Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

KikScore SmallBiz Interviews’ Greatest Hits & Top Strategy Tips for Entrepreneurs: Part II

KikScore has had the pleasure of interviewing many small business owners over the past few years, asking these entrepreneurs about all areas of their businesses and what has spurred their growth, while also throwing in light-hearted pop-culture related questions.

In Part I of this two-part Greatest Hits series, I highlighted the top five lessons learned from these interviews with regards to establishing a successful small business. If you missed Part I, click here.

In Part II, I will present five of the most important challenges faced by these small businesses that our interviewees shared with us. These issues are extremely pertinent to all small businesses and it is vital for small businesses to overcome these challenges in order to succeed.

Here we go, the five most common challenges faced by entrepreneurs and their small businesses:

5. Keeping Up with New Technologies

“As the cost of running business with a physical store or office is comparatively high due to the monthly rental fee as well as the consumption of electricity and the hiring of manpower, more and more businesses like us tend to create their presence on the Internet. Without a significant competitive advantage, a retailer will be forced to raise a white flag in this cruel and heartless battlefield.” – Margaret Chan, founder of Cherry’s Brandname Gallery

In today’s world, technology is rapidly changing and businesses must keep up with latest innovations in order to stay modern and be successful. Companies have to start utilizing the internet, for both its e-commerce capability as well as a marketing and advertising tool. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are essential to small businesses, as millions of users check and use their personal accounts on those websites multiple times each day.

4. Lacking Adaptability

“While it is important to hold on to your vision, it should never be at the expense of building a sustainable business model. Your business plan whether it is one page or fifty, should be an evolving document that scales to put you in the best possible position to serve your clients and generate revenue.” – Tai Goodwin, founder of Launch While Working

Another challenge entrepreneurs also face is the ineptitude to alter or adjust your business plan. The business world is full of surprises and unexpected circumstances.  In order to run a successful company, businesses must be flexible and able to adapt to the changing environment around them.

3. Fear of Failure

“Another challenge I had was more of a mental one, which was the fear of ‘Can I start my own business?’ There are so many company decisions that we take for granted until we have to make them ourselves.” – Gregg Hand, founder and owner of Hand Law Offices

Two weeks ago I mentioned how the number one piece of advice for having success as a small business is keeping the long-term goal in perspective and never giving up or losing hope. Therefore, one of the challenges faced with starting a small business is dealing with the fear of failure. You cannot be afraid that you’re going to fail and act hesitantly because then you will fail; you must be confident with all of your decisions and maintain the passion with which you started your business. Owen Wilson’s character in Wedding Crashers puts it best when talking to his partner, “Your goddamn negativity! I don’t need it! I’m an idea man. I thrive on enthusiasm. Don’t take the wind out of my sails. I need you.”

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2. Finding Customers

1. … and then Gaining their Trust

“As a small business I believe our biggest challenge is gaining trust in a potential new customer.  If a shopper sees a Macys logo or a Best Buy logo they are not going to question is this a secure company/site.  As a brand that is growing, we are not mainstream and are years away from becoming a staple in the beauty industry.  We overcome that challenge by gaining one new customer at a time.  Proving to that customer we are legitimate business, that is not going to sell their name to any third parties, is going to ship their order, their most private and intimate information is in a very secure area, and if there is any problems whatsoever with their order we will do everything we can to correct it and make it right.” – Brian Esposito, CEO of Avenue You Beauty Store

In order to be successful, you must generate revenue from customers and unless you develop a brand-new product or have a revolutionary idea, you are most likely going to enter into an industry that already has a fair share of other competitors. There lies the biggest challenge of small businesses: finding customers and then keeping them. Finding customers as a small business relies on effective networking and marketing, and especially positive word of mouth. Whether it is online or in newspapers, spreading your name and attracting publicity is a must for businesses to find customers. In addition, promoting your credibility and trustworthiness is a necessity to ensure that once you land a customer, he or she will return.

This is the service that we here at Kikscore provide for online businesses. We show your potential customers that you can be trusted, allowing shoppers to review your record of reliability and creditworthiness through the Kikscore Trust Seal and the KikReport. After overcoming all these obstacles, you’ll be “so money”. More information regarding Kikscore and its trust seal can be found at https://www.kikscore.com/more.html and https://www.kikscore.com/confidence_badge.html respectively.

