When you own your own business, loving what you do is essential, but it is not enough. Of course, you have to have a great deal of passion to endure the stressful sleepless nights and roll-up-your-sleeves kind of days, but you also need to have performance, through operational tools, to keep your business going and growing. One simply cannot exist without the other. So how do you make sure you have both elements to ensure a successful and thriving business?
Passion: Commitment
Being a business owner requires incredible commitment, discipline and resilience. Not just the kind that spends time creating the idea and making it a reality or even the kind that funds it. You need to be willing and able to be in the trenches day in and day out, 24/7, doing anything and everything that the business requires You might be the manufacturer, the accountant, the secretary, the operations manager and everything in between, all at once. There are days where it won’t be fun and you’d rather be doing something else, but you have to have the passion and focus to stay the course if you are going to make it. If you aren’t willing to commit yourself fully to your business, it might not be the right thing for you.
Performance: Business Tools
Businesses cannot survive without some simple and effective tools to help them run smoothly.
Technology
Taking advantage of technology will help you be successful. You should aim to apply technology wherever you can, such as tracking your expenses and sales, creating databases of consumer demographics, invoicing, managing inventory, collaborating, advertising and so on. Technology takes some of the burden away from you and eliminates the need to hire a lot of different people to manage and operate your business.
Business Plan
A business plan is like a road map for success. It will put you in the best possible position to be able to lead your business rather than react to all of the variables around you. A good business plan has both short- and long-term goals outlined, as well as the strategies and tactics to realize those goals. It should also communicate who your competition is and what it is doing. It must include financial projections, sales, expenses and profit. Technology can help you develop this plan.
Financing
It’s almost impossible to grow a business without enough funds. Financing is a valuable tool that should be considered even before it is absolutely necessary.There are different types of financing such as term loans, bridge loans, business credit cards or factoring. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, which is why you should study all possibilities before making a decision that is either a step towards success or a high-risk situation.
At ExpoCredit, we work with business owners who struggle with slow moving invoices, as they put a tremendous strain on cash flow. ExpoCredit offers accounts receivable and supply chain financing, which provides cash for unpaid invoices. This is a great option for small businesses, as they can use the funds immediately for their operational needs and they won’t have to wait around to get paid by clients and suppliers.
There is no magic formula for success, however, with the right combination of passion and performance, you can be more efficient in the pursuit of your goals.