Solo Success In Business

The Five Minute Guide To Managing Your Second Week In Business

12/01/2012 By Margaret Adams 1 Comment

168 hours and they're all yours!

If you’re following the Business Start-Up Month series of articles on this site, you’ll know by now that I tend to focus on how people in business use their time.

I hear so many people at all stages in their life in business saying that they don’t have enough time to do what they want to do.

My consulting clients say the same – at least when we start working together.

However, time is not the issue. It really isn’t.

We all have 168 hours per week. You can’t buy extra time. All you can do is decide how to use it.

There is plenty of time . . .

In week two of running your business think again about my motto:

Clear thinking + the right actions = success

Clear thinking is easy in the first days of running your business. It will lead you to an in escapable conclusion.

You have an urgent need to generate revenue. You need to do this before your business goes bankrupt.

That means you need customers.

This situation presents a simple question:

What are you doing today, this morning and this afternoon, this minute, to bring in more revenue and to get more customers?

If the question makes you feel uncomfortable then I’m glad you’ve read so far.

5 minutes is all you need

You only need five minutes to come up with the solution to this problem.

Let’s assume that your working day runs from 9 am to 5 pm. If it doesn’t, then substitute the right times. If you work part time in your business, write down the relevant times.

Now you need to commit to spending ALL of your working time on one of three tasks:

finding business
preparing to deliver the business you have acquired
delivering your service.

That’s it. There’s nothing more to it.

Now spend five minutes allocating all your time to working on these tasks.

Managing your second week in business

But …. But …. But …. you say.

You need to talk to the web designer. You need to get some printing organised. You need to sort out your desktop printer.

Maybe.

Maybe you do need to work on these tasks, too. Just do them outside your normal business hours. These tasks do not contribute directly to the success of your business. Yes, you need to be able to print out the document you intend to take to the meeting with your new customer.

However, you need to get that customer and the next one and the next one before you can waste precious working time on non-essential activities.

If you don’t focus on the three tasks that will help your business to survive, then ask yourself this question:

Are you serious about wanting to succeed in your business?

Building a successful business

It takes a long time to create a successful business. It’s hard work. 85% of new businesses fail within the first three years of trading.

You can’t afford to be half-hearted about getting your business moving.

In The Solo Success Start-Up Guide I call week two the “taking aim” week. That’s what you need to do.

Create the right working habits and apply them from now on.

Now it’s your turn

How difficult do you find it to keep focused on the right things in your business?

It’s very easy to turn to non-essential but time-consuming activities and to push aside the tasks that are going to help you to get the customers you need.

What do you do to keep yourself focused on the right things? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear about your successes.

If you think this article is helpful, then please “like” it on Facebook, and tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur

Your First Week In Business – Success Or Failure?

09/01/2012 By Margaret Adams 2 Comments

Your first week in business - did it go well?

If you started your business at the beginning of the month, you’ve been in business for a week now.

Starting a consulting business or a coaching business is a challenge.

Starting out as a solo-preneur or independent professional is a challenge.

How well did you meet that challenge in your first week as a start-up business?

What did you achieve?

Asking you what you achieved is not the same as asking your what you did. You were probably very busy. There are so many things to do when you’re running your own business.

You need to set up your website.
You need to get your business cards ordered.
You need to sort out your office’s equipment.
You need to think about setting up a bank account.
You need to deal with your new tax position.
…. I could go on.

Important as these tasks are, they are not make-or-break tasks. Of course, they need doing. You need to address them all. You probably need to address them in your first month in business.

Did you spend the whole of your first week in business working on this sort of task?

If you did, you achieved less than you might.

Focus on what really matters

Now you’re in business you must be very clear in your own mind about what’s really important.

For all new businesses what matters most is getting business.

How much of your time in your first week in business did you spend on getting business?

In The Solo Success Start-Up Guide I urge new businesses to find time in their first week to think about the following questions:

Who do you serve?
Which problems do you solve?
What value do you add?
Who is your ideal customer?

I ask people who are starting out to focus on these questions for one very important reason.

Their business is more likely to survive, if they know the answers to these questions, and if they pay attention to addressing the issues that their answers raise.

