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Add You - The 10 Commandments of Survival for the Entrepreneur
Advertising is one of those business requirements that we all hope we don't have to do, put off as long as we can, but eventually need to do. Advertising and marketing are often very challenging because there are many ways to do it, places to do it, and we often are left wondering just exactly what it did for us, if anything.As a Professional Organizer, you probably have a small company, perhaps with just a few employees, and more likely, just yourself. Needless to say, most Professional Organizers do not have big "corporate" advertising and marketing budgets. You have to be very selective on where you spend the money you do spend. Running ads or creating marketing materials need to generate results, no matter how little you spend.But what if you could advertise and market your business without spending any more money? What if you could promote yourself in a way that reaches the most targeted audience, those who are specifically looking for your services?It's All About Targeting and Timing
8.LEARN FROM DOING!!! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “You can’t make course corrections, if you aren’t moving.” We hear this often, but few people understand what it means. My thoughts are that you have to be willing to try a multitude of new ways of doing things in order to find what is best for you in almost everything. (Don’t confuse this with Re-inventing the wheel, this refers to your specialized skills needs.) You did it in golf, tennis, bowling, or whatever, why not budgeting, work hours, marketing, prospecting, selling, etc.? Within reason nothing should be ruled out until you have tried it correctly and for the right length of time and then found that it didn’t work.
9.SET GOALS – chart your course. This is one of the oldest adages of recorded motivational wisdom. From Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to Denis Waitley we hear of the importance of Goal Setting. Yet, most people still do not have written goals, or indeed any real goals at all. This is one of the primary reasons people do not achieve the success they f
Congratulations! You’ve decided to publish an ezine. But where do you begin? As with anything, at the beginning.Before you write your first word there are some decisions you need to make. Ask yourself these 5 questions:1.What is the topic of your ezine?This may seem like a silly question if you are far enough along in the process that you know you want to publish an ezine, but you would be surprised how many ezines are out there that seem to have no solid topic. They seem to be there for the sole purpose of taking up space in their subscriber’s email inbox, of which there are few.Don’t let this happen to you. It takes far too much work to publish an ezine to not have a specific topic of interest to the masses. And, yes, no matter what topic you decide to dedicate your ezine to, there are potentially hundreds or thousands of readers waiting to subscribe, if your topic is specific enough to capture their interest.So, decide on a topic that is specific enough to generate interest but broad en
One of the easiest ways to start your own business and get up and running as soon as possible is to associate with someone who has already done a lot of the preliminary work for you. Network marketing is offering tremendous opportunities for many people who would otherwise waste time looking for a business or be stuck in traditional jobs with all the limitations thereto.
For those of you who are thinking of stating your own business or already have, I offer the following thoughts for your consideration.
1.Don’t RE-INVENT THE WHEEL. Take advantage of all of the resources that are available to you. There is very little that is new to the world anymore. Seek out those resources. Especially when you are organizing your company, use the already proven methods.
If you are a franchisee or something like that, your sponsoring company has done this before, listen to them. They want you to succeed, study their success stories and see how you can organize and develop the skills necessary.
2.KEEP OVERHEAD LOW. Show fiscal responsibility. When people start their own business they sometimes go a little bit crazy and skew their thinking. For example, I know of several individuals who began living off their gross income instead of their net income. This results in new cars, more staff, a bigger computer system, a fancier brochure., etc. We all realize how exciting some of those deals can sound, but remember, if you live off your gross, life in this business will be very short. The Tax man cometh!
3.DON’T GET INTO DEBT. Get rid of the debt you have. This is part of fiscal responsibility as we just mentioned. But it is so important that it gets its own category.
We are often asked by college students, other young people, and fledgling entrepreneurs how they can start their own businesses. What we say is not exactly what they want to hear. First, we say they should NOT buy the fancy car, stereo system, take an exotic vacation, etc. but get their financial house in order. Many of the college students we talk with seem to think that graduation should be followed by a really exciting (and expensive ) vacation.
Guard your credit rating at all costs.
The reason is, most of us spend more than we make right now. If you are going to take a risk and go into your own business, you will need to have the ability to financially cover the time when cash flow is short or non existent. If you live from pay check to pay check you have no options. Incidentally, if you are not familiar with the term “cash flow” you will know it real well as soon as you start your business.
