How to Think Like Your Customer | Page 19

February 13, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

To make sound business decisions, you need empathy. Here’s how to get your employees to use it wisely and make it the coolest part of your company.

One of the biggest criticisms executives face is that they’re too removed from their customers’ needs and wants – and oftentimes, that’s a totally valid statement. After all, what do the analytical minds at a corporation like Jell-O have in common with the 5-year-olds who obsess over the colorful, wiggly product?

In Wired to Care, authors Dev Patnaik and Peter Mortensen discuss how empathy provides a connection to customers that helps generate new insights and greater success. When Jell-O experienced a drop in sales, executives spent hours poring over data to figure out why it happened. But the truth was, no trend report or market analysis could bring them the right answer – because none of them had eaten Jell-O in the past six months. That’s right: the cold, hard, jiggle-free truth was that they lacked the ability to put themselves in their customers’ shoes.

10 Simple Steps to Turn a Bad Business Day into a Good One | Small Biz Trends

February 12, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Some days we just feel off, or overwhelmed. These negative feelings can affect our work and the work of those around us.

Sometimes it’s best to just take a minute to turn lemons into lemonade. Here are a few quick tricks to turn a bad business day into a good one when your day seems like it’s going south.

Take a Deep Breath

When you’re feeling overwhelmed or just in a sour mood, take a moment to step back and breathe. Deep breathing can help reduce stress and center your mood, helping make a bad day just a bit better, if only for a moment. Take this moment to get your thoughts and feelings in check.

Finding the Perfect Location Part 2 | Lydia Mehit

February 9, 2015February 9, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Part I of finding the perfect location detailed your first step; identifying and profiling your customer.

In this part, we’ll discuss finding potential locations near your customer. You want to make it easy for them to patronize you. If they are likely to shop over lunch or on the way home from work you should consider locating near their work. If they are likely to shop with you after dinner, you should consider locating near their home. If your business involves their free time, you might want to locate near their entertainment options. You know this because you have a profile of your most likely customer(s).

At this point, you might consider engaging the services of a commercial realtor familiar with the area. An experienced realtor can save you time by only showing you properties that are within the demographics that define your specific customer. Remember, the majority of your customers will come from 1 – 3 miles of your location, with a small percentage coming from 5 miles.

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Importance of Documenting Business Operating Systems | All Business

February 9, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Successful businesses follow well-constructed business operating systems. These operating systems are the set of procedures that replicate how quality work gets done efficiently and effectively. Smart leaders realize the importance of taking the time to capture (in writing) the collection of processes that reflect the best practices of the company. Tasks that can be replicated on an ongoing basis should be part of a business operating system to provide consistency of production. These tasks are those that have been tested and modified over the years so that they are effective, efficient, and profitable.

10 People Who Will Destroy Your Business | Entrepreneur

February 5, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you want to build a great business, you have to be very deliberate about whom you let into it.

Emotions and behaviors may circulate through social networks in patterns similar to what’s seen in epidemiological models of the flu virus. Every positive person you let into your life increases your chances of being positive 11 percent, estimated a study published in 2010 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

“Just one sad friend was needed to double an individual’s chance of becoming unhappy,” Wired summarized about the report.

Figuring out whom to avoid and whom to let in won’t always be easy. But with a little practice, you can get really good at staying far away from people who might bring your business down. Here are 10 people (whether employees or clients) you should avoid if you’re starting a business:

Finding the Perfect Location Part 1 | Lydia Mehit

February 2, 2015February 2, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You’re opening a retail business, selling direct to the consumer, and you are looking for a physical location. What are some of the things you need to consider? How do you choose one location over another? Which criteria should weigh heavier? You’ve heard the old saying of: “Location, Location, Location”, but what does that mean, exactly? One of the biggest decisions you make, after the decision to start a business, is where to locate your business.

There are many possible locations for a retail business. You could locate it in a shopping mall, a strip mall, a free standing building, or in a business district. You can lease the space, purchase or sublet it. What you choose can be based on several different factors, so let’s talk about some of those factors.

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9 Reasons You Should Never, Ever Start a Business | Allbusiness

January 29, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There’s a lot of content out there telling you to go forth! Start a business! but the truth is, not everyone should start a business. If more of the 80 percent of small businesses that fail had but hesitated and considered why they were getting into business, we’d probably have fewer businesses and more successes in those that did exist. If any of these reasons ring true, you do not need to become an entrepreneur:

To Franchise or Not to Franchise | Lydia Mehit

November 18, 2014January 22, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

So, you want to start a business and you’ve decided a franchise is for you. There are a number of advantages to selecting a franchise. Here are several of them.

It is a proven business model.
You have a pre-defined target market.
You have brand recognition because the product or service is already known.
The business methods and systems are already in place, all you have to do is follow them.
Training is provided for you and your management team.
Operations manual that details all of the job descriptions, processes, procedures, rules and requirements for operating the business is provided.
You receive on-the-job training at a working franchise.
The franchise team helps you open the business and gets you started on the right foot.

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Crowdfunding: What’s All The Noise About? | Lydia Mehit

September 30, 2012January 22, 2015 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

Crowdfunding is the latest buzz to hit the entrepreneur community, but no one really knows how it is going to work. What we do know is that it will allow people like you and me (non-accredited) investors to use our money to help small businesses to start or grow. The problem is that the funding entrepreneurs need to prove, start and grow their ideas into companies has been at a premium since 2008. The question now is whether the excitement will translate into a meaningful solution.

The turn of the century already saw a slow down from the tech investing of the 90’s, but when the recession hit, bank funding ground almost to a stop. Where could the entrepreneur go to seek funding for their idea or startup?

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The SBA Doesn’t Loan Money | Lydia Mehit

September 27, 2011January 22, 2015 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

Q. Should I get a loan from the SBA?

A. You can’t get a loan from the SBA, but you can get a SBA loan guarantee. Come again?

Well, first off, the SBA does not loan money, so you can’t get a loan from the SBA.

The SBA guarantees a large portion of the loan made by the bank. This means you have to negotiate two sets of paperwork and get two approvals before you get funded.

Q. What is the benefit of a SBA loan guarantee?

A. An SBA guarantee gives the bank the opportunity to fund a loan that doesn’t meet their commercial requirements. The SBA guarantees the bank will receive their funds even if the borrower, you, defaults on the loan. The guarantees range from 50 to 90% of the loan amount.

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