There dozens of success factors related to small businesses and here are four of them:

  1. Improve work environment: We should make sure that we separate our living space from our work environment. As an example, it will be much harder to focus on the task at hand if we are working in the living room with TV sets and other entertainment equipments. We should be able to minimize the temptation of doing something unrelated that can ruin productivity. We should be able to create an office-like environment, where we are free of distractions and we are able to get everything needed for business tasks in one room, such as phone, computer, cabinets, fax and others.
  2. Delegate specific tasks: Not delegating our tasks could cause us to lose focus on the essential profit drivers. There are some core activities that bring profit in our business. As an example, if our small business is associated with direct sales, two essential profit drivers are gathering leads from potential customers and turning those leads into real sales. Once we have set up our marketing systems, our inbox will constantly receive new leads and this should become a key profit driver. Other than turning these leads into real sales, other tasks should be considered second priority, although it doesn’t mean that they are not important. Because it is possible that we operate our small business alone or with a few employees, we should consider delegating non-core tasks to external parties. As an example, learning and focusing on SEO tasks can be a waste of time and this will result in lower direct sales. It may take too long to start getting steady sales from SEO methods, although we have used the proper techniques. In this case, we should consider delegating SEO and other tasks to external parties for reasonable fees.
  3. Market our business outside the Internet: If we hide behind our computer, we may not be telling enough people about our business. Leads are actually the lifeblood of our small business and without new ones coming in, it is possible that our business will soon dry up. Even when using continuity programs, it is possible that members will eventually unsubscribe our newsletters. It is important that our business is able to always fill the pipeline with new leads. In reality, many small businesses focus too much on online options, such as PPC and banners. They often treat offline marketing as a second priority. We should consider revisiting old-fashioned marketing strategies, such as magazines and newspaper. We should keep this in mind, when we are planning to send Google Adwords service another large advertising bill.
  4. Don’t expect overnight results: People who expect overnight results, it is possible that we will give up too early. We often hear about higher failure rate among small business owners and this can be quite discouraging for people who are planning to take the plunge. It is important for us to have realistic expectations when starting a business.
May 23, 2015
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