Business Tips & Tricks

GENERAL

  • Be decisive. Know your boundaries and your limits.
  • Know your value – don’t undercut the price of your products/services.
  • Don’t wait for the perfect time to start your business. There is no perfect time. Dive in now!
  • Take a risk. Don’t wait for all the lights to turn green to go for it!
  • Diversify your client base across industries and business sizes.
  • Go with your gut. Don’t overthink solutions.
  • Fail forward. If you fail, learn and try again.
  • Think positive. Think big. Every business starts with a new or improved idea.
  • Start narrow. Expand as you grow.
  • Never give up! Perseverance is the main ingredient in long-term business success.
  • Ethics count. People want to work with businesses they trust.
  • Go above and beyond. People want to work with businesses who practice excellence.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

  • To accelerate your learning curve, find a more seasoned business owner to mentor you.
  • Keep an eye on future trends so you have time to adjust products and processes.
  • Never stop learning. Stay abreast of industry trends.
  • Never stop seeking new ideas and tools to keep your products and processes fresh and sharp.
  • Be aware of your competition. Learn from them if possible.
  • Listen to the feedback and ideas from clients and staff to improve your products and services.
  • Say yes to challenging projects and endeavors to hone and expand your expertise.
  • Never stop learning. Invest the time required to upgrade your skills and expand your knowledge base.
  • Be willing to try new things to expand your business like developing a new product.
  • Take the time to understand your clients’ pain points and then craft quality solutions.

SALES

  • To facilitate business sales, target an initial group of customers and clients and build from there.
  • To facilitate business sales, create a list of everyone you know that can buy your product or service or provide referrals and go from there.
  • Be willing to try new things to expand your business like targeting a different customer base.
  • 30-second pitch idea: How you solve your customer pain points.
  • 30-second pitch idea: Showcase how your solutions are extensible.
  • 30-second pitch example for an event planning company: “Don’t use precious time planning and organizing get-togethers. We plan creative and affordable events that free you up to relax and enjoy socializing with your friends, colleagues or families.”
  • Improve your sales strategy by understanding the problem you are solving for your customers.
  • Encourage existing clients to provide you with referrals. How? Just ask them.

MARKETING

  • To ramp up your market presence quickly, tailor your product or service to a specific target audience.
  • Invest time and resources into company growth annually. Example: launch a digital marketing campaign.
  • Invest time and resources into company growth annually. Example: build your story on social media.
  • To facilitate business success, perform market research on your products/services.
  • Use networking and social media to build relationships and become visible.
  • Get exposure. Feed every marketing channel you can until you find out which ones work best for your business.
  • Find your audience. Test every market you can until you find out which ones work best for your business.

PROCESS

  • Require clients to pay a project deposit of 30 – 50%. This will motivate clients to perform leading to better relationships and project outcomes.
  • Focus on future business growth by developing yearly goals.
  • To facilitate business success, start while you are still employed.
  • To facilitate business success, ask for help from qualified service professionals like CPAs, business lawyers, etc.
  • Simple processes, communications, and technologies benefit both you and your clients and showcase your expertise.
  • Enhance your time management skills. Create a daily, weekly schedule.
  • Enhance your time management skills. Create time to think and strategize.
  • Enhance your time management skills. Prioritize activities.
  • Incorporating your business provides liability protection between personal and professional assets.
  • Pay attention to legal and tax issues. Doing this will save you money in the long run.
  • Hire help if needed. Doing this will save you money in the long run.
  • Take care of your books. Keep a healthy cash flow.
  • Fire bad employees. Don’t be afraid to let go of people who jeopardize your business success.
  • Take care of your bottom line. Protect your Intellectual Property.
  • Build a scalable, repeatable process that you can concisely articulate to clients and prospective clients. Doing this highlights your business prowess and efficiency.

COMMUNICATION

  • Don’t take things personally. Maintaining your professional bearing in the face of slights and disagreements will serve you better in business, and in life.
  • To facilitate business success, be passionate.
  • To facilitate business success, maintain your professional bearing.
  • Learn and practice the art of communicating clearly and consistently with your clients.
  • Don’t take your customers for granted. Communicate clearly and often so they feel supported.
  • Be yourself. You will achieve better results if your business matches your personality. You will also have more fun.
  • Remember to reward and appreciate colleagues who support you and provide you with referrals and/or mentoring.
  • Be gracious. Never forget that everyone started from somewhere.
  • Smile and be present. Make others feel you are happy to be there with them.
  • Following up is gold. People respond positively when you follow-up and are more likely to do business with you.
  • Don’t over-promise. Set realistic expectations and deliver what you promise to build trust with clients.
  • Document all deliverables—agreements, contracts, emails—to avoid surprising or disappointing your client.