Business
Identifying your purpose in life is a priority
Is your small business getting BIG?
Starting a small business can be quite a challenge. You take your initial idea and draft out your products or services and you bring your ideas to life. You input time, energy, and initial startup investments. You also find that in order to cut down on your overhead costs, you take control and have to wear many different hats in your business.
Not only are you the creator, but you are marketer, the customer service representative and support technician. Being a small business owner is a full-time job and can be a challenge due prioritizing your energy to meet the demands of your company. However, one person can do it all in the initial phases of focus, but what happens when you grow beyond that point?
Can you run your company and continue to survive on that “do-it all” mentality?
The saying “No man is an island” holds true when it comes to expanding your business and achieving growth. If you want to go forward and your demand is increasing for your product there is going to come a time when you need to expand and entrust others willing to help you succeed.
You can still be the person in charge of approvals and of making the over-all decisions, you just don’t have to spend time doing all of the needed footwork. You can measure your success through your team’s outcome and actually accomplish more in minimal time. Your business can grow forward more efficiently and become renewed with additional team inputs and ideas for expansions.
Freeing up your time and managing tasks more efficiently will allow you to go back to creating and focusing on further product development. It’s ok to continue coming up with ideas for expansion just work with your team and rely on them to help with executing the research and implementation. Your team is a reinvestment back into your product. With the right people your business can take on more sales and growth.
How to Maintain Momentum in a Startup Business
Ok you have your product and you’re making sales, now what?
Just creating your product alone can be laborious and take a great deal of energy, but creating your product only accounts for 20% of your success as a startup business. The other 80% you can account for marketing and informative decisions to further the growth and longevity of your company.
Customers are talking, are you listening?
When a customer provides feedback on your products or developments make sure you are taking this serious. Not everyone likes a complainer, however be grateful that the customer cared enough about your product to want to help you strive and make improvements. This is time and effort donated for your benefit.
Evolve your product to meet your customer’s needs. Opinions do count and have relevance especially if you begin to see patterns in the feedback that you are receiving. Use customer feedback as a catalyst for new products, ideas, and developments.
Creating a business or creating a habit?
Do you want a one time sale? Or do you want return customers? When you design your product you also want to think about the staging of the customer experience. Can they count on you for answers? Have you established trust and credibility? Does your product meet their needs so that they will continue to use your services or products?
Establish a habit for your customers and be consistent so they know what they can expect from you and your products.
Are you maintaining your goals and vision?
It’s easy to get side tracked and to lose focus on the vision that created your product. If you feel you are off the beaten path that started your success, then take a moment to refocus. Remember that sometimes the most complex situations can have simple solutions. Once you have reestablished your vision communicate this to your team so that everyone is on the same page and headed in a direction that benefits the business as a whole.
Remember momentum isn’t always about how quickly we get from Point A to Point B, instead it is about a steady movement going forward.
Making Your Purpose Your Business Step #1 – Discovering Your Purpose
There is no such thing as a “small” job. Each function within our society aids our detailed technical lifestyles and well being. From a store clerk to a business executive, each position is an intricate part of the matrix of our world. We rely on these functions without even realizing their value or contribution to our daily activity. Each person has there place and each person has their purpose. The key is discovering and taking the time to find out what exactly you are to contribute to the world.
What is even more challenging is that often we are presented with serving multiple roles in our lives besides just our “purpose.” We are parents, workers, spouses, and children. All of which demand time and effort from our daily lives. What is important though is that we balance our time and our roles to nurture our purpose and inner abilities. It takes time and effort to discover your goals and ambitions, but it is a quest that need not go unnoticed.
A common excuse for not nurturing our talents is that we are too busy with other activities. When in actuality perhaps we have over extended our time and resources. Take a moment to sit down and note what in your life takes up your time. And then after you make that list, make a column and mark what is a priority, what really “has” to be done. Be sure to note how much personal time you get outside from all your other responsibilities. Start out small and see if you can allocate at least a half hour or an hour of your time a day devoted to yourself without interruptions. Use this time to evaluate the path of your life. Are you doing what you want to be doing right now? If yes, what could you do to further your progress? If no, what do you want to do?
Use free thinking in your evaluation. Free thinking means there are no limits. You can dream to be anything you want to be. Think about what you would like to do whether you were paid or not. Think about what makes you feel good as a person. Maybe you like the arts or maybe you like to work outside. Compare your aspirations with your current life situation. Are you close to your goals or are you far away?
