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3 components to run a successful small business

Running a successful small business requires a serious time commitment. In addition, it takes more than the desire to be your own boss. There are at least three components to creating a profitable small business: good management skills, strategic marketing tactics and a solid finance background.

Management

Know what kind of people are needed to make the company great. Score is a service providing business advice in local areas around the country. They are experienced professionals who meet with clients in coffee shops and office locations to offer free to low-cost advice. Receiving consultation with an experienced person in the hiring process is the best way to learn how to select the right people. They may add knowledge about personality types to seek, and so forth. Once the right people are in place, it will leave more time for long-term planning. After all, some managers get distracted with employee personality issues and the main objective is lost. Being successful in business requires some type of mentoring process throughout. Gaining management skills from Score is one of the best solutions for small businesses because of the low cost factor along with expertise.

Marketing

Determine how to get the message out before selling any product or service. Will social networking be a large or small part of getting the word out? This should be the number-one consideration in today’s marketplace, because being able to convey a message online has lasting effects. Press releases should be completed using resources like PR Web. It provides a viral exposure level that is well worth the cost, and there are packages starting at $80. Consider hiring a consultant to assist with completing the SEO (search engine optimization) marketing. The expert should provide a specific strategy for the business and show past successes. Community colleges are great resources for finding someone with the skills to take the company to the next level affordably.

Financing

Select the bank and financing source(s) well before starting the business or entering into a new project. Prosper and micro-lending institutions are two examples of nontraditional funding. Prosper is an online community for entrepreneurs to seek funding from angel investors. Angel investors are people that provide funding to a business from their personal account(s) and seek some type of return on their investment. A business owner may have to give up a portion of the business, but the qualifications are typically more lenient than those at a bank. Micro-lenders will offer funding to companies not solely based on credit, and some of them are backed by the Small Business Administration. Also, nonprofits may offer loans between $500 and $35,000. The lesser is usually unsecured, and the agreement is to become more financially educated to obtain the money.

By Jamie Kisner

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