At the last Business Planning Class graduation, Wendy Lieu, graduate of the Fall 2012 Business Planning Class, shared her wisdom. As of owner of Socola Chocolatier, Wendy Lieu handcrafts delicious artisanal confections.

Wendy’s Lessons Learned

1. If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never do it.

There is never a perfect moment to start a business or take that next step. You will learn as you go along, so don’t wait for the right moment. You will always need to make changes and adjustments along the way. Some things will work and some things won’t. Pivot and keep on moving!

2. Start with one step.

Looking at your to-do list can feel overwhelming and sometimes paralyzing. You can get things done. You just need to start with #1. Prioritize and set short, attainable goals that can be completed in the day and the week.

3. Be obsessed with your numbers.

If this business is truly your calling, create a solid business plan and remember to review it every month. Track your numbers, review the results, and make changes if needed. Your financials are your key business metric.

4. Challenges are a given.

There will be difficulties, so get over it. Laugh it off if you need to and move on. Sometimes you’ll try something out and it doesn’t work out. You’ve lost some money. You tried. It seemed like a good idea but it didn’t work out. Now try something else!

5. Work out – keep active.

Sitting in front of a laptop all day will drain you. Your health is just as important, if not more important, than running your business. Your business starts and ends with you. Take care of yourself.

6. Treat your employees with respect.

Treat employees like family (that you like). Make sure they like working for you, are learning from you, and understand their contributions to the overall success of the business.

7. Surround yourself with successful business owners.

Other small business owners have experienced similar challenges. They can help you. If not, they probably know someone who can. You are not alone. Get out there and connect with others who are a few steps ahead of you and have already solved the problem you are struggling with.

8. Focus ON your business.

Don’t get stuck attending only to daily operations. You need to be paying attention to the business as a whole, its future and its long-term sustainability.

9. Dreams don’t work unless you do.

You will be exhausted and wonder if it’s worth it. That’s normal. Remember that you decided to forgo the easy path in order to control your own destiny. What you get in return is the pride from working on the thing that you are most passionate about. It reminds me of this Jim Carey quote…“You could fail at what you don’t want to do, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love!”

We are curious to know which of Wendy’s lessons resonates most with you. And also, what words of wisdom have kept you going through the challenging times of new business ownership?

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Don’t miss it! Small Business Week begins and ends with Sidewalk Sales in 20 neighborhoods throughout the city, Saturday, May 16th and Saturday, May 23rd.

The kick-off event on Monday night, May 18th is not to be missed (tickets mandatory, but only $20). Flavors of San Francisco is a great opportunity to network with small business owners and small business resource organizations and eat delicious food from San Francisco restaurants. (Other mixers are taking place throughout the week, too.)

Friday, May 22nd will be the heart of it all — the Small Business Conference includes over 50 workshops jam-packed with info on a variety of topics relevant to small business. (Workshops are FREE but space is limited.)

Please participate!  Small Business Week is a great opportunity to network, gather good information and celebrate the small business community in San Francisco!

I’m proud to see Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center graduates featured on the Small Business Week website: Pinkie’s Bakery, Frisco Fried, Socola Chocolatier and Van Meter Williams Pollack.

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But if you have employees, how do you motivate them to feel as passionately about the business as you do? How can you encourage them to “act like owners”, too?

Eight Tips on Motivating Your Team:

1. Create a culture of trust. People want to work hard for people they respect and trust. If they feel confident in their relationship with you (and with other employees) it will free them to focus on the work, instead of worrying about inter-personal work-place dynamics.
2. Share praise. When your employees are doing a great job, let them know. And let others know, too! It can be highly motivating to have one’s work acknowledged and appreciated publicly. Also, giving employees opportunities to take on more responsibility can be a great form of recognition, too.
3. Be more transparent. Openness is essential for any small business. Your employees need to know what is going on in the business so that they have the information they need to do their jobs well. They should also be getting regular feedback on how they are doing their job. It is particularly important to be transparent if there is going to be a change in the business that will affect your employees. People need to know how the change will affect them personally. Once that is understood, they may be much more likely to work with you through the challenge or transition.
4. Share decision-making. It is both respectful and practical to involve your employees in key decisions, especially decisions that directly impact their jobs. Often it is the people closest to the problem that have the best insight into possible solutions.
5. Give people space. It is important to let people accomplish tasks and make decisions independently within their area of the business. No one likes to be micro-managed. Focus on results instead of how the work gets done. (Your way may not be the only way… or the best way.)
6. Take time to talk and to listen. People feel more confident and energized to do their work when they fully understand what is expected of them, and know that you are available if a problem arises. If you give someone authority over a task, take time for training, communicate the constraints and boundaries of his or her responsibility, and the process for asking questions and getting assistance.
7. Take the long view — delegate. In the moment when something needs doing, it might seem easier (and faster) to just do it yourself. It can take a lot of up-front effort to explain the task and then that person might work slowly or make mistakes. But giving employees opportunities to take on new and challenging tasks will help them reach their full potential and will ultimately create a much stronger team for your business.
8. Keep things interesting! No one wants to do the same thing over and over. Every job has repetitive tasks but a part of everyone’s job should involve something interesting. Think about how employees’ tasks align with their experience, knowledge and skill-level, as well as their long-term goals and interests.

If you have employees, they are an essential part of your business – you cannot be a success without them. By creating a more transparent enterprise, sharing praise and decision making, and taking the time to listen and to delegate, you will create a positive business culture that will help both you and your business thrive. When you encourage employees to develop skills and stay engaged with the business, you will be making the best use of your time and skill level, too!

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Thanks to our colleagues, clients, students, friends, and friends-of-friends, PTA got the 250 votes (and more!) needed to make it to the second round of the Chase Mission Main Streets grant process.

Encouraged by a few colleagues, we decided to apply for a grant to expand expert mentoring.  We got a late start and had only two weeks before the application deadline to collect the votes required. Compared to a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign, this was a minor recruitment effort (as we just needed votes, not cash), but it was still an all-consuming process.

It seemed like a daunting task at first, but in the end it was a great experience… and we managed to achieve our goal two days ahead of schedule!

Reaching out to our wider community was energizing. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, clients and students and engage around a common goal. We were inspired by the support and encouragement for PTA and our mentorship idea.

Though we often curse them… aren’t deadlines great? We had been considering a train-the-trainer mentorship idea for some time but needed an application deadline—and the requirement that we get our community’s votes behind us—to really focus and design a business action plan.

The pressure of a deadline, especially one that is publicly declared and right around the corner is a powerful motivator. Kickstarter has found that campaigns longer than 60 days in length are rarely successful. The urgency of an immediate deadline pushes us to make things happen.

The risk of disappointment or disapproval from others also motivates us to perform. Should you bet your friends that you’ll run through the streets naked if you don’t meet your deadline?  Most people don’t need that level of humiliation or a public contest to act. Sharing a goal with a business advisor, teacher or cohort of small business owners can be a great way to take action. What’s important is finding someone you can be accountable to and who will encourage you to follow through and make something happen.

Though the likelihood of winning a Mission Main Street grant is rather slim (only 12 businesses will win out of what may be 100,000 or more applicants), the process has motivated us to expand our consulting and teaching offerings. Thanks to this contest, we are now developing a mentoring prototype and pilot program for 2014.

What motivates you?

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