Virtually Yours Personal Assistants

In order to create a successful business, you need to have funding, office space, and a staff, right? Wrong!

Here’s an inspirational story about a stay-at-home mom who, along with her three kids, launched a business in their basement that grew from a small craft operation into a multimillion dollar success.

Jibbitz

Know other basement or garage success stories? Send them to me and I’ll post them on my blog.

Seems the cost of everything is rising. If your business involves delivery of a product or on-site service, the cost of gas becomes a factor. If you sell a product, the cost of your materials is rising.  Unlike larger businesses that can sell off a division or layoff staff and still maintain their edge, small businesses must look for creative ways to cut costs in order to survive. The easy fix is to raise prices. But your customers are facing the same market you are - why offer them a reason to bail by raising prices. Here’s a list of creative ways a small business owner can cut costs and maintain a profit without alienating customers.

Review your products and services. Invest in your most popular and most profitable services and eliminate those draining resources.

Review every expense. It’s time to get rid of a few luxuries. Look at every expense and question whether it is adding value to your business and positively impacting your bottom line. Examine ways of doing the same thing better, faster, and cheaper. Save money on meeting expenses, marketing,  and billing by using internet based technology. There are a number of online services that allow you to have a virtual meeting online with employees or clients, saving you travel costs. Save money on printing and postage costs by using email marketing materials and invoices rather than mailing them. Now looky at you. Saving money and going green at the same time

Outsource. Bookkeeping to manufacturing. Personal assistants to web designers. Using a contractor can save you big bucks by allowing you to handoff tasks that you don’t enjoy or aren’t good at so you can focus on core areas of your business. By outsourcing jobs you save yourself time and money. Since contractors are already experts at what they do and they work in their own workspace so there’s no need to interview, train, or provide resources for an employee. Even better, you pay them only when you need them which means you can set a budget and stick to it. When business slows, you don’t have an extra hand who your paying to do nothing… and when it picks up, they are there when you need them.

Go virtual. Fixed costs such as equipment, rent, and office furniture can have a big impact on your bottom line. Unless your business requires a bricks and mortar retail space or clients need to visit your workspace, you can probably avoid some of these costs. By using your home pc, printer, and internet connection you can complete the same work without creating new bills. To keep your professional edge, use a virtual phone system to forward calls to your home number, rent an offsite mailbox, and use your garage or an offsite storage facility to store your product.

What creative things have you done to cut expenses?

Though it doesn’t grow on trees, there are many ways that you can find money to fund your startup. Here are a few tried and true methods: 

• Use credit cards - Over 2/3 of small businesses use credit cards to pay expenses. If you already have trouble managing your personal credit cards perhaps a card for your business may not be the best idea. However, if you are disciplined and have a decent credit rating, you can obtain a card that has a great rate, offers discounts from retailers, and provide an easy way to establish credit for your business. Read the fine print. Look for cards that offer zero or low financing and make sure finance charges don’t accrue during the initial grace period. 

• Family and friends - A staggering 87% of businesses are started with funds borrowed from friends and family. To make this work you should minimize the risk to your business and to your personal relationships. Don’t want to share the long term rewards or share decison making? Consider a loan rather than an investment. Clearly outline the details of the transaction, put them in writing, and stick to it! 

Here are a few more funding options:  

• Venture capital/Angel investors  

• Business plan competitions 

• Loans 

This blog lists several other methods worth considering.  

In the mood to brush up on your entrepreneurial skills? Here’s an awesome post that lists 99 FREE online courses in the areas of marketing, management, leadership, technology, and legal aspects of business.  

Now go! LEARN!

When I was younger I said I’d tell my kids to pick a career that best met the following criteria:

1. Something you’re good at
2. Something you enjoy
3. Makes great money

I did that. I’m good at math. I enjoy working alone and solving problems. I liked engineering, that made good money. I did it. I chose engineering and guess what I liked it! For about 7 years……then I got that itch.

Yup, the seven year itch. I realized that though I still liked engineering, there were other things I liked more and there are other things I’m good at and (gulp) the money just doesn’t make it worth it anymore. That’s when I decided to rethink my own advice.

I no longer like working alone. I like interacting with people. I’m great at finding resources. I’m still fantastic at solving problems. So……. I and my staff interact with people to help them find resources to solve their small business problems. AND I LOVE IT!

Now my advice to my kids will be:

1. Figure out you love to do!
2. Become great at it.
3. Do it!
4. If you love it, the money won’t matter anymore. And if your great at it. The money will come.
5. Once you don’t like it anymore…..do something else.

I think the same advice applies to anyone choosing a second career. Here’s another blog post gives a similar viewpoint.

What will your advice be?

While no one can deny the value of education, one should never use a lack of education as an excuse to defer a dream. Here’s an inspirational list of folks who didn’t receive their parchment but are still making paper!

Dave Thomas - High School Dropout, 15 - Thomas’s first job in the restaurant industry was at the age of 12 as a counterman. After a volunteer stint in the US Army he went to work with Col. Sanders and turned four failing KFC stores into million dollar successes. With the money he made there, he went on to open his first Wendys Old Fashioned Hamburgers. Wendy’s became the third most successful burger chain in the US.

Richard Branson - High School dropout, 15 - Branson made his first successful stint in entrepreneurship when he published Student magazine at the ripe old age of 15. His next venture was a record mail-order business in 1970 which evolved into a chain of record stores known as Virgin Megastores. The Virgin brand is now made up of over 350 companies including Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and Virgin Galactic.

Simon Cowell - College Dropout - Best know as one of the American Idol judges, Cowell’s career in music began in the mailroom at EMI Music Publishing. Several promotions, several companies, and a few failed ventures later, Cowell was able to combine his knowledge to successfully launch Syco Music Publishing, promote a number of recording artists, and several television franchises.

