Making Success Happen for Your Home Business
by Stuart and Toni Livesey
This morning we went to see our accountant - it’s one of the four times each year here in Australia when small businesses have to lodge various returns with the Taxation Department - the Australian version of the IRS.
It’s also a good time to take the temperature and judge the health of a small business and what better and more objective person to do that than your accountant. Today, after looking at our business it was nice to hear our accountant tell us that our small business is in very good shape. Our turnover has increased every quarter for the last six … and next quarter is looking pretty good too.
So how did we manage to reach this point? Well we wish we could say that all we had to do was wave a magic wand but success for a small business … and especially ones that start their business from a home office … never comes that easy and some of our early quarters were downright dismal.
So what did we do?
1. We never gave up - even when we were both ill and very short on money we just never gave up.
2. We set out to provide the best possible service for our customers and we made sure that “the best possible service” was a hell of a lot better than ANY of our competitors were providing.
3. We kept … and still keep … our overheads screwed right down. We don’t drive a flashy car … we don’t go on expensive holidays … and we don’t play the game of keeping up with the Joneses.
4. We spend some money on promotion … in the right places but we rely on word of mouth from very satisfied customers. We spend lots of time talking to people and showing them that we really are the most experienced people in our field, both here in town, and on the Net. A considerable amount of our income still comes from clients that are overseas
5. We listen to what our clients want and we provide what they need. We don’t spend their money on things that they really don’t need. We go to them rather than expecting them to come to us.
6. We work at times when our clients want us to work … if they contact us on a Saturday with urgent work then we do it … we don’t put them off till the weekend is over. Sure that sucks when the weather is perfect and beach is just 10 minutes away but what do you want? Do you want a nice day at the beach and a so-so business or do you really want your business to survive and grow?
Every client has our mobile phone numbers and they know that they can call us day or night.
6. And we don’t play at running a business … we just go ahead and do it.
That’s what has helped us achieve what we have so far. As you can see, there really is no magic wand in there … just a lot of hard work. If you can match what we do then the chances are that you will succeed in whatever industry you’re working in and your small business will grow.
That’s our manifesto for success in small business put in the hard yards and you will succeed
May 11th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Hey Stuart and Toni,
Quite an interesting anecdote there. Especially the part about being always available and keeping the overheads screwed right down. Some helpful tips. I’ve been running a small business myself for quite a while and i too follow most of those principles. In addition to that i have also been using a project collaboration and project management tool called Deskaway . Its pretty handy because it helps simplify teamwork between my partner and me and it also helps us set milestones and be more management oriented. There are a lot of plans you can choose from - it costs only about $10 - $25 per month and its a great tool because i find my business being more process driven. There’s a free version as well which you guys can try out - but i strongly recommend it.
I’ve added you guys on my RSS feed - pretty handy stuff.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Thanks for stopping by Aditya - Deskaway certainly does look like an interesting project management tool and something that we will have to look at using as our business continues to grow.