Small Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Mistakes’

Business writing is one of the most important aspects of any business. Even now, writing remains the number one method of communication in the world.  Written communication demands a lot of attention and care. Effective communication carried out between humans depends upon 90% body language, 8% tone of voice and 2% of what is being said. In written communication, the first 98% is completely eliminated. However, writing also provides the advantage of reviewing and editing your work before you finalize anything.

Written documents convey a great deal about the nature of your business. Thus, it is vital to incorporate excellent writing skills in to any business writing plan. Your writing tells your readers more about your business expertise. A company with access to an efficient team of talented writers definitely has an added advantage over others who may be untrained or without professional writing skills.

It is vital to keep your writing free of spelling and grammatical errors. Even though most computers come with a spell and grammar check, it is necessary to not let your skills in writing lapse.

Each writer needs to understand that today’s readers demand clear and concise information. Documents written in bureaucratic language may intimidate and confuse the reader. Good business writing should use a plain English style of writing. It is a flexible and efficient writing practice that enables readers to understand everything in one reading. This style blends in clear expressions, efficient structures and good document designs.

Overly formal writing has become a little out of fashion. Use of such writing may portray an outdated image about yourself or your company to the document reader. For this reason it is important to stay abreast of contemporary writing skills. Some of the standard business phrases have been substituted by a more direct approach. For instance, “As per your request” has been replaced by “As you requested”. Likewise, “I am enclosing” is being used instead of “Enclosed please find”. Overall, the previous impersonal style of writing has been altered to accommodate a limited amount of “I” to add directness and warmth.

Slipping into abbreviated dialogue is comparatively easier than expressing complete thoughts in a sentence. Often, the writer will tend to type something that he or she wants to say rather than typing what needs to be written. Perhaps the telephone-oriented society in which we live is to blame for this. This sort of writing may lead readers to believe that your logic, like your business writing, is incomplete.

Being able to put down words onto paper (or onto a screen) that not only communicate but also motivate, is a valuable business skill. Writing is essential at all levels of business, and in almost every role imaginable.

Copyright (c) 2009 Larry D Johnson

When I started my home based business, believe me I made a lot of mistakes. There was no one I could count on to guide me through it all. I was a little stubborn to ask for help, and no one volunteered. I finally decided to reach out and now I have learned what to do and what not to do.

I am thinking that maybe other folks like me starting out in their own work at home business, may run into some of the same mistakes that I did. So I looked around and found some of the most common mistakes new work at home entrepreneurs make. I decided to use this information to help those of you who are wanting to start a home business. Many “WORK AT HOME” mistakes can be avoided, when we learn from the mistakes of others.

1. First of all, before you start a home based business, you must know what it is you’ll be doing. You need to educate yourself about your “work at home” business. For example , Internet Marketing , Placing classifieds, getting a WEB SITE,Follow-ups,etc. Lets say you have a business that involves signing up people under you, and they need help getting started, how are you going to help them get started if you do not know how yourself? Your first couple of weeks or so should be a learning process for you, getting to know your business, how it works, and how you make money with it.

2. SPAM What is SPAM? SPAM is unsolicited advertising. It is my opinion and many others who believe that SPAM is in the eye of the person being SPAMMED, not the person sending the SPAM. While you may not consider a message to be Spam, if the person receiving it does, it’s SPAM. If you are not 100% certain that the person or persons you are advertising your Internet site to will not complain, DO NOT advertise your site to that person or persons. Any SPAM complaint is very serious and is cause for immediate termination in most online companies.

Lets look at some types of advertising that may be considered SPAM?

Bulk e-mailing (sending an e-mail advertisement to persons listed on an e-mail address lead list).

Advertising with bulk e-mail services (companies who will send an e-mail advertisement to persons listed on an e-mail address lead list for you).

“Bounce back” e-mailing (sending an e-mail advertisement in reply to an e-mail advertisement that was sent to you).

Advertising your Internet site to people that you don’t know, who didn’t specifically request the information.

Cross-posting or advertising to Usenet newsgroups, forum or discussion lists, and online chats (IRC) is not allowed.

These are only examples. Remember, SPAMMING includes ANY unsolicited advertising.

3. Posting ads on Forums: Like spamming , posting ads on forums message boards can get you banned. Forums are only to be used as sources of information about business opportunities. You can ask questions, or get/give advice about any “Work At Home” business, or other topics , but absolutely not allowed to place any ads of any kind.

When visiting Forums. You should always look for the rules or regulations of any Forum which you decide to participate in, so you know what is and is not acceptable on these Forums.

