- My Own Small Business
Oh yes! It can seem so small for quite a while. But there are milestones. Little milestones that attest to the fact that your business is getting off the ground. You are going to have a real business. I remember a woman coming in my office – carrying a large box of pottery – and telling me she wanted to have a real business. She had a micro-biz producing in her home and selling at small shows. Now she has her own store.
Here is a milestone: needing a bank stamp to stamp the back of all the checks you are depositing. Or buying copy paper by the carton instead of the ream. Or needing a book to log your telephone calls. Or getting a few clients and wondering when in the world you would still have time to market and you aren’t really putting that much money in the bank yet. Or getting a letter from a young graduate asking if you will hire her. All of these small things are milestones.
But to actually create the larger company that will ongoing, stable, viable and profitable, you will need to keep putting one foot in front of the other. You will need to continue to market for the best customers, those who can be served in half the time, and provide referrals, so that new clients continue to come, better clients, paying more fees to move you toward your goals.
Keeping your focus is essential. Create a calendar for marketing so it stays a part of your week. Put clients in similar geography together, or prospects in one part of town. Efficiency will need to your byword. All of these efforts will pay off. Read your favorite book on time management and implement those things that appeal to you.
Begin to look at ways to make your business scalable – a plan so the business can grow substantially. Will it grow by hiring employees to do most of the work? Or will it grow by earning more and more every time you give a speech. Or perhaps you have a business on line and need to get much better at online marketing and funnel sites and all the things that bring you higher traffic and higher sales.
Find others who are working on similar activities and collaborate. At my office many owners meet to blog together and share ideas and technical advice. Monthly I meet with groups of women owners, Boardroom Groups, in order to talk about challenges and opportunities. The energy from these groups can carry you through the week. It won’t be long before your little lemonade stand will be a solid business providing profit for today and for the future.
