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When you first decided to embark on your small business journey, one of the first things you did was create a business plan.  This business plan outlined the goals of your new small business, reasons for how they would be attainable, and a clearly outlined plan for reaching those goals.  What you may or may not realize is that it is a good thing to occasionally come back to that business plan and do a bit of revamping.  Over the years, a small business’ goals may change and the reasons for those goals should be outlined once again.

Cost Overrun

One huge reason for revisiting your business plan is the possibility of cost overrun and subsequent revenue shortfalls.  A resonating example of this is the dot-com bubble 1997-2001 – technology start-ups during this time frame grossly underestimated their costs and overestimated their revenues.  By going back to your business plan periodically to reassess these points, you can save yourself the heartache of having to close up shop or drastically cutback to compensate for unexpected losses.

Customer Base

When first opening the doors to your small business, you had one or two types of customers in mind.  As your business grows and expands, this customer base may change.  New products and services can mean bringing in an entirely new set of buyers and your business plan should reflect this accordingly.  Having a new customer base can greatly affect the goals and plans within your business plan.  Knowing exactly how you plan on incorporating these new customers into your business plan will help keep your goals fresh and attainable.

Rewriting

Your very first business plan probably seemed like a daunting task.  Revisiting and rewriting it need not be intimidating.  If you use the following steps, your rewritten business plan will be a breeze.

1. Think about and then write out your basic business concept.
2. Gather all the data and information you can regarding the specifics and feasibility of the business concept.
3. Refine and clearly define the concept based on the information and data you have gathered.
4. Using “what, where, why, and how”, outline the specifics of your business.
5. Create your rewritten business plan in a format that is compelling – this will help give you insight, focus, and will assist you in dealing with important business relationships.

Remember – revisiting your business plan every few years or so will help you keep ahead of possible overruns and shortfalls, will help you redefine your customer base, and will enable you to keep your business goals foremost in your mind as well as attainable.  It need not be frightening and will ensure you keep your doors open in the years to come.

The current economic times calls for quite a bit of belt tightening – especially for those running small businesses.  There are many different ways to trim the fat off of a business budget.  One particular area of interest to those who gain most of their customers online is by locating a good but inexpensive web hosting company.

Getting the most “bang” for the buck is a priority.  Keeping this in mind, there are four key areas to research when looking for the best quality web host at the lowest monthly cost.  Features, customer support, reliability, and long-term cost are the four features one should explore within a new hosting company.

Plentiful Features

The more features offered at a low-cost web hosting company, the better.  One should look for unlimited amounts of web space, e-mail accounts, bandwidth, and domains allowed to be attached to the main account.  Obviously, the more features offered, the better the deal.

Along with numerous unlimited features, small business owners looking for economic web hosts should also seek out those companies that offer a number of scripting languages (PHP, Ruby on Rails, Python to name a few) and a listing of add-on scripts to make web page creation easier.

Support When Needed

The reality of web hosting is occasionally something goes wrong and customer support is needed.  A web hosting company with few avenues for clients to contact the support team and receive much needed assistance equates to one that will cost a small business owner money in the long run.

The best web hosting companies will have an entire section of their own website dedicated to customer support.  Email addresses, forums, FAQs, and tutorials should be clearly listed and easy to access.  Of paramount importance is a toll-free number for customers to call.  Ideally, one should find a web hosting company that not only offers all of these options but ensures that the customer can contact someone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Reliability Factor

Imagine placing a small business online with a web hosting company that has an up-time percentage of less than 99%?  As an example, an up-time of 98% means that over 12 months, a website can expect to be down and unreachable for a total of 175 hours – about a week.  That’s an entire week where current and prospective customers are unable to find one’s product or service.

Most web hosting providers will guarantee a 99% or higher up-time – the best will offer a refund of some kind if their up-time guarantee isn’t met.  To check a prospective web hosting company’s reliability, an online service such as HostTracker can be utilized.  This site will compare hosting companies’ connections with an availability checker.

