Posts Tagged ‘start-up’
Monday, December 19th, 2011
The new year is fast upon us and it is time for that ritual known as resolution-time! I am not talking about a new resolve to eat lighter and get to the gym 4 days a week. I am talking about business resolutions – specific actions and efforts you should take over the course of the next few months to strengthen your business, improve your customer’s experience, and strengthen your team in the year ahead.
Some of these suggestions are specific things to do to help increase business activity, other undertakings are meant to help you learn more about the current state of your business. Not all of these are for every company, but I hope that you find a few on the list that make sense for you. Here then are 10 new-year-business-resolutions for 2012!
1. Review your strategic plan. It is a good idea to dust off your strategic plan at east once a year, and what better time then now? Business strategy needs to be ever changing and ever evolving if you hope to compete effectively, and an audit of your strategy is definitely in order. Schedule a brainstorming session, look hard at what your competition is doing, consider your marketing tactics and come away with a fresh approach to your business for the upcoming year.
2. Audit your social media strategy. A SM assessment is an easy resolution to start the year, and Facebook is a natural starting point. Simple to use and critically important, FB is a key portal to your business, a point of entry for many of your potential customers. If you haven’t been attentive to this in 2011, start in 2012. Twitter is another channel that you should appraise and consider whether your efforts there are adequate or if they can stand improvement.
3. Attack your budget. We do this at the end of each year, and it is critical that you look closely at your budget as soon as possible. Track last year’s expenses and compare actual expenditures with budgeted amounts. Do a reality check and see where there is fat to be cut or where you are underestimating the true costs. An focused look at your costs will help you to keep them under control in the new year.
4. Try some experimentation. Resolve in the new year to set specific goals for your business, define strategies to achieve those, and then develop a short list of experimental tactics to execute. Perhaps you haven’t tried email marketing, social media, public relations, special events, or other marketing methods and some or all of these may prove effective if you try. Be sure that you are able to effectively measure the results of any new tactic you engage in and be ready to quickly kill those that are not working and increase your efforts with those that are.
5. Gather your data. The new year is the perfect time to reconsider the business data you gather and whether you are measuring what is truly important. Resolve to measure effectively, develop useful reporting, just be careful that you don’t waste your time or the team’s on measurements which will not move your company forward.
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Tags: customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, inspiration, leadership, marketing, New Year's Resolution, pr, public relations, small biz, small business, smallbiz, social media, start-up, startup, startups, Strategy
Posted in business, How To, inspiration, social media, start-up tips, Strategy | 7 Comments »
Monday, December 12th, 2011
For those of you unfamiliar with Yiddish, the word ‘mishegoss’ is defined as craziness or senseless activity, and as small business-people we can certainly relate to that concept, particularly as the holidays loom and the year comes to an end. Of course, every small business is unique and every business owner has their own priorities for operating their venture, but there are many things that each has in common and the scramble at the end of the year is one of those. Bonuses and raises to consider for the new year, tax prep to accomplish for the accountants, gifts and cards for your best clients – these are the little chores that every business owner carries out during these waning days of autumn.
Some of us may already have these tasks checked these off the list, and others among us will no doubt procrastinate and not carry through until in the grip of a post-New Years-champagn-hangover, but sooner or later you will have to deal with the drudgery. I had planned a list of 12 tasks, one for each of the 12 days of Christmas, but could only come up with 8. So, in honor of the the 8 nights of Hanukkah (and in the spirit of Yiddishisms), I have put together a list of the 8 things you should be doing (or at least thinking about) over the next couple of weeks as the holidays approach.
1. Plan ahead. A new year is the perfect metaphor for a strategic assessment and a great opportunity to rethink your approach to the business. Make some time this month to review your current goals, strategies, and tactics. Look hard at the data and be ready to discontinue the efforts that are not paying off, renew the ones that are, and come up with some great ideas for new efforts for next year. Holiday time is also a great time to do some reading and there are a ton of great business books out there which will surely get your juices flowing and help you to generate some new ideas for your own business.
2. Review the team. Most companies use the evaluation process to determine bonuses and salary increases and December is the perfect time to sit with each member of the team and spend some time discussing their performance, contribution to the company, and personal/professional development. There are numerous methods to use for your employee review and each has it’s advantages, but on a practical level, most small companies approach this process as a simple conversation. My best advice is to take some time beforehand to prepare; for each member of the team write a list of the things they did well and the things they did poorly. Reflect on the employee’s overall contribution, their growth in terms of skills and abilities, and how they work with the rest of the team. Be honest in your feedback and identify areas for improvement and goals for the coming year. Be sure to write these down as they will serve as a guide for next year’s evaluation.