Business success or business failure?

There are lots of statistics around about new businesses indicating how few of them survive for three years.

I believe that the businesses that are most likely to fail are the ones that struggle to address a defined market, and solve the problems of a defined group of people.

If you want your business to survive, I believe you need to be clear about

who you serve – so that you don’t waste time, energy and money trying to do business with the wrong people

the problems you solve – so that your customers and prospective customers will know how you will help them

the value you add – so that you have strong messages to deliver online, offline and face-to-face

who your ideal customer is – so you can target your marketing and sales efforts in the right way.

Work on your answers the questions I ask above in your first week and you will stand more chance of success. That’s because:

Clear thinking + the right actions = success.

So what did you do in your first week in business?

Did you spend at least half an hour a day thinking about your answers to my questions?

If you did, you’re ready to start your second week in business.

If you didn’t, take some time early in week two to give them some consideration.

The Four Questions For Your First Week In Business

Just so that you don’t forget, the four questions are:

Who do you serve?
Which problems do you solve?
What value do you add?
Who is your ideal customer?

Questions for established businesses

Did you think sufficiently about these questions in your first week of trading?

I know I didn’t. Twenty years ago, when I started my business. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. I remember visiting the local tax office. I remember thinking about who I should follow up. (I’d written quite a few letters to prospective clients before I started my business.) I remember working on my offer. I know I didn’t have a structured plan.

I made sure I put in the hours and I completed a range of tasks. I hoped that by doing this would get at least some things right.

Lots of businesses still struggle to decide what to focus on. You can get a head start on other start-ups by asking yourself those four questions now.

It’s Your Turn

So how is the new business going? What happened in the first week? What are you planning for the second week? Let me know in the comments.

If you like this post please “like” it on Facebook and tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

#entrepreneur.

Twenty Things To Do Before You Start Your New Business

05/01/2012 By Margaret Adams 2 Comments

Make your list.

If you’ve made your decision to start a business, then you’re probably keen to get started.

You want to start trading. You want to open the doors to your business, whether you have real doors, or virtual doors.

However, there are some things you need to do before you begin.

Use the suggestions below as a checklist.

Before you start your business . . .

Make sure you complete as many of the items on the list as you can before you leave your job.

Put some savings together. You can’t assume you’re going to earn much in your early days as a business person.
Work out how much you need to live on per month and how much you’re anticipating spending on your business per month.
Decide who you’re going to tell you’re leaving your job.
Decide who you know who could become customers of your new business.
Decide if you would like to do business with your current employer after you have left your job.
Draft out a list of income sources for your business.
Make a hit list. Who could become your first five customers?
Work out what you could do to help each of these potential customers.
Make contact with these potential customers. Just let them know you’re leaving your job for the moment. Don’t ask for any work.
Keep on good terms with your employer. Avoid the temptation to say what you think about your current workplace, if it’s not complimentary.
Work out precisely what you’re planning to do once you leave your job.
Decide if you’re going to create a business name or trade under your own name.
Work out what you’re hoping to charge for the work you do.
Work out what will go on the front page of your website. (Take some time to think and rethink this.)
Find out about tax, national insurance and similar issues for the self-employed, or small business owner.
Set a date to start your business.
Make a list of businesses you could work for as a contractor.
Contact these businesses. (Contracting can help your cash flow, so don’t be too proud to consider this route.)
Work out why people should buy from you rather than from anyone else.
Congratulate yourself that you’ve done some planning. You’ve made a good start.

Start working on this list today. You might not complete every activity in order but think about each point and do what you can when you can.

Once you start your business, you’ll be busy every day.

Now it’s your turn

Have I missed anything?

Would you like to add any points?

If you like the post, please tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

and “like” it on Facebook.

The Most Common Mistake New Businesses Make – And How To Avoid It

03/01/2012 By Margaret Adams 2 Comments

Most new businesses – especially those started by consultants, coaches and other expert professionals – worry about how to sell. They think that their lack of sales skills is their biggest challenge and their biggest problem.

Is what you're selling a mystery?

Quite a few new business people take some training on sales skills early in the life of their businesses and hope that this will solve their problem.

