How can I keep my business growing?

After a fast start, your small business seems to have lost momentum. What happened? And more importantly, what can you do about it?

Given the interconnected nature of today’s economy, even small, largely local businesses are influenced by trends and events in other industries, and even other continents.

But your internal approach to generating and managing growth could well be the source of your sales slowdown, even in the face of what seem to be bright opportunities. The detailed business plan you’ve followed since the outset may no longer be applicable in a marketplace where changes—both expected and unforeseen—happen on a daily basis.

A growth plan that acts like an internal compass can be a helpful tool for getting things back on track.

Start with your day-to-day actions. If you want your business to grow, that should be the focal point of everything you do. Gather the financial details about what’s happening internally. Then put your plan in writing. It does not need to be lengthy and ultra-detailed. Just the basic points will do. For example, how has your business done in fulfilling your original mission? Did you start with a bang only to see things flatten out? Perhaps you aren’t delivering what you first promised to your customers. Fix any problems or shortfalls quickly.

Keeping up with changes in your marketplace is crucial, so you might have to conduct some new research to stay up to date. This doesn’t have to be formal research. You might start with a simple customer survey, for example, or check for available research online. Make adjustments as needed in your approach.

Communicate your growth vision to others involved with your business, including outside vendors and contractors as well as partners, investors and employees. Don’t just dream—delegate specific actions to reach those goals.

Find out what objections customers are raising to your sales effort—why they have purchased or declined your product or service. Adjust your sales process to place greater emphasis on closing.

You can find some valuable guidance for growth planning in two books: Strategic Planning for Small Business Made Easy, the latest in the “Made Easy” series from Entrepreneur Press, and The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth by small business growth expert Steven S. Little. Both are available in bookstores and online.



Richard Strug
Greater Princeton Area SCORE (Chapter 631)
Serving Mercer and Middlesex Counties

Should I consider outsourcing order fulfillment?

Handling the fulfillment responsibilities yourself may seem like a good, cost-saving idea when you’re just starting out. But as demand for your products grows, so too will your fulfillment backlog. Unless you stay on top of it, your sales will suffer along with your company’s reputation for quality and responsiveness.

This may be a good time to consider using an outside order shipping and fulfillment service to take the burden off of your shoulders. Outsourcing fulfillment can save you time. Your products, labels and other unique packaging can be stored in the fulfillment company’s facilities. When orders are placed, the fulfillment firm packs and ships the items and perhaps handles customer service and returns as well. Orders can come through you via your usual methods, or can go direct to the service.

Plus, a good shipping and fulfillment service will have the latest tools and technology for efficiently packing, shipping, and tracking orders. By letting them handle this responsibility, you can devote more time to managing and growing your business.

There are many different ways to approach shipping and fulfillment solutions based on the type, weight, size and destination of the items you ship, along with your customers’ needs and expectations. Outside fulfillment involves a cost, but you should also consider the costs you are avoiding such as storage space, payroll and your own time. If you charge customers for shipping and handling, you may be able to recover all or a portion of it.

When selecting an order fulfillment firm, be sure to align your needs with the services they offer. Ask about minimum and maximum order quantities, error rates and restrictions on the types of products they will ship. Some, for example, only ship via UPS and the Postal Service and don’t handle oversize items. If you have special packaging, ask if they will use it.

A great source of information is the Mailing and Fulfillment Service Association, a national trade association for the mailing and fulfillment services industry. Their website (www.mfsanet.org) offers tips for evaluating, selecting, and working with a fulfillment service, postal and legislative information, and a search feature for locating a locating a company that’s right for you.


Richard Strug
Greater Princeton Area SCORE (Chapter 631)
Serving Mercer and Middlesex Counties

I can finance my business myself. What are the implications?

Self-Financing Has Its Rewards…and Risks.

Loans are a great, affordable way to get a small business off the ground. But they’re not for everybody. Personal sources of financing can work just as well, and may be the entrepreneur’s “Plan B” if attempts to secure a commercial loan are unsuccessful.

Although self-financing options may give you more control and flexibility over your start-up capital, special care is essential to make sure they are used wisely. A misstep puts more than your small business at risk. It can also endanger the long-term security of you and your family.

Before you dip into your savings or tap the equity in your house, make sure you have a realistic plan to meet your existing obligations, such as mortgage, utility bills, vehicle payments, insurance, and daily living expenses. Be sure to consider “worst-case” scenarios, such as a spouse losing his or her job, major car repairs, or serious health issue. The likelihood of such events may be remote, but the consequences on your financial security will be very real if they do occur.