3. Arrange for time off. Holiday time is friends and family time and many folks at work will want to take some extra time to spend with theirs. Be as flexible with work schedules as you can and be prepared to give your people some extra time to enjoy the season. While our office is typically open the week between Christmas and New Years, we tend to encourage people to work from home that week, or otherwise limit their time in the office. This is a wonderful ‘gift’ in itself and the goodwill will mre than make up for the lost hours for that one week of the year. Not to mention that people come back after the holidays with batteries fully recharged and their attitudes happily mellowed.
4. Prep for the accountant. Well tax tie is here again! Not really, but it is just around the corner and now is a great time to get organized for the hand off that will happen early next year. Make sure your accounts are up to date, that your reconciliations are done through November, and that your income and expenses are correctly booked. It is a smart practice to send your Quickbooks, Freshbooks, or other financial file to the accountant this month and let her have a look. This way she can give you any notes,ask any questions, or make any changes ahead of time and eliminate the scramble that often accompanies the April 15th rush.
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Tags: end-of-year, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, inspiration, leadership, small biz, small business, smallbiz, start-up, startup, startups
Posted in business, How To, start-up tips, Strategy | 2 Comments »
Monday, December 5th, 2011
I have written several times about customer service and how important it is for small businesses and startups to deliver it effectively. Great customer service is about several things: accuracy, honesty, fairness, efficiency, and – perhaps most important of all – speed of delivery. How many times have you sat on the phone listening to bad music and marketing messages while you wait for an agent to answer your question? How many times have you sent an email request and waited… and waited… and waited… sometimes for days just to get an answer to a simple query?
Two key indicators of customer service speed are what we refer to as “assign-time,” or the number of hours or minutes it takes for an agent to receive a request, and “solve-time,” which is the length of time it takes to resolve a support request. It took us several months in the beginning to figure it out, but at crowdSPRING we are proud of the fact that we have been able to successfully reduce the time it takes to respond to a request, and the time it takes us to both assign a support request and find a resolution for the customer. The chart at the left show how we have been able to reduce these key times, in the face of significant growth is user requests.
Your customer service structure should be built to deliver that speed and this means designing support systems with three things in mind: contact methods, support cycles, and capacity planning.
1. Contact methods
Contact methods should be designed so that your customers can contact you the way they want to. Email, phone, social media, and chat are the most common methods of contact; our surveys show that the vast majority of our users prefer to contact us by email, but many still like the phone and more and more contact us via Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ to request help. Make the contact methods as easy to access as possible – every page on your site should have a ‘contact us’ link, your phone number should be as visible as possible and should clearly indicate what the phone support hours are, your social media accounts should also be displayed prominently so users can easily click through to Facebook or Twitter. Of critical importance is how you route these touchpoints; I recommend that you have a central repository for support contacts and many of the leading support and help desk software packages allow you to do this. Keep a log of calls, organize email or tickets by groups or agent, funnel your SM requests into your help software to create tickets there and forward miscellaneous email contacts into your help desk where you can track time and performance data.
2. Support cycles
Support cycles are simply the days of the week and the times of day that customers are likely to want help. Look closely at your own data to understand when customers want support. For instance if you find that 50% of all requests come into your customer service team between the hours of 10am and 3pm, then make sure you have enough agents working during those hours to handle the additional volume. The same goes for days of the week: if you know that Monday-Wednesday are your busiest days for support requests, then be sure that your agent’s schedules reflect the volume.
3. Capacity planning
Capacity management is crucial to providing high-quality and speedy support to your customers. Look closely at trends and plan for increases and growth. The time to hire and train a new customer service agent is not after you are swamped but rather when your data indicates that you will need the extra capacity in the future. For instance, if it will take you 3 months to fully train a new agent, means that you want to hire that person three months before the next crunch. The same goes for day-to-day planning – if your data tells you that weekends do not see the same volume of requests as on a weekday, plan for lighter coverage on those days. If on the other hand weekends are a busy time for you and your customers demand support on Saturday and Sunday, then the answer is simple – staff up!