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

College and Small Business: My Lessons Learned That May Help Entrepreneurs

So, I finished my first year of college and it wasn’t too bad, but being on campus was sort of distracting.  I took a bunch of courses, including one Math course(now I’m completely done with Math!), however, most of those courses were critical thinking courses. What I learned in my first year, while doing those courses,  can be applicable to small businesses.

1. Pay attention to deadlines! This is important. Even if the deadline is a month away, one should always keep an eye on it. Small business owners can often get overwhelmed from the sheer number of things that they have to do (remember, small business usually means less employees), so it’s better for them to keep some extra time before deadlines to get stuff done.
2. Keep up with your reading. My courses had a lot of reading required for them. I did do most of it, but I did not space them out and as a result the readings got a little overwhelming.  Since small business owners have to read reports and do a lot of paperwork, this is a good tip to keep in mind.
3. Print stuff out if you have to. I know we’re all trying to save paper and help the environment and all, but reading on a screen is not fun. You can do it for a while, but if it’s a 5pg PDF with very dense text, you’re better off printing it out. You can even scribble notes on it if it makes you happy. This is especially useful if your employees are emailing you their reports.
4. Don’t work in the same place all the time. Sometimes working in a different place can help you concentrate. Sometimes, when I was doing my readings, I would go outside. It helped me focus. For small business owners, try holding your meetings on the rooftop or even outside the building.
5. Use something other than a Powerpoint. Everyone uses Powerpoint. Why not switch things around a bit? I remember one of my TA’s used something called a Prezi once. It was a lot more dynamic than a PowerPoint. This would help employees focus a little more on the content.

These tips helped me get through my first year, so maybe they will help you too.

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Sealing the Deal (Part I of II): Ensuring Legitimacy

You Know You’re Not a Thief, But Do They?

By nature, people are cautious about who they associate with. As if this wasn’t enough, people become even more wary of others when in an online setting due to the lack of face-to-face interaction. Many people can be very extroverted in online settings such as Facebook and Twitter, but what about when they want to find a trustworthy business? This issue can make the seemingly simple task of promoting oneself very complicated. However, looking at this through the customer’s point-of-view, can we really blame them for being skeptical? Of course not. No one wants to do business with a complete stranger.

According to this alarming statistic, “90% of the users would leave your website within 5 minutes if they won’t find any kind of trust seal – especially if your business is unknown and new.” No business begins with popularity and definitely not with legitimacy. However, this issue of trust doesn’t mean game over. Instead, it is simply a break in communication that must be connected. To mend this break, those in new businesses must understand this: Although customers may be unnecessarily worried that your business can’t be trusted, you don’t necessarily have the credibility to refute such a claim. Because of this unfortunate fact, new businesses must make it a top priority to show customers that they are making safe and appropriate choices when paying for your products and services. This has brought about the need for online trust seals.

Why Use a Service Seal?

We all need help sometimes, and growing a business is no exception. That’s why a concept known as a service seal has quickly become so popular. Service seals, which function as trust seals for non-ecommerce websites, are useful because they show customers that a business has been impartially evaluated and deemed reliable by a third party.

We all enjoy seeing billboards that advertise various products and services, but many times we need more than a catchy slogan or an inspiring picture. When a business agrees to put a service seal on its website, it is making a powerful statement that says, “We have nothing to hide.” Such a statement provides assurance to customers and makes them feel safe. In fact, we have found that 86% of customers feel safer using a website that features a trust seal or similar mark of authenticity than one that doesn’t. Where establishing legitimacy through online networks has become a serious problem, many people have come to see service seals as a new and innovative solution. What do you think? What, if any, experience have you had in dealing with service seals and the websites that use them?

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

The Right Side of the Law: An Interview With Gregg Hand

I recently had the pleasure of talking to Gregg Hand, founder and owner of the exciting new law firm Hand Law Offices. Friendly and embodying the entrepreneurial spirit, Gregg is a great guy who has much to say and just as much to teach. After our interview, I feel that it is a privilege to share his wisdom with both the potential and current small business owners out there. I hope that you all get as much out of Gregg’s words as I have.

What areas of the law do you focus in?

I focus on small business counseling and litigation. This mainly involves small businesses that don’t have their own inside counseling centers and need help with issues such as how to handle certain customers and deal with lawsuits. You can think of me as an adviser who is there to come up with answers to these types of problems.

