Common mistakes that small business owners make & ways to overcome them

Small businesses can make up 80%-90% percent of a city’s commerce base. Statistically a small business will only survive 2-5 years before it closes its doors. There are many common mistakes made by small business owners. Entrepreneurs have a very hard time making some one else rich while they work hard in order to slowly move up the ranks to gain some sort of ownership in the company or at least to executive status

I will list some of the most common mistakes that small business owners make resulting in the eventual closing of the business forcing the entrepreneur to go back to working the daily grind.

Starting a business they are not passionate about: Many entrepreneurs start a business thinking that just because the products are selling for others means it will be lucrative for them. The truth is that if you are not passionate about what you are doing it will not be rewarding. Success is a state of mind and if your business is not fulfilling, success will be hard to attain.

Possible solution: If the small business you have started is making a good living for you be sure to get the business to a level where it works on its own and you do not have to show up everyday unless you want to. This way you can plan well for your next business venture doing something you ARE passionate about.

Starting off undercapitalized and with out a business plan: Many small businesses are started with out a plan and on a shoe string budget and often times with out a planned budget at all! Running a business costs money weather you do it from home or from an office, there will be expenses to cover like marketing and advertising, rent and overhead.

Possible solution: Put together a well defined business plan so you can truly understand your business, your industry, your market and a strategy that will help you gain your market share. After putting together a well defined business plan you will have a much better grasp of what it takes to run a business successfully earning the profits you desire. Next you will be able to approach a possible partner or angel investor who would be willing to invest in your business now that it has a plan.

Starting off with out marketing plan: One of the most import aspects of a successful business is having a well thought out and researched marketing plan. Your marketing plan helps you understand who your target market is, where they are located, where they buy, why they buy and how to position yourself in front of them in order to maximize your exposure to your target market.

Possible solution: Create a marketing plan ASAP if you haven’t already! This is a crucial element that will determine the survival of your business. If you are putting together a marketing plan for your first time it is best to work with a market research specialist that you know of personally or locally. If it is some one you know they may cut you a break on your market research cost, otherwise market research reports can get expensive. Either or, it is worth the investment to get a marketing plan done. It will save you lots of time and energy from blindly testing what you THINK is your market.

Trying to do it all themselves: Many entrepreneurs are do it themselves kind of people. This attitude will kill a business faster than just about anything else. Entrepreneurs need people to help with the tedious tasks that they are not qualified to do and do not like doing any way. Many small business owners I work with start off wearing too many hats. As a result they spend a lot of time getting little done and it ultimately hurts their bottom line.

Possible solution: Figure out what you don’t like doing and are not qualified to do and get help! If you are working with a small budget you can place an ad at the local University seeking interns that are studying what ever it is you need them to do. For example let’s say you need some marketing research done and implemented. You could place an ad seeking a marketing student who is looking to get more real world experience in marketing. Be sure to ask the University how they can get course credit while working for you so the intern not only gets real world experience but course credit at the University as well.

If you can relate to some of the above small business owner challenges now would be the time to take action. There are multiple solutions to multiple challenges and taking a step back to get the 5000 foot view can help you get your business prospering more than ever.

Nick Taylor – President

Advanced Insight Consulting

www. Advancedinsightconsulting.com

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Video Scrapbook

This Video Scrapbook May Be the Most Important Thing You Ever Do For Yourself

We don’t wish to add to the ever-growing list of crises but there is an event in everyone’s life that is a “GOTCHA!”  It is the moment that a loved one passes on and all of a sudden you realize that you will never see them alive again. 

Now, that may sound rather obvious but it always happens.  As you finally have a few moments to reflect on the loss of your mom or dad or grandma, a freight-train like wave hits you that they are gone and you have nothing left but some stuff and fading memories.  That fact won’t change but, you can make that “GOTCHA!” a lot less hurtful.  We call it a Legacy Video Scrapbook.  And, yes it is a video recording of your loved one (ahead of their passing) but with several differences.

OK…so what’s the big deal?  Why make a video scrapbook, indeed. Stick a camera in someone’s face and play “60 Minutes”. Grill them on what was this and that like and call it a video scrapbook. Grandma is being a pill about making a video anyway. After all…I can take my time and paste some wonderful memorabilia into a scrapbook and end up with a nice keepsake. Who needs the grief?

Here is a true story… (It isn’t too unusual whenever you have a camera in your hand and you’re eyeing a potential subject or even when you are “threatening” to make a video of someone.)

We approached “mom” (86+ years old) with the idea of making a video scrapbook.  First reactions? No thanks…I have nothing to say…who’d want to watch me anyway…I don’t want to go through the hassle…the list continued. It was up to us to explain the reason of why make a video scrapbook to her.

Not surprising at all. In fact, one of the first things an elderly person will think when you start talking to them about shooting a video scrapbook is that YOU think they are going to die soon and so you want to get them on video before it is too late! They usually don’t even suspect that you’d just like to hear what they have to say!

Here’s one of the best ways to make your intended star understand this whole process.  You simply say…”Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if you were able to see a film of your great-great-grandfather or grandmother? Think of the connection you could make…the understanding of what it was like to live back then…what they were really like. We’d like your grandchildren to have that opportunity.”

If that doesn’t work…explain that this is a kind of insurance policy that will protect you from that sick feeling you expect at their passing.  It will give you a special heirloom to hang on to.

That is pretty powerful and will be very hard for anyone to resist.

And this is one of the many amazing benefits of your creating a video keepsake of a loved one - one of the many scrapbook tools you’ll find here. Let’s sum it up with a quote from our E-book.

We would love to be able to re-capture the personas of those that we have lost—to hear them speak, to hear the stories that we remember as children, tap into their genealogical history once again, hear them philosophize, receive the benefit of their wisdom in a thought provoking way. We cannot recall many pertinent facts, for instance, of our grandparents’ histories, our fathers’ early years as children, and the circumstances of the transporting of our respective ancestors to the part of the country in which our fathers grew up. We have some recall of the sounds of their voices but over time, it is more and more difficult to remember those sounds.

Why make a video scrapbook? We hope all this explains why we believe this is so important. To be able to preserve some of the personality, the essence of a loved one so generations decades from now can experience them is huge!

Watches and letters are nice to touch and feel but to experience the subtle hand gestures and hear the voice inflections from great-great grandma or grandpa is utterly compelling.

The process isn’t brain surgery and follows right along with what it takes to compile a paper scrapbook.  So, don’t have a “GOTCHA!” moment – a little time spent right now will fix all that.  We have made them for our remaining parents.  Unfortunately, we began this process after our fathers passed on so we missed our chance there…we’ll always regret it…don’t you.

Don’t think you have the time or talent.  Nonsense.  Do as elaborate or as simple a video scrapbook as you wish but just do it.  Don’t make excuses.  You’ll actually find that what we tell you is a real positive for everyone involved.  It is fun and actually inspiring.

Find out everything you need to create this special heirloom.  Please go to our site at http://www.make-a-video-scrapbook.com.  You can also get a free video of some actual video scrapbook samples.  But, don’t put it off until it is too late - it may be the most important thing you ever do for yourself!

Gene Vasconi – video/multimedia producer
www.commartsmultimedia.com
888-742-0074
(512) 868-0548
Pamela Horton, Ph.D. – clinical psychologist