Chart: crowdSPRING
Tags: community, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, facebook, leadership, small biz, small business, smallbiz, start-up, startup, startups, twitter
Posted in business, How To, start-up tips, Strategy | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2011
Distractions abound. Every day we start work and spend a great part of the day battling the noise that surrounds any small business owner or entrepreneur. The email, the Facebook, the Twitter, the cell phone, the landline, the snail mail, the deliveries, the lunch orders, the radio,the text messages, the television, the newspapers, the YouTube videos – all conspire to dilute our focus, stifle our creativity, and distract from what is really important: growing our business in a productive, efficient environment. Finding ways to tune it out is important; sometimes a lack of noise helps you to think creatively, focus on what you need to accomplish, and reflect on what is working with your business and what is not. Great ideas can come in ways that surprise you, but rarely come amid the hubbub of everyday distraction. So… here are 5 ideas of practical steps you can take to reduce the noise.
1. Turn off the apps. Try to limit your time with email, twitter, Facebook and the rest to specific times of the day. The constant ding-ding of alerts can greatly diminish your ability to get other work done. I find that if I can ignore the incoming messages (whatever source the come from) I can think more clearly about what I am working on, accomplish goals in a shorter time, and complete my other tasks more efficiently and effectively. Productivity is only measured by what you actually accomplish, not by how many emails you read, tweets you send, or blogs you read, so my recommendation is that you literally turn off those programs and feeds at certain times of the day and only turn them back on when you are ready to focus on them.
2. Work from home. The office can be a dark, bubbling tar-pit of conversations, jokes, music, and a multitude of other interruptions, all conspiring to keep you from your work and to hamper your ideas. Working from home allows you to pro-actively tune out the distractions and the commotion that come with working around a larger group of people.
3. Unsubscribe. I suspect that I have subscriptions to 80 or 100 different blogs, newsletters, and email lists. These tend to pile up over time, many going unread and many others providing time-killing content, much of which I could do without. Purge, purge, purge – take the time to unsubscribe and cut these lists down to the ones that provide you real value and information that you actually use.
4. Make a list. Keep there clamor down by tuning it out with lists of the important things you are trying to accomplish on any given day, week, or month. I am a huge believer in using checklists to manage time, but they also serve to quiet the din that accompanies you everyday work.
5. Schedule yourself. A schedule can also help to reduce the interruptions that come with work. Scheduled meetings can cut down on the impromptu conversations, emails, and IM’s that accompany any project-in-progress by formalizing the conversation and questions that necessarily accompany a team effort. Scheduled phone calls will help to offhand calls that people make just because the “need to ask one quick question.” By scheduling time that is specifically devoted to a project or effort, you can reduce the number of unplanned, spontaneous interruptions that often dominate our days.
Photo: underminingme
Tags: creativity, distractions, efficiency, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, noise, productivity, small biz, small business, start-up, startup, startups, Strategy
Posted in business, How To, start-up tips, Strategy | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 21st, 2011
Entrepreneurs can learn a great deal from the world of sport, and in particular we can learn from the professional athletes themselves. In the past year, I have written a number of posts about ways we can learn from others and from the world around us; I wrote about how much we can learn from kids, about what dogs can teach us, and about what we can learn from musicians. This morning I was thinking about ways I could improve my own focus and productivity and it occurred to me that athletes provide a great model for this; here is a group of professionals whose very careers are dependent on their ability to focus and produce. A relatively small subset of workers within a larger industry, athletes are not only there to entertain us. but to motivate and inspire us. In business we are constantly bombarded with sports analogies and metaphors and as a society, we tend to lionize athletes and their achievements. I believe that this esteem is appropriate, especially in the contact of business. Professional athletes strive every day to perfect their skills, to promote their teams, and to win. Entrepreneurs stand to gain greatly by doing these things, too.
1. Athletes train. Athletes prepare themselves both before and during their season through constant training and conditioning. Strengthening exercises, stretching, endurance training; all are part of a regimen that top athletes carry out throughout their careers to ensure they are in top shape to perform their job. The best entrepreneurs enact their own version of this; we work out by constantly studying new business ideas and innovation, by strategizing, by analyzing, and by planning. The best entrepreneurs make sure that their minds are well trained and properly conditioned to adjust to an ever-changing competitive and business environment.
2. Athletes focus. When a batter is in their stance, standing at home plate, and closely watching the opposing pitcher, they are a picture of intense focus and concentration. In business we rarely have someone throw an object towards our bodies at 100+ miles per hour (not that it doesn’t happen on occasion). The extraordinary focus required in sports is a quality that athletes develop over time and that good coaching and training encourage and enable. Entrepreneurs can learns much from athletes about keeping their eye on the ball and concentrating on what’s most important in any given moment.
