Back in Step 5 of 30 Steps to Build a Better Business, we looked in detail at the steps involved in your production process. But what about all other processes you perform reguarly? Shouldn’t you document those as well? If the way you perform your most common tasks are stored only in your head, it may be difficult for you to repeat them in a consistent, efficient manner. This is especially true if you have employees. By taking the time to document your company’s processes, you’ll...

Until now we’ve dealt a lot with processes – your production process, your lead generation process, your customer service process. In step 17 of 30 Steps to Build a Better Business, we’ll focus on the numbers. Many small business owners make the mistake of not measuring their business performance or only measuring one area of their business, like sales. While it’s better to measure something than nothing at all, not measuring enough can be almost as bad. Let’s go back...

The practical wisdom and real-life advice offered in the 30 Steps to Build a Better Business blog series is now available in a paperback or instantly downloadable eBook! Here’s what’s inside: The 6 business building blocks every small business must have Strategies and techniques to help you transition from ‘the dayjob’ to being a full-time business owner 20+ innovative marketing and promotion methods for first-time or part-time entrepreneurs Low-cost or free small business productivity...

Can I be honest with you? I hate dealing with administrative tedium. There have been numerous times when I’ve procrastinated and delayed until administrative tasks have gotten entirely out of hand. Then all of a sudden I find myself having to spend a huge amount of time and effort getting everything back into some semblance of order, which just makes me hate administratum even more because it’s always so draining and time consuming for me. After a while of this maddening cycle, I...

Have you seen those AT&T commercials with the mom chastising her kids about their lack of appreciation for rollover minutes? I think they’re hilarious. Of course they’re meant to remind us of how, as kids, our moms would get on our cases for not finishing our food, and run the whole ‘there’s starving children in Africa that would appreciate that food’ routine.   Well the same thing can be said for businesses that don’t appreciate their ‘rollover customers’...

We’ve talked previously about customers being the most valuable resource for a small business. So it stands to reason that finding and attracting those customers is one of the most critical activities within your business. In general, there are two ways to find and attract new and repeat customers for your business: marketing and advertising. The difference between these two methods can be most simply described like this: Marketing is how you attempt to turn people you know into customers. Advertising...