1.       Get yourself inspired first

There’s no way you can inspire others if you’re not inspired yourself first.

As a small business owner you are everything to everyone. Your duties include being the receptionist, the accountant, the cleaner, the financial adviser, HR manager and recruitment consultant. All too often, small business owners get bogged down in the everyday tasks and don’t do anything to inspire themselves, let alone their staff members if they’re lucky enough to have them .

Getting yourself empowered and inspired is a vital way of renewing that energy for everybody else that comes in touch with you your brand and your business .

 

You must do this so that you never forget why you started your own business in the first place! You want to avoid feeling isolated and miserable at all cost !

  1.       Don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know’, not everyone knows everything, after all we’re all human.

If someone asks you something and you’re not sure, it’s okay to say ‘I don’t know’, but only if you can go away and find out, come back and tell them personally. The coming back is critical, and often the most neglected.

The word expert is one that is thrown around a lot in today’s small business world. Even if you  portray yourself as an expert, you are still able to say ‘you are not sure’ and go away and find the information after. The definition of an expert is somebody who can explain your problem to you better than you can to Yourself.

 

  1.       Get yourself connected

The cliché your network is your net worth is absolutely true. Your network can help and educate you when you are not sure.

This can into link with tip number one, hence getting yourself inspired also means getting yourself connected. You need to be connected to the right people to be able to take your business one step further .  You are only able to excel and grow your business because of your connections and your network .

 

  1.       Start writing down your ideas

As an entrepreneur, one of the biggest faults we have is that our ideas take us to places that never seem to end.  Although ideas are all good, making sure they are aligned with where your business is going is one of the hardest things. When writing down your ideas, read them back to yourself, it will help you see a clearer picture of your businesses future focus and if your new idea fits that.  

There seems to be a lot of journaling around and small business owners don’t usually have the time to journal a lot however writing down your ideas means you can one day flick back on your ideas that you have written, reflect and embed some of those new strategies into your business because it’s at the time when you actually need to change that you reflect on things you have written before and remind yourself that you have been in that position before, triggering your brain to make a change , a change for the better.

  1.        Start systemising

The biggest difference between large corporations and small business owners is that large corporations have a system for everything. Small business owners who don’t incorporate systems and processes will find themselves very quickly working a 70 hour week just to pay the bills,  you will inevitably become a business owner who works from 7 to 7  who takes voicemail messages while they sleep .

Implementing smart systems means that you can engage others to help you along the way in achieving your goals. Systemising your everyday tasks by making a part of everyday routine.

 

  1.  Leverage your network

Small business start-ups and small business owners often don’t utilise their network contacts in new business ideas, additional products or programs whatever it is they are launching into the marketplace.  The best place to start is leveraging off your own network.

This means ask questions about your product, ask questions about what people are looking for and start to pay attention to what your network, your customers and others are seeing in your offering. Then tweak, amend and enjoy your growth!

 

Now this can be daunting to small business owners because after all,  the people who know you can be your harshest critics. The beauty about leveraging your network is that if your idea for your new business implementation gets past your network it means that you will be ready for the market. Your harshest critics will critique everything about the floors that they see and enable you to tweak and change and adapt for your market.

 

  1.        Nailing the customer pains and games

 

This one is often portrayed as being the simplest task however so many business owners get it wrong. It is often difficult to understand our customer fully. A simple strategy for this is to begin asking the end customer about their experience, asking about the product and then asking them about the very reason why they are using the service of the product. This will give you an insight to the pains the customer is trying to get away from.

Often small business owners do not ask the customer what is the pain factor that they are trying to conceive when purchasing a product. Nailing the customer’s pain is important because it allows future business growth without having to spend more in advertising or gaining new customers. Really understanding what your customer needs and wants are a vital part of any product or service.