Start and Run Your Own Small Business - 12 Essential Principles to Help You Succeed

Author: Craig Jones

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The dream of many is to start and run their own business. That is both an exciting adventure and a treacherous road. In 2005 there were over 670,000 new firms with employees and over 540,000 that closed their doors. Those are the cold hard facts. To improve your chances of success, you need help. Here are 12 Essential Principles to help you succeed. These are not detailed instructions, but 'principles' that I have learned in the years that I have owned a small business. The principles will work for any business but they are geared toward the small brick--and--mortar business. For more detailed information, see my info at the end of this article.Think for YourselfIt's your business and the buck stops with you. You must be independent and make your own decisions. It's fine to get advice from those who are more experienced or more knowledgeable than you. But at some point, you must bite the bullet, learn to make your own decisions, and live with the consequences.There will always be people who give you their opinion of what you should do. Consider the source, smile, be polite, and listen to what they have to say. But make your own decision based on the information that you have.People will criticize you, even if you are successful. It goes with the territory. You can't let it bother you. If you can't take the heat, do something else. There are armchair quarterbacks and then there are professionals who earn the big bucks. Be a professional -- you can't please everyone and you shouldn't try.You Will Make Mistakes - Learn from them and growYou are not infallible and you will sometimes make a bad decision. It happens to everyone -- just don't do it too often. Learn from your mistakes. Study, get more information, look at things from a different perspective.If possible, don't make important decisions when you have an excessive amount of stress. Step back, think, take a walk, relax in a Jacuzzi bath, sloooooowww downnnn. When your head is clear, come back to the problem and make your best decision.Money still doesn't grow on trees - Use it wiselyMost small businesses do not make much money at first. But whether you do or not, you must still use your money wisely. You must learn the difference between a good value and something that is cheap. For instance, Ink Jet printers are cheap but laser printers are a good value. If you don't need color printing, buy a laser printer. Your initial cost is higher, but the cost of supplies is much less expensive and you will save money in the long run.Comparison shop for the things you use in your business. Don't just take the first quote you get. And just because you've been buying from a certain place your whole life doesn't mean that's where you get the best value. Check around. Talk with other small business owners. Check local stores, check your local wholesale club or discount chain, and check the Internet (don't forget about shipping costs!). This will take a bit of your time at first but will save you money in the long run.The Internet is your friend. If you know where to look, you can find good and useful information that can save you time and money.Beware of credit cards. They can be your friend, but normally, they are enemies in disguise. Having a credit card for your business is practically mandatory -- but be cautious. Don't run up the bill buying frivolous things that you can do without. The interest you pay will drain profits from your business. Use them wisely. Find a credit card with the best interest rate and use it only when necessary. Better yet, get a card that you have to pay the balance off each month.Advertising may be a necessary expense when you first start out. Advertising salesmen will tell you that the key to results with advertising is consistency. But that also means you have to spend a lot of money. I'm not convinced that the results of consistent advertising, is worth the amount of money you have to spend.With the advent of the Internet, there are inexpensive advertising and marketing tools you can use in your business. Get a web site. Check out articles and books on Internet Marketing and Guerilla Marketing. Of course your best advertising is satisfied customers - spend a lot of your efforts on that. It's much easier and less expensive to keep satisfied customers than it is to get new ones. You Don't Know EverythingAs much as you may know about your business' primary focus, there is so much more to running a business. Talk to other small business owners. Call the Small Business Administration. If you grow your business at all, you will need the services of an attorney and an accountant. They are expensive, but they will save you money in the long run.Again, the Internet is your friend - lots of good info about starting and running a small business there.You Can't Do EverythingAt some point you will have more to do than you can possibly do. You will have to hire an employee. Maybe more than one. Now it really gets complicated with workers comp, payroll taxes, vacation time, sick time, health plans, and everything else that goes along with having employees.You will be tempted to hire friends or family. That's good and bad. You absolutely have to weigh the pluses and minuses of that. You have a business to run. You are a professional. Your business needs to be efficient. You need to hire the best at what they do. And it's okay to hire people that are smarter than you.To me, honesty is a major plus when hiring someone. More so in some businesses. Unfortunately, honesty cannot easily be measured. That's where hiring a family member may be advantageous -- but not always. I was serious when I said that hiring employees is where it really gets complicated.You can try running help wanted ads yourself but you may also contact some employment offices and see what they can do for you. They can ask applicants questions that you, as an employer, can not ask.Once you have good employees, you have to let them do their jobs. Help them, train them, but don't micromanage. You have other things to do. You have to keep the birds--eye vision of your business. It can be a little scary here. You will lose a little control and you won't always know how to do everything. That's fine. Your business is starting to run itself.Set Yourself Apart from the CompetitionIf you have no competition when you start your business, count yourself blessed. At some point you will. In fact, if you are very successful, you will have a lot of competition wanting a slice of your pie. You just have to be better, in some way, than the competition. Having the lowest price is not always the answer, though you do want to be competitive on