5 Important Small Business Expenses and 5 Expenses to Avoid

5 Important Small Business Expenses and 5 Expenses to Avoid

5 Important Small Business Expenses and 5 Expenses to Avoid

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You’ve got to spend money to make money. Spend it right!

Do you already have an established small business but keep finding yourself stuck financially? Are you already questioning what’s important to spend money on RIGHT NOW? It’s pretty simple and common for small business owners to get themselves in a bad money situation. Let’s take a step back and sort some things out together. Prioritize what’s important for your small business… ready, go!

5 Important expenses-whether you’re a start-up or established.

  1. Money Cruncher (accountant). Having an accountant or CFO can save you exponential amounts of money; even more than you spend on them. They are also great at holding you accountable and breaking down your returns and investments.
  2. Branding and Marketing Research. Branding is extremely important.  It defines your business and expresses who you are through your tone in communication, as well as visually. Don’t waste money on this being done poorly, or you won’t be remembered by customers.
  3. Tax professionals. Do you know how much money you can waste by doing your own business taxes? Tons! Why not take a load of stress off and have someone ready to do all of this for you and give advice? Do it, you won’t regret it.
  4. Equipment. Now when I say equipment, I don’t mean expensive, unnecessary equipment. Get what you need and what works. Upgrade as you grow and get into a better financial place.
  5. Outsourcing. Outsourcing can save you a great deal of money. You won’t have to spend nearly as much on a freelancing COO or PR person as you would if you hired them on full-time. You don’t have to provide them with benefits, even! The ups of outsourcing a COO is that they can see the inner workings of your business from an outside perspective, create goals that work, and identify issues you don’t even see!

5 Expenses to Avoid.

  1. Expensive Software Subscriptions. There are PLENTY of software options out there that can give you exactly what you need at a very affordable price; sometimes free! Do your research before you just jump on a software subscription with all of these extra features that you don’t even need. Don’t waste your money!
  2. Purchasing your “customers”. I’m sorry but do you want REAL customers? Or do you want to pay for them, just so people think you’re “popular”? We aren’t in high school, so let’s get you real customers, eh? Your following is only worth something if it’s natural and real.
  3. Bad Advertising. “Do your research and determine if your customer profile matches that of the publishers’ audience. And don’t commit to long-term anything” (from Chris Sonjeow of LoveBookOnline.com). He said it best. Research is important!
  4. Over-the-top office space. This is a no-brainer. We all want our new business or small business to look successful, but it’s unnecessary and a huge money sucker. Stick with what you can actually afford and as I said above- upgrade as you grow!
  5. Non-measurable marketing. If you can’t measure your results when you create a marketing campaign, then don’t spend your money on it. Plain and simple. If you don’t even know what goal you are trying to reach, don’t go overboard.

Every business will have different needs, as you are all unique. Having someone to hold you accountable and keep you on track is necessary and important for your finances.

Are you stuck? I can help you, not only with operations; but with HR, marketing, web development, and more. Let’s chat. 

Written by Bridgett Hart

I help people understand what LOVE is, and teach them HOW to apply it to any relationship in their life.

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6 Ways you can Grow your Small Business

6 Ways you can Grow your Small Business

6 Ways you can Grow your Small Business

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Growth is not inevitable. 

Want to grow your business in 2022? We have discussed how according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within the first five years. Of course this is due to various reasons BUT we are here to focus on things you can do to succeed!