4.PUT AWAY MONEY. Keep an attitude fund. This comes along with #3. As your business begins to make money there is a very strong tendency to want to reward yourself. After all, you risked, you worried but “gutted it out” until the sales started and now that you have some “extra money” you deserve something nice. Besides, it is fun to let your friends know that you have finally made it!
This is the time to put away some “attitude money” as one financial adviser used to call it. This is the stuff that will let you sleep through a whole night. It is amazing how having $30,000.00 or $40,000.00 in a money market fund changes your perspective on the world. Incidentally, never touch your “attitude money,” unless it is an emergency.
5.DON’T BURN BRIDGES – it’s all in the relationships. There is an old saying, “be nice to people on the way up, because you are bound to meet them on the way down.” You don’t necessarily have to be on the way down to meet up with those people. I think it is always important to be courteous and honest with everyone with whom you associate, regardless of what they do.
Always do what is right! That means pay your suppliers when your are expected to pay, or sooner. Get a good reputation for integrity and guard it with your life. That way you never have to watch over your shoulder. It just makes your life a lot easier.
6.SELL CONSTATNLY – prevent peaks and valleys (and sleepless nights). Most people think that companies fail for lack of sufficient capital. It is my observation that they fail because the person running the business is not prospecting and selling on a regular basis. Incidentally, lack of sales leads directly to insufficient capital!!
7.LEARN - all that you can about your business and business in general. I am constantly amazed at the business people who have horrible corporate organization, estate planning, lousy and expensive benefit plans, terrible accounting and tax work, and are just plain bad managers. Yet they are always griping about how hard they have to work. Remember #1? Don’t Re-invent the wheel, keep your house in order, people have been doing it right for years use your advisers wisely. I look at this just as really dumb management.
When I recommend meeting with and getting a good small business attorney and/or accountant too often I get the response “we are too small” or “I can’t afford it.” This is just stupid. In every situation that I have pursued this with friends I have found that good professional advisers were no more expensive than lousy ones and are a lot cheaper than non at all. Add to this, the fact that they will get you headed in the right direction if you are off course and you can’t afford not to have them. But get good ones, not friends simply because they will cut their fees!
8.LEARN FROM DOING!!! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “You can’t make course corrections, if you aren’t moving.” We hear this often, but few people understand what it means. My thoughts are that you have to be willing to try a multitude of new ways of doing things in order to find what is best for you in almost everything. (Don’t confuse this with Re-inventing the wheel, this refers to your specialized skills needs.) You did it in golf, tennis, bowling, or whatever, why not budgeting, work hours, marketing, prospecting, selling, etc.? Within reason nothing should be ruled out until you have tried it correctly and for the right length of time and then found that it didn’t work.
9.SET GOALS – chart your course. This is one of the oldest adages of recorded motivational wisdom. From Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to Denis Waitley we hear of the importance of Goal Setting. Yet, most people still do not have written goals, or indeed any real goals at all. This is one of the primary reasons people do not achieve the success they fe
Last issue, I talked about increasing your Brand Love-- meaning to increase the affection that prospects and customers feel toward your business.Why?Because increasing "affection" will build relationships. Those relationships, if made strong enough by increased Brand Love, build a bridge for prospects to become customers. To some, that bridge might be made of rope, swaying in the breeze, complete with wooden planks. To others, it will be a mighty stone structure. It all depends on how well you connect with each prospect.It also means putting more cement on the bond with the customers you already have. Locking customers in, tighter and tighter with every brand experience is a critical aspect to profitability and growth. The reason here is twofold: It costs less to maintain current customers than to gain new ones, and the best advertising is word of mouth. Sounds like a clich? ('cause they are), but... it's true, folks.So, the big question is: How to do it and do it better than your competition.>
2.KEEP OVERHEAD LOW. Show fiscal responsibility. When people start their own business they sometimes go a little bit crazy and skew their thinking. For example, I know of several individuals who began living off their gross income instead of their net income. This results in new cars, more staff, a bigger computer system, a fancier brochure., etc. We all realize how exciting some of those deals can sound, but remember, if you live off your gross, life in this business will be very short. The Tax man cometh!
