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Small business Archives | Page 7 of 7 | Paul Terry & Associates
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Tasty crowd-sourcing

It used to be that finding capital to start or expand your business meant asking your family and friends for funds, applying for a small business loan, or saving your money for months or years. These days many people are turning to crowd-sourcing technology like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to convince a wider community to contribute to their business idea or project. For instance, Paul Terry & Associates client, Blue Chair Fruit Company, used a Kickstarter campaign this year to raise money to buy a jam jar filling machine in order to expand their business.

crowd sourcing

jam from Blue Chair Fruit Company

There is now a new crowd-sourcing platform in development specifically for food ventures called yumspring. It is being billed as a place where chefs, bakers, brewers, canners and all other sorts of anti-hunger innovators can connect with people who have an appetite to support new, local, adventurous food entrepreneurs. Check out this 5-minute pitch from yumspring’s founder on food and tech connect, a new blog about the growing food and information technology movement.

Do you have what it takes?

starting a business

A display of pies from new business Desperation Bakehouse

Do you have what it takes to start your own small business?  There are so many things to address when thinking about starting a business for the first time.  You will be your own most important and first employee, so an objective analysis of your strengths and weaknesses is essential.

Are you someone who:
…can launch something on your own?
…is a self-starter and takes initiative?
…can make good decisions when there are many options?
…has the necessary physical and emotional stamina to be self-employed?
…can plan and organize new and existing information well?
…has a positive attitude and a passion for being in business?
…has good support from family and friends?

Do you have a business or business idea that you want to develop?
Do you know what business you want to start?  Do you know how to assess whether or not an idea is viable for you and the marketplace?

The best business for you is going to be the business where you have:
…a strong passion and a sustaining interest in the product or service.
…some of the skills needed to provide the service or build the product.
…some previous and related work experience.
…researched the potential for this type of enterprise.
…worked for someone who is doing something similar to what you would like to provide.
…some understanding of what the customer or client expects from this type of business.
…confidence that this product or service is wanted or needed in the marketplace and can attract clients/customers.

Not all of the above conditions need to be in place before you start exploring self-employment. But these are issues that will be key for long-term success!

Eating Well from Street to Street

On Saturday I joined the crowds in San Francisco’s Mission District to experience La Cocina’s fourth annual Street Food Festival.

The sunny streets were full of happy people enjoying tasty delights from 85 vendors—including from some of my former students: Gail Lillian of LIBA Falafel, Claire Keane of Clairesquares, Antoinette Sanchez of Endless Summer Sweets, and Neal Gottlieb of Three Twins Ice Cream.  What a treat!

food festival

Neal and Paul at SF Street Food Festival

As a small, start-up food business it is a challenge to break into the industry and be successful. Food entrepreneurs can have great ideas and delicious recipes but they also need to afford legal kitchen space and the start-up costs to open their businesses, find a niche, compete for shelf space and break into a crowded marketplace. Motivated entrepreneurs like Gail, Claire, Antoinette and Neal are making it work by renting kitchen space and/or selling out of a food truck. (Neil started very small over 6 years ago and now sells ice cream in almost every state.)

Luckily, food businesses don’t have to jump into business ownership without some support. La Cocina’s non-profit kitchen incubator and programs for low-income, immigrant and women-owned food businesses and Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center’s programs and small business incubator provide valuable training and support. There are other non-profits and businesses sprouting up around the city to help food entrepreneurs and strengthen the local food movement—from the Underground Market and Forage Kitchen, to the new Good Food Merchants Guild and Good Eggs.

City government is also helping to make the climate easier for food start-ups, such as easing regulations for street food vendors and even passing an ordinance to allow community gardeners and city farmers to sell their produce directly to the public on site. And we’re all waiting to see what transpires with the California Homemade Food Act.

It was great to see the success of small street merchants and so many supporters of the Bay Area’s local food movement this weekend. Let’s keep up the support for sustainable food businesses!

The To Do List: Getting it done

to do listThere is too much to do and not enough time to get it all done.  In fact, there are two facts that time management experts seem to agree.  You will never really catch-up and you will never get it all done.  So what can we do, if anything?

Christopher Robin was explaining this issue to Pooh Bear in one long walk in the woods.  His wisdom went like this;  ” Well, Pooh…there is so much to do.  So organized is what we do, before we do it, so when we do it, it is not all mixed up”.  Too much to do; too many interruptions from so many people who want your attention.  What to do.  Do whatever you want when you feel like it?  Only do what is most important and only that?  Make sure you only do what you like to do?  Only do what makes sense for your clients and customer service?  Do what makes money first and then pay attention to what you need for you, last?

Hard to know what to do and what tools we can use to make a difference.  Sometime it can be an on-line solution with an application or a bell that rings.  Sometime it is simply a short hand-written sheet of paper.

The real issue is what do I NEED to get done!

In running our small business…what is the key matter to get done now.  Can I build skills that make this issue better?  Is there a tool that works for me?  What is the best solution for me?  Do we write it out; do we use an on-line tool; do we post it on our screen; do we tell others so they will remind us; do we have a regular schedule so that we have the time set aside.

