Disclaimer: In celebration of my company Nel’s Tax Help, LLC completing its second year of business, I decided to share some words of wisdom to other new business owners that will help them along their entrepreneurial journeys. Tips provided are purely for informational purposes only. Enjoy! 

In the last post, I mentioned how as entrepreneurs we wear many hats. But even if your business is a one person operation like my business is, you never do your business alone.

Personally, I have had the support of my husband before I even registered the business’ name. My friends have shared on Facebook that I provide tax services by sharing my posts all the time even if some of those friends have never used my services themselves. (NOTE: They share because they know I’m good at what I do but they are loyal to their previous accountant or CPA they used prior to me. I still appreciate the endorsement all the same and never take personal offense).

I have worked with other accountants, lawyers, enrolled agents, and other professionals who have provided me with plenty of best practice tips. There is nothing like fellow colleagues within your industry willing to reach back to help bring you up.

And my customers! In addition to most of them being recurring clients by coming back, they recommend my services all the time. Some have even gifted me money just to help my business grow with no strings attached.

I know for a fact I did not start my business, nor have I continued my business, without the help of my tribe of supporters and helpers,. I am sure you can say the same. I am forever thankful for my supporters because without them, my company could have easily been a statistic and would have stopped after its first year.

Always remember you are not alone in your efforts to move your business forward, and always remember to be thankful for your supporters even if it is just one other person. You will be surprised at how many people are actually cheering for you to succeed as other entrepreneurs usually want new entrepreneurs to be another success story.

Come back tomorrow for Tip# 7: Celebrate All of Your Successes

Disclaimer: In celebration of my company Nel’s Tax Help, LLC completing its second year of business, I decided to share some words of wisdom to other new business owners that will help them along their entrepreneurial journeys. Tips provided are purely for informational purposes only. Enjoy! 

As a new business owner, you are typically the following roles for your business:

• The Strategist
• Lead Generator
• Bookkeeper
• Secretary/Administrator (the paperwork and forms never ends)
• Marketing
• Human Resources
• Tech Department

All these roles and you will still need to make or oversee the production of your products, or you will still need to provide the core services, of your company. It is easy to see how it can all become exhausting and feel like you are always working all the time.

Many other entrepreneurs who have businesses that have been established for more than 10 years will say that working the extra hours at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey is all a part of paying your dues; and to an extent, they are right.

As an entrepreneur you will work more hours around the clock when you first start out because you are creating a work environment and a business operation which will require some trial and error. Perfecting a business takes time, and that sometimes mean many, many long hours and days that run together.

But you cannot forget one of the important reasons many of us decide to go into business for ourselves. Most entrepreneurs will say one of their reasons for wanting to start their own business is to have a more flexible schedule and to have more time to do more personal, enjoyable things in life.

I am not going to preach about work-life balance as I personally do not believe there is a a balance. Something will always take priority over your time – one hour it will be work and the next hour it will be your child’s sport game. There is no balance. Just choices.

But I do believe in committing to your schedule of how you will spend your time. If you can dedicate an hour in a day, or even a few hours in the week, to yourself to spend however you need to spend them to revive yourself – do it! You owe it to yourself, your family and friends, and your very company to invest in the most important asset of your work and personal life – the asset of you.

The more time you can make sure you protect your time away from the business for exercise, for family time, or even for a quick nap, you come back fully recharged to give your best energy to your business.

Come back tomorrow for Tip #6: Acknowledge and Appreciate Your Helpers

Disclaimer: In celebration of my company Nel’s Tax Help, LLC completing its second year of business, I decided to share some words of wisdom to other new business owners that will help them along their entrepreneurial journeys. Tips provided are purely for informational purposes only. Enjoy! 

When you ask most new business owners what is the one thing they think they can do to get more customers? They will usually say they need better marketing. But let me explain what marketing is to your business.

If your business was a cake, marketing is the frosting but your service or your product is the cake. Marketing is what going to attract people to your business. But your business still needs to deliver a great overall experience in order for the customer’s entire interaction with you to be great.

Using the cake example, here is what I have learned so far about marketing versus substance to sustain a business.

1. People like “pretty cakes” 

Humans are visual beings. The Graduate Recruitment Bureau states that people make their first impression of you within seven seconds.

This will explain why many online video advertisements allow you to skip the video after five seconds – they know your mind is probably already made up about whether you want to use that service or purchase that product within that time frame.

So it may be worth considering some of the following as just a few ways to make your business a “prettier cake”:

• Consider a color scheme for your brand. Mine right now is different shades of blue.
• Stick to no more than two font types (maybe three if you want to do something different for titles) for your websites, your business cards, and other advertisements
• What happens when people first contact you in person and online? Ask someone who will give you honest feedback because you want to make a good first impression within the first seven seconds of contact.

2. Great frosting cannot make up for bad cake

Ever go to an event where they serve cake and the cake looks tasty until you take that first bite. The frosting is amazing but the cake is terrible!

What do you end up doing next? You do not take another bite, throw the cake away, and you might even tell other people to not eat it because it is a bad cake in spite of the “amazing frosting”.

I have witnessed too many business owners invest hundreds and even thousands of dollars in making sure their marketing is outstanding. But the same owners will cut corners on the actual operation cost to run their business well because they only worried about bringing in customers and not about retaining them. The results are almost always the same.

Customers become one-time only customers and those customers will begin talking about how bad their experiences were working the business which keeps other new customers away. Usually within months, the business closes in spite of an awesome location, beautiful decor, latest website design and apps, etc.

So what do you do?

3. Great cake is good cake even without frosting

Provide great services and deliver excellent products is what you do. Give your customers great experiences from first contact all the way through the end of the transaction or engagement.

There are plenty of cakes that exist and are eaten regularly that do not have frosting. They are usually harder to get people to try because it appears too plain. But once a person has a great cake without frosting they will typically eat that cake again because they offered a good experience one remembers.

Be that good experience your customers remember, whether you have marketing or not, and your customers will become repeat customers – or at least refer you to other new potential customers. This is how you keep your business doors open by attracting new customers and keeping the existing customers wanting more of your “cake”.

Come back tomorrow for Tip #5: Protect Your Personal Time