13 Small Business Tips Everyone Should Know

#1Do Something You Love

What Do You Love?

• What do you do that time just flies by?• What do your friends

get bored of hearing you talk about?• What won’t feel like

work?

Starting a business is hard. If you don’t do what you love then you won’t follow through.

#2 Know Your Customers and Competitors

CustomersImagine your typical customer…..

• W H AT IS T H E IR AG E , INCO ME ,S TAT U S , G E ND E R ?

• W H AT IS T H E IR R O L E IN TH E IR O R G A N IZAT IO N?

• W H E R E D O T H E Y L IV E ?• W H AT A R E T H E IR B IG G E S T

PR O BL E MS ?• W H AT A R E T H E IR G OA L S ?Establish a buyer persona [link]

CompetitorsWho are your competitors…..

• WH AT D O T HE Y D O ?• WH AT D O YO U D O T H AT I S

D I F F E RE N T T HA N T H E M ?• WH AT P R I C E A RE T H E Y

CH A R G I N G ?• HO W W I L L T HE Y F E E L

WH E N YO U G E T I N T O T HE BU S I N E S S ?

Perform a competitive analysis [link]

#3 Know What Type of Business You Want

ONLINE, BRICK AND MORTAR OR BOTH?

• WHAT KIND OF RESOURCES DO YOU HAVE?• WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR

TYPE OF BUSINESS?• HOW MUCH RISK DO YOU

HAVE?• SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP,

LLC, CORPORATION?

AN ONLINE BUSINESS CAN BE DONE FOR ALMOST NO MONEY, CAN YOU LIVE WITH THAT IN THE START?

#4 Take your Friend’s and Family’s Input With a Grain of Salt

• They will be tentative of change

• They may attempt to tell you why you can’t do it

• They may try to offer advice (usually not applicable to what your are doing)

KEEP THE FAITH!

#5 Brand Yourself

Your name and domain should

match your brandMake sure yourdomain is available

#6 Start NOW!!!

DON’T WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE THE EXPERIENCEThere will be so many things you haven’t done before. The best teacher is doing. You can teach yourself as you go. It is the best and quickest way to learn. You are an entrepreneur therefore you are a risk taker by nature. Take the risk and jump in!

-Elissa Talley

#7 Get an Accountant

Accountant > AttorneyHere is why…..

1.An attorney will almost always refer you to an accountant if the questions are tax related

2.Most questions around starting a business are tax related

3.In most cases, accountants are cheaper than attorney for business tasks (i.e. setting up an LLC)

4.They will be your new best friend!

#8 Know Legalities

You May Not Need an Attorney Now but You Will at Some Point

In the early stages, try to do legal “stuff” using online tools or paralegal

Use your first meeting with an attorney (usually they don’t charge for this meeting) to ask as many questions as you can

Usually bigger legal issues don’t come about until you start to grow

Meet with several different attorneys

#9 OUTSOURCE

Virtual Assistant Writer Bookkeeper Accounting/Taxes Programmer Attorney0

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Chart Title

Level of Difficulty in obtaining skill (1-10) Cost Ratio (ratio = cost per hour/difficulty)

As the level of difficulty per task increases and the cost per hour to perform that task increases, the more logical it would be to outsource. Comparing this set of data, anywhere the lines are close together or intersecting, outsourcing should be considered.

A bookkeeper is a perfect example of a skill that makes sense to outsource. It can take quite a while to learn QuickBooks and bookkeepers don’t charge very much.

#10 Get on Social Mediachannels where your customers hang out

Source: http://us.accion.org/business-resources/articles-videos/choosing-right-social-media-platform-your-business

#11 Get on Forums and Network

Source: http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/

Around 40% of the world population has an internet connection today. • In 1995 it was less than 1%.• The number of internet users has increased

tenfold from 1999 to 2013.• The first billion was reached in 2005. • The second billion in 2010. • The third billion in 2014.

#12 Let Things Follow Their Natural Course

You will feel overwhelmed sometimes. You will feel anxious sometimes.

1. Set up a plan2. Get help from a mentor3. Pick the important

things for the week

Things evolve as you go…the things that seem important today may not even exist next week.

#13 Never Stop Researching

Business Plan

Marketing Plan

Sales Plan

Organization Structure

Financial Model

SEO

Social Media

MissionVision

Blogs/Videos

Website

Buyer Persona

Competitors

Business ProcessesHuman

Resources

Research

ResearchResearch

Research

Research

Research

Research

Research

Research

Research

Smarketing

Legalities

Content Creation

SMARTgoals

13 Business Tips Everyone Should Know

1. Do Something You Love2. Know Your

Customers/Competition3. Know What Type of

Business you Want4. Take Your Friend’s and

Family’s Input With a Grain of Salt

5. Brand Yourself6. Start Now!!

7.Get an Accountant8.Know Legalities9.Outsource10.Get on Social Media11.Get on Forums/Network12.Let Things Follow Their

Natural Course13.Never Stop Researching

www.elissatalley.com/sharing