Yes…all or some of this list.  Whatever works for you and moves your business forward. It is good to have a balance of the big three – work; family and health.  Bring that into a daily balance and it can only get better.  One more thing.  If your time management system no longer works, try something else.  Do not let the procrastination rule you.  Keep moving!!!

Food for Thought

Food as a small business and the business of food.  Taste and preferences have radically changed and there are so many new businesses that are popping up in the Bay Area.  In fact, “pop-up” defines many new neighborhood food businesses.  You do not have to “go to them”…they will come to your neighborhood – farmer’s markets, food carts, food trucks, or food events at an abandoned cafe once a month.  You go online and hear about it all from a tweet, a whistle or a hoot.  So many opportunities for cooks to get their ideas out there and be tasted.

food for thought

Do you support your local food vendors, confirm they are local and legal and see that they are there next week and the week after?  They are passionate about their wraps, their salsa, their falafel and their cupcakes.  And they are a business…they need to be supported and sustained.  You buy from them and stay loyal.  They are confident to stay in business, track costs and hire people to help them out.

Tiny micro businesses are popping up and sticking to the wall.  They are launched with the passion of the cook and helped by the curiosity of the crowd  – having fun, being out and eating the organic, sustainable goodies.  This is everyone’s business.  Help your favorites run like businesses, give feedback, check for quality and service and be supportive with positive word of mouth.  Perhaps most will stay in business if they have fun, love what they are doing and become profitable.  Wow… making a profit doing what you love…over and over again.  Now that is a thought that we can all relish and support.

 

Time for Action: Seven Steps

Planning and managing your time effectively is the single most important factor for the launching and management of a successful small business.  You may have great ideas, a great product or service and a receptive marketplace.  However, you still have to find and take the time to do all the work.  How do you get things done?

Does any of this sound familiar:

  • you feel pressured and overwhelmed with too many tasks and not enough time
  • you work harder than anyone else with endless meetings, calls and interruptions
  • you have ideas on how to improve but no time to implement.

Therefore, you become paralyzed, tend to sabotage, procrastinate or simply give up.  All of the above conditions are a common reality.  There is simply too much to do and simply not enough time to do it. There is no one who is available to help you and only you, of course, can really do it right anyway.  So the only other solution … you stretch, juggle and squeeze!

time for action

However, it is possible to get things done without such a “squeeze”.  You can change and learn to work smarter so you can meet deadlines, be creative and then celebrate each success with a reward.  You can start right away with one successful strategy and build from there.  Pick a routine, a time management tool, or office procedure.  Make it something simple and easy to initiate.  Then include a monitoring or reward system to acknowledge that you have made this technique your routine and it is making a difference.  We are talking about CHANGING BEHAVIOR…and we can do it one step at a time.

Here are seven simple suggestions that, if implemented, can really help:

1.   Write out a goal that is very specific and measurable. (You want to open your business for the holidays.  You must be ready with inventory and marketing collateral by the end of August or you will be too late.)

2.   Use the master “to-do” list and match each task to pre-set goals.  (Use a prioritized list of very specific action steps each with an estimated start date AND completion date).

3.   Prioritize your “to-do” list based on effective criteria that will help your business now.  (Make sales calls to new and old clients before you procrastinate to file old client files.)

4.   Eliminate unproductive meetings or any personal phone calls during the business day.   (Have meetings early in the day and make personal calls after 5 p.m or not at all.)

5.   Establish a predetermined place where you get things done efficiently (For example, try to answer all calls right at your desk near client files when you first arrive at work and make all appointments right there).

6.   Revise your plans constructively.  If something doesn’t work out, you have learned from a “mistake”.  (Learn from your OWN experience.  This is NOT a failure but a discovery of what didn’t work.  Take this lesson learned and change your next action accordingly.)

7.   Take your predetermined reward.  (Set up a reward in advance for your efforts.  When you have achieved the “success” that you have set for that hour, day or week and take the reward when you are “done”).

Plan and use your time well.  If your business is to be exciting and profitable, your attention to developing time management expertise will have a significant impact on your success!

A Boom for Micro Businesses: Can You Deliver?

Business is booming for some micro businesses.  Recent marketing studies and most small business articles say that it is small businesses that are sustaining and creating jobs.  It is the little engine that can.  But can it?

micro businesses

There are reports about local food-related and clothing-centric businesses that seem to suggest there are key trends to watch for – not only new and innovative products but how they are being distributed.  Gail Lillian, owner of Liba Falafel has leveraged her food truck serving falafels into a stand-alone restaurant business with her recent expansion plans for Oakland.  “The truck helped determine the market and build the right business skills – with key access points around the SF Bay Area.”

Micro entrepreneurs are reaching out to the markets – the specific, targeted niche markets that seem to respond to what is being offered and to clients and customers who are willing to pay for the quality or uniqueness of the service.  There are pop-up shops and consignment retailers; there are food trucks; food stalls and food kiosks at the corner of your street and in the farmer’s markets.  There are neighborhood street fairs for clothing lines and third world imports.

