Future:  Going forward with actionable projects broken down with team buy-in, unfolding “the BIG picture”.  I do believe we have figured out one way to envision, implement, grow and sustain a profitable, multi-revenue business.

 

© Gary Evans, DemGen Inc. 2014

Categories : Business Tools, Productivity, Starting a Business
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4 Characteristics You Cannot Have As An Entrepreneur

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Thursday, March 27th, 2014

The Internet is chalk-full of lists of characteristics that entrepreneurs must either possess or gain in order to be successful. However, not many of those lists will outline some characteristics that won’t get entrepreneurs far in their businesses. Here are four characteristics that successful entrepreneurs cannot let get the better of them.

1.    Being Obsessive

You may have heard this term on one of those many other lists, which is: successful entrepreneurs know how to delegate. With that, obsessive entrepreneurs have a hard time letting go. This characteristic can seriously hurt your productivity if you become overburdened. In addition to that, obsessing over every little detail is tiring! Learning to not stress about everything opens to door to the elusive “work-life” balance that every entrepreneur chases.

2.    Being Self-Righteous

Yes, you’ve started your own business and yes, things are going well, but like with laws, there are precedents in entrepreneurship that you should pay attention to. Even if you’re starting a business that’s never been seen before, there are baselines for building a business that should be followed. Find a mentor with similar business ideas to you and don’t be afraid to learn from them! As the old adage goes, two heads are better than one.

3.    Being Fearless

Being fearless, while enticing, will probably get you in more trouble. By staying cautious about your business objectives, you also keep yourself realistic. It’s okay to be afraid about expansion and taking a different direction – embrace that fear! It will help you keep your wits about it and sharpen your instincts for taking calculated risks.

4.    Being Predictable

You’re an entrepreneur! Which inevitably means you are not a sheep that follows the herd. This is just a casual reminder to continue doing what you do best: being unpredictable. You’ve always found a way to creatively put yourself ahead of the rest but when you’re tired or a little frustrated, don’t let yourself slip into following what the other people in your field are doing.

 

Luckily, if you’re already aware of the characteristics it takes to make a great entrepreneur, chances are you won’t have too many of these in your system. If you find yourself leaning towards them, it might be a good idea to take a step back and reassess how you’re handling your business. Until them, just keep doing what you’re doing!

 

© Zoe Begopoulos, DemGen Inc. 2014

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Small Business, Starting a Business
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Should Entrepreneurs Specialize?

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Tuesday, February 4th, 2014

should entrepreneurs specialize?Many entrepreneurs have trodden the same path in the last several years, following the advice of many, those that tell them they should be a niche brand; that this will give them an advantage over others who offer too much of a variety. After all, don’t numerous businesses do that already?

The mistake is in taking the advice literally. Specialization has turned into such a fad, that many entrepreneurs are only skilled at one thing, leaving them at a loss in an economy that may not need them at the moment. Most business and financial experts will tell you, (especially if you are just starting out), to leave specializing until you have been in business for many years, preferably retired and scaling down. By then you will know what you do best and what interests you the most. By that time you will also feel more secure with a part-time income.

Planning your career path far in advance can leave you wondering if you have made the right choices. Content business owners tend to be those who veered from a predictable path many times, often because they found themselves interested in something else. These interests, whether they realized it at the time or not, added value to what they were offering. They became professionals in many things, created a business that was unique and at the same time attracted more customers with their knowledge of products and services that may have been outside of their usual offers.

While some entrepreneurs feel they should focus on a core message in order to be taken seriously – women in particular – there are others who welcome the generalist approach, fearing they will get stuck in one business and in the  future will find they have no way to expand into another. They find that the “following your passion” approach to business leaves a lot of room for accountability and professionalism as well as too many so-so entrepreneurs masquerading as authentic and knowledgeable business people.

The perfect business is one that is a combination of what you are good at and also don’t mind doing. At the same time, it needs to be something that others find value in and will pay you for. Don’t worry that your business won’t be recognized as a niche market. Aim for quality; in your products and services but mostly in how you treat your customers. An established small business can create products for niche markets when it has been around longer and has a loyal and satisfied customer base.   It will be known for what it provides and how it provides it, not just for being a brand.

 

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2014

Image courtesy of sitepoint

Categories : Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Small Business, Starting a Business
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