Do something that you love. Repeat often.
Do you love what your business is doing, and what you do as a part of it? After all, you likely first considered going on your own in the business world because you wanted to do something that mattered, and because you believed in your keen business sense. Well, you’ve arrived, and is it what you’d hoped it would be?
If the answer is not quite (or a resounding no), stop and sit down soon. Get out pencil and paper (or your tablet computer) and figure out what your small business would’ve looked like today, had all of your best-laid plans come to fruition. What would you be doing on a daily basis? How many employees would you have, and what would their roles have been? What level of service would your business be providing, and how would you have felt about it?
Small businesses enjoy the ability to rapidly adapt the way they do, well, business. “What we love about small businesses is their resiliency,” said Hartford Senior Executive Ray Sprague. “They are looking for ways to … refresh business plans. They are very much focused on how they define success, making a good living for themselves and taking care of their employees.” The Hartford studied 2,000 small business owners, and discovered that most felt successful, despite economic pressures, in part due to their ability to change when needed. Enjoy the fact that, unlike your larger counterparts, your small business can morph at will.
Be realistic, knowing that you’ve likely made compromises along the way, and you’ll have to make more in the future. But allow yourself to dream a little.
Setting simple, within reach goals.
Does your business have goals, and do you review them periodically? Are they clearly defined for your employees — the people who believe in you and also want your small business to succeed? By knowing where the company needs to go, you can clearly see (and share) the direction the company is heading toward, and celebrate when goals are met.
Fast Company lists six achievable goals you might want to consider when evaluating change within your small business, including making your meetings more productive, aligning your company with charitable causes, and obtaining customer feedback for loyalty goals.
If you’ve had to re-evaluate where you are based on the previous suggestion, this would be a good time to break down the steps needed to move in a better direction. Remember, take baby steps and consider how you will measure success along the way.
Staff your business with people you care about.
Because you’re small, you get to handpick your employees, rather than delegate the task to an HR department. You get to meet them face-to-face, shake their hand, pat them on the back and steer them in the right direction. Because of your proximity, your employees are far more likely to embrace the positive and helpful principles you yourself have had when dealing with clientele.
Jennifer Overstreet of the National Retail Federation interviewed small business owners about the keys to their success. Amanda Kinsella of Logan Services, a Dayton, Ohio based HVAC Services company, said this of her smaller employee base: “You can learn something from every person you work with because each person brings something new to the table. That keeps our thoughts fresh and our job fun.”
Love your customers.
Want to know what true small business success sounds like? It’s not necessarily the sound of your register drawer. Team up with community non-profits and find ways to help them support those less fortunate. Follow through on sales by contacting your past clients to see how your products are holding up.
It’s the little things that matter to those who will cherish their personal relationship with your business. Learn your customers’ names, and talk with them. Find out if there are items or specialized services you could bring on board to serve them, like the family that runs Rhynas Jewelers in Ottumwa, Ohio. "We greet most of our customers by name," said co-owner Judy Rhynas. "We know about their lives."
The world is your business network.
Create a social network both on and off-line. Absolutely, developing your social networking presence pays dividends, but don’t forget about networking in real life. Visit with nearby businesses (yes, even your competition), and ask if they’d like to create partnerships that would serve both of you. There may be items you both purchase and use that could be bought cheaper if in larger bulk. Maybe there are service gaps each of you has that could be resolved by mutually referring customers. Perhaps your combined employee-ship would garner discounts on training sessions.
“My business is all about partnering with other small business in the community to see how we can joint-market,” said Lynette Martin, owner of Evanston, Illinois based Bottle and Bottega Evanston. Martin jointly markets her mobile party business with area small businesses. “I’m bringing in clients who may not otherwise know about them. This is truly a partnership that I create with different businesses.”
Take time off for what matters.
Because you have staffed your small business with people you trust and have personally trained, you have the luxury to focus on what truly matters in your life - your family. You can take a Thursday afternoon off to watch your kids’ T-ball game. Or take your husband out to lunch. Or run a personal errand, or see the dentist.
Because there are no layers of bureaucracy between you and the great outdoors, your time away from the business is within reach, and ought to be taken advantage of. You envisioned this dream, and are living it. Why not take the time to enjoy your success?
