Everyone wants to be the BOSS but everyone doesn’t want to do the work associated with owning their own business. Escaping the 9 to 5 grind sounds like something out of a fairytale for many people. No more waking up at the crack of dawn to get to work, no more taking orders from a under qualified boss, no more skipping lunch so you can leave an hour early to attend your child’s extracurricular events, more importantly no more using your gifts and talents to make someone else’s dream a reality while yours sits on the shelf collecting dust, buried under the ‘not nows’, ‘I can’ts’ and maybe ‘laters’ of life.
What many would be “BOSSES” fail to realize is that owning a business is more demanding than their old grind. Instead of taking orders from an under qualified boss you are now 100% responsible for every aspect of your business. Every lead, every client, every success, every failure, every problem, every solution is all on you. There will be a lot of late nights and early mornings while you are building your business. The good news is that while being the BOSS definitely comes with a certain amount of uncertainty there are three practices you can implement to improve your chances of success.
1. Set Goals
To improve your chances of success in business you must articulate what success means for your business. The only way to do that is to establish goals, measurable objectives to be achieved within a set timeframe. We set goals in other areas of our lives, weight loss goals, career goals, etc… If you fail to set goals in your business how will you measure your success?
Your goals should be specific and the time frame to accomplish your objective should be realistic. Goals should include short term and long- term goals ranging from big audacious achievements, such as getting your product in to big retail stores, to smaller more obtainable ones such as getting 1500 people on your email list.
Setting goals is important but if you fail to write them down then you might as well not bother. Writing your goals keeps you accountable and allows you to keep track of your wins. Writing your goals serves as motivation to keep fighting the good fight. We fight battles everyday, in business not just in life. As a business owner you will overcome obstacles and achieve what you once thought was impossible. Some times you get so busy living life that you forget your wins BUT when you write down your goals you are also keeping track of every single time you accomplish something you said you would. That is an amazing feeling, my friend!
2. Define Your Market
How you gonna make money if don’t know who you selling to? Yes, I realize the sentence is grammatically incorrect and contains broken English but you get the point don’t you? Identifying your target market is essential to your business’ success. Knowing your market simply means defining who would benefit and find value from your product or service. When identifying your market ask yourself the following questions:
- Who are they?
- Does it contain enough people to accomplish your monetary goals?
- Can they afford your product/service?
- Are they easy to reach?
- Is there a potential for resale or up sale?
This list is by no means exhaustive of everything you should know about your market but it is a start. Contrary to what many believe, everyone is not your client. People have different pain points, which means what motivates one group of people to spend money will not motivate another. You have to learn what motivates your market to open their wallets so you can speak their language. This language is used in advertising, branding, social media… basically every single time you seek to reach your potential client.
Defining your target market not only saves you money but it also saves time. When you learn to speak to your market’s pain point you will not have to chase, beg or plead for them to buy your product/service. When you speak to the problem rather than the solution people will open themselves to hear what you have to say.
3. Know Your Numbers
I was surprised to learn how many business owners are intimidated by their numbers. They fail to track their expenses, don’t know how much revenue they bring in a month or how much cash flow the business has at any given moment. You can hire an accountant but as a business owner you have a responsibility to know your numbers for yourself. When you are starting out pay attention to the following numbers
- Where your money is coming from
If you are new to business where is your start up capitol coming from? Will you self finance, take out a line of credit, get a loan or seek out investors. If you self finance is it a loan to be repaid by the business? If you seek outside assistance what are the terms? Will investors seek a controlling interest of your business?
- How much is it going to cost to produce your product/service
The cost to produce your product is the basis of your entire business. You can’t properly price your goods without this information. You can’t possibly know if your target market can afford to make the purchase. Start up cost? What start up cost? You can’t calculate that information without knowing the cost of production.
It is important to recognize that the cost to produce is not limited to goods. Those in the service industry have to be mindful of how much time it will take to provide their service, what expenses are associated with the cost of service and what they expect to make an hour.
- How much will it cost to operate your business
Operating expenses are the ongoing cost to run your business. When you calculate these expenses take into account compensation, office, sales and marketing expenses. Compensation expenses include the employee pay, sales commission, benefits and pension cost. Office related expenses refer to the cost associated to run your office. Those expenses include fees for professional services such as legal and accounting fees, office supplies, property tax, utilities, etc. Finally, sales and marketing expenses reflect the cost to talk to your target market. Advertising cost, the cost to attend networking events and associations, trade shows, conferences and things of that nature.
It may seem like a lot of information to keep track of but it’s not. The good news is if you have a business plan you already have this information. If you don’t have a business plan what are you waiting for? Let me know in the comments.
~LaConya “Connie” Murray, Esq.
The Small Business Attorney
To schedule a consultation call 334-523-0022