3.DON’T GET INTO DEBT. Get rid of the debt you have. This is part of fiscal responsibility as we just mentioned. But it is so important that it gets its own category.
We are often asked by college students, other young people, and fledgling entrepreneurs how they can start their own businesses. What we say is not exactly what they want to hear. First, we say they should NOT buy the fancy car, stereo system, take an exotic vacation, etc. but get their financial house in order. Many of the college students we talk with seem to think that graduation should be followed by a really exciting (and expensive ) vacation.
Guard your credit rating at all costs.
The reason is, most of us spend more than we make right now. If you are going to take a risk and go into your own business, you will need to have the ability to financially cover the time when cash flow is short or non existent. If you live from pay check to pay check you have no options. Incidentally, if you are not familiar with the term “cash flow” you will know it real well as soon as you start your business.
4.PUT AWAY MONEY. Keep an attitude fund. This comes along with #3. As your business begins to make money there is a very strong tendency to want to reward yourself. After all, you risked, you worried but “gutted it out” until the sales started and now that you have some “extra money” you deserve something nice. Besides, it is fun to let your friends know that you have finally made it!
This is the time to put away some “attitude money” as one financial adviser used to call it. This is the stuff that will let you sleep through a whole night. It is amazing how having $30,000.00 or $40,000.00 in a money market fund changes your perspective on the world. Incidentally, never touch your “attitude money,” unless it is an emergency.
5.DON’T BURN BRIDGES – it’s all in the relationships. There is an old saying, “be nice to people on the way up, because you are bound to meet them on the way down.” You don’t necessarily have to be on the way down to meet up with those people. I think it is always important to be courteous and honest with everyone with whom you associate, regardless of what they do.
Always do what is right! That means pay your suppliers when your are expected to pay, or sooner. Get a good reputation for integrity and guard it with your life. That way you never have to watch over your shoulder. It just makes your life a lot easier.
6.SELL CONSTATNLY – prevent peaks and valleys (and sleepless nights). Most people think that companies fail for lack of sufficient capital. It is my observation that they fail because the person running the business is not prospecting and selling on a regular basis. Incidentally, lack of sales leads directly to insufficient capital!!
7.LEARN - all that you can about your business and business in general. I am constantly amazed at the business people who have horrible corporate organization, estate planning, lousy and expensive benefit plans, terrible accounting and tax work, and are just plain bad managers. Yet they are always griping about how hard they have to work. Remember #1? Don’t Re-invent the wheel, keep your house in order, people have been doing it right for years use your advisers wisely. I look at this just as really dumb management.
When I recommend meeting with and getting a good small business attorney and/or accountant too often I get the response “we are too small” or “I can’t afford it.” This is just stupid. In every situation that I have pursued this with friends I have found that good professional advisers were no more expensive than lousy ones and are a lot cheaper than non at all. Add to this, the fact that they will get you headed in the right direction if you are off course and you can’t afford not to have them. But get good ones, not friends simply because they will cut their fees!
8.LEARN FROM DOING!!! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “You can’t make course corrections, if you aren’t moving.” We hear this often, but few people understand what it means. My thoughts are that you have to be willing to try a multitude of new ways of doing things in order to find what is best for you in almost everything. (Don’t confuse this with Re-inventing the wheel, this refers to your specialized skills needs.) You did it in golf, tennis, bowling, or whatever, why not budgeting, work hours, marketing, prospecting, selling, etc.? Within reason nothing should be ruled out until you have tried it correctly and for the right length of time and then found that it didn’t work.
9.SET GOALS – chart your course. This is one of the oldest adages of recorded motivational wisdom. From Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to Denis Waitley we hear of the importance of Goal Setting. Yet, most people still do not have written goals, or indeed any real goals at all. This is one of the primary reasons people do not achieve the success they f
They say wherever you go, there you are. Yet how present are you at any given time and place you find yourself? Many professionals appear in body but little else. Don't get marked as missing in action. In the last week I encountered the following professionals missing in action: Out of Tune: My local mail carrier arrived each day, wearing her iPod and delivering my neighbors' mail to me. She's in her own world. She dumps the apartment's mail in a pile each day. In addition to my mail I consistently receive mail from neighbors up and down my street, as well as mail of neighbors two streets over at the same street number. So much for accuracy. Doesn't she realize close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades? Disconnect: An airport shuttle driver who greeted us at our hotel and attempted to drive the entire route to the airport while engaged in a phone conversation he was in when he arrived. True, the driver used an ear-piece so we only had to hear his side of the conversati
4.PUT AWAY MONEY. Keep an attitude fund. This comes along with #3. As your business begins to make money there is a very strong tendency to want to reward yourself. After all, you risked, you worried but “gutted it out” until the sales started and now that you have some “extra money” you deserve something nice. Besides, it is fun to let your friends know that you have finally made it!
