Category: Starting Up

Article Contributed by Tom Walker

Starting a small business can be quite an undertaking; often naïve first-time business owners believe that the hardest step is discovering what sort of business they want to start – not so! Although choosing a business can be challenging, it is a very easy and even unimportant compared to your choice of location. Many a small store or office has been forced to close because an owner didn’t not give proper attention to the area in which they were basing it. This article will help you to tackle the hard decision of what location you should choose to start your small business.

Meet the needs of employees and clients: The first thing you need to realise is that the location of a small business is ultimately only important to you, the customers, and any present or future employees. To run a good business, it is vital that you reach the needs of all three groups.

The location should work for you: When picking an area to base your business, it is important that it will work for you. Don’t choose something that doesn’t mesh with your dream. For instance, if you want to open a clothing shop and have visions of women looking at your selection of dresses through the window, don’t let yourself be shoved into a shabby back room. If you are unhappy about the location of your business, others are likely to be too.

Accessibility: Choose a location that will be accessible to the public and will stand out yet not clash with the surroundings. For instance, if you are opening a pool supply store, try to open it somewhere nearby the local pool rather than a restaurant. Or, if you are going into practice as a counsellor, veer away from scary neighbourhoods, and instead locate in a cheerful, up-beat part of town. Take into consideration the easy access of your customers; will your customers be able to reach your business by foot, is there plenty of parking space, is the area too congested to make your place seem reachable? Take into consideration the type of people you will be serving and strive to meet their needs with the location of your building.

Locate in a good area: Although a rushed, frantic area is not the ideal location for a business, neither should you choose a forlorn or depressing part of town. No matter how nice a business may be, customers are not going to frequent it if it is located between a dilapidated liquor store and an abandoned apartment building. If it is creepy or located in a neighbourhood that doesn’t feel safe, immediately cross it off your list of possibilities.

Find a location where you can be an original: If you are opening a coffee shop, don’t rent a building squeezed between two other places that serve coffee. Unless you have a product that is off-the-charts spectacular, it will be hard to compete in a business setting where the competition has added experience and a good reputation.

Don’t blow your budget: While we would all love to just forget about it, cost is a factor that plays into almost everything. Before settling on a dream location, make sure that you will actually be able to pay for it. If the building is for sale, do you have the funds to buy it, or would it be more sensible to locate somewhere else and pay rent? Also, don’t forget to consider seemingly unimportant details like the cost of taxes and insurance.

Check out all the details before you sign any papers: Before buying or paying rent, make sure that the area of your future business is not zoned as residental only. Also, make sure that your business will have access to important things like internet, phone service, and electricity. Check to see if the area is prone to flooding or bad weather conditions.

Space for expansion: Although your business maybe a one-man operation now, all businesses that survive thrive; before long you will be hiring employees. Try to think like a future employee when deciding on a location; think about the individual needs they may have and how the building in question could make life easier for them. If your business is located minutes away from apartments and schools, employees may thank you!

The location of any business is likely to have it’s pros and cons; however, by taking the time to consider all your options and all of your priorities, you can be certain that location will help your business to thrive rather than hindering it.

About the Author:

This guest article was authored by Tom Walker who works as a full-time writer and a reviewer for Cartridge Save, providing the best ink cartridges.

Article Contributed by Lisa Cherney

One of the best things you can do for yourself to grow your business and propel yourself forward is to get help. But so many of us keep justifying that we can’t afford help. We say things such as: “I’ll hire an assistant when I start making more money.” Or “I can’t hire an assistant until I start making more money.”

I can relate to this personally because back in November of 2008 I had $1200 to my name. One of the things I did that led me to a quarter million dollar income at the end of 2009 was to hire some help. I realized I couldn’t do it all on my own. Now, I’m not talking about a full-time personal assistant here – though that would have been wonderful. I started small.

