Entries tagged with “small business”.
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Posted by Mitchell York under Small Business Management
My company sponsored a special event of a local industrial association recently and we made some good contacts. We had a booth at which we were promoting our products, and we saw about a hundred people. Of those hundred, exactly one called me afterward as a potential client. She’s a commercial insurance rep.
Her phone call was brief, confident and effective. She said she’d like to get together with me to review my insurance and see if she can save me money. No long-winded build-up to asking for an appointment, no 20 questions to get to the moment of truth, no big speech about herself. Just a simple request for my time, which resulted in an upcoming appointment. I am happy with my current insurance, but some of that has to do with inertia and habit. The fact is, I haven’t reviewed it for potential cost savings in five years. So she’s got at least a 50 percent chance of gaining a new client. Read more…
Posted by Mitchell York under Small Business Management
I like a good haircut. Not just because I feel cooler in this ridiculously hot New York summer, but because I talk to my barber, Nick, about small business.
Nick’s about 35, lives in the same town as me, has a wife and two young children. In addition to cutting hair, he owns an Italian ice place in town that has been an institution for as long as anyone can remember. It’s a great business. The gross margin on ices is about 90 percent and he owns the roadside, freestanding building that’s open from May through September. I learned a few things from Nick. Read more...
Posted by Mitchell York under Small Business Management
Most businesses with under $1 million in revenue (which is most businesses) sell at a pitiful multiple of earnings when their owners decide it’s time. Typically they get two or three times their pre-tax profit, if they’re lucky. How can you get more juice out the company you’ve slaved over? John Warrillow, author of Built To Sell: How to Turn Your Business Into One You Can Sell, has five suggestions.
Recurring revenue: demonstrate that your customers come back to purchase regularly and you’ll drive up the value of your business because buyers will have confidence your sales will continue long into the future. Try to find an element of your business that has a consumable component e.g. toner cartridges not printers. Read more…
Posted by Mitchell York under Small Business Management
In this recessionary economy, people are more likely than ever to not rely totally on their employer for income. Side businesses that people do while employed full-time are becoming increasingly common. But while having a part-time entrepreneurial business can be a great idea, it can be risky if you don’t do it right, according to CPA Michael Hanley, who specializes in working with small businesses. Read more…
Posted by Mitchell York under Small Business Management
The New York Times has a sad story on seven small businesses that shut their doors in 2009. The owners were brave enough to talk about what went wrong and offer up valuable lessons for all small business owners:
- A 12-year-old concierge service that peaked at $2.5 million in revenue fell to $80,000 in 2009 and closed its doors. The owner reflected that she should have sold the company when it was flying high, and in fact had interest from buyers.The lesson: When you’re in a business that is dependent on the economic cycle and not recession-resistant, look to sell when times are flush, or diversify. Read more…
Posted by Mitchell York under Interviews
Jeff Morin is a Classic Small-Business Entrepreneur (CSBE). Here’s how I define CSBE: someone who has deep knowledge of a market segment that is inefficient or poorly served and develops a way to correct the inefficiency — preferably without too many competitors even noticing — thus assuring higher-than-normal profit margins. That’s Jeff and his Stafford, Va.-based business, Coins for Anything.
A brief background: Jeff is a 27-year-old former Marine sargeant who, at age 19, became interested in something called “challenge coins.” If you’re in the military, you know what challenge coins are. But most people don’t. A challenge coin is a collectible coin that commemorates service in a particular military unit or mission. Jeff noticed that most of these coins were poorly designed and made and so he did what anyone would do at age 19 — not! He borrowed $500 from his mother to start a business to design and make really nice challenge coins. Read more…
Posted by Mitchell York under Small Business Management
As you prepare your business for the next year, how do you make sure it isn’t a rerun of the past year? Even if this year was a great one for you, there’s no reason to do things the same way, and you’ll probably want to take your small business in some new directions. Maybe you’ll fix some nagging problems, or finally seize on an opportunity that’s been there for a while but you haven’t gotten around to tackling. Read more…
Posted by Mitchell York under Small Business Management
If you’re a small business owner, you can spend an awful lot of time in the muck of collecting, or trying to collect, bad debt. There’s a good piece about this on the New York Times site today in which Jay Goltz, an owner of five businesses in Chicago, explains his experience in collections.
Goltz notes correctly that the biggest trap most small businesses fall into is extending credit when a client already has a significant balance due. You don’t want to lose their business, so you let them have another $5,000. And then, surprise! They don’t make any payments. Read more…
Recently, I was interviewed by Allbusiness.com on the subject of franchising and how people can know whether it’s right for them. If you’re considering going into business for yourself and thinking about the franchise model, take a listen. if you want even more, check out my book on the subject.
Posted by Mitchell York under Franchising, Uncategorized
As many of you know, I own a franchised business in addition to being a coach for people who are considering franchises or other business startups. My franchisor refers people to me regularly for what are known as “validation” calls. Prospective franchisees call around to existing franchisees to do research on the franchise and learn what it’s like to be in the system. If they ask good questions, they can come out of the process with a much clearer decision path (pro or con). The trouble is, 90% of the people who call me ask the wrong questions! Read more…
