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News of the day - a day and a week Yes, we now have a section of the Small Business News that is about events to celebrate between you and your customer. Most of us know today is April Fool's Day, but it is penny day and sourdough bread day. There are two items I want to speak of in this month's news. The day is April 25. This is "Take our sons and daughters to work" day. I believe this is of special importance because of a concern. We need more people to feel that entrepreneurial spirit. Small business is the backbone of any successful community. Some of us just had that feeling; some of us, like me, are the current generation of a line of small business owners in our family. When you take your children to work for this date, I believe it is more important they have the experience as compared to their just having a day away from school. They need to see the wonderful employees we work with and the awesome people we call customers. While we have a business for the purpose of making money, we do have a great experience with the people around us. Thursday, April 25; we hope you and your children enjoy it. The week is Small Business Week; May 5 through 11 are the dates. I am pleased that the week now recognizes the seven days; for many years it was a Monday through Friday event. In the previous format I never thought the SBA (Small Business Administration) recognized that most of us in small business do not have a Monday through Friday job. Let me suggest that you mark your calendar to watch for information during this week in the news and social media. Look for the many statistics I expect them to share about the many positive advantages of a small business within a community. This is information we need to use in telling the community the many advantages of doing business with a local business.
Article of the Month - Eliminating expenses Once every year this is an exercise that every small business should go through. It involves looking at your profit and loss statement to review your expenses. Perhaps you want to use the 2018 year end statement. Comparing it to the 2017 year end statement would give an idea of which expenses have had sizable changes. We share the article of the month, titled "Eliminating expenses" as a guide to this important effort. As my mentor used to say, "If you don't spend it you don't have to earn it to cover it".
Who is visiting Small Business Conversations this month? Steve Drake Steve Drake visited the program several years ago as we referred to him as, "Mr. Causeaholic". Steve taught us how businesses and organizations can be more valuable to their community by taking up a cause. His best known cause was getting the National Christmas Tree Association to create the "trees for troops" program in which many tree growers, wholesalers and retailers provided Christmas trees for military families. Others, such as FedEx, became involved in the effort. With the April Small Business Conversation, Steve returns to help your business look at your focus. As a hint, Steve is going to ask you, "What business are you in?" Having discussed this at length with Steve, we think you are going to find this informative and useful. It will help you find the focus for your business and your employees.
Book of the month - Understanding Michael Porter Those of you who enjoy a deep analytical book will want to read this one. If not, you may want to look at the list following the link below and select something else. This book is competitive analysis. If you have attended the session I teach titled, "If Patton ran your business", think about the uniqueness I speak of between the competitors and their effort to gain market share; it is about identifying your target customer instead of trying to be everything to everybody. It is about your niche.
Internet Tool for Your Business - the AMP calculator The AMP (Advertising, Marketing, Promoting) calculator is a tool we used in our business for many years. It represents an annual exercise in which we established our budget and made our plans for how we got our name in front of our existing and potential customers. It included details such as the donations we made within the community. The AMP calculator keeps you within budget and is a great tool for measuring the success of your efforts.
Staff Incentive for Your Business This past week during a presentation I answered a question that has been asked many times before. "What kind of incentive can I give my employees?" That is the reason for this column in Small Business News each month. We share ideas of rewarding employees for engagement. This month's reward is a bit unique as it will help to build the employee's self esteem. Perhaps you have heard me mention the five basic needs of each human. One of them is self esteem while another is the esteem of others. This month's incentive helps with both of these. Perhaps your employees have a passion outside the business in which they support and volunteer in some cause. A unique incentive is to donate to the charity of the employee's choice. The donation could be that of giving the employee time off with pay; you could volunteer some time at the charity; you could donate products, services, or a cash donation. With any of these, the employee will receive a sizable dose of esteem from others because of their efforts followed by an increase in their self esteem.
What's coming up that you can promote in June 2019 Give your existing and potential customers a reason to celebrate. We collect information from National Day Calendar and share certain events that we know you could include as a part of your promotional efforts. Putting these together can be quick and easy, but should be planned in advance. As an example, as this is April 1 you should be looking at what you can do in June. Examples of June events include: Gardening Week is June 2-8 while Boating and Fishing Week starts June 1. June 5 is Running Day There are many more days that also connect to food. This would be a great way to tie a promotion to a local restaurant. As I look at these events in June, I think about a shop in my home town that makes great fudge. What if this shop were to take some of their various fudges to the on air personalities for local radio and television stations? These personalities will surely talk about the day and the samples they are enjoying. How much would it cost to buy that much advertising time on their stations? How little does it cost to make and deliver these samples? That's promoting! We want to thank National Day Calendar for this information. National Day Calendar - Where the world gathers to celebrate every day.
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MAY 2024
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With over 25 years of frontline experience Tom Shay is America's leading Small Business Management Expert. He's a "Must Have" for your next event.
Small Business
The May Small Business Advisory is titled "Planning for a successful accountant" and is appropriate for many with the April 15 tax deadline having passed.
Did you work with your accountant? Or, did you just give them a bunch of papers and wait to receive a completed tax return?
Successfully working with an accountant requires a partnership. This month's Small Business Advisory gives suggestions of how to make this happen in 2024.
Small Business
We see that many small business owners have too much of a focus on the "top line" of their income statement.
Increasing revenue is great, but it is not a cure all for any challenges your business is facing. And sometimes, incresing revenue can create a challenge.
Who is your customer? Some small businesses have no focus. Their customer is whoever calls or walks in the door.
And some small businesses have determined which customers, in sufficient numbers, they should spend their efforts to attract.
The article of the month shares an old Southern rhyming couplet about business; "The bertter you niche, the more you get rich."
Lean Startup by Eric Reis is our suggested book for May.
As the title suggests, the reader of the book would be someone that is starting their business. However, we see more value than just that.
Perhaps you have been in business for many years. We think this book could give insight to items, and methods, that a small business owner should think about with their business today.