3. Athletes practice. Different from the every day conditioning that athletes do to keep their bodies strong, practice is the repetition of a motion or activity over and over. Kicking, dribbling, swinging, and throwing are physical activities that, when repeated endlessly, allow the body to develop a ‘sense memory.’ This sense memory is how athlete’s bodies are able respond in fractions of a second to the fast-moving action in the game around them. Entrepreneurs, too, must develop their own version of sense memory in order to respond quickly to the data and other information continuously presented to them. And just as athletes practice that shot over and over and over, entrepreneurs can execute their own version of this by continuously learning and practicing new skills.
4. Athletes take coaching. The strongest relationship in sports is between a great athlete and their coach. Coaches provide guidance, structure, context, and discipline which players can utilize every day. In business we look for mentors, teachers, and coaches of our own to teach us, to provide direction, and to give feedback. The very best entrepreneurs actively seek out their own coaches and fully leverage the knowledge and strengths they provide.
5. Athletes work together. There are plenty of examples of athletes who compete in non-team sports, but entrepreneurs stand to learn the most from teams. The most successful sports teams are those that depend completely upon one another. Great teams often have great stars, standouts who provide leadership and skills which give a team an extra advantage. Michael Jordan said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” Entrepreneurs, too, can be all-stars, but their companies rarely succeed in a meaningful way without a great team surrounding them. Aristotle’s quote about, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is as true in business as it is in sports.
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Tags: athlete, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, inspiration, small biz, small business, smallbiz, sports, start-up, startup, startups
Posted in business, inspiration, start-up tips, Strategy | 8 Comments »
Monday, November 14th, 2011
We write often of low-cost, high impact marketing tactics for small businesses and share tips for leveraging these. We believe that small business and startups should always be willing to experiment with marketing tactics and strategies as long as those serve a larger goal and contribute to a clear strategy.
The key to this approach is to set very specific incremental goals, carefully collect and analyze the resulting data, and be ready to do one of two things based on what the data tell you. If the results are positive, repeat and iterate that tactical experiment as long as it is moving you towards the defined goal. Alternately, if the tactic is failing, be ready to quickly terminate the experiment.
Search engine marketing is a tactic that is perfect for a lean, iterative approach to marketing. Paid search allows small business owners to easily set simple, reasoned goals and then, based on the data collected, make adjustments and decisions rationally. For instance, if you have a simple goal of driving additional traffic to your site it is easy to measure the results (and cost) of the SEM campaign. Define for yourself exactly how much traffic you wish to result from the tactic, and how much money you are willing to spend for the additional traffic. The resulting data will tell you quickly whether you have accomplished that goal.
We have provided advice on using Google Adwords as well as other platforms, and today I want to share some advice on best practices for using Facebook as an advertising platform. Facebook advertising’s greatest benefit is the network effect. If a Facebook user interacts with your ad by ‘Liking’ it, that ‘Like’ is automatically shared with the user’s entire network of FB friends. This is a powerful magnifier, not just in terms of the word-of-mouth amplification that brings your message to many more people, but because of the ‘endorsement effect’ that accompanies the word-of-mouth. Studies have indicated that as many as 90% of consumers are more likely to trust recommendations from people they know. In other words, we all take advice from our friends and if one of them ‘Likes’ a certain FB ad, then we are more inclined to try that product or service ourselves.
Here is a short tutorial for getting your Facebook campaign going:
Set goals. Be very clear with what you are trying to accomplish with your Facebook campaign. Is it to gain fans for your business’s FB page? To drive traffic to your own site? To generate sales and revenue? It is crucial that goal definition include conversion definition. For instance is a visit to your site what you would consider a conversion? Is a user registration or harvested email address a conversion? Or does it have to be an actual sale for you to consider it a conversion? Define what a conversion is and be clear on how much you are willing to pay for each conversion. The only way to measure the campaign’s success is to articulate for yourself how you define success and to measure the data against that definition.
Target effectively. Facebook allows you to target your ads to very specific segments and demographics.You can segment by a user’s location, language, or by the industry the user works in. Alternatively you can target by personal demographics like age, relationship status, education or even by birthday. For instance you could target your ads only at people in California, who are single, and who’s birthday it is today. You could even choose to target only people who’s 37th birthday is today. This ability to slice and dice by the audience you want, and not just be those searching for specific words or terms can be incredibly powerful.