This is fine up to a point.

New businesses often have something else they need to think about before they come to consider how to sell.

It’s an issue that is often ignored because it can be a difficult one to deal with. However, it’s an issue that will affect your business’s chances of survival and it has nothing to do with sales skills.

Selling tangible products and services is a bonus

Some new businesses find it easier to make an impact quickly than others.

When I work with new businesses I can be fairly certain that certain types of business are going to make progress sooner than others.

These are the people who have tangible products and services to sell and who can explain the value of what they deliver.

Web designers have a head start. Even though they are selling services people know the outcome they will receive: a web site. People know what websites are. They know what they want to buy. What’s more, businesses need websites. Even the smallest of businesses needs a website, so there is a ready and waiting customer base and a need out there in the marketplace for web designers.

Book-keepers and people who keep small businesses’ accounts in order have a head start, too. People need to keep track of their spending. They need to raise invoices, pay bills, create profit and loss accounts, cash flow forecasts and the like. As soon as they start trading the bills come in and the invoices must go out. This is the sort of work that many business people do very badly if they do it themselves, so they are likely to look for someone to help with these tasks sooner rather than later.

Once again there is a ready and waiting customer base and a need in the marketplace.

That’s because people with a clearly defined service to sell have an advantage in their early days in business.

If you’re selling photocopiers or office supplies, that’s good, too. You will be shipping tangible products when you make a sale. What’s more people can either see a picture of your product or they already use something similar so they know what they’re buying. They don’t need you to explain it to them.

Work out what you sell

If you’re a consultant or a coach you’re in a different situation. The first thing you have to work out, when you start your business, is what you’re actually selling.

Working out what you sell can be a big challenge. Coaches and consultants often try to avoid thinking deeply about this issue by deciding to sell their time. Alternatively they hide behind statements about what they do: life coaching, image consultancy, time management training.

Yet, businesses and individuals don’t buy time or processes. They buy outcomes.

Therefore, it’s a big mistake to place the emphasis on inputs (time) or processes (consultancy).

How to avoid this mistake and save your business

The solution is very straightforward.

Spend time working out what you’re selling. Think carefully, too, about the value you deliver to your customers.

Sell outcomes.
Sell value.
Sell benefits.
Sell improvement.

The next time you’re asked about what you sell, don’t talk about the hours you will input to the development process. Focus on the end results, the value and the outcomes you will deliver. Don’t worry about how you’re going to sell your product or service before you’ve worked out what, exactly, you’re offering to your marketplace and the need your offer addresses.

You’ll make more sales and your business will be more likely to survive, profit and grow if you think about these issues before you start to think about your sales skills.

You’ll also avoid one of the most common mistakes that new businesses make: focusing on the wrong things.

Do you agree?

Do you know what you sell?
Can you explain the value of what you sell to your customers?

Let me know in the comments.

If you like this post please tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz.

What Successful Entrepreneurs Forget To Tell You About Creating A Great Business

30/12/2011 By Margaret Adams 2 Comments

Will you be different?

You probably have at least one business book on your bookshelf or in your e-library that’s written by a big name entrepreneur. You know the ones I mean – those highly successful people who have made a lot of money out of their businesses and are now sharing their successes.

Perhaps you have more than one of these books in your collection.

There are plenty to choose from. They cover a wide range of topics and the writers reveal a lot of their secrets.

Secrets Of Successful Entrepreneurs

These tend to be written by people who have become well-known names. They are often superstars in business. They’re often very wealthy. Their books are personal stories. They tell you how they did whatever they did.

Sometimes they tell you about their system that leads to success.
Sometimes they want to sell you their system.

They write about

the skills they have developed and used on their journey to success
their passion for their business
their tenacity, often in the face of adversity
their stamina.

They might write about their ruthlessness, too.

Often successful entrepreneurs are mix of all of the above. What fascinates us is how they apply their skills and how they tell their story.

We don’t always learn much about how to run our businesses as a result, but we enjoy their reminiscences.

Secrets Of Successful Chief Executives

Some people who succeed in business hate the idea of personally being centre stage. They don’t see themselves as personalities. They see themselves as the creators of teams who, in turn, are responsible form the success of a business. They are the people who help others to succeed.