6 Ways you can Grow your Small Business

  1. Learn SEO. A lot of small business owners struggle with figuring out how they can get to that first page on Google when searched for by potential clients on services they offer. Everyone needs to have means for attracting their customers but there are so many websites out there! You need to be discovered. Learning SEO is a great start. If you aren’t a marketing wizard, start by using some free Local SEO Generators to get some feedback on how to optimize your site. However, the easiest way to get the best results, may be to hire someone.
  2. Create Original Content. People will remember you when you create original content. It’s important to share your expertise and helpful advice or tools to potential clients or customers. Through your content, it also may be a great idea to build your email list by giving the option for visitors to subscribe. Keep that content interesting. It gives you a voice and you may be surprised at what you can achieve with both, SEO and content.
  3. Hire and Keep Great Employees. Now, this is important. Hiring the wrong employees will end up costing you an arm and a leg, and isn’t great for business. It’s not always easy to determine who is right to work for you….but remember when we talked about this? I can always help, but reading our older post is a start.
  4. Network. Whether its speaking at an event or doing a free webinar, getting yourself out there is imperative to your brand and business. Meeting other small business owners in your industry or potential clients is a proactive way to connect. People want to get to know you and this is your chance to market yourself and what you can do for others.
  5. Pay attention to the Competition. The internet is a fantastic place. So start doing some research and see what your competitors are doing; right or wrong! You can learn a lot and start implementing new ideas and getting rid of old ones.
  6. Prioritize your Operations.  A lot of humans have no clue where to start when it comes to creating a good work flow within their business. There’s so much to put into your small business and having a fluid, time saving COO could assist greatly with this.

Anyways…

I think you all get the point! There is a lot and it’s okay to get some help. There are plenty of free tools out there to get you started and cheaper alternatives to help you really succeed. I gave you one tool in the button below. It’s The Hart Habits, the 10 habit framework I created for my clients to help them find more success and alignment. 

Download The Hart Habits Framework Now

Written by Bridgett Hart

I help people understand what LOVE is, and teach them HOW to apply it to any relationship in their life.

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5 Reasons Why an Outsourced COO Can Benefit Your Business

5 Reasons Why an Outsourced COO Can Benefit Your Business

5 Reasons Why an Outsourced COO Can Benefit Your Business

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Business wasn’t meant to be done alone.

The role of a Chief Operating Officer can oftentimes be misunderstood. It’s extremely important to understand the role of a COO because they operate within various types of companies. There is not only ONE type of business or environment for them to thrive on!

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , 50% of small businesses will survive 5 years or more and approximately 1/3 will survive 10 years or more. Doesn’t that blow your mind?

It is important to recognize that a COO’s job description varies greatly- they wear many hats and because of this, they can benefit your small business.

Whether it be from HR tasks to marketing to hiring and keeping the right people – outsourcing could be for you!

 5 Reasons Why an Outsourced COO Can Benefit Your Small Business

  1. Fresh perspective with immediate expertise. Having an outside perspective can help you come up with new ideas for your business. As said above, operations experts work within a range of different companies and that alone could bring great insight to the table for you to collaborate with and create some short and long-term goals.
  2. Reduced Costs. Outsourcing your COO is definitely more affordable than a full-time staff member. Not to mention you are able to control where your money is going, as there are often times various packages offered.  You also won’t need to budget for equipment, health, retirement or even insurance. According to a U.S. Bank study, a whopping 82% of businesses that fail do so because of cash flow problems.
  3. Increased productivity from someone who isn’t trying to steal your job. No matter what your field of expertise is and no matter how MUCH you know about that service or product you are offering… knowing how to operate a business successfully is completely different. It’s important to pair with someone who can focus on the inner workings of operating a business so that you can focus on your vision of yours! Because outsourcing for a COO means not sharing the spotlight, you (the CEO) gets to keep the spotlight and get comfortable assistance in expanding your business and adding more value.
  4. More flexibility with your workload: Your outsourced COO can scale and customize the workload for you, depending on what your needs are and what’s the most important. Take a load off and leave it up to the Operations Expert!
  5. Better Work/Life Balance: Outsourcing your executive staff will definitely free up some of your time. This will help with your stress and give you more room for you and your family. You won’t have to worry about learning the ropes of compliance, operations, marketing, technology….all that stuff! Take a load off and go HOME or take yourself to get a massage!

Don’t know your needs just yet? That’s fine!

Not everyone recognizes exactly what’s going wrong or what needs assistance within their company. But that’s okay, I can help you! It’s important to go over your operations and identify what needs attention.

Listed above are just a few of MANY positives in outsourcing a Chief Operating Officer, and what was not to love?! There are so many benefits to this that can definitely take your business to the next level. So let’s talk about it. 

