The One Man Business - Administration

You need to take time to work on your business, not just in your business. Your are in business to earn money to allow you to live a better life. Money, that is the main reason for you being in business. Sure there are other reasons for you owning your own business, but with no money - well you are wasting your time.

Money has to be managed. From the time you write out an invoice to the time that you are paid and the money bank, you need to manage your money.

A business needs things, from a pencil to a delivery vehicle and these have to bought and paid for. So now you also need to track what you are spending your money on.

Add the Tax man into the mix, and he is going to insist that you keep proper records.And to make it even more difficult, customers could abscond without paying and just as bad, may have to refunded.

You could employ someone to do this or do it yourself, quickly and easily. You need a Bank Account and a Spread Sheet. A printer and a scanner are also handy but not essential.

All South African Banks offer a variety of accounts. Look at costs, what you get and can you use electronic and phone banking. They also have special offers for Small Business, for example FNB gives it clients a first class account package free!

Capitec offer an non business savings account that will cost you R5.00 a month and includes 5 separate accounts, lets you use a Debit Card free of charge to make purchases. Ideal if you are a sole trader.

I prefer to use a Spread Sheet and here is another free solution - almost everybody has a Gmail account - Google also offer Google Docs through their Google Drive, which also include up to 15 GB free on-line storage.

Bank

• Check your balance once a day
• Ask the Bank to e Mail your statements
• or, go on-line to download them

Income & Purchases

Set up columns in order to differentiate

• List invoices issued for the month
• Mark them as outstanding or paid (use colours)
• List Income and cross reference to the Invoice
• List Expenses (use cash slips & receipts

Once you have listed your nonsenses, either file the receipts or scan them 

Reconcile your bank statement against your spread sheet. Here you will find that printing out the statement and spreadsheet makes reconsiling easier thet do it on your PC and having to switch screens.

Whilst you are still small, this is the quickest and easiest way but when you start to grow you will need to get a business manage or an account.

Small Business Communication

We communicate in different ways. We can show displeasure with a look, or the tone of voice we use when talking to someone. In fact Body Language and Tone of Voice can easily give us away when we say one thing and mean another.

But in the same way we use our bodies or voice to communicate, it is possible to do similar using text. Send someone an eMail or letter in BOLD CAPITALS and you will get their attention.

It is obvious that when communication with someone, whether they are a customer or supplier or our tone of voice, body language or even our actions can betray us.

So how must one act when dealing with with people. Well, you need to be professional about it. Let's say you would normally go to work in jeans and t shirt. But one day you are meeting a new client for the first time. You do not know them, you have no clue what would make them feel that you are the right person or not the right person for the job.

The first thing you do is you change into an outfit that is better suited for the meeting. An important rule to remember, you can never be overdressed, ties and jackets can be removed, sleeves can be rolled up, but arrive at a meeting in shorts and t shirt when everyone else is wearing  a suit and tie and you will be at a distinct disadvantage and your appearance could be taken as insulting.

The next thing you need to remember when meeting someone for the the first time, is step up to them, hold out your hand to shake theirs and say, “Hello, Mr Jones, how do you do, I am Brian Smith” If you know his name, use it. When shaking hands, use a firm grip but do not squeeze.

These actions communicate a lot about you. As a young adult and as a student, casual dress may be acceptable, but they do not have to deal with new customers or bank managers.

Some of your communication will be phone and unless you are Skype or similar, the person on the other side cannot see you, which means they will use your voice as an indication of what you are really saying. A lesson I learnt working a travel consultant, is to smile. That simple act makes your tone of voice more pleasant.

You know your business, you know your customers and your market, make sure when you communicate with them face to face by phone or face to face, that you do not give them cause to doubt you.

One Man Business - Marketing

We refer to Marketing and Sales as a collective disciplines. The truth is that are two completely separate Business functions.

Marketing targets a pool of potential clients, informing them about you, your business and your product and why it meets their needs.  When marketing has done its job and has created a lead, then Sales takes over.

In the past, marketing was a costly affair, and you were taking the big boys on at their own game. TV adverts were (and still are expensive) and lets face it, people go to the kitchen or toilet during advert breaks, Radio is more niche as you find the majority of people will listen to radio in traffic. Newspapers and Magazines, whilst still around are not as popular any more.

But the Internet has created a Marketing arena that is both cheap and far reaching and allows small to compete head on with big. Even with little or no budget, your Website can look as good as a Website that was created at a cost of hundreds of thousands and through careful use of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can appear in the same search results as your bigger competitor.

So how do you use the Internet to market your business? You need to ask your self, what is your ultimate goal? Next, you need to know our market and where do you find them? How will they find you? Who are you competing against? What is your value - why should they use you and not your competition?

The Internet has no limits, no boundaries, Grandparents may never venture beyond Facebook,  What is your target is 16 year old females teens? Your product or service maybe cater to a market that you have no personal experience with, so answering these questions is the difference between success and failure. But they service another purpose, they tell you what channels to use to reach your market.

You will not find Grandparents on Twitter, but you will find young professionals there.