Once you have addressed your aspirations, make notes in a special notebook dedicated to just you. It is great to see your ideas take formation when they hit the paper and also it is a great way to look at your progress on days where you may feel there is none. Plus you will need a notebook for further steps as well. Feel free to personalize this notebook and make it attractive for yourself.
Don’t feel guilty for taking this special time for yourself. Understand that your commitment to yourself will reflect off onto others. By bettering yourself, you become better in all the roles and commitments you hold. It is when we stop to listen to our true selves and the nature of our lives that we are able to create abundance in our environment and those around us. What you are doing is investing in a personal foundation.
If you only have a half hour or an hour a day, make a list of what you want to accomplish with that time. So once the clock starts ticking you are ready to be productive and work on your goals. Time management is good practice right from the beginning. So when you do figure out what your purpose is, you will be ready to use every minute you get efficiently.
Once you figure out where you want to go or what direction you want to take in your life, then take the time to research… research…research. Research is a crucial element of developing your career strategy. Go to the library or do a search online for the topic you are interested in pursuing. Find out what tools you will need to start your purpose. Will you need additional education or training? Will you need a business loan? Or will you be using your own personal resources for the start up? Don’t let money issues stop your progress. Remember knowledge is the currency here. There are ways to accomplish your purpose on little to no funds.
Remember real life purposes take real life work. Sure some people get lucky, but often others have to really dedicate themselves to their success. Have an open mind during this self evaluation period and the rest will follow. Most importantly, be patient with yourself the same way you would be patient with another person. Secondly, perseverance is essential in the formula for success. You have to be willing to make a serious commitment from day one to yourself. Your ideas may change form along the way, but at least you are continuing to reach towards self fulfillment.
As a summary for this step’s exercise, write it down, take a pen and paper and make a personal inventory of your ambitions or the things that you are good at and enjoy. What do you feel passion about? What would you want to do even if you didn’t get paid for it? Second of all, be honest with yourself. Don’t feel ashamed or guilty to recognize your talents… after all that’s what they are there for, to be recognized. It’s up to you to release them and share them with others. Make your purpose, your business.
Making Your Purpose Your Business Step #2- Getting From Point A To Point B
In my previous article, Step 1, your challenge for the month was to research where your passion lies. Based on your research you might have discovered that
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Finding your purpose takes great effort, but can be effortless all at the same time. It seems that once we begin pursuing that in which we were intended, everything falls into place. But the matter we have to realize is that time plays a great role. Sometimes people are over night successes and others have to nurture their purpose for years to come. Keep in mind though, as long as you enjoy what it is you are pursuing and the motivation you have is strong, than that alone will sustain your ambition and provide your passion longevity.
Remember you are making a commitment to yourself. You should treat that commitment the same way you would treat a marriage or devoted friendship. The key is to value yourself the way you value others. Having a good attitude from the very beginning can make the difference and not only affect your career, but the people around you. Self dedication does show and the commitment will be reflected in your professional life and relationships.
Assuming you now have a general idea of what you would like to do, now you need to visualize how to get from Point A, where you are now, to Point B, where you would like to be. Sometimes it is easier to set up a structure for your business if you look at the large picture of your purpose and where you intend to be in the future. Granted your ideas and goals change as you change, but your general purpose will usually remain the same, it just branches out.
Now that you have researched what you want to do, take the time to research what others in your area of interest have already done. Conducting market research will allow you to get a feel for the industry you are entering. It’s important to see what is out there. Look up trade journals and magazines. Really put some effort into getting involved with your career and learning about it. Every career has an abundant amount of resources available and a lot of that information is free. If you see a trade journal or magazine that you like, sign up for their newsletter. This will help keep you updated on industry events and trends.
Reading and researching can be one sided tasks. Sometimes it is easier to learn about your career by actually interacting with others in the field. This can be done on your own time instead of regular business hours thanks to the internet. Now you can find chat groups, users groups, and forums and you are not limited by time zones or borders.
One of my favorite resources is Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/. You can look up any particular subject and find a group where you can discuss some of your career objections. This is an excellent way to network with your peers and experts in the field. It is not uncommon to find a lot of other “newbies” in these groups as well as professionals. The most important thing is to not be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t know what questions to ask then reading over the archives of a group is a great place to start. Groups vary in size and subject so what I suggest is to join a couple to see which ones fit your personal needs.
Another resource you can use is ListServ lists http://www.lsoft.com/catalist.html. Typically you subscribe through your email client to a discussion group within your field of interest. You can also do a search for “listserves” or “user groups” on the internet to pull up a vast amount of sites that list an array of groups. Not all lists are treated equal so again use your own judgment when joining.