Written by Bridgett Hart

I help people understand what LOVE is, and teach them HOW to apply it to any relationship in their life.

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Hire and Keep the Right Employees

Hire and Keep the Right Employees

Hire and Keep the Right Employees

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Hiring is No Joke. You won’t do it right every time. But you can try!

Most business owners don’t realize how difficult it can be to hire the right employee until it’s too late. When someone is hired that is a wrong fit for your company, it can be costly, time-consuming, and cause some damage to your work environment! Do you want to enhance the culture, morale, and productivity at your business?

Then let’s discuss some strategies for hiring the right people and KEEPING them!

  • Performing a Job Analysis. Involve and interview your employees in their current positions and observe their day-to-day. This is important when performing a job analysis so that you can update your job descriptions before you’re on the hunt for the right person! You’ll want to identify and summarize the job; as well as including duties, responsibilities, specifications, and disclaimers/approval.
  • Creating a recruiting strategy plan. As a business owner, you’ll want to understand the benefits of hiring your new employees. Write out your recruiting costs, salary ranges, taxes, benefits, training, equipment, and onboarding. It’s also important to measure the amount of time you want to take to hire. Taking too long or hiring too quickly could cause trust problems or lead to hiring the wrong person. We all know a bad hire is expensive.
  •  Creating a checklist and hiring the right person for the job. Determine the order of steps you want to take to hire someone this time. Write them out and follow them exactly – making sure it’s within your hiring time frame. From determining your need for a new hire or position to scheduling a start date for your new employee.
  • Pre-screen your candidates. Pre-screening is important when you want to find and keep the right employee. This also can reduce the recruiting time and improve the precision of your hiring process. Figure out different pre-screening methods you’d love to use in getting to know your candidate before bringing them onto the team.
  • Ask the right questions.  Stay away from the standard questions and get creative! Ask challenging questions that also give the interviewee the opportunity to offer solutions. This article from Forbes is a great read to figure out if they are competent, capable, compatible, and committed.
  • Let them interview you. This is a great way to gauge some level of interest your candidate has in the job position. It also assists with getting a feel for their personality and seeing how comfortable you interact with one another.
  • Stay up to date with digital and social media trends. 45 percent of job seekers use their mobile devices to search for jobs at least once every day. So make sure that career site is mobile-friendly! The majority of candidates between the ages of 22 to 60 want to work for digitally enabled organizations.

Keep your employees productive and happy. 

Employees want to feel like they’re valuable and are a crucial part of the team. This leads to being more productive and delivering results for their employer.  Openly praise them and set goals that are obtainable. It is extremely important to take their needs seriously and be that push of motivation so that they stay on track! If you want your employees to be committed and successful for your company, you need to treat them as such.

Are you having a hard time with hiring and keeping the right employee? Let’s come up with a plan!

Written by Bridgett Hart

I help people understand what LOVE is, and teach them HOW to apply it to any relationship in their life.

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Are you feeling overworked and overwhelmed? Stay productive and get on track.

Are you feeling overworked and overwhelmed? Stay productive and get on track.

Are you feeling overworked and overwhelmed? Stay productive and get on track.

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It’s not hard because you’re bad at it. It’s hard because it’s hard!

As a small business owner, I’m sure you’re constantly feeling overworked and overwhelmed. A small business owner survey from  Constant Contact shows that 56% say they feel like they can never be away from their business. This often leads to feelings of stress and causes some procrastination-which then leads to more overwhelm!

Stay calm, let’s talk about some ways you can get in control. I’m sure you notice already that you’re trying to wear too many hats at once. Let’s set some goals!

