STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

Business owners, what's the one piece of advice you'd give...

Hermes

one piece of advice? hmmm...

Know your core competency. Your core competency is what you do better than anyone else, that is not easily duplicated, and what differentiates you from your competitors.

Core competency is also the basis of growth.

For example, Zappos' core competency is customer service. They provide customer service better than everyone else, their level of customer service is not easily duplicated, and their customer service differentiates them from their competitors. Any expansion or growth that Zappos pursues should be based on a business model that focuses on providing superior customer service. It has nothing to do with shoes.

A more complicated example is McDonalds. McDonald's core competency is real estate. They have analytic models in place that tell them where future growth will take place. They will purchase land in those locations, and place a restaurant there when the traffic increases to the level needed to support a restaurant. This real estate model is what they do better than their competitors, is not easily duplicated, and differentiates them. Any business growth that McDonald's pursues should be based on leveraging anticipatory real estate/consumer traffic growth.

Boots · Gucci

I don't have a small business, but I run an office for 2 CPAs and we have a lot of clients who have small businesses. My advice is to know how to financially run a business. Educate yourself on bookkeeping, tax forms, and just basic finances. So many of our clients work their tails off on the service part of their corporation, but when it comes to completing a Profit & Loss statement or basic payroll, they haven't a clue what to do. And we even have clients who have been running their businesses for years, yet routinely forget all about sales tax or quarterly returns. These things will not only rack up penalties like crazy, they will drain your profits and could potentially bring legal action against you. Don't rely on somebody else to keep your corporate finances in order. They are YOUR finances.

You can go to the IRS website (irs.gov) and click into the small business section. Your state should have a similar website too. But I think the best bet would be to find a good CPA and set up a bookkeeping appointment where he or she can go through things like a chart of accounts, payroll and various tax forms that need to be filed through out the year.

kenzie · Chanel

I don't have a full-time small business (although, I freelance in several areas from time to time), and I'm in grad school so I can open my own (not-so-small) business. When I freelance, I work with small businesses. The biggest thing I can tell you is to have a business plan. Write it down, work out the details, treat it as a fluid document that you can update as your business evolves.

This sounds like a no-brainer, but you have no idea how many of the small businesses I work with fail to have a clear business plan and then end up floundering around.

A business plan will take care of your core competency, as D mentioned, because you should have it right in the plan. It should also outline your financial plan, the logistics of which you need to know inside and out (as Boots mentioned). Plus it contains of ton of other information about your business. It serves as your road map, both of where you've been and of where you're headed.

-- Edited by kenzie on Tuesday 24th of August 2010 10:25:46 AM

Suasoria · Chanel

I'm going with something apparently more simplistic and saying a really well done website. It's a huge marketing tool. You almost can't invest too much time, effort, and money into it. It's elemental to the image of your entire company.