Good Morning DINKS. Today we are discussing helpful tips to help you start or grow your small business. I recently made the decision to stop talking about what I want to do in life and actually start doing something about it. A few years ago my creative writing hobby combined with my formal education in finance became my secondary form of income when I decided to start freelance writing in the financial sector.
Now I am finally making the decision to turn the source of my secondary income into my full time profession. I am not quitting my day job, but I am taking the necessary steps to take my freelance writing to the next level. I am finally pursuing my dream of becoming an author. I have enrolled in the journalism program at our local university and I start my first class in July. Just in case it doesn’t work out for me as an author at least I can say that I have no regrets because at least I tried. But don’t worry I won’t put my new found education to waste, if being an author isn’t in my life plans I am also considering a career as a book agent or as a book editor in the financial or young adult fiction niche.
Here are some helpful tips to help you save money with your small business:
1. Use your connections. Everyone knows someone. I have a friend whose personal motto is “I Know a Guy.” If your friends know a guy (or girl) who have a talent that can help with your project you then you can know him too. Get involved in the existing community of your business niche, more experienced people will be happy to mentor you. Everyone starts somewhere.
2. Do it yourself. Starting a business and being in business for your self is a learning process. I have been a freelance financial writer and blogger for over four years and I have definitely learned that doing as much as we can ourselves helps us learn and it also saves us a lot of money. If you don’t exactly know how to do something then start the process yourself and ask for help when needed.
3. Spend money where it counts. Spending money before we make money is a big mistake, but we have to spend some money in order to start our own business. Try to save money on the day to day operations and spend money on growing the business and on professional advisors or consultants such as a really good accountant.
4. Decide when you need help. We cannot be an expert in everything. I am a personal finance expert and a certified financial planner, but I am not a marketing executive. I want to use my creativity and financial knowledge to write a “how to” series of financial books to help others. However I need a lot of help with promoting and marketing.
5. Make Lists. I am crazy about making lists and my obsession has finally paid off. I started making lists a long time ago because it helped me calm down and see things clearly whenever my life started to get out of control or whenever I had a new project that I was working on. Now I make lists because I can’t remember anything for more than a few minutes. Making lists in business acts as an organization tool to make sure that we get all tasks accomplished but it also as an informal business plan.
6. Don’t get ahead of yourself. This was one of the biggest mistakes that I made when I first started earning a https://www.dinksfinance.com/2012/05/would-you-quit-your-job-without-any-prospects/ from freelance writing. I was ready to quit my day job and get a 1-800 telephone number but I had only booked one contract and one regular gig. Business is done in steps and we have to take one step at a time. I thought that if I build my business the clients would come but unfortunately that was a big financial mistake. If you are good at what you do and if there is a demand for your service then your business will build itself.
7. Don’t Give Up. Sometimes being in business for our self can be hard. When you have bad days remember that you are living your dream and working towards achieving your personal goals. Just hang in there.
Photo by Bernt Rostad
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
“Spend money where it counts.” That’s the big one. Too many entrepreneurs who have limited startup capital spend a lot of that money that stuff that, quite frankly, doesn’t really contribute to their business meaningfully in any way!
These are all great, but making lists really stood out. I am a compulsive list-maker. I make them all the time, and it has definitely paid off in the form of efficiency and prioritization.
Good list! There is one more thing: be very careful about WHEN you strike out on your own. The economic cycle has its ups and downs, and we’ve had a recession every 7-10 years in our lifetime. Like clockwork. (If you want proof, here is a chart: http://dropdeadmoney.com/join/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/US-Economy-1948-2012-Q2-2012.jpg)
80% of all new businesses fail, and they typically fail in their first recession. In the good times, it’s easy to make money and many do. Surviving recessions, especially the first one, is tough. And you increase your odds of success dramatically the longer you give your business to take root. In a recession, no matter how good you are, or how loyal your customers are, their numbers and their ability to keep buying from you take a serious dip.
You want that base as broad and as strong as you can get it. That means you need to give your business as long as possible to get established before the next recession hits. The last recession had its trough in 2009, so we’re not too far from the next one.
I’d stick with your day job until the next recession is over, but by all means get the new writing career off the ground as solidly as you can in the meantime.
Because technology is cheap and ubiqutous, it’s much easier to start a low overhead business than ever before. When starting out, I believe keeping your expenses low is the key Sign the lease and buy fancy letterhead after you have made some money from the business and put it in the bank.