price. Having quality products and services and friendly and knowledgeable salespeople is a big plus. In some way, always go the extra mile. This will set you apart. Under promise and over deliver. Exceed your customer's expectations. Let them know how much you appreciate them.Don't Get SidetrackedFocus on what your business is good at. As you succeed and grow, you may see other opportunities for expansion of some kind. It may be an expansion of size, locations, products, or services. You must be careful not to stretch you and your resources too thin. If possible, approach these expansion opportunities in small steps. Instead of taking on a whole new product line or area of services, try just a little bit and see how it goes.Go with what got you here. That's where most of your time and money needs to be. Look for ways to continually improve what you are currently doing.Be Flexible - The times they are a changingAt first, this principle seems to be at odds with the previous principle. But it is really just a different phase of business. You are fortunate if your business is the type that just doesn't change much over time. But because of this tsunami called the Internet, most businesses involve a fair amount of change, and you must change too, or close your doors.It may be that your products or services are becoming obsolete. As a business owner, with vision, you should see the handwriting on the wall. The speed of their obsolescence will determine your course of action. You may need to explore related product lines or service areas. You may need to find a completely new product or service. You may need to combine both of those approaches.Renew your VisionAt some point you may lose interest in your business. You may even want to quit. But you can't quit now because its way past complicated. You don't know what to do, so you do nothing. Or you keep the same old routine going but you have no desire, no passion. That's called burnout. I wish there were three easy steps I could give you to permanently eradicate burnout, but there's not. If you are seriously burned out and really don't care about your business, you may sell it if you can. If you can't sell it, you may just have to close it. If you can't afford to close it, if it's still earning you a good living, you are just going to have to tough it out. Sorry. No easy answers. It's your monster - you feed it.You can try taking some time off and doing something you really enjoy. That may help. You are fortunate if your business pretty much runs itself and just needs someone there to manage it. You can try doing something else for a change while someone else, that you trust, manages your business. Step away from it if you can. But keep in mind, no one cares about your business as much as you (or at least as much as you used to care about it). You may get someone to manage your business while you are away, but they are still an employee working for a paycheck. No one else will treat your business the way that you do. Be careful.Go Without Food, Ride the bus, but Pay Your TaxesI'm dead serious about this. You have to pay your taxes. And you have to pay them on time. If you don't, it will cost you dearly. The penalties and interest you have to pay on back taxes will devour the profit you make in your business. The IRS doesn't care if you had a bad year. They figure if you can't pay your taxes, you shouldn't be in business. They will sell off your assets and get their money. They will put a lien on your house, your bank account, your dog, and your first born. This is serious. Keep them off your back and pay your taxes on time.Money - the Stumbling Block of Mere MortalsWith persistence, and some fortuitousness, you may start making more money than you ever have before. Maybe more money than you can sensibly use. It's what you have been working for. Enjoy it -- for about five minutes. This is a dangerous place to be. You are at a crossroads. It is here that ordinary mortals fall. When you are making a lot more money, you relax. You let down your guard. You forget the tough times when you didn't have enough money for a loaf of bread. This is when you need to remember the tough times. This momentary glimpse of prosperity may not last long. You need to prepare for the lean years in case your money trucks run out of gas. Put some money aside. Make necessary improvements in your business, but don't get carried away just because you have the money. There is a difference between a 'necessary improvement' and something that would just be nice to have.Don't over-hire. There's no point in hiring new employees to do new tasks if you can spread the needed work among the ones you have. Be careful here though. Good employees don't mind doing a little more as long as they are not overburdened. In fact, many people would prefer a little variety in the work day.It's okay to reward yourself a little bit with your new-found prosperity. You have worked hard. But don't overdo it -- be sensible and tread carefully. You still can't walk on water so don't get the big head.Having a prosperous business empowers you to make it even better. Do it wisely and the prosperity will last longer. But always keep in mind that the prosperity will not last forever. Make your business stronger while you can so that when the lean times hit, you are able to withstand it.Walk on a Higher Plane Follow the Golden Rule. If you don't do this, you won't be in business long. This is imperative. It should be the cornerstone of your business. Always do the right thing. Treat people right. Treat them the way that you would like to be treated. Don't ever try to trick or deceive people, even if it costs you money. If you can't make a living honestly, then no other business principle can help you.Be an eagle, not a chicken. Eagles soar, chickens cluck around in the dirt. Choose to live and work on a higher plane than most. Choose to be above average. Most people just do their job. You should over--deliver. Do more than is expected. Excel.You are a professional. Act like it. Treat people with respect. When you talk to people, there's no need to curse. Cursing is not professional. Be an eagle -- soar above the others.You are surrounded by mediocrity. People expect it. Do the unexpected. Go the extra mile. Over--deliver. Set a higher standard. Stand above the crowd. Soar.Craig Jones has been a small business owner since 1991 and a Realtor since early 2005. Check out his newest web site called http://www.The-Best-Websites-Guide.com. You will find there a collection of some of the most useful websites around. We list the top websites in over 15 categories that are jam packed with information that can save you time and money. We don't overwhelm you with too many choices in each category -- we only give you the cream of the crop.