I also personally like forum communities. You can often search for “forums” online to find one in your career field. It’s a great opportunity to share your discoveries as well as learn from others. Not to mention you can do several searches within a forum and read old posts. This is a great way to see other member profiles which often reference their personal or business websites. Some forums even have a ‘members’ section that lists all their members profiles. Any profile with a “www” by their name usually has a live link to their site. Be sure to take the time and visit these sites for reference.
When you are visiting other people’s websites in your field, I advise you to check and see if they have a links page. I have found so many great resources through other people’s links pages. Also it helps you get an idea of what sites you can possibly request link exchanges from in the future.
By networking with others and conducting your own market research, you will gain a better sense of direction and get an idea where it is you want to be in the future with your career. If you see a website that you like, bookmark it. Then once you have collected enough information, go back and review your favorites once more. Ask yourself what do you like about it? What information was useful to you? Was the site visually appealing? Was the site easy to navigate? If not, what would you change? What information would you add? Take notes, write your thoughts down and remember… patience plus perseverance, equals purpose.
Making Your Purpose Your Business Step #3- Organizing Your Resources & Collections
In our previous step, Step 2, you were challenged to get active and network with other professionals in your field. By now you should have an abundant
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You can really gather a lot of information in a short amount of time when you are dealing with the internet. So I recommend keeping organized with your information right from the start. If you are keeping track of your information in a notebook, adopt a method to keep it orderly. Maybe have your notebook sectioned into topics, for example, ‘references,’ ‘organizations,’ ‘peers.’ If you are bookmarking your reference information through your browser, organize your list by assigning them to folders. This option is usually listed under your favorites menu, typically called ‘organize favorites.’ Do whatever makes sense to you and will help you easily retrieve the information you need in the future.
Organization doesn’t just stop at notebooks and bookmarks. It goes much deeper than that. Make sure you are personally organized before you start our next challenge. Clean up your workspace. Take care of your priorities or any tasks you may have been procrastinating. The key here is to not just clean out your physical space, but mental space as well.
Now we can start working on creating your collection. Your ‘collection’ is going to be the foundation of your purpose. If you are creating art for example, it would be your artwork. If you are a writer, it would be a collection of your writings. If you are intending on being a merchant of other sorts, it would be your product.
So the first question to ask yourself would be: do you have a collection? If you do, now is the time to organize your work. Again, maybe break your collection into groups, organize your work by likeness or by time frame. This can be done by simply creating categories and assigning your work to the appropriate heading. This will help you set the stage for your web presence. Now is the time to keep in mind some of the sites you went on in our previous step. Think about what sites were easy to navigate and what sites were not. Did you like how a particular site was organized? What did you like about it? Apply your answers to your own concept of organization.
If you don’t have a collection, then now is the time to work on acquiring one. Establishing a collection does not happen over night. So be patient with yourself and set realistic goals. My very first website was created by a friend of mine when I lived in California, before I started designing my own site. The first collection was composed of only 13 works of art, but it was a start. Now seven years later, I have a collection of around 160 paintings. You don’t have to have an extremely large collection of works or products to get started. One of the best things about opening a store on the web unlike a brick and mortar store, you don’t have to have a large product line. Granted it helps, but it is not always necessary. The key here is quality not quantity.
Once you have your collection created or organized you can now work on the information side of your collection. Assign your collection or product names, titles, or SKU numbers. Write up descriptions for each piece or group. Be as informative and descriptive as you can. Put yourself in the consumer or viewer’s place and think about what information you would need to know in order to make a proper buying decision. You do not want to be vague here at all. Your description not only aids your buyer, but it also protects you as a seller. Describing your product or service honestly, prevents any likelihood of surprise to your buyer. As a result you should have less returns and refunds and more customer satisfaction.
Once you have developed your collection or product sheet, make a column for pricing. Pricing can often be the most challenging task of designing a web front mainly because you are being asked to place a price on yourself and your own value. This is especially true if the services you provide are rendered creative. A normal or typical marketing tactic is to research your competitors and get an idea of the market value of your product. If you are working in a creative field or freelance field you can search for guilds that offer pricing guidelines.
After you get an overview or others’ pricing then you need to realistically figure out what it will cost you to perform your services. You want to consider the amount of time you spend on a project, the cost of materials, the tax you will have to pay, and the cost of shipping and or transportation. Your cost may be very different than your competitors. Pricing is a personal choice and decision, so base it on what you believe the item to be worth. You want competitive prices, but worthy prices. The biggest mistake I see creative people make is under pricing themselves. Buyers believe they get what they pay for, so make your pricing valuable to them.
