Here is a video post by ABC, featuring USA Today contributor and small business expert Steve Strauss about why starting a small business in this tough economy can deem successful by following 5 simple tips.
Tip 1: Be A Business Person: Learn business and start writing a business plan
Tips 2: Look For Vacuums And Waves: There are 27 million businesses and 99 percent account for small businesses. Your business needs something new and different, the vacuum, and something old and successful, the wave. The vacuum is doing something different, thinking outside of the box. Wave is old that deems successful for other businesses such as a twitter page for your business.
Tip 3: Have A GREAT Online Presence: Set up a Website that makes you look professional and big no matter how small your business is because it can generate more business and profit
Tip 4: Use Available Technology: Buy software that can help contribute to your business and have a professional business space for client meeting
Tip 5: Don’t Lead: Find successful business models in your industry
Being a Christian does not mean you won the lottery to peace, prosperity, health and happiness. Jesus said the kingdom of God is within us. Paul found peace in prison and Jonah found it in the belly of a fish. We can be under the circumstances or rise above them. We all have our circumstances, but they are temporary. Eternity will be filled with good days. God gave us the ability to express emotions of both joy and sorrow, which probably means he expected us to experience both. Some stains only tears wash away. We all walk this walk of life together alone.
Every year my green boat tries to retire. I go to start it up for the first time and it plays possum. I have guests waiting to ride my boat and it doesn’t start. This year too, it was just a fuse, but it was a pain and embarrassing. Most material objects will wear out, rust or quit and eventually let you down. It is just stuff, fancy stuff is just stuff. If you have it and can afford it, fine. If you can’t afford it, you aren’t missing much. Oh and find company with people who want to be with you, not for your material objects. If our passions are in our possessions we will be disappointed. However, if our passions are in our eternal relationships (God first), we have hope for being happy.
I want to share an article from successmagazine.com written by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz, who also wrote the book, Go for No!, about how to overcome small business “size syndrome,” which confines your business by your thoughts and actions, from becoming the successful business you desire.
Being an entrepreneur means you’re the type of person who is willing to launch a venture and reap the rewards for success, as well as take responsibility for failure.
But being an entrepreneur also means you’re small—at least when starting out. Of course, what most small businesses really want is to be big businesses when they grow up. Yet many entrepreneurs suffer from what we call size syndrome.
Because they are small, they think and act small—and therein lies the problem. Because thinking small and playing small usually keep you, well… small. What small-business owners and entrepreneurs should be doing is thinking, acting and playing big, especially when it comes to the size of clients they call on.
Here are three steps to start overcoming size syndrome:
1. The first barrier to overcome is the belief that large prospects (be they individuals or organizations) have no interest in your products or services. The reality is, they don’t care so much about the size of your business; they care about solving their problems, wherever the solutions come from.
2. The second barrier to overcome is realizing that “calling on a company” is a misnomer.You are never calling on a business; you are calling on a person. The ABC Company can’t call on IBM. It’s always one person calling another person. Because businesses don’t buy anything; people do!
And never let the size or reputation of an organization (or the title or position of the person you’re dealing with) intimidate you. Yes, Bill Smith might be vice president of purchasing for IBM, but, first and foremost, he’s a husband, father and human being—the coach of his 8-year-old daughter’s soccer team with a painful bunion on his big toe.
I would like to share with all of you about how you too can become a successful entrepreneur. 74 percent of the wealthiest people in America run their own business. By becoming your own boss you can control your own income and have the financial freedom you have always wanted!
What is a good way to start becoming an entrepreneur?
“One of the best and simplest ways today in today’s society is through network marketing because you can start very inexpensively. Just like for instance the 3 Step Plan, the marketing system that I operate. The 3 Step Plan is a way that a person can invest $35 to actually start their business and the rest is all sweat equity.”
Here’s a great article from the small business tips section of Bloomberg Businessweek about how small business owners can create accountability within their company starting at the top. The article reviews several tips for ways to improve day to day productivity.
1. Set clear, attainable goals. Your employees need to know exactly what you expect them to accomplish in a clearly defined time line.
2. You as the boss need to lead by example. If your employees see you commit to a project and accomplish whatever goals you set for that project, it sets a precedent of how things are to be done.
3. Involve your employees in the process of generating ideas. This makes them feel more involved and gives them more ownership of the project.
Every year my green boat tries to retire. I go to start it up for the first time and it plays possum. I have guests waiting to ride my boat and it doesn’t start. This year too, it was just a fuse, but it was a pain and embarrassing. Most material objects will wear out, rust or quit and eventually let you down. It is just stuff, fancy stuff is just stuff. If you have it and can afford it, fine. If you can’t afford it, you aren’t missing much. Oh and find company with people who want to be with you, not for your material objects. If our passions are in our possessions we will be disappointed. However, if our passions are in our eternal relationships (God first), we have hope for being happy.
