The most successful business owners are always thinking ahead. If you are a new business owner, strategizing about mission statements, corporate culture and business plans are things you would be smart to address early on. More seasoned business owners can benefit from articles on everything from setting client expectations to creating a niche for your small business
As Nathaniel Branden, the late Canadian-American psychologist who specialized in self-esteem once said, “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” Thus, in order to fully accept the changes in the workplace, one must first understand that they exist. So, what changes are existing in 2015, potentially setting the trends for the future? Here is … [Read more...]
If you’re anything like I am, you look at some of the successful small business owners you know and wonder how they’ve managed to grow their companies into what they are today. Specifically, you think about what they know that you might not when it comes to owning and operating a business that can withstand the ups and downs of the world around it. Well, wonder no more … [Read more...]
This article is one in the multi-part series entitled The Entrepreneurial Mindset. Experts suggest that the average person makes thousands of decisions a daily. This includes deciding things such as what to wear, what and how much to eat, whether or not to answer a phone call or text, and more. As a small business owner, you are faced with an even greater amount of … [Read more...]
The client-consultant relationship can be a fruitful one for both parties. Over time, consultants and their clients build the kind of trust that allows for creativity and collaboration. The hardest part of building the client-consultant relationship is taking the first steps that move both parties from conversations about what they can do together to creating a plan – and a … [Read more...]
One of the most stressful parts of being a small business owner can be managing an inconsistent income. Whether it is the weather, the economy, the changing of the seasons or just plain serendipity, your income can be “feast” one month and ”famine” the next. How do you cope with an irregular income? Here are some strategies to help you stay afloat in a choppy sea. Create a … [Read more...]
Anyone running a business knows that customer reviews are golden. Whether the reviews are for specific products or for the business itself, there’s no denying that they guide customers’ decisions. In a perfect world, your customers would always be happy and always leave five-star reviews. At the very least, customers with complaints would simply call you directly and give you … [Read more...]
As a small business owner, you likely spend a majority of your time looking forward as you try to predict future market and trends, attempting to forecast a majority of your expenses and revenue. And certainly, these things are good as they give you the direction in which you want to go. However, if you’re always working forward as opposed to backwards, you could be missing … [Read more...]
Once your business commits to maintaining a consistent social media presence, a key piece of the strategy for social media success is determining when to post what. Create a weekly social media schedule to prime the social media pump while promoting engagement and calls to action without creating excessive burdens for you and your staff. In addition to streamlining social media … [Read more...]
Developing a niche is like doing yoga. Most people are afraid to try it, but once they do they wonder what took them so long to walk into the barely lit room and do a downward dog while exhaling all of their worries away. Niching creates a whole new clarity, and can really make doing business exciting. Even knowing this, a lot of small business owners still don’t take this … [Read more...]
Instituting value-based pricing over other common methods, like cost-led and positioning (pricing yourself against your competition), generally has a positive impact on business profits. Why? Because most businesses tend to underestimate their own value, thereby pricing below what they are truly worth. So, making the proper price adjustments can quickly increase the profits of … [Read more...]
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