Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on August 30, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Webinars | 
It has arrived – The BizCentral September line-up of free small business webinar events. Focusing on core planning and financial fundamentals of small businesses, September’s line-up is aimed at aligning small business startups with best practices to sustain healthy business growth.
It has become evident that business plan development and financial management are among some of the top hurdles small businesses face so it really just makes sense to focus on addressing those fundamental topics that are too often overlooked by early-stage and small business startups.
Details About BizCentral USA’s Free Small Business Webinars:
Small business webinars are hosted online at any computer with internet access. All webinars will begin at 3pm EST and typically last 1-hour. Following the presentation, a live question and answer session will give attendees the opportunity to receive in-depth answers to their specific organizational questions.
- 9/14/2010 Getting on the Path to Small Business Success: Development of a Strong Business Plan – Register Now
- 9/28/2010 Basic Financial Management for Small Businesses: Getting your Books in Place – Register Now
Those unable to attend the live small business webinars, no need to worry – Every installment of the small business webinars is recorded and can be viewed on-demand at any computer – any time of day. To learn more or RSVP for any of the September small business webinar events, visit: http://bizcentralusa.com/webinar/september.php
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on January 18, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
Too often you see small business owners and entrepreneurs jump into the
new year with dozens of new goals and strategies to accomplish, but by the end of that year their goals have turned into nothing but a dreadful nightmare. This is not only depressing for the small business owners and entrepreneurs who run these businesses, but also for the thousands of Americans who are counting on small businesses to pull the U.S. out of a slump.
If I could have it my way, I would love to see every new venture taken on by an entrepreneur grow to be successful and profitable. Unfortunately, that is not reality. The reality is however, that those businesses who have failed most likely share many common mistakes. While knowing what these ruinous mistakes are is extremely important, it is even more critical to know how to avoid these endless pitfalls of disaster.
So, your probably asking yourself “How do I avoid my business ending up in the small business graveyard?”. Well, that is exactly what I am going to share with you today! Pay close attention to each point I am about to make, even if some may seem so “typical” or if you think “this is so common, I wouldn’t make that mistake.” Trust me, that is probably what many of the small business owners and entrepreneurs though right before their business went belly-up!
Bad Money Management. Look at the businesses that fail and you’ll find that many of them took on way too much debt. In addition to taking on too much debt many of those small businesses spend their seed money before cash ha begun to flow in at a positive rate. This is just plain irresponsible. As a small business owner you must hone in on your money management skills (if you don’t think you have them, then hire a bookkeeper to help manage financials). If you are gonna go at it alone, here are a few things to remember:
- Prepare for volatile marketing and uncontrollable costs that will sneak up on you.
- Keep strict records of all money going in and out.
- Evaluate your wants vs. needs to avoid over spending. In other words, if you can’t afford it, don’t get it!
Bad Business Location.Yes, it is true. Your location can make or break your small business. Remember, people need to be able to find you and feel welcomed to come on in. Too often you see entrepreneurs who are “raring to go” let a cheap lease tempt them into opening their doors in the wrong location. Keep in mind that common phrase, “if it seems to good to be true it probably is.”
Some simple ways to avoid a failure prone location is to consider your customers, suppliers and competition when deciding on a location. Create a check list for each of those factors to help you weigh all the benefits (demographics, distance to suppliers, financial savings etc.) for each location. Just keep asking yourself, “does this location meet the needs of the business?” Your answer should be yes.
Ineffective Marketing and Self Promotion. Have you ever felt like you were talking to a wall? Well, if you don’t utilize marketing or if it is poorly planned and executed, you may as well have been talking to a wall. You can’t gain customers and clients if they don’t know that you exist. That is why to have to strategically plan to build awareness and conversation about your business. Now, if you have an online business, marketing should truly be a key component of your daily tasks. Rather than a great location, an online business needs marketing to continually promote its site.
Learn how to cost-effectively and time-effectively market your business with tactics that work for you. That statement is important, because many businesses will simply implement too many marketing initiatives; to the point where all their marketing efforts are lackluster and ineffective. It is better to take on only the amount of marketing initiatives that you have time to execute to their fullest potential.
Underestimating the Competition. This statement has probably been beaten down to the ground, but it couldn’t be more true: If you don’t take care of you customers, your competition will. So, how will you keep your customers from straying? There are a few ways to prevent any activity “outside the relationship”:
- Create your unique selling point (USP) and really make it unique and enticing.
- Always remember that you have to earn customer loyalty; it doesn’t just happen. By always reminding yourself of this, you will always play at the top of your game.
- Know everything there is to know about your competition – their special promotions, changes they make to their website, what others are saying about them. It all goes back to keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer.
- Practice outstanding customer service, all day – everyday. Word of mouth can be one of the best and easiest ways to keep current customers and bring in new ones.
Inadequate Business Plan. Your business plan is your blueprint for success. A well-thought-out business plan forces you to think about the future and the challenges you’ll face. It also forces you to consider your financial needs, your marketing and management plans, your competition, and your overall strategy for coming out on top – Basically, it can help to prevent you from making the previous 4 mistakes.
Avoiding this mistake is simple: Get an effective business plan! It can be a simple three-page plan or a huge 40-page plan. The point is that every small business owner needs a business plan to help you to focus on your goals and your vision, as well as setting out plans to accomplish them.
So that is it! These mistakes can lead you to small business failure, but if you paid close attention to the points on how to avoid it, you should be okay!
Have you already made any of these mistakes? If so, what will you do to correct them and how are you going to prevent your small business from failure?