There are many, many “distribution channels”…and there are more and more businesses that are succeeding online with well-designed websites too.  Laurie Kanes runs 12 Small Things, an on-line business providing access for artisans from many developing countries.  Her focus and purpose is to “showcase and sell fashionable, fair trade products from artisans facing some of the most challenging conditions in the world”.  This socially relevant business is targeting a niche and to do it well, must also execute and provide impeccable service. Laurie notes, “My competitive edge is to develop key partnerships to access the right markets and support the right artisans”.

Are these trends helpful to you and your micro businesses?  We DO need to know who will buy our products and services; we DO have to be accessible, we DO have to tell our stories so people will be interested in what we have not just once, but over and over again.

However, the basic truth is we have to deliver – meet a promise and provide a benefit – and then build trust.  Do what you say you are going to do and take the action to make it work well…again and again.  Every new business requires an initial ignition but then after that first spark, we provide the consistent follow-through over and over again!

The business action plan that we use individually and with small groups is an excellent tool to make this happen for any small business.

Let’s see how well we can grow when we “deliver the goods”.

Great Customer Service: 7 Tips

When we think of the most important issue in business, we always come back to customer service. In every consultation, workshop or class, we ask two questions and get amazingly similar results:

• What small businesses do you like to do business with?

• What small businesses do you NOT like to business with?

What is the common answer: It is good (or bad) customer service. Customers, clients, vendors and professionals all want to do business with businesses and business owners they like – that treat them well, give excellent service and follow-up and have consistent and fair policies for exchange.

customer service

Now, it is ALSO important that businesses offer excellent and effective products or the services the customer really wants, that the price is fair, that the location (retail or on-line) is convenient and the information is clear and consistent. The people providing the service must be qualified and come well recommended. BUT, to get repeat business and referrals – the business owner and staff MUST pay attention to customer service!

As business owners, we do NOT want any of the following to happen:

• A client or customer calling about a “late” delivery before you get a chance to call first

• Finding out that the “wrong” information was provided without correction for the client

• That you failed to follow-up on a request for additional information as promised

• That a client was left on hold without appropriate information of what to do or where to go next

• That the client finds that the service does not work as promised and cannot reach someone to complain or get help and support

A negative buying experience (and the results from thousands of students in classes and workshops) is almost always linked to “lousy and shoddy” customer service. Good customer service is essential for all businesses to exist for the long-term! Being able to provide it with all transactions and on a consistent basis is not just possible but must be essential for small business owners.

Here is some basic behavior we need to have as small businesses. This is directed by the owner and needs to be followed consistently if there is really going to be a commitment (by owners and managers) to customer service.

1. Commitment to quality service.

Everyone in the business is committed to creating a positive experience for the customer. The goal should always be “exceed customer’s expectations”. This should happen on every encounter – from the first point of contact and throughout the period of service. It should be included in the follow-up reminder in person, by phone or on-line.

2. Know your products and your policies.

You and everyone who works for you must know what they are doing – know about your product line or your service offerings – in order to gain and keep a customer’s trust and confidence. There should be complete clarity on what you offer, what guarantees you give and what would be done if there was any error or mistake made in the process!

3. Know your customers.

The objective of every small business is to “get and keep customers.” To do this, you need to know everything you can about your customers. Talk to people and listen to what they say so you can prepare in advance for any key issues. If there ever is a problem, get to the core of customer dissatisfaction BEFORE it happens.

4. Treat people with courtesy and respect.

Every contact with a customer — by email, phone, and letter, casual contact or face-to-face meeting — leaves an impression. The impression is often stronger than the service being offered. If you can “manage the impression”, you can affect the customer’s behavior! Always focus on how to fix any issue that “went wrong” Most customers will do business with you again if you resolve a complaint in their favor. They often become your advocate!

Customers want immediate resolution, and if you can give it to them, you’ll probably win their repeat business. Research shows that 95 percent of dissatisfied customers will do business with a company again if their complaint is resolved on the spot.

5. Always provide what you promise.

Fail to do this and you’ll lose credibility — and customers. If you guarantee a quote within 24 hours, get the quote out in a day or less. If you can’t make good on your promise, apologize to the customer and offer some type of compensation or restitution. Stay in touch and “get back to them.”

6. Focus on making customers, not making sales

Remember that keeping a customer’s business is more important than closing a sale. Research shows that it costs six times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. You need to keep the client – and not always make the sale. Referrals work too!

7. Make it easy to buy.

The buying experience in your store, on your website or through your catalog should be as easy as possible. Eliminate unnecessary paperwork, help people find what they need, explain how products work, and do whatever you can to facilitate transactions. Make it an effortless and pleasant experience so that people will tell others, and will come back.

 

To be competitive and stay in business within these economic times, we need to treat our clients, customers and vendors with respect. They are our stakeholders and we need their loyalty, referrals and repeat business to stay and thrive in business. “At your service” is a practice without question.


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