4. Submitting to FFA’s. These are free for all sites that you can post your ads on. Take a little advice from me. Do not waste your time posting your ads on these sites,because your site will never get seen,because most FFA’s have such low rankings,it will give your site a low rank, because you posted on them. Instead place your ads on classified ad sites. Here is how to find classified site to place your ads. Go to your favorite Search Engine and type” free home business classifieds” or something like that. Make a list of at least 10 of these sites to use for Free Advertising.

5.Shouting. Other than using caps to emphasize a few words within an e-mail,or a web page, do not use all caps. Using all capital letters in a text or a correspondence is considered shouting, and shouting at people just causes them to leave.

6. Slow response to e-mails: If someone has taken the time to send you an e-mail for more information about your business, or has some questions, and you do not respond to them in a timely manner, then you probably have lost a potential customer, or an affiliate. Even if you do not know the answers, let them know that you do not have the answers, but you will find out for them, and get back to them A.S.A.P. Remember, “Success is in the Follow-up.”

7. No persistence: Let me tell you that there is no such thing as a “Get Rich Quick Scheme” They do not exist. If you want to have a successful “Home Based Business,” then you must be willing to work hard for it. What you put into your business is exactly what you will get out of it.

Persistence is the single most important factor in determining a successful “work at home” business. Be persistent and you will be successful

8. Trying to start a home business with expectations of making little or no investment. OK Lets get real. Many well meaning entrepreneurs fail at their home business because they were not willing to invest time and money to start and maintain their business. You will never be successful if you do not invest financially in your business. Listen, You don’t have to go broke supporting your business. Develop a budget you can easily live with and stick with it.

9.Having unrealistic expectations. Almost equally important is the need to have realistic economic expectations when undertaking a home based business. There is no magic here, folks. A home based business provides many rewards such as working in the comfort of your own home, avoiding a stressful commute, being your own boss, setting your own hours,no dress code, etc., but anyone that is also expecting “instant riches” is sadly mistaken.

10. Not taking Action. I can understand that when you start a home based business, it can seem overwhelming, because there can be so much to learn. Reading and learning is fine, but at some point you must get started. Fear of failing is what keeps many people from ever getting started in their business. Nothing will ever happen, and you will never make a dime, if you don’t take action to start actually running your business.

So there you have it. I hope you can avoid these 10 mistakes, and concentrate more on succeeding in your home based business.

A business plan guide is a great place to start when you are getting ready to write your first business plan. Perhaps you have found a book about writing business plans, or are following a template, but chances are, these materials will only focus on the steps necessary to create your business plan and will fail to point out the critical mistakes that most new business owners make. So let’s ignore the step-by-step tutorial for a moment and focus on the real world mistakes you need to avoid.

1. Don’t Put it Off.

Yes, writing a business plan can be a monumental chore. It’s easy to procrastinate while you focus on the more exciting processes of your business. Many new business owners will wait until the day before their scheduled meeting with the bank — and then frantically try to write a plan overnight. You can imagine the results.

Don’t wait until you have more time. There will never be more time. You need to clear your calendar for a week and make your business plan a top priority. Or if that isn’t feasible, schedule a certain period of time each day to work specifically on planning. No doubt you have heard the old saying: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”.

2. Don’t Confuse Profit With Cash Flow.

Unless you have an accounting background, you are very likely to define the success of your business in terms of profits. A simple definition of Profit would be Sales minus Expenses equals Profit. But in the business world, profits do not equate to cash. Your profit formula does not take into account the amount of cash you have tied up in production costs for products that have not yet sold, or the customers who still owe you money for sales that have already been made. Your business can look quite “profitable” while your bank account is over-drawn.

Make sure your business plan includes a table that addresses cash flow. Ideally, you should detail the monthly cash flow for the first two years of the business and annually thereafter.

3. Don’t Fall in Love With Your Idea.
Too many business plans blabber on for pages about the “newness” and “uniqueness” of the idea. But the truth is, investors want to invest in people, not ideas. It is only the people who can execute the systems necessary to bring the idea to life.

Instead of waxing poetically about your business idea, focus your energy, and your reader’s eyes, on the ways you plan to implement this great business idea.

4. Don’t Succumb to Fear and Dread.

If you have never written a business plan, the process may loom like Mount Everest. But, like most new challenges, writing a business plan isn’t as hard as you have imagined it to be. You aren’t writing a doctoral thesis or the next great novel. If you have invested in a business plan guide, use it. You can easily find helpful resources such as books, software programs and templates. Remember, you eat an elephant one bite at a time, so start chewing.

