Small Business - 5

1.3 Requirements of Starting an Efficient Small Business - By: Joe Coffee
There are 3 factors that drive the success of small businesses.

1) Acquiring start-up capital
2) Finding customers
3) Accounting, budgeting, and controlling cash flow

Acquiring Start-Up Capital
An adequate supply of capital is essential as many profitable businesses fail because they don't have enough cash to pay their employees and suppliers. But what is an adequate supply of capital? The only way to tell is by doing a significant amount of research on your potential market and formally documenting this in a business plan. I'm sure you know that a business plan is a very important document that is crucial to convincing your banker to lend you money.

There are two ways to obtain a business plan. Do it yourself by amending a business plan template, or hire a professional to do it for you. Obviously the first option will be a great deal cheaper, but probably not as effective.

Our research led to a website that has over 60 high quality and free business plan templates. We also found a directory that you can use to easily find a business plan writer in your city where ever you live in the world. Using a search engine query produced most of these results.

Finding Customers
Finding customers can be a difficult and expensive task for service business owners such as accountants, lawyers and plumbers. One cost effective marketing strategy for service business owners is to simply give all their personal contacts a few business cards. It may be surprising, just how far a personal relationship goes.

Many websites have pre-designed business card templates. The diversity and quality of these designs was outstanding. In addition, a significant savings can be obtained by finding a printing service on the Internet. We found that you could get 2,000 full color business cards for as little as $150.

Accounting, Budgeting, and Controlling Cash Flow
Accurate small business accounting is very important for owners. It's essential that you have timely access to information that could make or break your business. If stocks are running low, you need to know about it. If a large proportion of your debtors haven't paid, you need to know about it. If you do not react to these situations quickly you may have a situation where you don't have enough money to pay your employees, or worse still someone is stealing cash out the till.

Our research led to a website that compares and reviews top small business accounting software. The cheapest software for small business accounting, cost $89.99 and the most expensive software cost $1,499. It was interesting to note that the top 3 ranked websites were not the most expensive and cost between $250 and $300. As well as price you also want to consider quality and reliability. The relationship between price and quality equals value. The two companies with the most value are Quickbooks and Peachtree.

Hopefully you now have an idea of some of the tools that you can use to grow and maintain your small business. These three business aspects have a great impact on overall success and longevity.

2.Owning Your Own Business: Here Are A Couple Of Steps To Business Success

Maybe you are reading this and have been thinking about owning your own business. Or, you have a small business running either that is doing well or where you wish it could be more. Regardless, to have a successful small business and to have the freedom and abundance you seek, the first step to business success is it must be about you.

You may say, now wait a minute where is this heading? Over 30 years of self-employment and working with hundreds of self-employed individuals I can assure you that most successful small businesses and the ones that experience small business growth have one thing in common. The first step to business success is that they are built around the founder or owner.

At first you may think this is a selfish approach. But, if you look at the original definition of selfishness, it is about self-preservation. I think you would agree that building a business that preserves and enhances you is a huge plus. After all, without you, where is the business?

Now, this doesn't mean that the business is all about you. It means that you either deliver and exceptional product or service for your customers but with an organization, routine or performance strategy that enhances you. After all, if you are not at your best, where will your business be?

For the entrepreneur successful in his business, the first step is to have something he or she is passionate about. The second step is to be able to build the business around who they are. Let's take three attributes that all people have to different degrees. They are create, execute and finalize.

Most people are good at one or two of these. Know what you are good at and build your business around your strengths. For example, maybe you are strong at creating and finalizing the process. Yet, the execute part, which is in the middle, is not where you really enjoy spending your time. If you are spending most of your time in this area you and your business will be at peril. In the beginning you will probably have to do all three.

Yet, if you continue to do all three you and your business will not experience the small business growth you desire. Take a look at yourself. If executing is the least enjoyable aspect, either create systems to insure that the execution takes place or have someone help you with it. If it continues to be a challenge you can look at hiring a small business coach or reading a small business book or small business ebook.

To grow small business and to have a successful performance strategy you must be in alignment with who you are. Pursue your passion and build your small business growth plan around your strengths. When you do you will get off the treadmill of deadening uniformity and be moving to the success you desire.