Learning What You Need to Succeed Part 3

As I talked about yesterday, it can be very difficult running a small business by yourself. You have to keep track of the marketing, sales, accounting, payroll, legal aspects, cleaning, maintenance, public relations, human resources, and not to mention, the actual business that you conduct.

What I have found, is that when one’s time and efforts are spread out between all of these things, the overall quality of each aspect declines. The quality of your main service that you offer will certainly decline if you cannot focus on that the majority of your working hours.

An important thing to remember if you want to grow your business without experiencing a nervous breakdown is to:

3. Know your limits

You must be able to admit to yourself that you are not excellent at everything. The time is going to come when you must hire someone on to fulfill your specific needs, or outsource to a specialist.

When you look to hire someone, don’t immediately seek the candidate who can do “a little bit of everything.” Determine your most pressing needs and find the person who will meet those needs even better than you could yourself.

One of the best examples of this is A Bryan Photo, out of Birmingham. This team of nine has two main photographers and seven staff members to keep the details in place. Each one has their specific roles that, when combined, create an incredible service and quality product for their clients.

It is sometimes difficult to hire a new staff member if the task you need fulfilled is short-term, seasonal, or requires minimal hours. In this case, consider contracting or outsourcing with another person or business.

If you are working on redeveloping your promo materials and neither you nor your staff are quality graphic designers, it’s time to find someone who is. If you are always buried by paperwork that needs to be filed or entered into QuickBooks, contract with someone to come in once a week and take care of it. Is it time to get a cleaning person? They’re all over Craigslist these days.

Maybe you would LOVE to implement some of these ideas, but there is no way your budget can cut it right now. Consider temporarily cutting back on some aspects of your business. If the design and quality of your website is doing more harm than good, and you aren’t in a place to a) design your own from a template or b) hire someone to do the job, you may be better off scrapping it. Focus on your blog instead. If drawing up new business is your highest concern right now, hire a sales person and put them on strict commission.

You can’t afford to run yourself ragged. If you can learn to delegate and outsource, you will have much more time and energy to put into what you do best.

Learning What You Need to Succeed Part 2

When you run your own small business, and it’s a one man show, things can get VERY lonely. Everything hinges on you alone. The pressure from that can be extremely stressful and enthusiasm can die quickly. Have you ever asked yourself, “if I just ‘closed shop’ today, would anyone even notice or care?”

I started to feel this way toward the middle of this project, and knew something needed to change – which brings us to #2:

Obtain the right kind of support.

If you can gain this support on both a personal and professional level, you will most likely gain the motivation you have been lacking.

On a personal level, be sure to have two or three close friends or family members who have an interest in seeing you succeed. These people will typically know your strengths and weaknesses and can help you stay level-headed when times get tough. Allow them the opportunity to be honest with you, thanking them for their opinions when they are finished. If you shut down their ideas, or are quick to disagree with them, you are doing much harm to one of your greatest sources of feedback.

My wife, The Fabulous One, picked me up plenty of times during this process. When vendor applications were slow to come in, she was able to offer a new perspective on how to streamline the application process, which encouraged more vendors to sign up.

If you don’t currently have these kinds of people in your life, think about who you would like to have that role. Invest in those relationships and show a genuine interest in them and what they are pursuing. If that friendship builds, they will probably return the favor.

In addition to the personal support, you will definitely need professional support to keep your doors open. Are you networking? Do you have other businesses vouching for the services or products you offer? I’m not talking about trading links on a website here. Find a way to add value to other businesses you work with, and they may just do the same for you. If you are a wedding planner, do you simply pass on the name of a specific vendor to your brides, or are you passionately selling that bride on all of the great reasons she should hire them. The latter is definitely the way to go if you are going to build true partnerships with the other vendors in your industry.

If you are looking to start a new business, and don’t have these relationships in place, pause. Take the time to work on this. Work for someone else in the industry for a while, and not necessarily in the specific field you are pursuing. A lot of wisdom and perspective can be gained by being able to see things through the eyes of others. You don’t want to jump in prematurely.

A couple years ago I was looking into starting a business that rented out chiavari ballroom chairs. At the time, I had very few relationships built up with local wedding vendors and venues. I could have started the business and tried to work it from the ground up, but knew that it is a better investment to work on those relationships. If you do this, your start-up will be much smoother and word will spread about you much faster.

So remember, it will be very difficult to survive on your own. Reach out, build up your relationships, and experience the benefits of learning from others.

Learning What You Need to Succeed Part 1

Below are five things I have learned recently that I need for success. Your list may be a little different than mine, but what’s important is that you know what you need.

1. Believe in whatever you pursue
2. Obtain the right kind of support
3. Know your limits
4. Manage your time
5. Surround yourself with “experts”

Over the next week, I am going to explain each of these needs in reference to a project I just completed last month.

I took on the task of promoting a large-scale rummage/flea market event that was marketed to the Greater Milwaukee area as kind of a “kick-off” to the rummage sale season. Although I have worked in and around events, I have never done something quite like this before.

The concept is quite simple, but the details were many. Rent out a building/space, sub-rent 10’x10’ spaces to vendors, advertise, and charge a small fee for admission. Where’s the difficulty in that, right?