This is the time to put away some “attitude money” as one financial adviser used to call it. This is the stuff that will let you sleep through a whole night. It is amazing how having $30,000.00 or $40,000.00 in a money market fund changes your perspective on the world. Incidentally, never touch your “attitude money,” unless it is an emergency.
5.DON’T BURN BRIDGES – it’s all in the relationships. There is an old saying, “be nice to people on the way up, because you are bound to meet them on the way down.” You don’t necessarily have to be on the way down to meet up with those people. I think it is always important to be courteous and honest with everyone with whom you associate, regardless of what they do.
Always do what is right! That means pay your suppliers when your are expected to pay, or sooner. Get a good reputation for integrity and guard it with your life. That way you never have to watch over your shoulder. It just makes your life a lot easier.
6.SELL CONSTATNLY – prevent peaks and valleys (and sleepless nights). Most people think that companies fail for lack of sufficient capital. It is my observation that they fail because the person running the business is not prospecting and selling on a regular basis. Incidentally, lack of sales leads directly to insufficient capital!!
7.LEARN - all that you can about your business and business in general. I am constantly amazed at the business people who have horrible corporate organization, estate planning, lousy and expensive benefit plans, terrible accounting and tax work, and are just plain bad managers. Yet they are always griping about how hard they have to work. Remember #1? Don’t Re-invent the wheel, keep your house in order, people have been doing it right for years use your advisers wisely. I look at this just as really dumb management.
When I recommend meeting with and getting a good small business attorney and/or accountant too often I get the response “we are too small” or “I can’t afford it.” This is just stupid. In every situation that I have pursued this with friends I have found that good professional advisers were no more expensive than lousy ones and are a lot cheaper than non at all. Add to this, the fact that they will get you headed in the right direction if you are off course and you can’t afford not to have them. But get good ones, not friends simply because they will cut their fees!
8.LEARN FROM DOING!!! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “You can’t make course corrections, if you aren’t moving.” We hear this often, but few people understand what it means. My thoughts are that you have to be willing to try a multitude of new ways of doing things in order to find what is best for you in almost everything. (Don’t confuse this with Re-inventing the wheel, this refers to your specialized skills needs.) You did it in golf, tennis, bowling, or whatever, why not budgeting, work hours, marketing, prospecting, selling, etc.? Within reason nothing should be ruled out until you have tried it correctly and for the right length of time and then found that it didn’t work.
9.SET GOALS – chart your course. This is one of the oldest adages of recorded motivational wisdom. From Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to Denis Waitley we hear of the importance of Goal Setting. Yet, most people still do not have written goals, or indeed any real goals at all. This is one of the primary reasons people do not achieve the success they f
There are thousands of jobs available in San Diego and there are many service agencies that help one get the job of one’s particular field. They are divided in to Government, Non-profit employment agencies and recruiters. In the web sites the company profiles are available and the job particulars.An employment service company is the one which works for a client company to provide it with qualified professional candidates for its different vacant posts. The service company or the service provider also provides with a better job for the candidates. It works in duel way and bridges between the business firms or organizations and the individuals who seek jobs. The employment service has saved many people’s trouble of searching the jobs without a particular direction. They have made the work of both the companies and the candidates easy.There are different types of service companies, which are in search of qualified candidates who are needed for their clients. The qualified aspirants in search of jobs can get the h
6.SELL CONSTATNLY – prevent peaks and valleys (and sleepless nights). Most people think that companies fail for lack of sufficient capital. It is my observation that they fail because the person running the business is not prospecting and selling on a regular basis. Incidentally, lack of sales leads directly to insufficient capital!!
