Small businesses are in a unique position to help our economy grow by employing many different types of employees. They also face many challenges, however, and high among them is structuring your business to enhance your chances of success - think: customer retention, target marketing, outsourcing your financial and accounting needs, process improvement. These are just a few ideas you can implement to improve your business and personal life.
Now that summer is coming to a close, use the energy you built up during the summer months to re-focus on how best to strengthen your opportunities. There is a lot you can do to "de-stress" your business and set it on a productive path to successfully close out 2019.
A Brief Case Study
1. Get and keep customers – Increase your customer base without increasing your overhead. It sounds difficult but can be done. Become a good listener and pay attention to your customers' concerns and requests. Work efficiently and with as much value added as possible. Become the best at what your customers want.
2. Ask for help – Small business owners notoriously wear too many hats and believe they alone can "do it all". Though you are the best at your trade, it is always good to have an outside "pair of eyes" to review your business and financial procedures.
Problems clear up quickly when you bring in a professional whose expertise can quickly tackle your recurring problems, ultimately alleviating more stress in the process.
3. Don't Waste Money – I've watched small businesses struggle with efficiency practices for as long as I can remember. They have typically not had the training that larger businesses have in implementing efficient, cost reducing procedures.
Spend some time researching process improvement ideas and/or work with an efficiency consultant to correct this problem. A $1,000 process improvement project will yield 3x that amount in ongoing cost efficiency.
4. Stick to a Plan - All to often small and medium business lack a cohesive business strategy. Without clear targets laid out for your business, often you won't allocate resources in an efficient way. If your curious how to plan for your business, check out our article on business strategy.
5. Effective Marketing – Social Media marketing is key, but this can be a daunting task. Review your customers & general audience so you can make an informed decision on where to market and what marketing mediums are best for you. Do you know your target market? Once you do, you can employ the right avenues which will give you the best ROI for your time and money.
Note & Newsworthy
5 Tips for Small Business Stress Management
Mike Kappel - Contributor - Serial Entrepreneur, Patriot Software Company CEO
This is a quick and instructive read! These 3 tips
are key:
1. Remember what's going right
2. Take breaks
3. Take care of yourself
Most importantly - Have Fun!
CPN & Associates LLC is a Business Consulting Firm offering strategic business reviews, analytical financial reviews, operational management, and many other small business services.
