Some key facts about the relationship between small businesses and the US goverment:
{video credit: NASAtelevison via youtube}
If you can remember the last time you had an employer, do you remember this question: “Where do you see yourself in the next 5 or 10 years?” Now, depending on what age group you fall in, this question was either fairly easy to answer or fairly challenging, especially right on the spot. I remember focusing more on the company I was interviewing with and not my further prospects. Not that I didn’t have any, but I didn’t want to tell my potential employer what my ideas were after I left this job. Or the fact that I was planning to leave this job one day. After all, employers (at least I thought), liked candidates who saw themselves working and growing through the ranks of their company for a long time. I thought they wanted someone who was going to give them their all, help hold up the company and of course, help turn a profit. Not too long ago, I found out what employers really want is someone with ambition and goals. Even if that someone plans to work for themselves one day.
I remember the job-hunt scene. And I remember being asked where I saw myself in the next 5 to 10 years. I dreaded the question. Because in the back of my mind, I had made my decision to start a business and soon. But I didn’t want to the hiring personnel to know that. They were looking for someone to fill in a much needed role, not someone who was working to raise capital for a personal venture. So, I lied. I would say some crap about “growing with the company and developing the skills I already have and hopefully picking up news ones along the way” and blah blah blah. And at the time, getting the first interview was fine. Getting a call back, not so much. Why? Well, looking back now, I think the felt the dishonesty in my answer. And it was a dishonest answer. I had plans to grow with the company. And they probably sensed that. So, I changed my tactic. I started telling the truth. I was already not getting called back, how much more harm could the truth do?
Sharing your business may just get you the job
But in fact, the truth wasn’t harmful at all. It was rather enlightening for my prospect employers. Something about the honesty of wanting to go into business for myself and understanding the undertaking it would be provided them an insight of where my head was at. People who want to go into business for themselves, have a great deal of ambition. Whether that business is small or large, their work is cut out for them. Hearing that as an answer lets employers know that those particular candidates are willing to work hard to get to where they want to be. And that they probably have always been hard workers. Those people are always looking for efficiencies; ways to get the done with the least amount of hassle, time and money. And would you believe it, I had several job offerings at one time? I didn’t need several jobs, but the fact that I was honest about what my professional plans worked for me. Now we can argued that perhaps my skill set and previous experience could have been factored in. But let’s keep in mind, companies don’t hire the résumé, they hire to person.
I choose to work for someone while starting my business, because I didn’t want to take out a business loan or give up a piece of ownership. No debt, no equity. That was my choice. If you too chose to work for someone for a bit before or even while you’ve got your business going on, be honest with the employer. Most likely, your business plans won’t be a bad thing.
{photo credit: xedos4 via freedigitalphotos.net}
What will make your business stand out in today’s crowded market? A great website? SEO and back links everywhere? A well-thought out marketing plan that focuses not just on the digital presence, but old school print too? Well, all those things are helpful. But let’s be honest with each other here. If you’re in business, you’re probably not the only in your field or industry. Which means you’re not the only one doing what you’re doing. So, again: what will help your business stand out, no matter who your competition is? Getting personal.
Customers remember the stores, the companies and the brands that took their time and made their experiences unique, as if just for them. Everyone likes things just for them. If we didn’t, the business of personalizing would be out of business. It doesn’t take a whole lot to make a great impression and be memorable. Getting personal sometimes means keeping it simple:
The next time you’re thinking about your customers and what it takes to retain them, get personal. Those little touches customized just for them go a long way.
Get Personal With Handwritten Notes to Customers
In the meantime, enjoy National Small Business Week. Reminder your customers with something handwritten and thank them for shopping small.
Did you start your business for the right reasons? Were you thinking of the impact you could have on others by becoming your own boss? Did you sit down and think about how your company could one day change the world by first making small steps in improving the community around it?
Why is that so many thought leaders and experts believe that if you start your business without the consideration of a universal perspective, your business will fail? What is the belief that a selfish (to some) goal, leads to failure and disappointment? Do we need to give a little to gain a lot, or has that become a misnomer and an urban business legend? What are these supposed “right reasons” we need to adhere to in order to be successful?
I enjoy reading articles from people who know better than I about what it takes to be successful. Their insights, their experiences are both honest and helpful when we want to reflect on our business models and measure how far we’ve come and what we can do to go further. But when I hear these same experts say that those starting their businesses for the wrong reasons are doomed to fail, it makes me question their authority on the right to judge someone’s inner mission. Saying someone has started their business for the wrong reason is the equivalent of saying someone is going to work for the wrong reasons. Most people I know who go to work for someone else, work to pay the bills, to keep a roof over their heads and keep their families fed. Are those wrong reasons? Should they always be focused on advancing their career and making themselves available to their employer 24/7? What about those same families they’re trying to keep clothed and fed? Should they get neglected for the bread winner?
Maybe some of us believed we could earn more money by starting our business. Maybe we believed that we could have more control or freedom over our lives without clocking into someone else’s schedule. Yes, those are selfish reasons, but they’re our reasons. And yet we have a few high and mighty saying we’re going about it the wrong way. What if they’re not reasons, but rather motivators? Personal motivators that remind us to keeps opening our doors and answering calls. It’s not easy to run our business. We already know that. And yet, we need motivators every now and then to keep us going. Material things shouldn’t bind us to our goals and dreams, but we shouldn’t be prohibited from wanting them either.
We all have our reasons why we started our businesses. And no matter why we started them, it should matter more how we operate those business than that the initial agenda behind them. After all, businesses morph, expand, decrease — they go through a series of ups, downs and changes. It called growth. And although we might start off on the wrong foot, doesn’t mean we’ll stay there.
