Home
>
Small Business
>
The Failures Guide to Small Business Success

The Failures Guide to Small Business Success

How many "get rich schemes" have you joined? Or have you invested in numerous legitimate business endeavors only to have them not work for you? Have you started you business and now facing a complete shut down? Do you consider yourself a failure? Are your loved ones pressing you to give up?

Risk-taking is a large part of entrepreneurship, in fact it is what drives it, and it's why so many people avoid small business, despite its many potential rewards. Those of us who have tried it only to have failed may find ourselves right back where we started, which could leave us feeling like total failures. Of course, this is no place to be.

If things have gotten rough, to the point you may have to close up shop or you're seriously thinking about it, then it is no accident that you've found this article.

Every small business owner will face difficulties from time to time. According to http://sba.gov most small businesses can take up to two years before becoming profitable. But even so, knowing that won't pay your bills. So how can you turn things around? Below are some special tips that will help you through the tough times:

Volunteer:You might be wondering how could volunteering help my struggling business? But it is a great way to expand your networking circle while business is slow. Find organizations that could use your help. Contribute your best work. This is especially helpful for service businesses. Your non-profit contributions lend credibility to your business that money can't buy. Your non-profit work can provide you with valuable references, add to your portfolio, help you gain additional experience, help you with networking, receive free press, and many other benefits. Not to mention the great feeling you get from knowing you've contributed to a good cause.

Moonlight: One great way to keep money flowing is to take a part-time or temporary job until you can fully support yourself with your business. Your various skills are quite useful to other businesses; many of which would love to have a self-starter a part of their team. In some cases, you may be able to work for your previous or current employer on a part-time or temporary basis. You can spend the time you need for your business working on existing projects, volunteering and the like while making sure you have money for bills and other essentials.

Subcontract:Your business may not be doing what you'd like but there are many other businesses that are doing quite well. So well in fact, that they need outside help to keep going. You can offer your services to these businesses by checking out your local yellow pages, classified ads, or even a web site like http://sba.gov, which allows you to bid on projects and services posted by other companies and individuals.

Lower Overhead Costs:Evaluate your accounts payables and try to determine ways you can lower costs. Can you reduce how much you spend on long distance? Can you find a cheaper host? Can you share office space so you get afford your lease payment?

Customer Loyalty Promotions:Offer incentives to your existing clients. Provide offers that you know they could use and are at reduced prices. Special pricing for existing clients fosters loyalty and is often your best source for new funds and generating new clients through referrals.

Pay Special Attention to Accounts Receivables:Always stay on top of who owes you money. You should develop a step-by-step system to approach clients or vendors that need to send you any funds. In many cases, a simple oversight is the reason you haven't received what's due to you from your business associates so keep reminding them!

Stay Active in Marketing:Despite the fact you may have no current clients right now don't discontinue your marketing efforts. Keep networking, submitting press releases, and following your marketing plan.

Save for Rainy Days:If you follow these tips, you're bound to get new customers or clients. Avoid getting too excited. Put some of your profits away to ensure you have some to last you through any dry spells you may encounter in the future.

Don't Give Up:Failure is not an option. Keep reminding yourself of this little phrase each time you feel the temptation to succumb to negative thinking. Negative thinking is more powerful then you think. But the best part is that positive thinking is just as powerful if not more. Remember, if you believe you will fail, you will.

Follow these tips and you're sure to see your business turn-around. There is tons of free help available on the Internet and there are many people who have been where you have been. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Copyright ? 2005 Rhonda Winn - All Rights Reserved. Rhonda Winn has been helping small business owners since 2000. She is the author of the popular eBook, "http://sba.gov" Receive the first chapter free, when you join her bi-monthly newsletter today: http://sba.gov. Her site contains dozens of free downloads, articles, forums, resources, journals, and more.

You are free to publish this article as long as the content remains unchanged and copyright notice and byline is not removed from article.

cleaning lady near Highland Park ...

In The News:

Uber teen accounts now feature live video streaming from the driver's camera, but encrypted recordings stay on Uber's servers for up to 14 days.

Router firewalls and software firewalls serve different roles in protecting your home Wi-Fi from unwanted traffic and suspicious connections.

A Chrome extension with 70,000 users and a 4.7-star rating began injecting fake update warnings after a threat actor acquired and weaponized it.

Amazon's Alexa+ rolls out free to Fire TV devices across the U.S., but hands-free microphones and stored voice data raise key privacy questions.

Meta's new teen accounts settlement sets a default two-hour daily limit on Instagram and Facebook, plus night mode and school mode restrictions.

The CareCloud data breach exposed Social Security numbers, banking information and medical records belonging to more than 3.75 million people.

Waymo reveals its custom 5-nanometer chip and dual computing systems designed to take over instantly if the robotaxi's primary computer fails.

Identity theft now includes account takeover, phone hijacking and payment card exposure. Here's what to look for in identity theft protection services.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

The FBI and Justice Department seized domains tied to QScan and QTRouter, tools allegedly used by China-linked hackers to breach NASA and other agencies.

Uber Eats drone delivery launches later this year through a Zipline partnership, starting in Dallas and Houston with a goal of one million daily flights.

Medicare Open Enrollment scams start with data broker targeting months before October. Learn why August is the time to remove your personal info.

The World Humanoid Robot Games' crashes show how far the technology still needs to go to be useful, "Survivor" reality TV star and robotics scientist Christian Hubicki says.

X-Humanoid's TianGong Ultra ran 100 meters in 9.32 seconds at Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games, beating last year's winner by more than half.

A tap-to-pay charity scam is turning small $15 or $20 donations into charges of nearly $5,000, with victims losing thousands before they notice.

Kurt Knutsson shares seven emergency preparedness lessons from surviving Hurricane Katrina inside a New Orleans hotel as conditions turned desperate.

A contractor stored credentials in a Google Doc set to "Anyone with the link," and Google Search autocomplete eventually surfaced the password string.

New Orleans 911 uses Carbyne AI to triage repeat auto crash calls, but strict limits keep human call-takers in control of all other emergencies.

A single card skimmer can generate $1 million in stolen funds, and Secret Service video shows criminals installing them in under two seconds.

ChatGPT, Meta AI and Google now use memory, connected apps and past chats to personalize ads and responses in ways most users overlook today.

MagicalAuth by Glide.id uses cryptographic SIM credentials to verify bank logins without sending SMS OTP codes that scammers can intercept or phish.

A humanoid robot named Lightning Bolt ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, edging Usain Bolt's record.

An AI agent using Claude AI canceled another person's gym booking after finding a security flaw in the reservation system's authorization checks.

Trump signed a memorandum allowing vetted private U.S. companies to conduct cyber operations against foreign criminal organizations under oversight.

Your Social Security number appeared in a breach, but exposure and identity theft are not the same. Here's how identity restoration actually works.