Effective Strategies is devoted to sharing ideas that can improve your business performance. Last issue, we discussed making a powerful first impression. This issue, we look at the resources for getting advice and information to make your business successful. If you missed the last issue, click here to read it. Feel free to forward this e-mail to anyone who can benefit from this information. To sign up to receive this e-zine, send an e-mail to carrie@soarhigher.com.

Resources for Successful Small Businesses

Five Sources for the Help You Need to Succeed

Every day, thousands of people decide to make the jump from employee to entrepreneur. While not for everyone, running a business provides unmatched thrill and challenge. I have been a SCORE counselor since 2001. Never heard of SCORE? Read on. Through SCORE, I get to help entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations turn their dreams and vision into reality. Here are five of my favorite resources for start-ups.

Your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is an excellent place to go for classes, business loan preparation assistance, and information for your business plan such as demographic data. It is funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov). The SBA website is loaded with great business information. To find an SBDC office near you, go to www.sba.gov/sbdc. Most of the SBDC services are free; however, they charge a small fee for their classes.

Your local chamber of commerce will often have an economic development professional on staff who can answer some of your questions about your specific region such as health department and city regulation contacts.

SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) is best recognized as Counselors to America’s Small Business. It is a sister organization to the Small Business Development Center that is also funded by the SBA. SCORE is staffed by volunteers with real-world business knowledge. Most SCORE services are free. From time to time, they may teach some classes in your area that cost a small fee. They provide counseling specific to your needs — one-on-one, group, telephone, or e-mail. The website (www.score.org) is full of articles and resources on your topic. They have Spanish resources online as well. If you choose e-mail counseling (you can sign up for that on their website), you can request a counselor who has specific experience in the restaurant industry. While most businesses run essentially the same in the background, you will have some issues specific to your industry. If you go to your local chapter, they may not have a counselor with industry-specific experience. However, they will have counselors with beneficial general business knowledge. I recommend getting a counselor from a local SCORE chapter AND an e-mail counselor. You can find a local chapter at the SCORE website.

Finding one or more mentors who own small businesses in your area will help you understand business norms and practices. Get to know other business owners and ask enough questions to see if they are confident enough to be open and transparent with you. They are busy business owners too, so be an exceptional steward of their time and keep an open mind.

Finally, my favorite book for start-ups is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Pick it up. It’s inexpensive and easy to read. It talks about how to work ON your business instead of IN your business. I recommend it to most of my clients and it has provided insights on how to run my own business smarter.

Here are a few things to remember.

• Build up your strength. Starting a business is a 60- to 80-hour a week job for at least two years.
• Ensure your family is behind you 100% and your home life is in order. The challenges of a start-up will wear away any strained areas in those relationships.
• Believe in yourself. Running a business is full of ups and downs. You have to look like a winner every day whether you feel like one or not.
• Do your homework and ask lots of questions. Much of business success is really about following the fundamentals.
• Make sure you can go without a paycheck for a couple of years. You may not need it but it is important to be prepared for the unknown. Most people allot 12 months of savings and that simply isn’t enough time to get most businesses successfully launched.
• Weigh all advice carefully. By consulting a variety of resources, you can collect enough information to make a decision. You should consider every idea and opinion regardless of how different from your opinion it is. In the end, however, you have to make the decision that is right for you and your business.
• If you make a mistake, fix it quickly. Mistakes are a great learning experience. Failing to recognize them and correct them quickly will hurt your business success.

As challenging as it is to build an organization from the ground up, it is a great experience. There is no reason to venture out alone. These tools will help pave the way to your own business success.

Reader Ideas

Your Opinion Please

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