A good preventive measure is to designate certain funds as “off-limits” for use in your business. Certain retirement accounts may also be “untouchable” due to the tax consequences and heavy penalties associated with early withdrawals.

Friends and family members can be good sources for start-up capital. However, history is full of ruined businesses and personal relationships because money was not repaid as expected, or the investor demanded a say in how the business was run.

Even if your benefactors place no conditions on the money, make sure everyone clearly understands how the funds are to be used; the repayment terms and amount of interest, if applicable; and what role, if any, contributors will play in the business. Then, put everything in writing and have all parties agree to the terms.

Credit cards can also be a source of quick cash for your business, but low limits and high interest rates usually make them useful only as a last resort, or as a short-term cash flow bridge. It’s best to use them only if absolutely necessary, and you have the ability to pay them down quickly. Otherwise, that debt can quickly spiral out of control. Also carefully scrutinize equipment financing offers from retailers and manufacturers. Their terms may be more restrictive and expensive than credit cards.

Richard Strug
Greater Princeton Area SCORE (Chapter 631)
Serving Mercer and Middlesex Counties

How can I make sure my business data is secure?

Locks, alarms, and cameras can help safeguard your facilities and equipment. But what about your computer databases—the places where valuable, sensitive, and potentially irreplaceable assets of your small business are stored?

It may be easy to assume that Internet firewalls and PC passwords are enough to prevent unauthorized access. But according to Fredric Paul, publisher and editor-in-chief of bMighty.com, an online resource that specializes in the IT needs of small and medium-sized businesses, database breaches from both external and internal sources are increasing at an alarming rate.

“Small businesses face a higher risk because they usually lack the IT security infrastructure and expertise of larger, but no less vulnerable, corporations,” Paul explains. “Because small businesses also lack the resources and expertise to detect and respond quickly to a breach, the consequences of unauthorized access are greater as well.”

Here are some steps for keeping your small business database as safe as possible:

Enable security capabilities. Many off-the-shelf databases have only limited default security controls. Make sure that all authentication controls are enabled, and avoid using common passwords for user and administrator accounts.

Give the database a security check-up. Before entering any data, make no unwanted or unnecessary sharing features are activated by default. Check the software developer’s website every few months to ensure that your version is up-to-date with all the latest security patches.

Restrict database access. Even if you have a small, trusted staff, access to the database should be limited to a need-to-know basis. This will prevent passwords and other important information from being misused or unintentionally shared. It also provides an extra measure of safety in the event today’s colleague becomes tomorrow’s competitor.

Make regular backups. Depending on the size and extent of your small business databases, back-ups should be made on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. The data should be stored in encrypted format to further minimize its value to a data thief. Back-ups should also be kept at a secure, off-site location in the event your normal place of business become inaccessible due to weather, fire, or natural disaster.

Keep track of trends. Even if you don’t consider yourself a computer whiz, safeguarding IT resources is easier when you take a proactive approach. Resources such as bMighty.com can provide valuable information and tips for ensuring your system stays in step with your small business’s needs.

Richard Strug
Greater Princeton Area SCORE (Chapter 631)
Serving Mercer and Middlesex Counties

Does my business need a disaster recovery plan?

SCORE counselor Bala Subramanian reminds us that based on current events businesses large and small should have a Disaster Recovery plan in place.

“Small business owners need to plan for many contingencies including unexpected disasters. The gulf oil spill illustrates this fact vividly. While the media and society considers this as BP’s (a large business by any measure) failure and accuses their unpreparedness for that eventuality, all small businesses such as: fisherman, oysterman, tourist industry dependents, i.e., restaurants, hotels, etc., affected by that event are equally unprepared. If those small businesses had considered the impact of such unexpected catastrophic events, they could have been better prepared to state their claims and not only seek compensation but also have alternate solutions for their survival, insuring their continued existence.

Business plans rarely include disaster recovery. Disaster recovery caused by an internal or an external failure is essential for large as well as small businesses.

In the case of a small business, owners should plan for such eventuality and have a contingency action plan that would enable them to relocate re-source-suppliers and continue their services to their customers. Even in cases when there are only walk-ins and the customers are transients, a disaster recovery plan can provide valuable information to those end-users, clients and the dependants of those businesses services; an alternative way to have those services available to them in an uninterrupted manner.