I really needed to get my e-zine out, so I invested in 10 hours of help from a Virtual Assistant team. As soon as I had that team in place, I started to look at my business in a completely different way. I found that there were all these other things that I could delegate. And, more importantly, I was also ready when the big opportunities came my way, because I wasn’t doing it all alone!

Here’s what one of my top clients, Christine Lewicki, founder of O Coaching, had to say about investing in herself, making some huge leaps of faith and getting the help she needed.

“There’s my business before I met Lisa and my business after I met Lisa. Before, I was spinning my wheels. I knew I was a good coach, but word of mouth wasn’t happening and I didn’t have enough clients,” Christine says. “I felt that if I didn’t grow my business I wouldn’t be making the difference I want to make. I wasted a lot of years trying to figure it out on my own. Then I went to a convention and met Lisa and thought, “Here she is – this is exactly what I need.'”

Christine continues, “Lisa gave me the opportunity to work with her and I knew it was time for me to get some help. So I signed up and I barely had enough for the first payment, but it was pretty exciting and super scary. Literally in the next 10 days I got two new clients to fund my investment! The work with Lisa was a mix of spiritual work and technical business strategy to get me to my own juice. And that juice is very sweet for my marketing and awesome for me because deep in my bones I know what I’m all about and what I have to give.”

So as I move into 2011, I celebrate doubling my income again last year. Yes, over half million in 2010. And I can tell you without a doubt that having my team, now five people strong, was critical to my success. Especially because I did it working only 3-4 days a week! (Not possible without investing in a team.)

You know how they say you should dress for the job you want? Well, you need to set up your business the way you want to see it in the future. And if you want to break six figures, you can’t do it without having a team. There is a lot of power in asking for help. I know it sometimes feels risky to get help, but you need to do it so your business can expand and you can focus on your genius and creativity. You should be delegating the day-to-day, mundane tasks so you can focus on bigger, better – more juicy – things!

About the Author:

Lisa Cherney, a.k.a. the Juicy Marketing Expert, founded Conscious Marketing 12 years ago to help small business owners find their authentic marketing voice, attract their ideal clients and increase their sales. Following her own Stand Out & Be Juicy program, which centers on owning your unique self and laser-focus marketing, Lisa has tripled her income while working part-time.

Prior to Conscious Marketing, Lisa worked with many Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Lipton, Nissan, Blue Cross and Equal. She is a highly sought after speaker and often shares the stage with experts such as Jack Assaraf (The Secret), Jack Canfield and Jill Lublin. Learn more about Lisa at www.consciousmarketing.com or call 887-771-0156.

Article Contributed by Ray Haiber

The wholesale distribution business in the U.S. is a huge industry that accounts for literally trillions of dollars of sales every year.  The age old practice of buying goods from manufacturers and the reselling them at a profit to retailers and other businesses is a business activity that continues to thrive and evolve. Today new opportunities are emerging for entrepreneurs to start small distribution businesses in niche markets that are not on the radar or are currently too small for the big players to bother with.

This article will provide a list of the top advantages of either launching or buying a distribution business including the relative ease of getting started and the ability to start out small and grow at your own comfortable pace.

Relatively Easy & Quick To Start:

Distribution businesses are service related so they don’t require the build out or leasing of a fancy retail location or the start up of an expensive manufacturing plant.  So in comparison once you have contracted a supply of products to distribute you can often be up and running very quickly. Whether you will need to secure warehouse space to store and ship your goods will depend on a number of variables including the type & size of products you plan to distribute. The good new is that if you do need to lease commercial warehouse space to get off the ground it is often much cheaper than high visibility retail space as your physical location is not that important to your customers.

In fact many distribution businesses are often launched successfully as home based businesses with a garage or basement serving as “dirt cheap” warehouse space. Whether this arrangement becomes permanent or not will depend on a number of variables including how large you intend to grow your business.