Cost Effective

The final component to keep in mind when shopping for a web host is the total monthly cost.  To bring in new clients, many hosting companies will offer monthly specials.  Be wary of these deals as they usually only last about a year and then revert to a much higher monthly rate.

A good price range to look for is between $3.00 to $7.00 a month.  When combined with good reliability, features, and solid customer support, an average of $5.00 a month for a small business web hosting account is going to be money well spent.

Wrap-up

What it all boils down to is doing a bit of research.  Look for web hosting companies showing a good up-time percentage, oodles of features included with each account, easy to find and use customer support, and priced for less than $10 a month.  Tighten your small business belt and get to researching.

One brilliant thing about social media is that it doesn’t know you are a small business owner with less than 10 employees.  Social media allows for businesses of all sizes the ability to reach out and connect with your customer base.  As a small business owner, you can view the social media success of a few of the “bigger dogs” and model your own campaign in a similar fashion.

Comcast has done a splendid job of using the microblog Twitter to allow a two-way conversation with prospective and current customers of the cable giant.  Frank Eliason is the man behind the @ComcastCares and the eight Twitter team members located around the US.  By monitoring Twitter heavily for those who need help and even those who have a complaint about the cable company, Comcast connects directly with customers and makes them feel special.  This is something that isn’t lost on potential new customers.

Another company that has embraced social media and has effectively used it to connect with customers is Dell.  The computer giant has cultivated a cross-platform community that includes blogs, forums, and even an area entirely devoted to customer ideas as well as several Twitter accounts to keep tabs on and chat with both current and potential customers.  Dell is one of a very few companies active in the social media community that has stated they have created a return on investment from Twitter.  The social media efforts of the company has helped create $1 million in revenue.

Starbucks wanted to get a better feel for consumer feedback.  The Seattle based coffee giant created “My Starbucks Idea” – a way for Starbucks fans to submit suggestions that are voted on by other fans.  The most popular suggestions are then highlighted and reviewed.  Going even further, the company added an “Ideas in Action” blog.  This blog periodically sends out updates to users that keep them informed of the status of the changes and ideas that are implemented.

Don’t think it’s only the “bigger dogs” doing well in the social media realm.  Orglamix Cosmetics knows how to reach current and new customers and does this very well through Facebook and Twitter.  On a daily basis, this “Mompreneur” puts out information and runs quick contests for people to learn about and win some of her fantastic organic cosmetic products.  In one day, a single quick contest garnered this small business owner over 160 contacts – potential new customers all eager to try out her products.

By looking at what works and is eagerly accepted by the online community, small business owners can create their own social media campaign.  An integral part of growing one’s business is being able to keep tabs on both current and potential customers’ needs, wants and ideas.  The best part of utilizing social media to get the word out about your business is there is no initial income outlay – only a bit of your time is required.  Take the time to see where your customers gather online and connect to them for your business success!

Did you know that 2,654,717 people love Starbucks Frappuccinos.  And not only do 2,654,717 love to drink Frappuccino’s but they love to discuss how refreshing, delicious and magnificent they are.  How do I know this information, you may ask? Recently, Starbucks created a Facebook page specifically for their Frappuccino drink, and the activity has been monumental.  Millions of people from all over the world meet up on this Facebook page to talk about their favorite flavors, and ways to drink the beloved treat.  They share photos and tell stories and make recommendations of new variations to try.  With Facebook costing zero to participate in, all this marketing is virtually free, creating amazing return on investment for Starbucks Corporation.

You see, Starbucks has created brand evangelists – people who love a product or service so much that they can’t help but rave about it.  Brand evangelists are a company’s dream.  Having brand evangelists means that you are providing stellar service and in return get word of mouth marketing that is priceless.  And with the influx of social media use, brand evangelists can mobilize is ways never imaginable before, which is exactly what Starbucks has done with their Frappuccino beverage.  Given, Starbucks is also a multi-billion dollar corporation with a strong brand presence all over the world, but these same principals remain true for even small businesses.