Develop a confidence in your work, but back that confidence with experience and knowledge. Believe that what you are creating has a value to more people than just yourself. Most importantly, be excited! Your enthusiasm will be conveyed in every area of your work. If you are not excited, then you need to go back to step 1 and reevaluate what your purpose is.
Your challenge for this month is to get organized in your personal and mental space, organize or create your collection, and then write effective descriptions for your works or products. During this process, continue to network and continue to learn and you will develop your path… your purpose.
Making Your Purpose Your Business Step #4 – Organizing & Developing Online Content
If you have done your homework then you are ready to organize and develop what will be your online content. Your content is very important as it will be
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One of the main items that need attention would be your biography. If you are an artist or writer, you will get asked for this pertinent information every time you make a submission or apply for competitions. Your biography is an essential piece of information that often can get viewed prior to your work. Even if your target audiences are publishers, agents, or clients, you have only one chance to intrigue them and make a good first impression.
There are several ways that you can address your audience. If you would like to be up front and personal, you can write in first person, using “I” in your sentence structure. For example, “I was born in Silver Springs, Maryland.” If you want to have a general sound or professional structure, you can write in the third person, referring to yourself as stated in this example, “Meilena Hauslendale” was born in Silver Springs, Maryland.”
It’s really up to you on how you would like to address your audience. I personally prefer writing in third person when referring to my work mainly because I feel it conveys a sense of professional etiquette. It creates a press release persona that can maintain your audience’s attention. However, if you prefer to write in first person you can do that and still have strength to your sentences. Either way you want to spark your audience’s interest in you and your work.
The difference between a how a hobbyist or a professional artist or writer can be determined simply on how they are conveyed through content. You want your sentences to have strength and power to them. Each word and phrase counts because they are performing a difficult task, representing you, when you are not there to do so. For example you could say, “I’m an artist from Erie, PA. I am trying to make a living doing art. Hope you will look at my work.” This sentence hardly provides any credibility to my name or my art. It conveys that I am not really serious about what I’m doing, but I still would like you to look at my work. That’s a lofty expectation to have of my audience when I lack taking myself serious.
A professional sentence structure as an example, “Meilena Hauslendale was raised in Erie, PA and began her career as a professional artist in 1997.” You want to state who you are, where you come from, and what it is you do. You want your opening sentence to really state a few basic facts about you and your work. This is not an easy task and perhaps one of the reasons why many artists and writers procrastinate completing a biography. Perhaps one of the reasons why, just as Alan Wilson Watts states, “Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”
It’s quite the challenge to write about yourself and really expand on your talents. You have to convey your work and yourself from almost another person’s perspective. Imagine yourself as a Public Relations Specialist and you were just hired to write about an artist or writer. What are some things you would need to know about that person? What strong points do you want to enunciate about this person’s life and accomplishments? What active role does this person assume now?
You don’t have to be overly personal but you really want to give your audience a sense of who you are. Let them know how you began your career. Write about your technique or your style. It is possible to be personal but also professional. You may have to work on several drafts until you get a nice flow of words and a functional biography. The time you put into writing this valuable piece of information will pay off by getting people to take notice in something very dear to you, your purpose. So share your passion with your audience. You just may notice that your enthusiasm might be contagious.
You want to have a short version (100-150 words) of your biography and then a long version (500-1,000 words). It’s advisable to work on your long version first so then you can easily copy a short version by taking excerpts. As an example you can view my biography online:
http://www.silencespeaks.com/artist/artist.html. I had a shorter version posted several months back, but because of numerous requests to know more about me, I had to rewrite it. You may experience similar feedback from your viewers. The long version will be for your website and the shorter version will be used for promotional websites that commonly limit your biography to 100-150 words.
You can also write a statement about your work. A statement simply is a personal claim about your work or perhaps on what inspires your work. Get creative here and really just type what you feel you need to express about your creativity. I was asked for an artist statement back in 1999. I had no clue what that was but I wrote one down. I’ve used the same statement ever since. You can view it online to get an example: http://www.silencespeaks.com/artist/artist.html
Take time to really write down your talents and accomplishments and don’t be afraid to express them in your content. The more people learn about you, the more they will be able to relate to you.
Your challenge for this month is to create a full length and short version of your biography. As a bonus create an artistic statement if you would like. Read other artists’ or writers’ biographies and ask yourself which ones interested you and then explain why. Which biographies had strong statements, which ones were weak? Then take that information and apply it to yourself. Evaluate what traits you want to express, organize an outline, and then write your biography.