Determine ad type. You will have to choose between to approaches with your Facebook ads – CPC or CPM. CPC is the cost-per-click model and with this you will only pay for the actual click-throughs that your campaign generates. With CPM (or cost-per-thousand views), you are paying for the number of impressions, or actual people, that see your ad appear on a FB page they visit. This choice should be driven by your own goals; if the objective of the campaign is to drive traffic to your site, then CPC will be a more measurable choice. If, alternatively, you are trying to raise awareness of your brand or service, then a CPM approach might make more sense.
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Tags: ads, advertising, branding, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, facebook, inspiration, marketing, small biz, small business, smallbiz, social media, start-up, startup, startups, Strategy
Posted in business, How To, marketing, social media, start-up tips, Strategy | 2 Comments »
Monday, November 7th, 2011
The everyday grind of running a business can be tough. I am not talking about wooing potential partners at fancy lunches, or drinks with clients after work, or even the whiteboard sessions that can fill our days. I am talking about the nitty-gritty reality of operating a business, paying the bills, washing the dishes, and managing employees.
Most small businesses and startups do not have a dedicated human resource professional to manage the endless details of benefit plans, recruiting, payroll, and records keeping so those tasks typically fall to a founder or general manager. The responsibility to deliver for your team never ends and can sometimes be overwhelming in its complexity and detail and it is critical that you get it right all the time, every time.
I have found a number of great resources that help me in this day-to-day process, keep me on top of the details, and make sure that nothing falls through the cracks. My approach is to leverage as many ‘self-service’ resources as possible and there are tons available online for everything from template forms to payroll services to insurance marketplaces. These services are efficient, inexpensive, and accessible from anywhere at anytime. If you choose carefully you can save a great deal of money, increase your own productivity, and keep your employees happy with the benefits and services you provide them. Remember, other companies are lurking in the dark, waiting to steal away your most valued team members. The happier the team is, the less likely they will listen to the siren song of your competition and choose instead to stay with you!
Here are 5 great online resources to help with your own human resource needs:
1. Recruiting and screening. There are several good options for recruiting and screening online and sites like CareerBuilder and Monster.com do a fair job. On these sites an employer can post openings and search for a good match with relative ease and at a low cost. But the results are often less than stellar, with many applicants sending out resumes en masse without taking the time to read the posting or check the job’s requirements. LinkedIn provides some great tools for identifying and screening candidates and allows a business to leverage their own network and word-of-mouth to identify the most qualified candidates. Tow other good online resources are Ceridian and HireRight.com both of which can help you to manage the search and the screening process.
2. Payroll and record keeping. Payroll can be the most time-consuming of HR activities and it is critical that you get this right. When there is a mistake in an employee’s payroll, believe me you will hear about it. And if those accounts don’t reconcile properly at the end of the year, the consequences can be painful; the IRS frowns on employers who don’t do this work carefully and your accountant will become an evil, fire-breathing demon if things don’t match up. We use SurePayroll, a Chicago-based startup (now a division of PayChex) and their solution is economical, simple, and reliable. Once you have your company set up in their system, payroll is accomplished in 3 or 4 clicks of the mouse and you can be assured of its accuracy. SurePayroll’s reporting tools are powerful and detailed, Quickbooks integration is straightforward, and the interface is clean and intuitive. Another interesting resource for online employee record keeping is EffortlessHR, which provides a rich variety of forms which can be completed and uploaded to the site and can be used to manage timesheet reporting, employee history, benefits management, and the like.
3. Health and disability benefits. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 requires all states to set up health insurance exchanges by January of 2014. These exchanges will allow small and mid-size businesses (as well as individuals) to compare health insurance benefit plans for their employees. Several states already have their HIX up and running and others are poised to follow soon; Massachusetts Connector, the Utah Health Exchange, and New York’s HealthPass are operational and businesses can use those today. In the meantime there are also several private exchanges that operate in much the same way. One of the leading private exchanges is eHealthInsurance which allows small business owners to compare a variety of medical, dental, and vision plans side-by-side to find the best match for their company.
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Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, human resources, inspiration, small biz, small business, smallbiz, start-up, startup, startups, Strategy
Posted in How To, inspiration, start-up tips, Strategy | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 31st, 2011
Many small businesses are handed down from generation to generation, with each succeeding operator leaving their own stamp on the family business. Some do better and others do worse, but every so often an heir comes along who profoundly changes the way that business is operated and leaves a meaningful legacy for the family to build upon further.
