"Many of life's failures are people who...

...did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." - Thomas Edison - https://youtu.be/iizwjwI5JpY

Avoid the top 3 small business mistakes

According to Kim Komando:

As a small business owner, you want the very best for your company. You want satisfied customers, you want to provide the best value and you want to grow — with as few issues and as much profit as possible. Putting out fires and overcoming hurdles have been in your job description for as long as you can remember, but you may not realize how many issues you can avoid with just a few changes.

In the bustle of day-to-day operations, you have a lot on your plate. It's easy to overlook issues, big and small, that could be holding you back.

1. Saying yes to everything

In most small businesses, the owner is a jack of all trades and does everything to keep operations running smoothly. From accounting to marketing to cleaning, a small business owner is the one who gets the job done — no matter what.

But that doesn’t mean you have to spread yourself so thin that you neglect to work “on” your business and just continue to work  “in” your business doing mundane tasks. It's important to dedicate time to strategize and plan for the future. Without that, it's hard to see the bigger picture. Do you need to pivot your business strategies or change direction? Give yourself time to find out.

So, how do you make time when you're already doing so much each day? It’s simple: Make it a priority to not say “yes" to everything. It’s OK to delegate admin tasks or other daily chores to someone else. With the proper training, he or she can perform a lot of tasks just as good or even better than you can.

By being more selective about what you say "yes" to, you can dedicate time to focus on important business matters that often get overlooked when you're knee-deep in data entry logs or other tasks someone else can take on.

1. Saying yes to everything

In most small businesses, the owner is a jack of all trades and does everything to keep operations running smoothly. From accounting to marketing to cleaning, a small business owner is the one who gets the job done — no matter what.

But that doesn’t mean you have to spread yourself so thin that you neglect to work “on” your business and just continue to work  “in” your business doing mundane tasks. It's important to dedicate time to strategize and plan for the future. Without that, it's hard to see the bigger picture. Do you need to pivot your business strategies or change direction? Give yourself time to find out.

So, how do you make time when you're already doing so much each day? It’s simple: Make it a priority to not say “yes" to everything. It’s OK to delegate admin tasks or other daily chores to someone else. With the proper training, he or she can perform a lot of tasks just as good or even better than you can.

By being more selective about what you say "yes" to, you can dedicate time to focus on important business matters that often get overlooked when you're knee-deep in data entry logs or other tasks someone else can take on.

Unanswered inquiries, voicemails, and email questions from your social media channels could mean lost revenue for your business. Don't leave money on the table. Follow up with every new lead who contacts you, and find out how you can make them a customer.

3. Not listening to your customers

Your customers are always giving you subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) clues about how they feel about your product or service. This is invaluable information, and you should consider using it when planning future updates, customer communications and marketing efforts.

How do you keep up with what customers are saying? Read reviews, social media comments and mentions, and any emails or other communications from clients and users.

And don't leave those reviews unanswered. Thank your customers for positive reviews, and take the time to respond to negative feedback. This info may even help you improve and relaunch your product or service to benefit your customers even more.

How does this work in practice? If you sell electronics and a customer expresses concern over the functionality of a product, listen closely. See what others are saying or if you can replicate the same issues yourself. You may have changes to make. If you run a custard shop and a patron is upset you aren’t offering more flavors, brainstorm additions to the menu.

By being proactive, you can prevent some of the most common small business mistakes. Scale your business to its full potential by focusing on strategy, growth and your customers. Find out how GMG  can help you grow your company to new heights with NO upfront fees!!!

Joining Forces With Your CPA

We are not a CPA firm. We actually work with your CPA on these engineering based tax incentives.

The vast majority of CPA firms don't offer anything like this and that's why we work hand-in-hand with your CPA firm to help them procure these benefits for you.   No upfront fees!

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Perseverance

From Andrew McWhirter:

Soccer superstar Pele once said:

‘Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.’

One person discovered the value of perseverance firsthand when they chased down a lead they really wanted to work with. 

He had connected with the two directors of a local business. These directors knew what he did and showed an interest in the services offered.

The problem was that they couldn’t agree.

One director said no and the other said yes.

For most business owners, this would be a sign the sale was not to be. After all, if one decision-maker says no, that means you've lost the chance to make the deal, right?

He didn't give up.

Instead, they scheduled a 30-minute video call that allowed him to talk to both directors at once.

That 30-minute call ended up lasting an hour. As the conversation went on, more and more problems were brought up.

There’s a reason for this. The naysaying director had started to trust my client during the call. It had showed them they were an authority in that niche. As a result, they felt comfortable confiding in him.

That conversation came about as a result of perseverance. And when he scheduled it, he knocked 4 competitors out of the running to land the contract.

Here’s the most important metric.

He measured the time they invested against the value of the deal.

It came out to $1,645 per hour!

Everyone I know would feel happy about making that kind of return.

There’s a lesson here. All is not lost if a key decision-maker says no. If you persevere, you may be able to find another angle of approach.

A prospect who says no is just somebody who doesn’t trust you yet. If you persevere, work through the NO’s and prove that you’re the authority in your niche, they may just come around.

There is a secret to getting your foot in any door and keeping it there!