When and why did you start Hand Law Offices?

I started Hand Law a little over one year ago in January 2010. In the past years, I have worked in many large D.C. law offices and I’d finally had enough of them. I don’t mean to say that I disliked what I was doing. My problem was more a matter of how these big businesses are run. I didn’t like being told what to do, being constantly monitored, and having to report up the corporate chain even when they didn’t care what I was reporting. I really wanted to do things on my own.

What was one of the biggest challenges you faced and overcame in launching your law firm?

Actually, there were a few challenges I had to go through. Although I am a member of the D.C. bar, I wanted to do my work in Maryland, where I live. But since there are different licensing requirements for every state, I had to take a whole new bar exam to practice here.

Another challenge I had was more of a mental one, which was the fear of ‘Can I start my own business?’ There are so many company decisions that we take for granted until we have to make them ourselves. What computer should I use? What internet should I use? How should my business cards look? In the end, though, you just need to stir up your courage and take a leap of faith.

Probably the main hurdle I had to get over was figuring out how to find customers. With so many options out there, I needed to figure out how to do my website. I also had to figure out if I was going to just do a website or also create a blog for it. I had to decide how I was going to stand out and market myself. These are just of few choices I had to make. That being said, it’s kind of fun. After all, by being your own boss, you get what you want.

How do you advertise yourself to get your clients?

Other than my website and blog, I have Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin accounts. Of course, most people are more likely to Google you than anything else. However, I think it’s most important to keep in touch with my contact groups. I prefer to get the bulk of my customers through referrals from past and present customers. After that, it’s more a matter of figuring out how to supplement word of mouth through social media.

Have you found that demonstrating your law firm’s trustworthiness to potential clients and website visitors has been a challenge?

Actually, the trumping card for me is just the opposite. Sometimes the referrals I get can be duds. My website is not really for online service so much as it is to allow potential customers to find my contact information and let them know a little bit about me. I like to try a more trustworthy and conservative approach. I mainly want the customer to feel comfortable talking to me over the phone or in person.

What do you do in your down time to relax that allows you to recharge your batteries?

I have three kids, so that keeps me kind of busy. I also like to play the guitar and am taking lessons. The thing is that, with a startup, you’re usually going to be doing more than a nine-to-five workday. The fear of failure to succeed in a startup is definitely a good motivator that keeps me going. However, my schedule is more flexible than if I were still at a big company, so I can take the time that I need to get other things done like if I need to pick up one of my kids from school. Other than that, I enjoy doing what I do.

What trends do you see in the business world that you think are important for small businesses to take note of?

Lately, there has been a shift in the business world. With the internet, things have become a lot more favorable for small businesses. Since people now have the ability to compare businesses with one another, startups have been given a fair chance to compete against large companies because they can operate from around the world just like everyone else.

If you had two lessons that you’ve learned from your business that you could pass on to others about opening their own service businesses, what would those be?

My first lesson is that good enough is fine. Sometimes you simply don’t have the resources to be perfect. You’re better off taking a leap of faith and seeing how it turns out rather than spending forever agonizing about it. Don’t spend too much time over-analyzing everything. After all, it’s not like you’ll make some sort of intractable mistake. What does your gut say? Go for it!

My second lesson is that, in general, people have good intentions. Sometimes people need help and propping up along the way. For example, if a customer has not payed your bill for a while, it doesn’t mean they are trying to stiff you. You need to realize that, even if this is your most important bill, it isn’t necessarily theirs. You should take the time to remind them of it, but understand that everyone has their own priorities.

Just before we wrap up, do you have any parting thoughts or guidance for our readers and the small business community?

The most important thing is to let everyone know that you’re starting out. Don’t be afraid to tell people about your new business. If people can help you out, they will! In fact, I’d say that this should be put even before the hard stuff like setting up a website. Plant your seeds early.

Thanks to Gregg Hand for a great interview! If you have any questions for Gregg, feel free to leave a comment below.

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

KikScore SmallBiz Interviews’ Greatest Hits & Top Strategy Tips for Entrepreneurs: Part I

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Shocking Results in Recent OTA Findings: Should YOU Feel Safe on the Internet?

As cybercriminals become more advanced and efficient, all businesses must recognize and prepare for the imminent threats of online hackers. The issue of cyber-attacks has made its way to the Senate, debating the amount of power the president should have in dealing with cybercrimes (Full story here).