7.LEARN - all that you can about your business and business in general. I am constantly amazed at the business people who have horrible corporate organization, estate planning, lousy and expensive benefit plans, terrible accounting and tax work, and are just plain bad managers. Yet they are always griping about how hard they have to work. Remember #1? Don’t Re-invent the wheel, keep your house in order, people have been doing it right for years use your advisers wisely. I look at this just as really dumb management.
When I recommend meeting with and getting a good small business attorney and/or accountant too often I get the response “we are too small” or “I can’t afford it.” This is just stupid. In every situation that I have pursued this with friends I have found that good professional advisers were no more expensive than lousy ones and are a lot cheaper than non at all. Add to this, the fact that they will get you headed in the right direction if you are off course and you can’t afford not to have them. But get good ones, not friends simply because they will cut their fees!
8.LEARN FROM DOING!!! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “You can’t make course corrections, if you aren’t moving.” We hear this often, but few people understand what it means. My thoughts are that you have to be willing to try a multitude of new ways of doing things in order to find what is best for you in almost everything. (Don’t confuse this with Re-inventing the wheel, this refers to your specialized skills needs.) You did it in golf, tennis, bowling, or whatever, why not budgeting, work hours, marketing, prospecting, selling, etc.? Within reason nothing should be ruled out until you have tried it correctly and for the right length of time and then found that it didn’t work.
9.SET GOALS – chart your course. This is one of the oldest adages of recorded motivational wisdom. From Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to Denis Waitley we hear of the importance of Goal Setting. Yet, most people still do not have written goals, or indeed any real goals at all. This is one of the primary reasons people do not achieve the success they f
Did you know that credit difficulties can stop you dead in your tracks and keep you from being hired? Credit problems will stress you to the max, strain your personal relationships, crush your morale and possibly paralyze you from taking necessary actions in your job search. If that isn't bad enough, it can also stop you from being hired!Here's the reason why: Remember when you signed on the dotted line of the job application? Somewhere in fine print there was a line that gave the employer the right to run a credit check. A bad credit rating has the effect of ending your candidacy for a job with all too many companies as it is an indication of how you handle fiscal responsibilities. Rightly or wrongly, they make the assumption that this is how you might perform as a future employee by acting irresponsibly in many areas of your life, even stealing from the company. This may not seem right or fair but that is the way it is. You bad credit, no matter what the reason, even if the report is in error, can be used against
8.LEARN FROM DOING!!! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “You can’t make course corrections, if you aren’t moving.” We hear this often, but few people understand what it means. My thoughts are that you have to be willing to try a multitude of new ways of doing things in order to find what is best for you in almost everything. (Don’t confuse this with Re-inventing the wheel, this refers to your specialized skills needs.) You did it in golf, tennis, bowling, or whatever, why not budgeting, work hours, marketing, prospecting, selling, etc.? Within reason nothing should be ruled out until you have tried it correctly and for the right length of time and then found that it didn’t work.
9.SET GOALS – chart your course. This is one of the oldest adages of recorded motivational wisdom. From Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to Denis Waitley we hear of the importance of Goal Setting. Yet, most people still do not have written goals, or indeed any real goals at all. This is one of the primary reasons people do not achieve the success they feel they “deserve.”
SET and WRITE down:
•your specific goals
•when you plan to achieve them
•and how you plan to go about achieving them.
This should be done early in the planning of your new business venture. It will help you to focus on what you will really need to be doing every day in your new business. This is also a great way for you to see whether this is the business for you.
10.MAINTAIN FLEXIBILITY. I entitled this article “The 10 Commandments…” Unlike the original 10 Commandments, you will probably need to add to these rules for the specific industry in which you will be venturing. Flexibility in these 10, however, will get you started on the road to success.
Remember, not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur despite what you hear and read. If you have something that you love to do, but you don’t want to be bothered with sales, marketing, and the administrative work required to run a business – don’t waste the time, effort and money. Find a job that let’s you do what you love to do and leave that other stuff to people who want to do it.
If these 10 Commandments are too much to swallow in one bite, here is one that is easy to remember, DO WHAT IS RIGHT and DO IT WITH INTEGRITY.
Sell Well and Often.
Bill Truax Bill@BlitzCall.com 800-253-1214
© Copyright 2006 WJ Truax
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