By Finn Pegler

Becoming an entrepreneur can be stressful. You want to make sure that you do everything you can to be successful. Knowing how to create a service or product that people want is not the same thing as knowing how to be successful in business. Business is such a general term and there is more to it than most people think. With that in mind, here are some ways that you can do what you love and run a successful business. 

Time

Place value on your time. Do not under bill for hours, labor or whatever you refer to your time worked as. If you are a mechanic, you can certainly get more customers by being a little cheaper. The easiest way to do that might include making your “hourly” rate lower, but do not undersell yourself. No matter what service, product you offer, time is valuable. When setting prices, also consider your employees’ time or other professionals you are paying. Time costs money. Do not give away one of your most valuable assets. Demand what you are worth. 

ROI on Marketing

Make sure that you are getting your money’s worth here too. If you are paying thousands of dollars in advertisements but only seeing hundreds of dollars in return, you are not investing in marketing well. Instead, you are bleeding your business’s marketing account dry. Find what is best for your business, but make sure that it does not take from your profit. The purpose of marketing is to make a profit. If the packaging is going to cost more than the product cost you to produce, you might need to reevaluate the choices you made to create that packaging. Can you use different materials, designs, or fillers? The packaging can be part of the marketing, but it should not cost too much. The same goes for much of the digital marketing landscape with a lot of companies burning money on SEO or PPC with very little returns. Unless done well, these tend to be money drains or break even at best. Return on investment is critical. Are you getting more than you are paying for or are you getting less? Cut the marketing that is not benefiting your business. 

Failure is normal but evaluate

One or two failures are expected, but if you are seeing many failed attempts, reevaluate. While you may continue with the product line or service, look at why you keep seeing failures. Consider these questions: “Is the market stable?” “Are you the one making the mistakes?” or “Is there a design flaw or bug in the product/service?” While you do not want to let one failure break your business, you need to reflect as often as possible. This also means not letting success get stale. Just because something is working today does not mean that it will work in five years. The market is always changing and you need to adapt with it. 

Work with the right people

Don’t settle. Just because you have an excellent team does not mean that you should stop looking for more good people. As your business grows, you may need to add more people to your payroll so have systems in place where resumes or applications will be at the ready. You do not want to suddenly be shorthanded because one of your team moves on to another position. You also want to make sure that you are paying  your team well by offering the best benefits that you can and showing your appreciation. Employees are more likely to stay at a slightly lower-paying job for the right boss and right benefits package, but they need to be paid fairly. The more you show your investment in them, the more they will invest in you.

Delegate effectively

Delegate parts of the job that you can, but do not neglect to do the work you should be doing. Learn the aspects of the job that you do not know from your employees. Some things though, should be handled by the boss. If you have an unhappy client or customer, step in to help. Take the client to lunch or offer an additional service. You do not want to overextend yourself financially, but sometimes a happy customer is an excellent investment. Customers will tell others about their experiences. If those experiences are negative, the news will spread like wildfire. Take pride in your business and invest in your customers. It will pay off more often than not. 

Hire the right professionals

Do not pay for more outside professionals than you need. If you want to hire a staff accountant as your business grows, research whether that would be more beneficial than paying an accounting firm to add new services. Are you paying for multiple professionals to do jobs that you could pay only one or two to do? Revise your plans. Negotiate new contracts as your needs change. Sometimes adding services comes with more benefits than finding a second firm to handle your new needs. Also, offer reciprocal agreements when appropriate. If you are both doing services for each other, see where you may be able to negotiate your contracts differently. Never undercut your professionals or yourself but be practical with your spending. Always seek ways to consolidate or combine services where possible. 

Bottomline

Reflect, reflect, reflect. Business is about reflecting on what is working and improving where you can. Successful companies do not keep doing things the same way just because that’s the way it has always been done. When chain stores or big box stores have merchandise that is not selling, they cancel contracts or stop carrying the items. Likewise, if they have a product that is selling well, they keep it and may offer it more space. Your business needs to be the same way. If something or someone is not adding value to your business, change it or eliminate it. Do not feel guilty about this, either. It is not about what you like or don’t like. This is about what you need to maintain a well-run business.

Author Bio:Finn Pegler is the CEO of DeluxeMaid. He is passionate about small business, startups, and
tech.