Small Business Tips

Small Business Tips

If you’re the owner of a small business you probably feel like a mother of seven children!
You will be pulled a multiple directions for various business needs.
You will be overwhelmed constantly
and You will quite often want to throw in the towel.
 
Small businesses are basically like large families.
You have to decide what you are going to focus on and just do that.
I’ve had the “pleasure” of interacting with many small business owners recently.
Given that I myself am also a small business owner,
I understand many of the struggles that a business owner will go through.
Especially that of time.
You see the one thing we can never get back is lost time.
So I find that many business owners complain about that.
Well it’s not a matter of whether you have time or not,
It’s a matter of whether or not you are using the time you have well.
So here are three of my tips that I have used in order to help me in my own business and the maximize the time I have.
 

Small Business Tip 1: Business Coach

Whether you’re old in the game of being a small business owner or brand spanking new
I have found that having a Business Coach – not just a coach for a specific skill – but a business coach is crucial.
It saves time, stress and money.
Often you will find that your business coach is the one helping you conceptualize your business plan without having a business plan.
A few years ago I worked at a company reviewing business plans and evaluating them for financial backing.
Very often as I read the plans I thought to myself,
What if they didn’t have a plan and just had a someone to guide them.
What if they just had a coach who they sat with for maybe two to three hours a month as their business rolled out.
It seemed to me that that approach would make more sense.
I saw many businesses that never started because they were stuck trying to perfect a business plan that would never be perfect.
When I eventually started my own business – I didn’t do a plan.
I sort out a business coach.
My business is a bunch of monthly Evernote notes from our meetings and the results of the action assignments that I was given to do each month.
The result – working with three clients to improve their business operations.
I still have no business plan. But I do have a fledgling business.
 

Small Business Tip 2: Reliable Partner

Finding a reliable business partner. There are many reasons for getting help.
But you can’t think of your business partner as the hired help.
You have to think of your partner as your better half.
 
Again in the company I worked for – I would see business plans with no real team.
I would ask the people with the idea,
[Tweet “Who are your business partners?”]
They would respond. I don’t have any.
 
Now if you don’t have any business partners what you’re in effect telling me is you’re a perfect human being.
I was under the impression that those didn’t exist.
But maybe you’re here to prove me wrong.
 
[Tweet “A business partner is someone who is strong in an area that you are weak!”]
 
Most people often think this mean they are the financial backing!
Well that can be the case.
If you’re starting a business and you have no money, the first person you’ll look for is the one with the money.
 
But say money is no problem for you.
But your problem lies in not understanding operations.
You’re more of a design person.
Well you probably want to lock arms with someone who is really good at operations if it is important to the success of your business.
Here’s just one bonus – when you’re ready to start hiring: Your first hire should be your assistant.
That’s a tip from my business coach.
 

Small Business Tip 3: Compartmentalize

This has been the one thing that has allowed me to have peace in my life.
If you don’t compartmentalize you’re going to feel overwhelmed.
Until your business is at a stage where you can leave it for a six months and it doesn’t need you there to run it
then you need to manage not only your business but yourself.
You need to know what’s important to you.
You need to be able to group things in your life
and you MUST allocate time to each one.
If you decide that on Monday you’re doing financials from 9am to 10:30am then ONLY DO THE FINANCIALS
It’s the simplest things that people never do – One thing at a time.
Don’t try and do the financials and call vendors and call suppliers.
Guess what?
Nothing will get done properly.
A Concept that is discussed in a book I read last year called Essentialism.
So just like you would organize your kitchen cupboard
Glasses in one place,
Cups in another
Cutlery in its own place
You need to do the same with your business.
 
Found value from this blog post today.
Please share. You never know you will help.

I’m Hilary De Freitas
Online Marketer, Operational Nerd and Mom
P.S
Marketing online is a journey, a journey that I invite you to share with me.
I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter and you will learn how to build a business online.
 
P.P.S
My goal here is to help you learn how to market and build a successful business online.
Join today and get one free 30 minute Marketing Training with me then join my mastermind to learn more