There’s no better feeling than the pride of owning your own business. With any company, You have pros and cons. You have limited resources, keeping costs down is crucial, and attracting and retaining the best talent is everything. Small business management is both a science and an art. However, just because you’re the small business manager doesn’t mean you need to recreate the wheel. Many small business owners have seen success by following these best practices. To help you out, we’ve made a list of what we think is the 10 best small business management tips.
1. Create Unity and Focus
A unified vision and message along with a cohesive workforce are vital. Stay focused on that single vision, it’s the only way for your company to survive. Your goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics may change over time and shift with the market. Don’t make dramatic changes to the direction without using care and sound strategic reasoning.
Additionally, consistent branding matters. It creates a sense of safety for consumers and instills loyalty and trust. One of the most crucial small business management tips is to let your brand evolve without changing your image every year. Everyone from your customers to your workforce needs to be able to rely on a unified look and message to rally behind.
2. Be Flexible
This may be one of those business management tips that many business owners struggle with. Implementing strategic flexibility. It takes a lot of patience and business acuity to know when it’s better to stay coarse or shift direction. You need to be willing to ask yourself hard questions. Changing direction, redesigning your website, updating your logo, or shifting focus away from a product line or price strategy – these all seem like the best ideas at the time, but they could end up hurting your business.
Try assessing each change idea against three questions:
Am I doing this because it’s trendy? If there’s no good reason for the change, you’re most likely following a trend.
Do the benefits of the change greatly outweigh the pros of staying on course? Is this change something you want to implement because it’s a good idea or because it’s measurably better than all other options?
Who am I doing this for? Are you bringing this change to the table because your current target market will greatly benefit?
3. Hunger for learning
Have you heard the sayings, “There’s always room for improvement” and “practice makes perfect.” Learning looks different to everyone:
Online courses
Classes
College
MBA
Professional certificate
Coaching
Conferences
Books
Journals
Blogs
Magazines
It is recommended to use a combination of these types of learning, models because repetition is one of the best ways to absorb information. Whatever learning model you choose, make it part of your daily routine.
4. Make a Plan
Don’t be like most people and put it off for as long as humanly possible. The problem is that business, there’s no hard deadline for a business plan. Plus, if your small business fails, there are no second chances. In fact, most small businesses that fail never even had a business plan.
Your business plan doesn’t need to be long or complex. A business plan is a guide, a living document that evolves with companies as well as setting out your goals, they detail how you will reach those goals.
5. Find a Mentor
Don’t skip this step it’s an invaluable one. Finding a mentor doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, if you find the right one, it won’t involve hardly any financial investment. There are plenty of experienced business managers who are willing to spill out advice for just a cup of coffee once a week or so.
What should a business mentor do? A business mentor is to assist and offer direction to their mentees, helping them run and grow their business and encouraging them to develop the skill they need to be successful. The advice comes from the mentor’s own knowledge and experience, which is extremely valuable.
Places to seek mentorship:
Personal Network
LinkedIn
Forums/Online Communities
Local Chamber of Commerce
Local Rotary
Business networking events
Since there are so many places to find mentors, make sure you take the time to find someone who is the right fit for you.
6. Know when to take a step back (Continued in PART 2)