Peter Jennings - High School dropout, 10th grade - Jennings, the son of a radio broadcaster, started his career at the age of 9 hosting a Saturday morning kids radio show. After a short career as a bank teller, Jennings ventured back into broadcasting as a newscaster at a local radio station. By the age of 26, Jennings became to this day the youngest ever network news anchor. His career with ABC News would span 40 years.

John Mackey - Three time College Dropout - After dropping out, Mackey started a vegetarian health food store, with an initial investment of $45,000 borrowed from friends and family. After a slow start, he merged with a natural food store. This investment led to the country’s first supermarket style natural food store. The store which started in Austin, TX now has over 270 locations in the US, Canada, and the UK

Bill Gates - College Dropout - The chairman of the Microsoft Corporation and ranked the richest person in the world for the  last 12 years, Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the computer revolution.

The lesson to be learned from these famous dropouts is that dedication and hard work, whether in school or in the school of hard knocks, is vital in pursuing your passion and achieving your dreams.

The home business owner - or the business owner who has not yet secured a bricks and mortar location - is often hesitant about using their home address on business correspondence. Whether your address is very ordinary (142 Family Circle) or elite (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue) , most business owners would like to avoid any chance of a curious client, junk mail, or (gasp!) a salesperson appearing at their front door.

There is of course the option of renting a PO Box from your local post office. It’s inexpensive and you even have the option of having your mail forwarded to your home.

For those who want an address that is not as nondiscript or who feel their clients will be turned off by a business without a street address, there are yet other options.

For a few more dollars, UPS Stores and other private mailbox companies offer secure personal mailboxes with a real street address and “suite” number to give you the big business feel you want to project. They will even sign for packages on your behalf. 

Many counties have small business assistance and economic development offices that offer mailbox rentals to local business owners. For example, the Howard County EDA in Maryland offers this option along a library, conference rooms, business counseling, and training. Contact your local economic development or SCORE office to find out if options like these are available in your area.

Business cards to brochures, sales letters to business forms, budgets to invoices. As a business owner, there are a number of standard documents you know you’ll need to have on hand and a few you may have never thought about.  Save yourself some time and effort by starting with a template. Here are a few resources:

HP - This site offers a number of well designed, customizable templates for creating marketing materials, newsletters, and business forms.

Microsoft - Need a customer database? a sales presentation? a collections letter? Microsoft has it all. You can search by template or product to find the template you need.

Entrepreneur Assist - This site offers many great documents needed for day to day operations. Also included with your free membership is an online planner, web conferencing, and a tool to organize you favorite entrepreneur.com articles.

I have lots of friends in their thirties who are trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. These aren’t people who have been backpacking around the world since high school either. They went to college, interned, got their degree, their first job, and were ready to conquer the world.  A few went back to school for a masters. Some switched companies. But after ten years in their chosen profession have discovered “this ain’t it”. They are asking “What’s out there for me?”

Is it so surprising though? Who, at 18, can figure out who they are, let alone what they want to do the rest of their lives? 

Regardless of age, so many of us are in that same place. We’ve discovered new talents, interests, and limitations that we didn’t have at 18.  Why waste another minute doing something you already know that you don’t enjoy? Whether your in your 30s, 40s, or 50s NOW is the time to regroup. It’s not too late. And there are so many options. Start your journey to your new you today.

Here are a few resources.

This article  on BusinessKnowHow.com talks about important steps to take as you consider what your next career should be. It’s written by the owner of  Vocation Vacations , a company that offers vacation packages that let you take a one to three day total immersion mentorship vacation performing one of over 140 careers - from actor to wine sommelier. I love the idea of test driving a new career.

Here’s a site that talks about the art of “self direction”. There’s even a quiz to help you decide if you’re in the right career.

This blog by Tim Berry, founder of bplans.com, suggests you look at who you are at the core to determine your new business venture. Definately worth checking out.

Happy venturing!

Warren Brown is the owner of CakeLove, a bakery with locations in the DC metro area that specializes in creating scratch cakes and pastries. A few years ago, a friend and fellow dessert lover sent me a link to his website and I was instantly smitten. Not so much by the cakes (though within weeks I found myself at the bakery buying far more than I planned to) but by his story.

Warren Brown was a lawyer who found his passion in baking cakes. What I love about his story is that he did what so many people are afraid to do - leave behind a “good job” to pursue his passion. It didn’t matter to him that others would think he was crazy, that he had spent years studying for his degree, or that his future was uncertain. By stepping out on faith he was able to open a successful bakery with 4+ locations, launch a TV show on the Food Network, and gain a loyal following of CakeLovers (I am one of many!!). Here are a few words from Warren Brown on pursuing your passion:

Perhaps you have to be somewhat, well, narcissistic to really indulge your passions. Being passionate is about recognizing what makes you happy, focusing on and learning about it, and, ultimately, doing it in the name of your own satisfaction and pleasure. It’s not self-centered to lead your life in a direction that satisfies you. It’s necessary to feel at peace.

Prioritizing your passion means that you carve out room in your life to explore and understand it. Once you understand yourself and what you care about, you’ll be in closer touch with your life and the others around you. For a while others may see you as aloof, but once you arrive at being in touch with your heart and soul, others will find inspiration in you to do the same.

How did it work for me? I explored my interests, developed them, listened to feedback and kept going. Now my career is my former side interest and I love my job. Sure there is pressure, and the hours are very long, but it’s manageable. I’m expected to create new recipes, share new tastes and flavors, and interact with people - I love that! Once I gave priority to what makes me happy, my life very naturally evolved into CakeLove.

Read more…

Gotta Love It!