Well it turned out to be quite the emotional roller coaster as things began to unfold. You don’t really know if you have a show or not until you have enough vendors to fill the space. And it’s hard to get vendors for a first-time show because they don’t want to risk it being a flop. It is also difficult to know how much money to spend on advertising because you don’t know what your total revenue will be in the end.

After this constant balancing act, the final product turned out extremely well. We had over 3,000 customers, over 6,000 food donations, happy vendors, and I was even on the news on Saturday morning. In fact, I actually turned a profit! But what was more valuable than the money I made, were the lessons I had learned.

1. Believe in whatever you pursue.

Being a promoter for this type of event is a perfectly legitimate business. The popularity of these events is even growing with the economic times we are experiencing. But, I came to find that my heart just wasn’t in it and it didn’t feel true to who I am. I don’t know how else to explain it but by saying I was nowhere near waking up every morning (or any morning, for that matter) excited to work on this project. I realize there are days when this will be the case for any business. But if your business or job is depressing you, it’s time to get out – fast!

I already had vendors in place, investments in advertising, and a reputation to keep, so I knew I had to finish it out. And even though this event has a lot of potential for growth and profit, I’m deciding to call it quits. Many people think I’m crazy for doing so, but there are other worthwhile (and personally meaningful) projects ahead.

Do you believe in what you are pursuing and is it true to who you are?

Tomorrow: Obtain the right kind of support.

What Do YOU Need To Succeed?

There are thousands (upon thousands) of business ideas out there. And it only takes ONE to be successful. But which one is it going to be? That’s the million-dollar question, right?

Take a look at this list of 999 business ideas drafted up by Seth Godin’s Alternative MBA team.

If you are anything like me, as you go down the list you are blown away by all the great ideas and think your head is going to burst because you don’t know which one to pursue first.

But the point this team is trying to make is if you don’t act on an idea nothing will come of it. The truth is most people won’t act on a good business idea. Even entrepreneurs will never follow up on every eureka moment they experience in their lives.

So what does it take to make an idea work? That’s the REAL million-dollar question.

And the answer will be slightly different for each individual. Given your personality, availability, financial situation, strengths, and weaknesses, what has to happen for you to succeed?

Tomorrow, I will share a few things I have recently learned that I need to succeed, in hopes that it will help you determine your own needs.

[Until then, don’t get too caught up in your 15 new ideas you pulled from SAMBA!]

A New Direction

[This post is a response to the continual support of my wife and Molly to keep at it.]

I know it has been way too long since my last posting. To those of you who still check up on me every once in a while or still have me in your Reader, I am humbled.

The truth is, over the last couple months, I have not only been finishing up a new business venture (which I will go into more detail about soon), but have also been seriously considering the direction and focus of this blog.

I have enjoyed being able to offer financial advice to my readers over the last year or so. But, I have recently come to the conclusion that there are many personal finance blogs out there that offer sound wisdom for those looking to eliminate debt, save for retirement, and get the most out of their dollar.

Therefore, I have decided to shift the current focus of The Dollar Dance, and will begin a transition into something new. With the mentality of finding a need and striving to meet that need, I am certain that I will be able to accomplish more through this blog than ever before.

I invite you to join me as I turn the page. If you own your own business, or play a key role in handling the finances of a small business, I think you will like what is to come.

As I continue to work through this process, I will be sharing some life lessons I have recently learned that, quite frankly, must be experienced in order for them to be truly grasped.

Looking forward to it!

Tim

Peapod...Survey says...

I did not forget about my promised Peapod review.

The Fabulous One and I started using Peapod a couple months ago for two reasons:

1. To help us keep our grocery shopping held within a strict budget.

2. To save us some time as our lives were so busy we needed every hour we could get.

I must say, both of these needs were met in very large ways. We were able to plan exactly what we wanted to buy. There were no surprises at the checkout, no gravitational pulls toward the Drumsticks, and I wasn't circling the store four times to find a "small jar of capers".

After establishing our food budget, we planned on spending about 70% of it on Peapod and the other 30% was to be spent at the grocery store if we needed a quick 1/2 gallon of milk or a loaf of bread.

We found the Peapod delivery drivers to be very friendly. They showed up in the time frame that was established, and carried the bags of groceries right to the middle of our kitchen. If this seems a little too intimate and/or creepy to you, you will certainly appreciate their unattended delivery where they leave your groceries in very sturdy boxes next to your door. The refrigerated items are in an insulated cooler with ice packs and the frozen food is stored in a cooler with dry ice. I was quite impressed!

Peapod also offers weekly specials that were unexpected. One week we were able to choose one of three frozen entrees (to be cooked in the oven) for free ($12 value). It was very good and there was plenty left over for lunch the next day.

Okay, so what was the catch? The expected downside is that the prices do tend to run more expensive than the stores. I couldn't calculate a consistent markup. But you do definitely get less food for your money.

Also, the delivery charges range between $7 and $10 depending on your order amount. We simply built this charge into our budget.

Our schedules have since eased up a bit and we are not currently using Peapod on a regular basis. I do however, see us taking advantage of this service again this summer when our businesses really pick up.

That's my two cents. Are there any other opinions out there?

Understanding The Financial Credit Crisis

Here is a visual aide to help you understand how we got into this financial crisis. The political aspects of everything have been left out of this video. It is more of a visualization to explain the process that happened. Many thanks to Brandon Meves for finding the video.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.