Seven Small Business Tips for the Year Ahead
Well it’s January 1 2008 and the new year stretches before us. For Toni and I it looks like being a very interesting year and it will be starting off in a very positive manner. First thing tomorrow morning we’re meeting with a new client to work up a proposal for a website for his business.
Of course not everyone’s small business is going to make such a positive start to the new year and for most of us the year ahead will be quite a challenge. The threat of a world-wide recession is looming and usually it’s the small business person who suffers most when economic times are bad.
But then being in a small business was never for the faint-hearted and even though times may become very tough you can survive if you’re prepared for those rough times. Some of the practical things you can do that might help you survive include:
1. Reduce your debt levels to the absolute minimum.
2. Review all your expenses and look at ways of reducing them. For example, are you paying too much rent? Is it possible to carry on your business from another cheaper location than the one that you’re in now?
This even applies to you if you happen to be working from a home office. If your family has grown up and left home perhaps it’s time to move into something smaller?
3. Is your advertising really working for you? Do you even bother to monitor the results of your advertising?
4. Are your employees cost-effective? Are they really generating an income for your business that not only pays their wages but also puts money in your pocket?
5. Are you actively chasing work or are you just waiting for it to come to you?
6. Could you be working smarter rather than harder?
7. Are you still doing things because that’s the way you’ve always done them … or could there be better ways of doing things?
That’s just a few suggestions to get you thinking about your small business and the things you may need to do to survive the times ahead.
Last week I talked about the fact that we were working at over the Christmas - New Year period while our competitors in this town were taking a break. You can read about no rest for our small business by following the link.
To be honest there were times over the last week when we thought we were crazy to have been working when no one else was. Yesterday we added up the work that we picked up over the last week and the total surprised us because it was more than we had expected. It made working when others were taking a break very worthwhile.
Sometimes following the herd is the worst thing to do if you want to succeed.
