The Owner's Manual for Small Business. Rhonda Abrams

Feature: A Dog’s View of Business

       Doing Well by Doing Good

       Great Faith. Great Doubt. Great Effort

       Index

       Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      Dear Reader,

      Over the years, I’ve often wished I could find a business consultant in a book—a source I could turn to for ideas, inspiration, or answers. Why, I wondered, didn’t my business come with an owner’s manual?

      After all, virtually everything I have—my computer, my DVD player, even my toaster—came with a manual. But the single most complicated thing I own—my business—came with nothing but a good idea and a lot of motivation.

      I decided that since nobody else had developed an Owner’s Manual for Small Business, I would create one myself.

      Like many entrepreneurs, my personal business odyssey has been a story of growth, change, and excitement. Twenty years ago, I started out with a home-based, one-person consulting business. Over time, my company grew. My clients grew bigger, too, until I was developing business plans for larger and larger companies, even Fortune 100 companies, and had clients all over the country and the world.

      In 1994, I saw the promise of the Internet and began an Internet company for small business owners. It was profitable at a time when few dot-com companies made money, and I later sold it.

      A few years earlier, I began writing a column about small business for the Gannett News Service. It continues to appear weekly in USAToday.com and over 100 newspapers throughout the U.S. I’m proud to say it’s still the most widely distributed small business column in the country. I’m also invited to speak to entrepreneurs’ groups throughout the world about how to start and grow businesses.

      Today I own a fast-growing publishing company. I deal with the real-life issues facing all entrepreneurs—managing cash flow, making payroll, closing sales, raising money, getting product out the door, and on and on.

      To prepare this Owner’s Manual, I thought about the things I wished someone had told me as I grew my businesses—things I learned the hard way—as well as the questions I am asked most frequently by clients, readers, and entrepreneurs. I wanted to address the toughest issues business owners face, from getting started to exit plans to how to have a successful business lunch.

      So turn to this handy Owner’s Manual for Small Business when you need information, inspiration, or ideas. In the pages that follow, you’ll find the advice you’d hear from me if we were meeting face to face—exactly the kind of advice I could have used when I was starting and growing my business.

      Good luck with your own venture. I’m pulling for you all the way!

      Rhonda Abrams

       1

      Thinking Like an Entrepreneur

      Common Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs

      

Ability to develop a clear focus. You need to understand what makes your business different from your competitors’. Develop a vision and stick with it, rather than moving from one great idea to another. Many entrepreneurs fail because they’re always finding their next idea more enticing than their current activities.

      

Realistic expectations. If you start a diet expecting to lose ten pounds every week, you’ll soon be disappointed and give up. When your goals are more in line with reality, you’re much more likely to stick with them and be successful. Very few people “get rich quick.”

      

Willingness to plan. The most successful business owners are those who develop a clear set of objectives and devise a roadmap for achieving them. They study their market, competition, and operations and are willing to honestly examine the obstacles they are likely to face.

      

Flexibility and adaptability. While you need a concrete plan and a clear focus, you must likewise have the flexibility to respond to changing conditions. In business, as in life, all things change, and some things inevitably go wrong.

      

Ability to overcome the fear of making sales. At some level, every business owner must be a salesperson. You can’t be afraid to cultivate customers, motivate employees, nurture suppliers. You don’t have to have this skill when you start a business, but you’ll have to develop it to stay in business.

      

Willingness to work hard. There’s no getting around it; being in business means having to put in the hours to get the job done.

      

Clear personal goals. All of us have many competing goals. We want to make lots of money but be home when the kids get out of school. We want to have complete creative control but have a wide array of products and services. These goals are inevitably in conflict. To achieve success, you have to focus on what’s really important to you and what is achievable.

      

Experience. You needn’t have run General Motors to start a used car lot, but you should have some meaningful, related experience, either in your chosen industry or using the type of skills you’ll need, before setting off on your own venture.

What Inspires You?

      When you think about your business, what do you hope for? To make a lot of money? Use your creativity? Have more flexibility in your life? Do you see yourself working alone or building a company with other employees? Do you hope your company grows very large or do you want it to stay small?

      As you build and grow your business, it’s critical to understand what motivates you, so you can plan a company that responds to those personal needs. Otherwise, you can easily end up sabotaging a successful company. For instance, I’ve seen a fashion designer with a great need for creativity who ended up frustrated when her company grew so big she never had time to pick up a pencil. She started to torpedo her own success just so she could get back to the drawing board.

      Entrepreneurs are motivated by what I call the Four C’s: Creativity, Control, Challenge, and Cash. Of course, we each want all four of these to some degree, but knowing which we want or need most can help us structure our companies to best achieve our goals.

      Keep in mind there are sometimes trade-offs between personal goals. Wanting more cash often means having less control; staying at the center of the creative process may mean you need to have a partner or grow slowly.

      Which of the Four C’s motivates you most?

      The Four C’s

      

Creativity. Entrepreneurs want to leave their mark. Their companies are not only a means of making a living, but a way of creating something