If you had to share your top three business tips, what would they be?
In Part 1, our resident experts shared their biggest lessons learnt from experiencing success in their own small businesses. And in Part 2 we learned that while taking care of your team and your customers are important, we should not forget to lose sight that we are the most important asset to our own business. If you missed out and want to catch up to speed, read here:
Part 1: Small business lessons: Taking care of your team and customer
Part 2: Small business lessons: How your business comes down to you
Lessons are learnt over some time and from experience, so what advice can be implemented into our business now? We asked a group of successful small business owners this question, as part of our series on lessons that we can learn from successful small business owners.
Without further ado, here are their top three business tips:
Laney Clancy, Marketing and Finance Manager at Pipe Perfection Plumbers suggests to:
1) Hire people that fit with the culture and personality of your business. Someone who is fantastic at their job but does not fit in culturally will bring down morale and can divert other employees from the vision of the business.
2) Both inspect and respect your employees. Make sure to keep them at the best of their game by maintaining a good working relationship with each of them. Have one-on-one employee evaluations and give them what they need to do their job the best they can.
3) Use social media – it is a fantastic way to connect with your customers. But learn to not set up an account with every social media channel that is flavour of the month. Know the demographics of your ideal customer, find out what channel they use and be active on that. By active, you should be participating in conversations and delivering value in terms of information rather than always pushing sales.
– Laney Clancy, Pipe Perfection Plumbers
Laney Clancy is the co-founder and Marketing and Finance Manager at Pipe Perfection Plumbers. They are one of Sydney’s best-known plumbing experts and can be found at http://pipeperfection.com.au/
Invest in outsourcing. Look into getting specialist help as it will save you time (and therefore money) in the long term. The money you spend on the right people to help you is worth every penny as they will help you make the profitable use of your time.
2) Make time for marketing. You might be busy now, but if you leave your marketing until you’ve quietened down, you’ve got a long lead time before you can get busy again. Keep on top of marketing, be it blogging, social media or through a regular newsletter.
3) Keep revisiting your ideal client and your core value. These are the drivers of your business and they will evolve as your business develops. Finding your sweet spot – in terms of who you target and what you offer – makes work fun and profitable!
– Belinda Weaver, Copywrite Matters
Belinda is a professional marketing copywriter who specialises in website, SEO and marketing copywriting. Her business helps businesses inject more personality and action into their marketing so they can get more clicks, calls and sales from the words they use. www.copywritematters.com.au
Naomi Findlay, Founder of Silk Home Staging and Styling, also recommends outsourcing:
1) Surround yourself with experts. It is nearly impossible to be all things to all people, no matter how hard you try. You will save time and energy by having a great support team of experts that you can call on when needed, such as solicitors, accountants and publicists.
2) Promise small and deliver big! This is the best way to create raving fans. Clients that are raving fans are the best source of marketing you will find, so create lots of them, and get them talking about your sensational service!
3) Create systems. In order to have your business running smoothly, you need to think about how you are going to tackle each task. This will not only give you a ‘go to place’ in case you forget something, but it also means that when it is time to expand or get more staff, you have the systems and processes already in place to make the growth phase so much easier.
– Naomi Findlay, Institute of Home Staging and SILK Home Staging & Styling
Naomi started her successful home staging business, SILK Home Staging & Styling, three years ago and is now also the founder of the International Institute of Home Staging (IIHS), which offers the only range of interactive online Australian home staging and property styling courses. http://www.instituteofhomestaging.com.au
Rebecca Derrington, Founder of SourceBottle, speaks from personal experience:
1) Understand that there’s no such thing as an overnight success. You’ll need to work hard – perhaps harder than you ever have – but that’s what makes any success so much sweeter.
2) Create effective systems that incorporate the most important functions of the business early on, and then apply them diligently!
3) Give generously – your time, your knowledge, your experience – because it helps establish credibility and showcase your expertise. And also, because it just feels good!
– Rebecca Derrington, SourceBottle
Bec founded free media leads site SourceBottle in 2009 so that everyone could have a better chance to share their story with the media and generate publicity for themselves. She has also recently started The Media Bag www.sourcebottle.com and www.themediabag.com
And Co-Convenor of Toy & Game Expo Charles Bishop advises to take care of yourself since owning your own business can take a lot of you:
1) Know your own weaknesses and work out how to combat them.
2) Do something you are passionate about but always remember you have to make a profit to be sustainable.
3) Know what keeps you going, both mentally and physically.
– Charles Bishop, Toy and Game Expo
Charles is the co-convenor of Toy & Game Expo, an annual family event that promotes the fun of the ‘hands-on’ experience tactile toys and board games create http://www.toyandgameexpo.com.au
In our next part of this blog series, our resident experts share their tips on little things that can be done to make running a small business a bit more like smooth sailing.
In the meantime, which of these top tips apply to you the most?
What are your top tips for staying on top of your own business?
