Most entrepreneurs are never content working for others. Set yourself apart from your competition, find your niche market, create strong customer relationships, and seek value-added opportunities to offer your customers. Frequency is the most important factor in building customer relationships. Second, lifestyle, because who wants a successful business that they hate?
A poor approach to Purchasing
Again,
list the skills
that your management team has that pertain to this business. Keep
in mind, however,
that the same thing is true for online consulting as for freelancing you re directly trading your time for money. Inventory,
accounts receivable, equipment,
physical plant, employees ' you name the cash-draining asset, and most manufacturers have gotta have it. It
is not based
on providing the lowest price.
For service and retail firms, people are the main engines of production
John
Jacob Astor knew
the minutest point about every part of his great business. Where
do you want
to be? The
systems will guarantee
that every team member produces the same end result. The
vast majority of
small-business owners we know provide products or services quite similar to what's already in the marketplace and make reasonable but not extraordinary sums of money ' and, thanks largely to the independence that small-business ownership offers, are perfectly happy doing so!
Be alert for innovative competitors
A
great way to
get known is to be active in your industry, associations, and community. Will
you be running
a business that hasn t increased significantly in size? Do
you hope to
convince big customers that you will be a dependable supplier? Profit
is not owner's
compensation. A poor approach to Advertising
A
what-if plan can
help you spot the increased needs for space, equipment, personnel, and other variables so you can make good decisions. Limit
your alterations from
one plan to another to modifying the emphasis of the information you present. Many
companies have gotten
used to providing mediocre service, using poor business practices, and not marketing to their customers. But
by and large,
generally speaking, the economy doesn't matter.
An Authoratitive Guide to Distribution
Do
you have to
make every major and minor decision for your people? Interdependences
that characterise business
relationships make value measurement and appropriation problematic. More
weighty, however, appear
the objections against profit-sharing, which seem to have had sufficient force to cause the failure of a number of ventures in this direction. At
best, it will
make you look less than careful.