5 Pieces of Advice for Small Business Owners this New Year

1. Being a “little fish” in your industry is a good thing — so long as you have a scalable business model and a contingency plan for growth. Check out this in-depth article by our CEO, Heather Francis, which details the benefits of keeping your business small.

2. Only work with vendors/partners that have excellent reviews and take compliance/industry regulations seriously. Your business is your baby, and you should only trust your baby with the most credible of folks.

3. Proactively think of what your clients may need or expect, then incorporate those solutions into your business model. Anticipate the next issue at hand and look down the road to see what other speed bumps may be coming. You know your client base better than anyone – so why are they using your product or service? What are their common pain points? How can you help them bridge their gaps? Ask yourself these questions, then incorporate proactive solutions into your processes and conversations. You want to be a resource to your clients, not just any other vendor. Think of their needs holistically and you’ll automatically be more in-tune with their emotions, fears, and expectations. 

4. Now is the perfect time to review your working processes and automate what you can. Consider your current business processes. What seems to be working for you right now? What’s not? What can you be doing better? What tasks are taking more manual work and labor than they should? Which processes can you clean up so you and your team members can flourish and reach peak performance?

5. Make your company culture a top priority. A strong work culture starts at the individual level. Team morale can’t flourish unless each team member is happy, comfortable, and engaged. Employee happiness is especially important these days as the workforce shortage presses on.