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I asked a question on the “Small Business Big Marketing” linkedin group about “what advice would you give a person starting a small business?” I was expecting answers around the four “P”s, Product, Price, Position and Promotion.  I was expecting advice like “Don’t under sell your product” or “Don’t get caught in a discount war”.  But most of the answers focused on the person starting the business, what they should think and what they should do. When you think about it the group is right.

As small business people we don’t have huge infrastructures to support us, we are the business.  Our attitudes and emotions have a direct influence on everything about our business.

According to the group the one thing that seemed to be the most important was passion for what you do.  I have heard in the past “never make your hobby your business, it ruins a hobby and makes it a job”.  I am not sure that is true.  It seems to make sense, but if you don’t have a passion for what you do will you persist when times get tough?  I remember a school teacher called Mr Haymer (he taught my older brother), he said he would sell bird seed in the park as long as he was allowed to teach.  He was a great teacher because it was his passion.

The second most important thing was Information, Planning and a Mentor.  The feeling here was make sure you know what you need to know.  If you don’t know it, learn it, get a mentor and never stop learning.  Again all about the person running the business.  It wasn’t about cash flow or analytics, it was about being a well informed, well rounded business person.

The third most important thing is perhaps just another way of looking at the first thing, persistence and motivation.  The get up off your butt and do something attitude and once you have done something, keep doing it.  Don’t over plan, don’t suffer from paralysis by analysis, you have to do something for something to happen.

These three gems (which is actually a collation of the answers) are the best advice you can give someone thinking of starting a small business.  If they are not right for the business or to be in business at all, they will fail.  We have seen this in our lives, a restaurant or café is doing great business, it gets a new owner and is closed in a few months.  The population hasn’t changed, the location hasn’t changed, the only change is the person operating the business. I have included a graph of the results.   Drop your comments over on the social media. Remember you can always contact us at podcast@askfindbuy.com or through any of the social media channels.

Remember you can always contact us at podcast@askfindbuy.com or through any of the social media channels.

Regards

Craig

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