Similarly, in accordance with the looming threat of online fraud and cybercrime, the Online Trust Alliance (OTA) released their annual Online Safety Honor Roll and Scorecard two weeks ago, revealing the many insecurities of the internet. Their findings were very surprising, making me question my privacy and safety on the internet. Two of the most shocking discoveries include:

• Only 26% of the top websites and government agencies evaluated by the OTA were recognized for their adoption of the best, most efficient technologies to help protect users’ privacy and identity. This means that 74% of the top websites used by millions of people have not implemented safe measures that protect against malicious emails and rogue websites. Organizations that made the Honor Roll enacted email authentication processes, Extended Validation SSL Certificates, and testing for malware and known site vulnerabilities. More than 500 million emails originated from the organizations lacking efficient online security measures. These facts demonstrate that we are not protected on the majority of sites we visit and are members of, and therefore we must consider reevaluating websites before giving them any of our personal information.

• Social media, e-commerce, and financial services ranked higher in securing their sites than government agencies.  About 27% of the FDIC 100 and 24% of the Fortune 500 qualified for the Honor Roll, though only 12% of government agencies made the list. It doesn’t make me feel particularly safe that government agencies’ websites are some of the most vulnerable to cybercrime attacks. The government and its various agencies should be the ones protecting us, enacting the proper online security protocols and trying to set an example, not being most susceptible to malware.

This report is extremely important for both e-commerce shoppers and small businesses. Online shoppers must realize the dangers of registering on sites that may be unsafe and prone to cyber-attacks and abuse. Therefore, they will seek out websites that have the proper preventative online security measures, and will most likely buy from the large, reputable online websites. This will in turn hurt small businesses that lack a reputation in online safety, and are trying to flourish in e-commerce.  This makes it even more important that for small businesses to succeed that they clearly demonstrate to the public their record of trustworthiness and reliability so potential customers are ensured that the small business they’re dealing with can be trusted.

The OTA’s full 2011 Online Safety Honor Roll and Scorecard can be found here: https://otalliance.org/news/releases/2011scorecard.html.

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Skype Hype: Are you using it for your business?

Now that the founders have become rich (again) and sold Skype to Microsoft – a questions must be posed.  “Did Microsoft completely overpay?” Not that question, but maybe (how the hell would I know).  “Will Microsoft underfund and completely destroy this new asset?”  yes…but not right away and that’s not the question. 

No, the real question is how will this new found attention to Skype change how will you use it for your business.   Before every cable company offered a VOIP solution, Skype was the way to talk over the internet for very little cost.  That uniqueness has gone away, but it still is the best way to talk internationally without it costing a lot.

The way we’ve been using Skype is for video conferences with our team (some of us are in Denver, some in the D.C. area) – and I’m sure we’ll continue to use it that way.  But Skype has competitors in that space with video chat already offered by Apple and other web camera services. 

One of the more interesting ways could be a combination of Skype into social media.  Don’t forget that Microsoft invested in Facebook a few years ago  — so forget poking, what about video chatting with your social network.

Any other thoughts on how Skype can help your business?

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Is this a Bubble or a Buble?

Every day, I check TechCrunch.  It’s sort of a must-do type of thing.  First, you have to do it to see what the latest trends are for start-ups and funding.  Secondly, if you’re involved in a tech start-up and you don’t read TechCrunch, well, you’re seen as a bit of poseur.  And it’s not one of those things where by not doing it you seem even cooler….like not owning a TV.  For some reason, if you don’t own a TV. people think you’re really smart.  But is that really that smart?  T.V. and the internet are the main sources of news and critical information.  It’s like going back thousands of years and saying “I don’t fire” and expecting people to really respect you.

Ok.  Back to my original thought.  I’m reading TechCrunch and in the last 6 months, at least once a week, there is news of a small startup getting large funding or being acquired by a larger strategic player.  For those of us old enough to remember the late 90’s (and who could forget Ace of Base), it’s getting a little scary because it’s feeling like a bubble.  Irrational exuberance.  High Valuations.  People are losing their F&^%$#*!  Minds. 

But is this latest round of investment and acquisition really a bubble?  Or is it logically investing.  I mean, where else should you put your money?  Real Estate?  Corporate Debt?  Blue-Chip Stocks (with 4% growth).  Recent technology investments are based on profitable companies or scalable services that a larger player would rather buy than build.