 5  ways you can reroute your current stressful cycle and get on track:

  1. Admitting you can’t do it all alone.  Nobody has time to micromanage and nobody has time to take on every little responsibility. Nobody can run a small business by doing everything themselves- so admit you can’t do it alone! Really think of your team and their responsibilities; Make sure their tasks are being handled by THEM. Make sure you have a team you can trust to do their tasks! 
  2. Set priorities and goals, then centralize that list. Do you know where you want your business to be in 12 months? It’s time to figure that out and set some monthly priorities and goals that need to be met in order to achieve that 12-month business goal! Record your new ideas immediately and find time to sift through them. Centralizing your list will help keep you focused!
  3. Pay attention to task time and simplify. Most business owners have a false sense of how long it takes to do a certain task. When you start to work on an important task for the day, record how long it takes for you to complete it! Then adjust your priorities and tasks accordingly. This will give you an idea of how to manage your time effectively.
  4. Don’t over-schedule your time. Once you have a better idea of how to manage your time, you should be able to schedule your days where you aren’t overworking yourself or creating high expectations. Don’t stress or overwork yourself.
  5. Make an appointment with yourself. Setting aside time for yourself is important for any human; let alone a business owner. Make dates with yourself. Get a massage, go bowling, go hiking, or even get a nap in! Making time for yourself will relieve some stress and help reset you for your next to-do list.

You can do this.

We all know how easy it is to become overwhelmed as a small business owner. Between hiring the right people for your team, knowing where to put your budget, creating procedures, and making sure everything is flowing correctly. It’s important to manage these things and get your business to the next level.

If you have a hard time knowing where to start, don’t you worry, there is assistance available! Find out your options for free!

Written by Bridgett Hart

I help people understand what LOVE is, and teach them HOW to apply it to any relationship in their life.

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Blogging IS important for your small business-find out why!

Blogging IS important for your small business-find out why!

Blogging IS important for your small business-find out why!

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Yes Everyone, Yes! Blogging is worth it.

Blogging is worth putting in the effort for your small business. It’s easy, cheap and a great way to assist with your inbound marketing, traffic to your business site, and in return attracts more customers.

Did you know that 47% of buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep ? That’s amazing! Also, companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got about 4.5X more leads than companies that published 0-4 monthly posts. I think it’s safe to say that blogging is pretty important for some growth!

When it comes to small business blogs- want to know more of what blogging can do for your small business?

  1. Increase Search Engine Optimization. Search engines are important for finding services or products that your business offers and search engines also love new content. You know what is a great way to give more content frequently? Blogging. If you do this, you are giving Google (or whatever engine is being used) new content to index, while creating opportunities to use keywords that will increase your business’ visibility.  Wouldn’t it be nice if customers could search something you offer, and your business be on that top first page? Yeah, it would! 
  2. Develop Leads and Build Relationships with Current Customers. There are different SEO content techniques that can be used in your blog posts which allows you to connect with the visitors of your site. You can definitely engage with your viewers by asking questions to get them involved, as well as having different call-to-action examples. By responding to readers comments and including credible sources in your posts, you can build trust with your audience and get a better insight on what your customers need. You can also establish your small business as an industry leader by providing expert information!
  3. Establish and Connect others to your Brand. Branding is very important for your small business and a blog post can even show personal side of your business that customers won’t get to see through outbound marketing techniques. Everything from content, colors, fonts, and voice can be shown in your content posts; which gives a sense of your companies personality that others can connect with. Let’s start building those relationships!
  4. Sharing Opportunities. Every time you create a piece of blog content, your audience can share! Sharing is an important technique for growth, especially because the sharer has shown trust in your business! It’s free marketing that can label you as a credible business.

Start your blog today!

Now, doesn’t blogging sound great?! You can build credibility, boost your rankings, increase traffic and leads, and build relationships with potential and current customers with minimal expense and effort! No small business should pass up this content marketing opportunity.

Does your small business need assistance with SEO blog content? We would love to guide, assist, or manage that for you! Let’s chat!

Written by Bridgett Hart

I help people understand what LOVE is, and teach them HOW to apply it to any relationship in their life.

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5 Tools for Getting Rest in a Chaotic Service Role

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Servant Leaders take ourselves out!I spent the first 20 years of my career trying to save the world.  I had a business degree and a heart for social services so I combined the two to develop and run out-of-school programs for K - 6th graders. When I started, it was...

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Don't Wait.

You Deserve to Shine Now.