Dario Cecchini inherited his family’s 250 year-old butcher shop in Panzano, Italy 30 years ago and has turned a small shop into a mecca for foodies, built a brand which is now recognized internationally, extended the business into other areas, with restaurants and branded packaged products, and become a star of the international media and in the restaurant world. He has been featured dozens of times in the international media, with outlets from the New York Times, to Atlantic Magazine, to the New Yorker singing his praises and waxing lyrical about his butcher shop, his restaurants and his philosophy. A quick YouTube search turns up more than 175 videos, including this great episode from Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel.
Dario is a philosopher as well as a chef and a butcher, but more than anything he is an entrepreneur who has taken a passion for traditional methods of butchering and food preparation and turned these into a thriving small business in the heart of Tuscany. The Cecchini brand stands for humanity, quality, and tradition and these values have resonated across the world of restaurants, business, the locavore movement, and the internet.
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Tags: branding, creativity, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, facebook, inspiration, leadership, marketing, pr, public relations, small biz, small business, smallbiz, social media, start-up, startup, startups, Strategy
Posted in business, How To, inspiration, marketing, social media, start-up tips, Strategy | 2 Comments »
Monday, October 24th, 2011
I have been spending some time recently with the online business press. Lots of great articles and information out there, so I thought it was time for another edition of the Business Press roundup! It is an incredibly dynamic time in the world of startups and small business: the economy continues to freak, but at the same time we are seeing a record number of new businesses formed every month. Entrepreneurs benefit greatly by staying on top of the news, seeking out disparate opinions, and sharing their own analysis and judgements.
The 13 articles listed below are organized by category: Small business news, Small business and the economy, Starting a business, and Running your business. Let me know your thoughts and please share links to any great articles you’ve come across recently.
Small business news
NY Times
A Wave of Chinese Money Gives a Lift to Companies Struggling in Tough Times
“Chinese investment in American companies amounted to $5 billion in 2010 and is expected to rise; for some smaller companies, it has been a lifeline.”
Entrepreneur.com
Intuit Program Awards Grants to Help Spur Local Jobs
“Over the past 18 months, Intuit has been awarding hiring grants in $500 to $25,000 increments to U.S.-based small businesses. The company has pledged to bestow $1 million in grants over the course of the program, which runs in three-month increments.”
Small business and the economy
American Public Media: Marketplace
Small biz lending fund is a bust
“The Small Business Lending Fund was designed as an answer to small businesses that said banks were too scared to lend them money.”
Forbes
The American Nightmare: Student Debt Will Be A Long-Term Drag On The Economy
“Amid budgetary constraints, state funding for public universities is drying up. To make up the shortfall, those universities are raising tuition and making per student funding cuts”
Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, inspiration, small biz, small business, smallbiz, start-up, startup, startups, Strategy
Posted in business, inspiration, start-up tips, Strategy | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 17th, 2011
What is a freelancer if not a small business? Just like small businesses, freelancers must engage in marketing, manage payables and receivables and other accounting tasks, perform HR functions, direct production, and plan strategy.
1. Planning and strategy. There are lots of great tools and apps out there that will help you to plan and execute great strategy for your freelance career or business, but the greatest tool you can use is knowledge. The Harvard Business Review is probably the leading publication for business and their an online journal contains thousands of articles nonbusiness theory, practice, and technique. The current issue of HBR includes articles which can provide great value to freelancers, such as “Stop Procrastinating…Now,” “Customer Loyalty in the Twitter Era,” and “he Secret to Dealing With Difficult People: It’s About You.”
2. Marketing. The single greatest marketing tool that a freelancers can use is standing directly in front of you: your clients. Happy customers talk, and when they talk about you or your business, the people they speak to listen. The typical freelancer will receive well over half of their new clients through word of mouth, and strong WOM builds business. Wikipedia defines it thus, “Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. Two great resources are Salesforce and Zoho.com. These two online resources allow you to plan and manage marketing campaigns, manage lead generation, automate sales management, perform inventory and customer support functions, and analyze and visualize customer data.
3. Managing HR. The human resources manager is typically one of the most important (and feared) members of the corporate management team. They typically manage processes that touch every employee every day: payroll, health benefits, incentive programs, performance reviews, pension and retirement plans, and vacation policies. But freelancers do all of this on their own, and more. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Their website has a ton of resources for small businesses and freelancers, including articles, forms and templates, and user groups and forums, as well as information on other resources such as health care benefits, employee assistance programs, and retirement plans.
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Tags: accounting, client, CRM, customer, customer service, designer, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, freelance, freelancer, graphic design, inspiration, leadership, marketing, project management, small biz, small business, smallbiz, start-up, startup, startups, Strategy
Posted in business, How To, inspiration, marketing, start-up tips, Strategy | 11 Comments »