Whether you are small chiropractic office, a personal trainer who is working for yourself or a message therapist with a small number of clients, you still have a brand.  Your attitude, environment, office space, billing and scheduling procedures, and everything else a client will experience are your brand.  And if a client’s brand experience is a good one, they will let others know.  Think of your current clients as low hanging fruit.  They are the easiest resources to tap for business development because they are already using your services.  Here are some tips for creating brand evangelists out of your current clients.

-Provide incentives for using your services.  If you are a personal trainer, maybe it is a buy 5 sessions, get 1 free.

-It’s all in the details.  Providing little perks create reasons for a client to keep coming back.  Maybe you keep healthy snacks and free water in your waiting room, or send birthday cards with a $5 coffee gift card to all your clients.  Think of things that your clients won’t expect you to do, that go above and beyond.

-Start a refer-a-friend program.  Get clients talking about your services to their networks of friends and family by offering incentives if they refer your services.

-Get feedback.  Ask clients to fill out a short survey or suggestion card explaining how they perceive your services.  The information provided can help you make changes to create a better brand experience.

-Mobilize.  Start a Facebook fan page or testimonial section of your website, to share your positive brand experience with others.

Stimulating the economy – it is a constant topic in Washington D.C.  Everyone is trying to strategize the best way to grow the U.S. economy in the midst of a recession.  And today on the radio, I heard an interesting advertisement from JP Morgan Chase that is offering its own unique solution – Loan for Hire.

Loan for Hire is a brand new promotion aimed at the small business owner.  When your small business gets approved for a new loan, Chase will take off a half-point rate discount for each new employee that you hire, up to 3 employees.  They are also cross-selling their services by offering another half-point on top of that if you have a business checking account with them.  All together, your small business may be able to save 2% off your loan rates, all in the name of growing and hiring employees.

This is an interesting promotion, because it is positioning a big bank (which has been under scrutiny in the past year or so) as a helpful partner that cares about small businesses and wants to help you succeed and grow.  The promotion features a series of videos explaining the details of the promotion, as well and the importance of hiring employees to build a healthier business and therefore a healthier economy.  One of the more interesting videos is the testimonials of real businesses that bank with Chase, sharing their stories of how they have benefitted from getting a loan from the institution (watch the video by clicking here).  Other features of this promotional page include tips for succeeding in our current economy, and how to hire the right people.

So if you are thinking about potentially getting a loan for your small business or hiring more employees, check out this Chase promotion, as see if it is a good fit for you.

When January 1^st comes around, I avoid the gym at all costs.  Even though my New Year’s resolution usually includes living a healthier lifestyle, I know that millions of other Americans have also made this goal and are determined to start the year off right (which usually means, joining a gym).  As a gym member year around, I have found certain hours during the day when the gym is not crowded.  There is nothing worse then getting to the gym only to have to wait for a treadmill to be available, or dodge heavy lifters.  And you can almost guarantee hordes of people will be at the gym during the month of January.  But what’s bad for me, is great for the fitness industry.

The beginning of the year means an influx in business for gyms, personal trainers, yoga instructors and other professionals in the industry.  But as a small business owner in the fitness industry, you know that not everyone will maintain the motivation and mentality they had at the beginning of the year, when resolutions are still fresh.  In fact, you can almost guarantee that a large percentage of clients will dwindle in attendance over the next eleven months, and business will go down.

Most industries have a season that their business peaks –  The retail industry thrives around the holidays, ski resorts get swarmed in the winter months, and for a house painter, the summer is a prime time.  But with the peaks also come the valleys.  And it is imperative to plan for the slow months of your business, in order to maintain consistency and build a great business year around. So what can you do year round to keep your business healthy?   Click here to read an article providing three great tips to running a business year round through all the peaks and valleys!

We have just updated our servers with several minor feature updates to Simplifythis. These features were being sought by Simplifythis users for quite some time, and we are happy to say that they are available for immediate use.  Without further ado, let me get right into the details.

