Deciding which small business to invest in is only part of the equation. The first and most important step is finding a business that’s right for your personality, which has a direct effect on your entrepreneur style and how successful you will be with your business.
Determining your entrepreneur style requires that you take
an honest look at your business skills and motives for
starting your business. For example, if you don’t like
social settings and aren’t comfortable speaking with
people, it’s not a good idea to invest in a company that
requires constant face to face interaction with the buyer.
Some companies to consider starting if you fall in this
category may be housekeeping, commercial window washing,
lawn care and even janitorial services.
If, on the other hand, you enjoy networking and speaking to
others, direct sales (business to business or business to
consumer) services may be best suited for you. In addition
to your personality and entrepreneur style, there are
several other areas to consider before starting your own
business.
Ease of Entry – Industries and businesses vary in respect
to the ease with which new competitors can enter. Some
barriers of entry to consider would be over-saturation of
businesses already offering the product you are looking to
offer. Another main barrier to entry is cost. Will you
have to save up or take out a serious loan before you know
what type of profit to expect? What about cost of
education or licenses? These are all serious questions to
consider. That’s why some of the best small businesses
don’t require much capital or experience and there is still
ample growth in the industry for you and several other
business owners. However, just because a good business
doesn’t require much capital or experience to start doesn’t
mean you will not have to eventually devote some time and
capital developing your knowledge and experience in the
field. To continue to grow and provide the best service,
you will need to invest some of your profits back into the
business and yourself.
Start-up Capital – Many small businesses call for thousands
of dollars to get started. Many of us want a business to
free up our time and bring in the necessary income to
support our families. Businesses that require massive
capital take much longer for the business owner to realize
a return on income. They also require much more devotion
of time away from family and other leisure activities.
There are several small business owners with franchised
restaurants and other business that did require a lot of
capital that are now nicely reaping the benefits of all the
hard work they put into it. However, many will also tell
you that it came at a great price time with family,
friends and sacrifice of self-development. What’s strange
is these are the exact reasons why individuals start their
own businesses.
Before starting your own business make sure to develop a
well thought out business plan that outlines what you
expect to gain from this business and what resources,
including time, money, etc. you plan to use or will need to
really make your business profitable and bring to you the
free time and other benefits you desire.
Ability to Make Money when not Present – In order for you
to own your business and it not own you, you must find a
way to make sure that your actions can be replicated.
Whether it’s an insurance agency, a flower shop or network
marketing company, it’s very important that you be able to
leave that business for a day or even a month and know that
it’ll still run smoothly and make money for you.
To do this, it’s imperative to have a system in place that
allows your business to continue without your presence.
You can do this by hiring employees and developing that
will enable your workers to become copy cats of what you do
and bring to the business in regards to service and
profits. All employees, through the resources they
provide, should in some way bring value and profits to your
business. If they do not, you should either train them or
terminate their position.
One important thing to consider in order to encourage your
employees to bring profit to the business would be to
reward them with incentives for certain behaviors, like
great customer service or specific sales results. Determine
what type of incentives will motivate your employees and
what type of actions you would like reward. Estimate,
track and compare the cost of incentives, as well as the
other expenses associated with hiring an employee, to the
profits gained by the business from the employee.
Another option is to consider looking into a business that
has a proven system for doing business and making money
without the expense of hiring employees. In other words,
find a business you can replicate or copy that uses an
automated, electronic email or internet marketing campaign.
Remember though that even though you may save by not
hiring employees, you will more than likely have a higher
marketing expense than other small businesses. If you’re
not sure about the cost of this type of campaign, do a
search on the internet to compare prices of companies that
offer this type of service. If you chose this option, it’s
good to have at least three different types of automated
leads coming into your business. For example, take note of
the monthly cost for postcard, survey or email marketing
campaigns. This will give you an idea of what type of
expenses to expect if you choose this route. No matter
what you decide, make sure you have plan that will enable
you to grow your business without tying you to the office
or computer all day.
Businesses that keep giving through “Residuals”! – The very
best businesses keep rewarding you with profits by either
providing you with return business or residuals. Residual
income is profits that keep paying you over and over at
certain intervals as a result of the customer continuing to
use your service or product. With many businesses, nothing
further is needed by you other than a great product. The
business keeps renewing because the customers value the
product, need the product and can’t get better service,
prices, etc. through any other company. Even though these
business and services are definitely out there, I encourage
you to always strive to provide superior service. If
something in the market or industry changes, this ensures
that the majority of your customers will continue to stay
with your company not only because they value the product
but also because they greatly value the service. With
other businesses it’s a given that you’ll need to
continually service your customers to keep the business and
keep getting paid residuals. The key is in duplicating
your work habits by either hiring an employee or having
some type of system in place that provides service and
products through an automated service.
The Product – First and foremost, the product(s) being sold
have to be good stand-alone products. This means that the
product could sell on its own because people actually need
and desire this type of product. There are countless of
network marketing and direct sales companies that are built
only on the compensation plan or creating downlines, and
not on the product itself. Run very fast from these types
of companies. If the product or service is not valuable
enough to sell on its own, you’re going to have a very
difficult time building and growing that business.
Attitude - Finally, you have to be passionate about
whatever you’re selling or doing. If you are, you’ll be
more eager to share your business and service with others.
You can not be successful if you do not have pride in what
you’re offering. For this reason, choose a business which
provides a service or product that helps others or brings
joy in some way to their lives. I would personally like to
thank all the pizza shops in Indianapolis. They bring so
much joy to my life because nothing makes me happier than a
good slice of pizza. Do you see where I’m going? Your
idea or business doesn’t have to change the world but if
there are people out there that you know would get value
and joy out of whatever it is you’re offering, then that’s
a big step.
To really choose a business that will be profitable, take a
close look at what you’re getting into and what you may
have to sacrifice for the business. Sometimes, the
business you always dreamed that would free up your time
and give you the life you always wanted, can actually rob
you of the things you value most.
—————————————————-
Anitra Myrick is a mother, mentor and business owner. She
provides a mentorship program to help her customers and
small business owners with self-development and spiritual
enlightenment. She owns an Insurance Agency and is a
Business Owner with AmeriPlan. For more information about
Anitra and her businesses, please visit
http://www.deliveringonthepromise.com/myricksbenefits and
http://www.farmersagent.com/amyrick
Comments on this entry are closed.