The DR (disaster recovery) or BC (business continuity) plan begins with risk analysis and ends with a plan that needs constant updating. There are several steps in between which answers questions such as: What are the threats? What are the probabilities associated with each of those threats occurring? Prioritizing and ranking the threats using an estimate, perhaps based on the cost associated with the loss of value to your business if that threat occurred.

Each business is unique in its needs and with thoughtful consideration you can create a Disaster Recovery Tool Kit for your business that may include:
 A contingency check list or a questionnaire.
 An audit questionnaire.
 A dependency analysis document (with questions, guidelines and a time frame).
 A business impact analysis.
Based on these findings each small business needs to have an action list to recover from any disaster contingency.

Here is a link to more resources: http://www.businesscontinuityworld.com/tool.htm, an organization that specializes in providing technical services.

If you as a small business owner feel this to be of importance and want to learn more, contact SCORE at the number below to arrange a free counseling session.”

Richard Strug
Greater Princeton Area SCORE (Chapter 631)
Serving Mercer and Middlesex Counties

Am I ready to be my own boss?

SCORE® counselor and noted advertising executive, Alan Yarnoff asks the question, “Do you want to be your own boss?”

How many times have you gotten up in the morning and headed to work wondering if I would be better off being my own boss and answer to no one but myself? Being your own boss is not an easy task, as evidenced by the fact that 85% of all small business fail after five years. Even so, being the boss can be appealing and many have had great success. Before you give up a steady job here are some points you need to consider:
- Are you a good decision maker who can make decisions quickly under pressure and in an independent manor?
- Do you have the stamina to put in seventy to eighty hour work weeks over a long and protracted period?
- Do you have good business skills from marketing to accounting and beyond? Remember small business is just that and you need to be prepared to do it all.
- Are you a self starter? It will be up to you to take the lead to develop the business, manage the process, and follow through on all the projects.
- Do you work well independently, since once you are on your own you really are alone? No accounting department to call on for forecasts, no marketing group to turn to for sales and promotion ideas, and no dedicated sales organization to bring in the business.
- Are you ready to handle the uncertain financial risks? Remember you won’t be getting a pay check weekly, and there will be times when your cash flow dips well below your operational costs leaving you short of covering your fixed personal expenses.

Lastly, remember this new venture will completely change your life. You will need to balance family demands with your new responsibilities. You may have financial difficulties before the company becomes profitable creating a need to reduce your living standards and forego family activities that had been common place prior to your new business adventure.

Well, if you answered the above with a definite "yes", you may be a candidate to be the boss. Remember, before you leap into the market place do your homework and make sure you get it right.

Richard Strug
Greater Princeton Area SCORE (Chapter 631)
Serving Mercer and Middlesex Counties

What should I consider in outsourcing functions of my business?

Outsourcing is a common practice in today’s business world, but it’s not the domain of large companies. Small business owners use outsourcing for a variety of reasons—to handle work overflows, receive specific expertise in a new or unfamiliar area such as marketing or IT, or take on more routine administrative tasks that are taking up too much of their time and attention.

The decision to outsource certain functions requires a professional approach, particularly since the small business owner may be understandably leery about relinquishing control over a task that he or she has handled from the outset. Developing a successful long-term relationship with an outsourcing partner requires effort on both sides. It’s important to treat it like a partnership, because that’s what it really is. A vendor who supplies a vital service for your business is like part of your staff, so you should go through a similar interviewing and reference checking process before you “hire” them.

Using outside service providers who have experience working with your particular type of business is important. You’ll also want someone with the technology and expertise to deliver cutting edge services.

Be sure to ask detailed questions about the service you will receive and your access to someone who can answer questions and solve problems as they arise. For most small business owners, this kind of accessibility and service are top priorities. If the firm you are considering won’t be available when something goes wrong, look elsewhere.

Also ask your candidate firms for current and past clients who received services of a scope similar to what you’re looking for. If possible, ask for clients similar to yours to properly gauge how well the company understands your needs. And, always meet with the service provider’s leadership as well as the people who will be working directly with you. You don’t want to have any doubts about their ability to handle what may be critical tasks for your business.

The “go-to” resource for help is the Outsourcing Institute, the world's largest professional community dedicated solely to outsourcing. The Institute’s Web site (www.outsourcing.com), provides a wealth of information about outsourcing trends, articles on securing IT and business processing services, and tips for ensuring your outsourcing partner delivers the level of performance you want.



Richard Strug
Greater Princeton Area SCORE (Chapter 631)
Serving Mercer and Middlesex Counties