5. Don’t Over Sell.

Skip the vague and meaningless business phrases such as “best ever”, “highest quality” and “unsurpassed customer service”. You will lose your reader’s interest and respect if you engage in hyperbole that isn’t supported by measurable facts. Remember that the objective of a plan is its results, which require tracking and follow up. Focus your goals on specific dates, management responsibilities, budgets, and measurable milestones. Think fewer words and more numbers.

6. Don’t Engage in One-Size-Fits-All

Business plans can have many different purposes and they should be written to reflect the specific purpose at hand. You may be using your plan to start a business, or just run a business better. Your purpose may be simply to sell an idea for a new business to one particular business partner. Your plan may be intended to secure a small business loan, or it may be needed to secure millions of dollars of venture capital. Each of these purposes would require different information, presented in different ways to meet the needs of different readers. Keep a picture of your intended reader firmly in your mind and your business plan will stay focused as well.

7. Take Off the Rose Colored Glasses
Optimism is a wonderful resource. Without it, a business owner would find it difficult to summon the energy necessary to launch a new venture.  However, this is not the time to engage in unbridled projections. If your company’s growth chart is based on an “industry average” of 15% annual growth, you should certainly be prepared to prove that assumption. When in doubt, be less optimistic.

By using a good business plan guide, and avoiding these common mistakes, you can prepare a plan that almost guarantees your business success. Good luck!

Who hasn’t let a typo slip by or misspelled the CEO’s name or printed the wrong phone number somewhere? Those marketing mistakes don’t warrant an article. In fact, just one word of how-to-fix-it advice is sufficient: proofread!

Here are a few more important marketing mistakes that just about every business manager out there makes, along with a recommended fix that will help you attract more business and get better results from your marketing, regardless of how big or small your marketing budget is.

Mistake #1: We think that marketing is something we “do.”

“We need to do some marketing.” It’s the first thing you think when you need to boost business. Problem is, when you think of marketing as something you “do,” you’re usually thinking about publicity, direct mail, flyers, email, ads and promotion. Marketing is much more than merely promotion, and it’s rarely a quick fix.

The real fix is to expand your definition of marketing. Instead of thinking of it as something you “do,” think of marketing as anything that helps or hinders the sale or use of your product or service. This includes: your location, the attitudes of the person who answers the phone, your name, pricing, policies, proposals, personality and more.

Before you write a promotional word, do a “help or hinder” once-over. Make a list of what’s helping you attract business and what’s getting in the way. Figure out what obstacles you can quickly fix or remove? What “helps” can you enhance or spotlight? Until the help-or-hinder homework is done, working on promotion is premature.

Mistake #2: We breathe too much of our own exhaust.

We are such big believers in our businesses that we can’t wait to show it off. We admire our attributes and inhale our excellence. Then we exhale it all into our marketing communications. The problem is, when you do that, your marketing is all about you. And people don’t care about you. They care about themselves.

If your marketing is going to get any response at all, the first thing it must do is connect to something prospects care about. Connect before you convince. Try this four-step exercise:

Describe your products and services. Get the exhaust fumes out.

Identify one or two attributes or “attraction factors”

What is the benefit, the need or the want, that is satisfied by those attributes?

Why is that benefit important, personally, to the target audience?

For example, Joy dishwashing liquid (descprition) has real lemon (attribute) that cuts grease and leaves dishes shinier (benefit). “What a nice reflection on you!” (Connects to what she cares about.) Connect to what people want. Not to what you do.

Mistake #3: We all look alike.

A bank is a bank is a bank. Realtors, lawyers and consultants are a dime a dozen. The list goes on. But here’s the good news: the more two businesses look alike, the more important each difference becomes, and the more impact even the tiniest difference will have on setting you apart. Why?

Consider identical twins. What’s the first thing you do when you meet a pair? You try to find a little something to tell them apart. The same is true for your business. Your prospects are looking for a point of difference—just about anything—they can use to set you apart from your competition.

To find your points of difference, start with your points of contact, or “touch points” in your company. Make a list. Business card, fax cover sheet, invoice, phone greeting, front door, home page, etc. Then look at what the competition does and ask yourself how you can do it differently. Just a little bit will make a big difference, because your prospects are looking for them.

For now, try the Help or Hinder, Connect Before You Convince and Find Your Points of Difference tools to make your marketing more meaningful and effective. Be wary, too, of unrealistic expectations, faulty research, deadly bullet points and lack of follow through– four other common marketing mistakes.