Survival of the fittest

In my weekly travels I meet a wide variety of business people and one of the greatest benefits of my business is that I have a front row seat to the entrepreneurial community. I get to witness first hand the successes and struggles that many people are facing. There are many reasons for either but the one most common barriers to success is the inability for entrepreneurs to delegate non productive tasks so that they can concentrate on the revenue producing activities that will allow them to be successful.

An entrepreneur is often motivated passionately about a product or service that they're offering but with the responsibility of marketing, book keeping, project management etc and they lose momentum. It's not easy to let go so that you can be your best at in your chosen field but it is critical. What most people overlook is their own personal value. They only see what they have to pay out but not what they can gain through delegating to an outsourced professional. If your productivity is worth $75 per hour and you can find a book keeper for under $25 per hour to handle your books, you're up $50 per hour in productivity because you will be able to use that time for revenue generating activities.

I don't think that I am writing anything new here for experienced business owners but for the newbies this is something to pay particular attention to. It's a daunting effort to multi-task when you're in business for yourself but what if you're disorganized or not good at keeping accurate records or keeping appointments with prospective clients? How then will you handle the fallout?

There are some great ways to correct this situation and I would like to invite my fellow entrepreneurs to share their success or setback stories for others to learn from.

Businesses Need a Web Presence

I make many sales calls throughout each week and while I find many companies already leveraging their use of the internet to further their business and develop new opportunities, there is an alarming number of companies that have not caught onto the notion that having a web site can help their business.

The number one issue that I have found with prospective clients is the failure to recognize that people (seekers of online information) want more information on a company than what is found through simple directories and that a company website will help them decide whether or not to select the company to do business with. A website is a virtual view of the business in question. If you cannot offer your prospective clients an understanding of what you do better than anyone else, how can you expect to earn their business in this digital age. A website will allow you to showcase your talents and attract a wider audience than you would otherwise attract through traditional mediums. The beauty of having a website is that you can shape it to show as little or as much of your business as you want.

I recognize that many are concerned about privacy and not giving up too much to the competition but the reality is that you are in control of what information you wish to publish. The most important thing that you can do for your business is to make information available for people to see. When you are visible online, you can increase your chances of earning business from clients doing targeted searches for your types of services. When you're not online or limited to general directories people have to guess that you're the ideal company. Chances are that the those that have invested in an online presence will prevail over those who have not taken the next step.