1. Sign-up using your Google account – Now you can sign-up for Simplifythis using your Google account.  No need to remember one more password.  When you sign in, just click on ‘sign-in with a Google account on the login page.  Very soon we will be providing a mechanism to associate existing Simplifythis accounts with Google account.
2. Export of appointments to Excel – The ‘Print Appointment’ button on Appointment Book has been replaced by ‘More Actions’.  As the name suggests, you could do several things after clicking this button, including appointments to Excel. Just search for appointments that you want to export and click on Excel icon.
3. Charge multiple appointments simultaneously – Admittedly, this has been a gripe for a long time. Nonetheless, finally it is here. Take the ‘More Actions’ route, select the appointments you want to charge, and click on ‘Create Charge’.  Corresponding line items will be created for all the appointments you selected.
4. Invoice appointments directly - Earlier, invoicing an appointment was a two step process – first create line items from appointments, and then invoice those line items.  With this update, you can directly invoice one or more appointments.  Again, take the ‘More Action’ route, select the appointments you want to invoice for, and click on ‘Send Invoice’  link.  Now, while selecting appointments, make sure that they belong to the same account or otherwise you’ll be flagging an error message.
5. Improvements in recurring appointments – This update also brings much needed improvements in recurring appointments, notably the ability to delete or cancel individual appointment instances.  In addition, this also fixes some of the bugs associated with time / date of individual occurrences.
6. Record payments on invoice – This update also gives you the capability to directly add and show payments on invoices.  It is especially useful if you take prepayments for appointments and want to show the remaining balance on the invoice.  In other cases, if you want to show that the invoice is paid for, just add the payment on the invoice and it will show the adjusted total due along with the payment details.

I am sure you’ll find these features useful.  We’ll have our next major update towards the end of this month, which we are sure will make Simplifythis even more useful for your business.

No matter where in the world you go you will be able to find people tweeting, posting, liking, poking, and tagging – all virtually, of course.  Social media is an ever growing part of society and is being utilized by millions.  The internet is more than a place to research information, or have a website.  It is a place to create and foster relationships.

According to an article in PR Newswire, a recent study shows that one out of every six marriages is between people who met through an online dating site.  That means 1/6^th of marriages are because of social media.  And it is not just romantic relationships that are being sought after through online networks.   A wide variety of other networking sites allow people to create relationships in many forms.  For instance, Facebook allows people to stay in contact with old friends and family.  Lack of time is a big reason people loose contact with loved ones. Sending a “hello” through Facebook is a lot easier and less time consuming than picking up the phone, yet still allows communication to be made and relationships to continue.  Social networks are also being used professionally.  LinkedIn, is a site that provides a way to network with people that you have done business with in the past, as well as current and potential contacts.  With the click of a mouse, LinkedIn profiles show potential business propositions any references and recommendations that you have.  Facebook and LinkenIn are just a couple examples of the hundreds of sites aimed at growing webs of networks for every faucet of life.  So what does this mean for running a business?

People communicate through social media in a variety of arenas (romantically, socially, and professionally).  So why not reach clients the way they want to be reached?  But using social media as a business tool is more that just creating a profile.  Here are some tips for starting your social media strategy.

Limit your networks:

There are a lot of different social media networks out there and if you use too many, you will become overwhelmed.  Start with one, and expand to two or three if you like the results.  It is best to start with the networks that your clients or potential clients are already using.  Do some research and see how many clients are on Facebook or Twitter, as they are the top two networking sites in popularity.

Keep your private life private:

Keep in mind that whatever you post is going to be public forever.  Use discretion, and know that photos from your personal life may not reflect well professionally.

Once you are start, you can’t stop:

There is nothing worse than following an inactive tweeter, or someone with no recent activity on their Facebook.  Make sure to update regularly.  A few times a week should suffice.  But also keep in mind that there is such thing as updating too much.  Don’t tweet or post a Facebook update more than once a day.

Market your profiles:

Now that you are up and running on social media, make sure to include your Facebook and Twitter addresses on marketing materials.  It shows your clients that you are up with the times and is just another way that they can reach you.