Potential Low Start-Up Costs:

Depending on the type of product you to intend to sell, starting some types of distribution businesses can be extremely affordable vs. opening a retail store or restaurant for instance. It’s very possible for example to start a business that distributes inexpensive imported sunglasses or jewelry to retailers for literally a just few thousand dollars, or less.  Other than securing a supplier all you need to get off the ground in most cases is a phone, a desk, a computer maybe, and a little space to store your product. And of course if you can operate the business from home you obviously don’t have the monthly overhead expense of leasing space.

Grow At Your Own Pace:

The fact that you can start out very small and grow your business incrementally as needed or desired is one of the great advantages of starting and owning a distribution type business. There are numerous success stories of distributors that started out in a small basement or spare bedroom that eventually grew into businesses that do millions of dollars in sales a year. Growing at your own pace puts the owner in the driver seat as far as controlling core expenses like rent and can provide a certain comfort level while you learn and build your business.

Better Lifestyle:

And finally because distribution is a generally a “business to business” activity where you are selling to other businesses you don’t have to deal with a lot of the negative aspects of being a retailer or selling to the public. This includes generally shorter hours and only being open 5 days a week as compared to many retail businesses that are often opened 6 to7 days a week. Ultimately this distinction could provide you with more flexibility and free time to spend on other priorities in your life including your family.

About Author:

Ray Haiber has 12 years experience as a professional business broker and franchise sales consultant. You can view  franchises for sale across the USA here. Go here to research affordable and  low cost businesses for sale including distribution opportunities.

Article Contributed by Jeff Bennett

Building a great team is crucial to ensuring the success and sustainability of any startup venture. But, there are potential pitfalls to consider, and there’s little room for error if an employee constitutes 25% or even more of your workforce at an early stage company.

While the to-do list of an entrepreneur is endless, it’s important to find ample time for the hiring process in order to identify smart, hard-working candidates whose values align with the workplace culture that you’re working to create.

The most important step before the hiring process even begins, however, is to clearly articulate a plan for what your business is and where it is going. Establish an overall strategy, and a detailed plan for executing against that strategy. Only from there can you determine your human capital needs, and truly build a team that will achieve success.

In my 25 years as an entrepreneur, I’ve put into place some great teams at companies including Lycos, NameMedia, currently at Swap.com in my role as CEO. I also act as a mentor to many Boston-area entrepreneurs and recently shared the following tips at a presentation for MassChallenge, the world’s largest startup competition where some incredible innovation is being unleashed. I share these top tips for hiring that I’ve learned along the way with you here:

1. Planning is Essential – You need to know why you are hiring. Every successful venture has a strategy, or a strategic direction that provides focus, and a work plan for how they will execute against this strategy. You must lay the groundwork with this comprehensive road map before any resource planning can occur.

2. There’s No “I” in Entrepreneur – You might be the entrepreneur, but you’re not omniscient. Be sure to engage your existing team in establishing the strategy and road map. Smart people like to be part of the planning process, and share in the results of learning. And do not fall into the trap that you need to “know” everything – that’s what why you hire world-class talent.

3. Organize Around the Road Map – When determining the talent and skill sets needed to executive your work plan, think about immediate and near-term needs, and prioritize accordingly. Don’t be stymied by building Rome now, but you do have to think about today and tomorrow.

4. Establish a Set of Core Values – Every entrepreneur has a unique set of beliefs, and you want to make sure your team shares those beliefs – not just your initial team, but each and every staff member added as you grow. These values will guide and sustain the company.

5. Checking References Is Critical – Ask for references and call them – this is critical to verifying the candidate’s claims regarding their experience and work ethic. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, and other web-based tools to get a full 360 degree view on your candidates. And, hire through trusted social networks when you can in order to mitigate risk.

About the Author:

Jeff Bennett is the CEO of Swap.com, an award-winning website where 1 million members swap stuff they have for all the items they want. You can read Jeff’s blog on entrepreneurship and innovation at http://www.jeffbennett.com.