So your next step, once you have the answers to these questions?  You start to engage your market on the channels where you are most likely to find them. Each  channel needs to be enraged differently, but they all share a common feature, you need to visit and engage your audience frequently. Do not be pushy, answer questions and give advice. Never push a product or service, take your time introducing them and remember the main purpose for any business is to solve a problem that exists.

One Man Business - Sales.

Money, Money, Money - we all need it. And for you and your business to survive, you need to sell your products or services for it.

This is not about greed, but every thing in life boils down to money. That McDonald's takeaway, costs money, your daughter's new braces cost money.

Business is about solving a need. Your customers need what you have to offer, but they also have a choice, because the guy around the corner has the same thing. You want them to choose you over the other guy, right?

Selling is not difficult, but most of us shy away from it. We want the business to come to us, we do not want to go looking for it. Sorry to burst your bubble, but (and maybe this sounds clinched,but...)what you put in, you get out.

So how to attract business and make the sale - ask for it.

On your Website, you need to tell customers how you solve their need and then you need to ask for the sale. There, I said it - ask for the sale. You do this buy adding something obvious that gets their attention, like a big red button that takes them to the sales page.

When a customer phones you and asks for information, don't just give it to them and expect them to make up their mind to buy from you. Again, ask for the sale, something like, "I can come and demonstrate the widget for you, would you prefer the red one or the blue one. When is good for you, I am free Monday afternoon or Wednesday morning."

You have done two things, you have teased them with a choice of widgets, so he starts to imagine them and their use and you got him to commit to a meeting but limiting his choice of time.

One thing to always remeber, be honest, sales is not about lies. If you are dishonest, it will bite you in the bum.

Back to he sale. When you go to meet your customer to demonstrate your widgets, prepare.
What are his objections going to be and how will you answer them. Dress appropriately,  you can never be over dressed, but you can easily be under dressed. Arrive early, being late aside from being rude, screws up your customers schedule. Impress him and you should make the sale.

I have only touched the surface, there is a lot more to selling but if only take away one thing from this, it is - ASK FOR THE SALE.

A good place to find out more http://sales.about.com/

The One Man Business:- Administration.

Time, there is just enough in the day. You arrive at work start working. You are running late and clients are complaining. The e-Mails are piling up and your tax return is due tomorrow.

Sound familiar, there are many small business owners in this position. Competition is tough and you have to work harder just to make ends meet.

Business fails when systems are not in place, the most important one is your administration. If you cannot afford to outsource your admin and must do it yourself, you need to keep it up to date or you could find yourself in trouble.

if you get into the habit of doing small tasks at regular intervals, for example, when you switch on your computer in the morning, connect to you bank and check what money came in overnight and what went out. You then know if that overdue payment needs chasing up or if money is missing from your account. A 5 minute task done daily, will save you grief.

When you buy something for cash or using a credit (debit) card, you tend to walk around with a wallet of receipts that eventually get lost. So, a ten minute task this time, take the receipts out of your wallet and scan them, save them and when you do get round to doing your accounts, you  have them handy.

If you set aside one morning every fortnight, you can check that you have invoiced out work, that outstanding money is collected and that expenses are tracked. And you do not need any fancy software, everything can be tracked using a spreadsheet.

And here is a cost saving hint, you do not have to buy Office Software to get a spreadsheet, Google will let you use Google Docs Free!

Administration, sorted!

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Operating a One Man Business

I cannot tell you where I first heard the expression, it was most probably at school. The meaning is obvious, it refers to someone who operates a kitchen on his or her own and does all the jobs that need doing.

If you run your own business and are a one man operation, chances are, you do everything from reconciling your accounts, to making the sales call and doing any client work that needs doing.

Any person starting out in business, will soon discover that without a team working together, you end up doing everything, or if you are lucky enough to afford being able to subcontract it out, you still need to be able to monitor the work done for you.

Working for yourself, by yourself is hard work. There never is enough time to get everything done. So how do successful people do it, but you end up working long hours but never get on top of things? You have to start examining every task and ask, “Is this the best use of my time?”

If you are honest, you will discover that there any tasks that are unnecessary and should be stopped and many necessary tasks that take up your time  and prevent you from running your business. These should be outsourced or someone employed to handle them.

And I can hear you say, “But, I cannot afford it!” Fair enough!

You need to prioritise your tasks and then compartment them. The Goal of any business is to make money and to make money, you have to provide a service or product. And before you can do so, you have to market and sell your business.

But the money you make needs to be recorded. You track your money as it comes in and you track your expenses.

So in order to compartmentise your time, you need to plan and you do this “unplugged!”

Take a sheet of paper and write down all the various tasks you have to do, then work out what time is most suitable for theses tasks. Next, look at how much time you should allocate per task, before moving onto the next one.

Now it is time to go plugged again. Take a spreadsheet and divide it into days and subdivide into half hour periods. Remember to allow yourself time for a cup of coffee and something to eat and any travelling you have to do.

Now you have a plan that should help you to get on top of things. Be prepared to change things around when something does not work. Don’t accept what I telling you and follow my advice blindly, rather adapt to your unique circumstances and hey, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Work to a plan and you will find the following is true,

Plan to succeed, fail to plan and fail.