How to prevent your NEIS business failing
Joining the NEIS Business program and starting your small business using their support is a great idea. However, you still need to put in a lot of hard work to make your small business profitable. As a business coach I have helped NEIS business owners get results from their business and now I would like to provide that advice to you.
It is your Business.
You need to remember that no one else will come along and help your business if you can't be bothered to spend your own time working on building it. You are responsible if it fails or succeeds and can longer blame the boss for not running a good business, because you are the boss. Make sure that in the first three months you devote at least 40 hours per week to building and promoting your business. If you spend a day doing nothing on the business, don't complain when you it suffers a cash flow problem later.
Treat your business like a job by starting work at 9am and finishing at 5pm with only an 45 minute lunch break. There is a saying that states "work will always expand to fill the time you have" so take control of time and don't let work expand more than necessary.
Your value to your business
Calculate how much you want your business to make in a year then divide that dollar amount by 1,800 to give you an hourly amount that you business needs to generate to reach your goal. For example if you want to make revenue of $50,000 you will need to bring (50,000/1,800) $27.80 revenue into your business every hour you work. Ask yourself, have I done anything to enable my business to earn $28 this hour.
Be realistic
Make sure you have accurate information about the number of sales you will make in the first three months. I have seen NEIS business owners forecasting 700% sales with no advertising budget allocations. Have a look at your projected sales revenue forecast and detail exactly how you expect to get that result. How many customers will you get from your advertising campaign? What will be the average dollar spend of each of your customers? What percentage of your customers will return to you and how often? Project the lowest expected sales forecast and highest level of expenses and you might be more accurate than you realise.
Use the Mentor's experience
NEIS business owners get 12 months support and help from experienced business mentors when they request it. Don't wait until your government grant expires to start asking for their help. Every month your mentor will arrange a meeting to review your business so prepare in advance and have a list of problems that you would like help with, such as;
• How to complete your Profit & Loss statements
• How do I design an newspaper advert effectively
• What is the way to set up my business website
• Give me examples of how I can reduce my operating expenses
The NEIS program will only provide you with the knowledge and skills to run a business if you put the hard work into your business as well.
© Copyright 2008 by Paul Baker
Information supplied by Paul Baker
I help small business owners achieve higher results from their advertising, market research, website positioning, and business strategies by providing my business development experience in their business.
Small Business Coach
Paul Baker
pbaker@small-business-coach.com.au
http://small-business-coach.com.au/index.html
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