Looking for new customers?



The Bootstrapper Blog has a listing of 52 creative ideas to find new clients (customers).

Some of the suggestions we have talked about already including Blogging. In today's world having a blog allows you to get more personal with your customers, inform them of special events, and lets them know that you are real person who is doing something many consider odd, running your own business.

Another idea included seems pretty obvious to some and that is making sure your website is working. Have you ever tried to access a website and found out it was down? For a customer it is irritating and they will most likely find someplace else to shop. Make sure all your links, pages, and vital information are working and that your website is easy to navigate.

One idea that one of my Toastmaster's clubs has done is to put a video on you tube. You can put testimonials about your company, a showcase of your best products, information about finding your business, and other information to direct the person either to your website or in your doors.

An idea for networking they talk about is getting together will your former Alma Mater. If you moved to a new city but also sell on the web, they are a perfect market. There is many websites such as Classmates that allow you to reconnect to those you knew in school. Like me, you may not have pleasant memories from school, but all those people you went to school with are potential customers and revenue.

Volunteering is also a way to find new customers. Not only will you be doing something for someone and the community, but you will have the opportunity to meet many other volunteers. Each of these volunteers is a potential client and when they tell stories of the people they volunteered with, your name and your business will be mentioned.

Those are the ones that stood out for me but take a look for yourself and find ones that will fit you and your business.

Are you achieving your goals for the year?



Since we have passed the half way point of the year, it is time to take a look at your goals (I know you look at them every day right?), and see how you are coming along. How many of your goals for the year have you achieved? How many are you close to achieving? How many have you let fall by the wayside of time?

First take a look at the goals you have achieved for the year. First of all give yourself a pat on the back for achieving those goals, especially if they are more difficult ones. Did this goal put you closer to your long range goals?

Next take a look at the goals that you're close to accomplishing. What will it take to finish these goals and get you closer to your long range goals? Are you setting your daily goals that work toward you accomplishing this goal in a timely manner?

Finally you need to look at those goals that seem to have fallen by the wayside. You need to figure out why you have let these goals fall by the wayside. Did you make your yearly goals to difficult and consequently gave up on them? Are you setting daily and weekly goals to achieve this goal?

Sometimes you will need to do some real soul searching to see why a goal has fallen by the wayside. Things do change and if your life has taken a turn and that direction is away from that goal and toward another, which is fine so long as you are satisfied with the change in direction.

You still have almost six months to achieve those yearly goals. Don't loose sight of your big goals and make sure you are getting closer every day to those all important long range goals.

If you want more information on goal setting check out the Zig Ziglar website.

Watch out for those unintended consequences.

Unintended consequences is something that happens when we get so excited about an idea we have that we fail to do enough research to see what will happen if we implement the idea. No matter what the size of organization, it seems that ideas are implemented without much thought of what could go wrong if the idea is implemented.

Here is an example when I worked at a major retailer. At the time there was a store manager plus three salaried assistant managers that handled sales, logistics and operations (customer service). The company decided to do away with the salaried managers and make them supervisors thus cutting payroll because supervisors made less money than managers.

However, there was a major unintended consequence to this move. Since the managers were salaried they often work 50 or more hours per week. That all changed when they became supervisors because that meant hourly pay and of course no overtime. So in other words three people that used to put in a 150 hours per week or more now were only putting in 120 hours per week. You don't have to be a math genius to realize the store loss 30 hours of work per week.

Eventually the company was forced to add another supervisor position to make up for the lost productivity and in the long run spent more money on payroll than they did before. They got so excited about saving money they didn't look at what could happen if they implemented the idea.

Here is another example from the government sector that is happening right now. Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah changed state workers from 5 days per week to 4 in order to "save gas". However, what the governor did not take into account was the number of state employees taking public transportation. When their hours changed many of them could no longer use public transportation because it did not run late enough so in the long run more people are having to drive now and are using more gas than on a 5 day work schedule. The Governor had an idea that sounded good but the unintended consequences were just as costly.

Whatever actions you take could have unintended consequences. Be sure to thoroughly research what could happen when implanting any new plan or idea. Better to know what might happen than to have it blindside you.

The All Business site is another good resource to see what to and not to do in your business.

Watch your email...

As a small business person, you may be under the impression that you have nothing to worry about when it comes to email. After all, you do not have an IT department that is looking over your shoulder all the time.

However, as the Productivity Blog 501 points out, email is now permanent and email records are being subpoenaed during court trials. No matter how safe you play, treat all of your customer's right, take care of any problems that may arise and help out your employees, in today's lawsuit happy society, you always have to be prepared for someone to come after you.

For example say you tell a customer that a product is a great product and will serve them well but a few days earlier you sent an email to someone else saying the product was a piece of junk, it could be used against you.

This also means that you should never send out an email when you are angry. After all you may say something in that email that you may latter regret, but once you have hit that send button you cannot bring it back.

My advise to you is that you never send an email when you are angry and never say anything that might come back to harm you. Even if you have the best intentions, you just never know when someone is going to want to get even.

Are you ready for a server?



The Small Business Technology blog talks about Microsoft Home Server. While this server is designed for the home, it also will work for the small business that only has a couple of computers.

Home Server fills a niche that previously was not being served. Microsoft does offer Small Business Server and while it is designed for companies with under 75 employees, it is more sophisticated than most starts up need or may need for many years.

One of the nice features in Home Server is that it will monitor the health of your pc's and insure that such important items as your security software is up to date. In addition you can set it up to automatically back up files for your pc's every day so that you do not loose any important data.

Another nice feature is that you can remotely access your information. For example say you are on a business trip, you can access reports, invoices, order forms or any other data you might need without having to download everything to your mobile device or laptop.

For small start ups this may be a good tool to deal with your small network until your needs become greater.

I am always on the lookout for news and reviews about services that will make life easier for you as a small business owner.

Life for a small business owner is hectic enough, so hopefully you can find some of these services to be of use to you. Today the Small Business Trends website has a listing of 5 services that could make your life a little easier.

The one that instantly caught my attention is Track My Shipments. While all the shipping companies have tracking systems, if you have to track multiple shipments from multiple carriers it can become a hassle. Track My Shipments allows you to track shipments from all the major players (USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL). The free version will track up to 9 shipments at once and of course you can pay more if you regularly need more than 9.

Take a look at the other services mention and see if any of these will be of use to you in your business. As I always recommend, if you are looking toward such services be sure to check the competitors and find the one that you like the best. Don't settle for one that will not do what you need it to.