CHAPTER 13
Strategies for How to Grow
There's a Chinese proverb: Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still. This sentiment is right on the mark for business. You need to find ways to continually improve yourself and grow your business, or you may find that you become obsolete and are out of business. But how can you devote time and attention to growth when you're focused on your day-to-day activities? It isn't easy. But there are some things you can do to move ahead, or at least stay current and not fall behind. Let's find out.
Getting Certified
Are you a caterer? Do you have special teaching skills? If you do these things or have other services that are needed by federal, state, or local governments or by large corporations, consider obtaining certification to show you fall into a special category. The federal government is required to give a certain percentage of its contracts to small businesses. And major corporations have procurement programs with diversity goals. So by being certified, you increase your marketing abilities and access to special contracting opportunities.
Types of Certifications
The U.S. Small Business Administration has the following certification programs:
- Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program
- HUBZone Program
- 8(a) Business Development Program
Getting certified requires you to complete some paperwork. There's no fee for becoming certified. Find out more about these certification programs from the SBA at https://certify.sba.gov/.
Getting a Mentor
A mentor is a person who can share experience and connections as well as provide knowledge and guidance to you that is invaluable for continued growth and success in business. Think of a mentor as a teacher, guide, and counselor to you.
Why Do You Need a Mentor?
Statistics show that those who receive some form of mentoring are more likely to succeed. A survey by the UPS Store some years ago found that 70% of businesses with mentorship made it past 5 years, which is double the percentage of businesses surviving past 5 years without mentorship.
The reason for the increased success rate is because a mentor can give you help that you won't find in books (even this one you're reading right now). A mentor has been there and done that, saving you from errors and pitfalls you might otherwise experience.
A mentor can also provide reassurance to calm your fears or concerns about actions you want to take in your business. And a mentor can act as a cheerleader to encourage you to continue moving ahead.
So, having a mentor seems to be a positive thing. Kabbage research found that 92% of small business owners said mentoring was vital to their success.
How Do You Find a Mentor?
There are different types of mentors:
- Active mentors. Here you connect with a mentor on a short- or long-term basis. For example, you can find a mentor at no cost through SCORE, a nonprofit resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration, at https://www.score.org/find-mentor. You meet with your mentor in person at your local SCORE office, via email, or video chat.
- Passive mentors. Instead of having a person give personal feedback and guidance, you can, in a sense, receive mentorship through books, webinars, podcasts, and other vehicles to learn how to avoid problems and grow. For example, in another book of mine, Smooth Failing, I share stories of successful small businesspeople who failed at one time or another and how they overcame their challenges to succeed. By reading up on other people's mistakes, hopefully you can avoid them yourself.
Outsourcing
As a self-employed person, you can't do everything yourself. You can, however, get the help you need for the tasks you can't or don't want to handle yourself. You don't necessarily have to hire an employee or have an entire staff to run your business effectively. You can outsource what you want to get done. And it may be cost effective to do this.
Example
You are a consultant paid $200 an hour for your expertise. You could do your own bookkeeping, but engaging a bookkeeper to do this task at $40 per hour is a better strategy. The time you don't have to spend on bookkeeping is time you can bill clients at a higher rate. And you may not have the knowledge about bookkeeping that a bookkeeper has, so you could mess up and create additional problems for yourself.
Some of the people to whom you may want to outsource include:
- An accountant or tax return preparer to prepare and file tax returns. If you don't do this yourself, find a tax professional to help so that you don't miss filing deadlines and are confident that the information you submit to the IRS and your state, where necessary, is correct.
- An attorney to assist you in legal matters. Be sure to find the right type of attorney for the particular issue you want help on. For example, if you're going to sign a commercial lease, be sure to use a real estate attorney to negotiate it on your behalf.
- A bookkeeper to keep your financial books and records, reconcile your bank and credit card statements, and provide you with key financial reports (e.g., balance sheet, profit and loss statement). For some, a bookkeeper is also used as a tax return preparer (assuming the bookkeeper is competent to do this).
- An IT person to handle your internet connectivity issues. This may be especially important if you have a website that needs maintenance.
- A virtual assistant to deal with your scheduling and just about any other chore you would have an in-house secretary or assistant handle.
- A webmaster to create and help maintain a website for you. While there are many do-it-yourself options for website creation, if you want something wholly unique for your purposes, you may need a webmaster for this. And the site usually needs continual updating to add new features as technology and the customer experience changes.
Outsourcing Issues
Knowing who you need is one thing. Finding the right help is another matter. Ask around for referrals (your banker may know an accountant you can use). Check with your local chamber of commerce.
Make sure that any individual you engage remains an independent contractor so you are not burdened with employer responsibilities (see Chapter 14). Where appropriate, you may want the individual to sign an independent contractor agreement reflecting this work arrangement. Check with an attorney if you have any concerns about whether the arrangement could be considered employment.
As with anyone you use for any type of work, be sure to check references, verify licenses and permits if relevant, and have individuals fill out IRS Form W-9 to obtain their tax identification number, which you may need for preparing a 1099 if required. Having the information from Form W-9 enables you to meet your information reporting requirement (see Chapter 3).
Using Technology
Who doesn't like to save time and money? You can do both using technology. As the saying goes: there's an app for that.
You can use apps to:
- Accept payment for your services on the spot
- Deposit checks you receive for payment
- Input income received and expenses paid into your accounting system
- Join the conversation on social media
- Keep track of your business driving
- Scan receipts needed for tax and financial purposes
- Schedule appointments
- Track your time if you bill customers and clients at an hourly rate
Many apps are free or low cost (tax deductible). Determine what you need and you're sure to find an app for that!
Continuing to Learn
Regardless of your age or education level, you can always learn something new. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs today are avid readers. Microsoft founder Bill Gates reads one book each week. Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame reads three hours a day.
Learning can be informal, such as reading books and trade journals or listening to TED Talks and other podcasts. It can be formal, such as taking continuing education courses, or attending a seminar, conference, or convention. Build into your business activities the time to do this on a regular basis.
You can easily learn what's new for small businesses by subscribing for free to the Idea of the Day® (which is a two-sentence email in your inbox daily) and Big Ideas for Small Business® (which is a monthly e-newsletter aggregating blogs from BigIdeasForSmallBusiness.com and other articles by Barbara Weltman published on other sites during the month).
What's Ahead
Now that you have strategies for growth under your belt, it may be time for your business to grow up and move on. This could mean, for example, moving from a home office to commercial space, changing your business structure from a sole proprietorship to a corporation or limited liability company, or selling your business. These topics are covered in the final chapter, which follows.
Chapter Takeaways
- Get official certification for your business, if eligible, to better access government contracting and corporate procurement programs.
- Find someone who can provide guidance and feedback to you.
- Don't try to do everything yourself; outsource to others.
- Use apps and other technology to save you time and help you perform better.
- You're never too old to learn and should continue to do so.