I guess what I’m saying is this seems more like  Buble than a Bubble.  By that I mean a pitch-perfect time for technology.  Also, I just love referencing Michael Buble.

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

The Intuit 2020 Small Business Report – 20 Trends for the Next Decade

According to Inuit, April was a good month for small businesses.  Small business employment grew by .3%,  which is good in this economy.  This is about 60,000 new jobs!  It wasn’t only jobs that went up, the number of hours employees and the amount they earned also increased.  Inuit is a company that helps customers manage their small businesses. These numbers are taken from it’s own data of users who use it’s online payroll method.

The numbers in April are part of an ongoing trend; for the past year and a half, employment has been increasing throughout the country.  The trend in October 2009 and has created a total of 845, 000 jobs. That’s a sign things are improving! April also had the largest number of hours worked for this year. The monthly pay also increased 0.5% from March.

Also, Inuit recently released a small business report. (the link is a PDF file) Here’s what you need to know.  It’s a very interesting prediction of the future based on the trends of today.  Here are some of their key findings in summary form:

1. The younger generations are going to make drastic changes in technology. Why? They’ll have grown up with technology all around then and will know it better than older generations.
2. Baby boomers will get older, but don’t count them out! They’ll be getting more active and entrepreneurial.
3. Women are going to drive the market. They’ll become leaders for businesses, government and so many industries.
4. Economic hard times will make people move to urban areas
5. Social Networks will fuel economies. Two words. Information flow and you are seeing it right now.
6. Customers will have much greater control of relationships with businesses.
7. Work will shift more from full time employment to a free agent economy.
8. Data will be critical for businesses to compete and keep a competitive advantage.

There’s more,  much more.  The entire report is 27 pages.  This is just a sample of how the report is, a giant list of factors that will become more important in the future and it is worth a read.

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Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Facebook and Twitter: Parallels and What Can SmallBiz Learn From Them?

According to Cnet, Twitter is disorganized. Now I’m not entirely sure the article is true, but I figured that I could trust Cnet and since they included a link to a Fortune article it looks like it checks out. So, what’s going on with Twitter? Some claim they don’t, exactly, know what they’re doing. There’s a lot of speculation going on, such as some higher-ups spying. Cnet seems to speculate that Twitter is trying to emulate  The Social Network. That’s probably not the case. So, what’s really going on with Twitter?

So, Twitter has trouble amongst the higher ups. That’s not surprising. Many startups seem to have that happen especially during a meteoric rise. Remember Facebook? There was some serious chaos going on at Facebook a couple of years ago and Facebook was about the same age as Twitter is now.

However, the difference between Facebook and Twitter is that some argue that Twitter lacks a powerful visionary heading the company. Facebook has Zuckerberg, who, practically, built Facebook according to his vision.  Observers claim that Twitter does not have that. Facebook has apparently learned from it’s mistakes and has become a stronger company. Twitter is trying to get there, but some may be fearing that it doesn’t look like anyone wants to take charge.  In some ways, Twitter’s investors seem to have more influence over what the company does.

Twitter’s problem seems to be that there are too many men (they’re all male) in positions of power and from the outside at least not a single one of them has been willing to take charge. There are other issues that Twitter has to deal with too, such as the need to sustain growth, prove themselves as a sustainable revenue generating company etc. However, these issues are common for nearly every young company.

Is Twitter a service that is being kept afloat by a trend?  From the outside some say it looks pretty unstable and this management issue could distract it further. Like any company, Twitter needs practical and strong leadership. However, whoever takes that position will have to deal with another problem: balancing Twitter’s malleability, where it’s users decide what they want to do with it and what Twitter’s users want out of Twitter.  That will ultimately prove whether Twitter can succeed.

So, what can a small business learn from all of this?

First, that it’s important to have a clear plan and vision of where your company is going.

Second, make sure that there is someone who is clearly in charge and providing leadership as we discussed in a previous post about 10 leadership traits in a startup or small business.

Third, know that problems will happen. Almost nothing goes smoothly when running a business. Factor that in when making plans.

Lastly, in tough times work to pull teams together to focus on the future rather than start finger pointing about what happened in the past.  Here is a prior post we did on building the right team at a startup that discusses the importance of having a good team at your business.

What do you think about all of this?

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