The following action steps are required in order to ensure that you are reaching those financial, personal and business goals.
1. Create a business plan
There’s a saying that I heard many years ago that says “plan the work and work the plan.” A business plan is important because it is the blueprint for your business which includes important information such as your marketing strategies, financial plans, operations, target market, mission statement etc.
If you have not created your business plan already then now is the time to do so. You will have a clearer picture about the direction you want to take your company. The decisions that you make in your business will derive your business plan.
2. Prepare to Work
Operating your own business is like having 2 fulltime jobs, usually business owners work longer hours than those who are traditional workers. Unlike a traditional job where your work is typically created for you with deadlines for adhere to, having your own business depends on you to create the work, get it done, and meet all deadlines, not to mention completing all paperwork and administrational duties.
You will find that being in business for yourself requires a different mindset. In other words you will be deprogrammed as a traditional employee to be reprogrammed as a business owner. The process can be difficult but the rewards are much more beneficial.
3. Set Goals for Success
Bo Bennette once said, “A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement.” Do something each day towards your business especially if you took the leap of faith to operate it on a fulltime basis. Whether it’s canvassing your neighborhood, or cold calling, everything that you do that is constructive increases value and creates activity for your business which will translate to profits eventually.
This is the reason why setting goals is important. Your business plan is your outline of your long term goals, but short term goals must be put in place in order to see those long term goals come to fruition. The more goals you achieve is the closer you become towards having a healthy business.
4. Know Your Stuff
The other thing that you want to do is to become an expert in your field. Learn all that you can so that you can provide your customers with nothing but the best in quality and service. Remember, you are competing against others that offer identical products or services as you.
Ask yourself questions such as, “why should people do business with me instead of the other guy”? “How am I different from my competitors”? What do I need to know that I don’t know about my industry, products, or services?
5. Attend Networking Events
You may have heard the saying, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I can only speak from experience but this saying is so true. I learned very early since operating my own business that networking is a key ingredient to the growth of ones business. Networking is simply developing relationships that will benefit you by adding value to who you are and what you do for a living.
There’s a famous statement that God makes as written by the author of the book of Genesis in the Bible that says “It’s not good for man to be alone.” God made this statement after he created Adam; therefore Eve was then created. (Some women say that God got it right the second time – Ha ha very funny!)
Subsequently, it is scientifically proven that any living thing that is without some form of relationship won’t survive. I remember watching a documentary that illustrated how a monkey that was isolated from birth became wild in his environment compared to a monkey that was privileged with nurturing and stimulation from his mother.
I’m not professing to be a psychologist but I have been around long enough to personally experience or witness what unhealthy relationships or the lack thereof can do to a person’s ability to achieve in life.
Therefore we are created to have relationship – healthy relationships of course, in order to help us survive life’s challenges that come our way and to develop in our personal and professional life.
Earlier I wrote about the objective of all businesses is to cause the consumer to do 3 things; spend with you, stay with you, and share you with others. Networking is a major component towards experiencing success in this area. The more relationships that you create, the more likely you are to have a lot of business which translates to an increase of income.
6. Spread the Word
Now is the time to tell, tell, and tell. Get the news about your product or services out there to what is commonly known as your “warm market.” These are the people in your life such as family, friends, co workers, associates, neighbors etc.
Here are some examples:
• Give a sample of your product or free trial for a service
• Discounts
• Create an incentive program
7. Deliver Quality and Excellence
I don’t mean to annoy you with the repetition but it is a very essential principal to apply immediately as you start your new business to understand that you must cause the consumer to spend with you, stay with you and share you with others. If you build your company on the proper foundation then you will be able to weather just about any economical storm.
During the global recession of 2008/2009 I was operating a Window and Carpet Cleaning business. I admit that I was nervous about our upcoming busy season, fearing a reduction in business which could result in layoffs and other cutbacks. But instead I was not really affected at all. Many of my customers did lose their jobs or were downsized but still requested their annual service; I also continued to gain new customers, many of which were using my competitors in previous years. What amazed me though was some of my competitors were calling me for work.
I sat back one day to take in the unexpected growth that I was experiencing time. I then realized that it was a result of providing my customers with excellent service over the years at competitive prices. As a matter of fact, my tag line was “quality and excellence you can see.” That’s exactly what we did.
Customers spent with us which translates to profits, they stayed with us which means that we have loyal customers, and those customers shared their quality and excellence experience with others which is what is known as referrals; the cycle continues again and again.
I am very serious about delivering quality & excellence and you should too. Whatever you do; don’t lose that value system and ensure that it becomes part of the culture of your company as it grows – you won’t regret it!
No comments:
Post a Comment