They set the vision for their organisation.
They say: “This is the way we’re going. Follow me.”
They help to ensure that others share the vision and help to implement it.
They also accept that their task is to enable others to achieve.

They are often little known figures, but they are central to success. It’s when they leave that those who remain in the business really come to appreciate their efforts.

These people, too, will sometimes write and speak about their successes. We like to read about how big companies achieve and how they get to the top globally.

However, it’s often difficult to apply what these people have done to our situations and to our businesses, especially if we’re running small enterprises.

The Simple Secret Of Business Success

Those entrepreneurs who are personalities and the chief executives who achieve lots via their corporate structure often want to help people who are just starting out in business.

In some ways their books, guides, audio tapes, training programmes and the like are very helpful. In one sense they often neglect some of the basic skills that a would-be entrepreneur needs.

So what is the simple secret that successful entrepreneurs don’t tend to spend much time on when they write their books and e-guides?

It’s the skill of sifting through all the information that is available, making a decision and sticking to it.

Why is decision-making so difficult?

Decision-making is essential in business, but so many people are very bad at it.

There are so many options these days that the old idea of rational decision-making doesn’t work.

The advice was once:

Gather together all the information on the topic.
Review it rationally.
Make a decision.
Implement the decision
Stick to the decision.

These days there is so much information we can never gather it all.

Some people procrastinate and put off making decisions until they’ve read a bit more, learned a bit more, attended another seminar and so on. These people never start their businesses, because they never have enough knowledge or enough information to begin work.

Having made a decision, some people don’t stick to it. They change course again and again. In business you regularly meet people who describe themselves in one way this month and in another way next month. They specialise in this, that and the other. As a result no one knows what they do.

They never make progress. They literally spend their time going around in circles.

Serious Entrepreneurs Make Serious Choices

Those successful entrepreneurs and chief executives mentioned above make decisions. They expect to make decisions. They stick with their decisions. They implement their decisions. That means they resource their decisions. They communicate their decisions to others. They remind their staff of their decisions.

They don’t tend to dwell on the fact that making decisions is central to business success. For them this is an obvious point.

For the person starting out in business it’s much less obvious.

However, you’re not ready to take the good advice that the experts offer unless you’re also ready to accept that you’ll have to decide, in the end, which advice you intend to follow.

So get ready to take action and learn the simple lesson that will help your business to succeed.

Creating a great business depends on your willingness to make decisions.

Do You Agree?

Do you read lots of good advice but fail to implement it?
Are you reluctant to commit to actions in your business?
Do you like to keep on learning more and avoid taking action as a result?
Do you read the books that successful business people write without taking action?

Let me know in the comments.

If you like the post, please tweet about it using the hashtags:

#startup

#smallbiz

and “like” it on Facebook.

Next time I’ll be writing about why selling skills matter less to your business than some of the other skills you probably have.

Meanwhile, you might like to read:

Starting a consulting business – Only you can do it.

Filed Under: Business Skills, Productivity, Solo Success In Business, Starting Your Business, Starting Your Coaching Business, Starting Your Consulting Business, Uncategorized Tagged With: Solo Success In Business

The Five Minute Guide To Managing Your Second Week In Business

There is plenty of time . . .

5 minutes is all you need

Managing your second week in business

Building a successful business

Now it’s your turn

Your First Week In Business – Success Or Failure?

What did you achieve?

Focus on what really matters

Business success or business failure?

So what did you do in your first week in business?

The Four Questions For Your First Week In Business

Questions for established businesses

It’s Your Turn

Twenty Things To Do Before You Start Your New Business

Before you start your business . . .

Now it’s your turn

The Most Common Mistake New Businesses Make – And How To Avoid It

Selling tangible products and services is a bonus

Work out what you sell

How to avoid this mistake and save your business

Do you agree?

What Successful Entrepreneurs Forget To Tell You About Creating A Great Business

Secrets Of Successful Entrepreneurs

Secrets Of Successful Chief Executives

The Simple Secret Of Business Success

Why is decision-making so difficult?

Serious Entrepreneurs Make Serious Choices

Do You Agree?

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