Networking is still intimidating for many of us. No one wants to go up to a complete stranger, plaster a fake smile on their face and make introductions. It’s awkward, it’s forced and by the end of it, we haven’t really ‘networked’. Yeah, we might have collected a number of business cards, names and numbers, but we haven’t formed any real relationships with other professionals. That part takes time. And besides, networking events can be painful and a hassle (yet, we still go, right?) But wouldn’t it be easier if the people we wanted to touch base with and connect with came to us instead? And not at some poorly thrown together event where we all have to wear sticker name tags?
Until we’ve gotten into the rhythm of formulating a strategy for networking, many of us don’t really know who we should network with. We’ll go up to someone, do our little spiel, let them do theirs and walk away hoping we did good enough. Ugh! How often have we done that?! Instead, start small, start simple, start social. As in, using social media. It’s easier, takes the pressure off and gives us the advantage of doing a little research on the person and their company before we ever have to open our mouths. One of the best places to practice social networking is on LinkedIn. Because it’s simple.
Get engaged. That is what networking comes down to, especially when it’s handled virtually. No secret about how to do it, just get engaged. Show others you’re someone worth knowing and they will come seek you out. But, of course, you have to put yourself and your business out there. In order for others to network with you, you gotta leave them some bread crumbs.
Abercrombie & Fitch, 720 5th Avenue at 56th Street (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you haven’t heard by now the Abercrombie & Fitch backlash from the statements made by its overly honest CEO, Mike Jeffries, I don’t know where you’ve been. Under a rock?! No, those were foreclosed on in 2009, too. But just in case that was something that zoomed past your attention, let’s catch up. Mike Jeffries explained in one fashion or another (no pun intended), the reason why A&F doesn’t carry larger sizes, at least for women, but it doesn’t target larger size wearers. He said that Abercrombie & Fitch’s targeted market isn’t for everybody, only the “cool kids”. The cool kids in school. That could be the football players, or cheerleaders, or student body officers (I really don’t know, it’s been a minute since I was last in high school). The point being, Jeffries clearly defined who A&F’s target market was and said quite frankly that not everyone could fit into his selected demographic. Now many bloggers, critics and writers felt the need to personally attack Jeffries and A&F for being honest about who they cater to. But is Abercrombie & Fitch and Mike Jeffries really the bad guys here for not showing fashionably larger people some love? As business owners and entrepreneurs, aren’t we doing the same thing?
Anyone in business, whether they’re looking to stay small on Main Street or build an empire, needs to focus on niche market, a group of people in which they can provide better products and/or services for than their competitors. Businesses cannot be everything to everyone (we can leave Wal-Mart out of this discussion). That’s what makes business, business. But, should we tell customers this? The reason we want a particular customer at our places of business is because we’ve already profiled our ideal shopper. Seems a little straightforward, almost too honest. But that’s want consumers want, right? They want businesses to start being honest and open with their dealings with them. Mike Jeffries obviously isn’t dealing with everyone, but he’s being honest about it. He wants his company catering to a select few. And yet, everyone is ready to start slinging mud in his direction.
For the rest of us not operating our businesses under scrutiny and in the limelight, we may count our lucky stars that we’re not in Mike Jeffries seat right now. But we too will be faced with that dilemma, if we haven’t been already. No matter what industry or field we’re in, everyone is not going to fit into our customer profile and that’s the bottom line. Now, we don’t have to be as vocal about it as Jeffries was, but we need to be at least honest with ourselves about it. After all, if we don’t hold ourselves to a certain standard, we have no foundation to continue to build on. Even if that means we cannot and chose not to meet everyone’s needs.
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the position Abercrombie & Fitch takes on carrying larger sizes, is Mike Jeffries wrong for being honest about who he targets towards? Or were consumers a little sensitive to what he had to say?
It is the season for diplomas and degrees. Transitions and changes. Starting anew and stepping forward. And not just for the class of 2013. Forget everything you think you know or heard about June Gloom. June is a wonderful time to implement changes, take charge and gradaute. Remember how you felt when you graduated from high school or college? Remember how you felt when you believed you could do anything, try anything and become anything? We spent your time hitting the books, studying until wee hours and passing on hanging out with friends so we could ace our tests the following day. But as we’ve gotten older, perhaps, jaded and into the rhythm of the world around us, we forgot what it felt like to graduate. We forgot what it felt like to believe anything is still possible.
We need to graduate as business owners and entrepreneurs. Now, if you hated high school, and let’s admit it, some of us did. This may be a hard idea to swallow at first. But when I say graduate, I don’t mean donning on the gown and that awful looking graduation cap. I mean, taking every lesson, every failure, every set back, every “no” and every wrong turn and use them as stepping stones to lift us to where we want to be with our companies. At some point, we need to collect all the mistakes we’ve made thus far and use them to reach higher. Do better. And out-perform.
Sometimes we wallow right where we are because we don’t see progress, we don’t see business, we don’t see cash flow and we don’t see customers. But that doesn’t mean we’ll never see it. It means we just haven’t allowed ourselves to graduate from where we are to where we need to be. But we don’t need to wait every 3-4 years to graduate. Every job well done, every victory is an “A”. Every mistake or hiccup, is simple a make-up. Every time we have enough victories, enough successes, enough opportunities to push a little further, expand the market a little farther and hire a few more, we’re graduating. We need to acknowledge those moments and find more ways to graduate so we’re more likely to see all of hard work paying off.
It took us four years to finish high school. Some of us stayed in college for almost a decade. Did we really expect any of our other successes to happen overnight? However, at the end of every cycle of learning, trying and doing, we graduated. Just because we’re no longer in school and the ceremonies have stopped, doesn’t mean the lessons end.
{photo credit: digitalart via freedigitalphotos.net}
