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5 Things That Could Make or Break Your Small Business


August 06, 2014


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CakeThe more than 29 million small businesses in America have created 64 percent of new job openings over the past 15 years and a full 50 percent of the national GDP. But what makes the difference between a successful, thriving small business and one that closes its doors within the first year and a half, like 80 percent of new businesses do?


Much of what makes a small business successful has to do with the attitude and personality traits of the entrepreneur in question. A successful entrepreneur is passionate about the work he or she does, and wants his or her business to fill a market need in his or her community.


Successful small business owners are community-oriented — they build the types of businesses that help grow communities. A successful entrepreneur has a vision for his or her business’s future, knows how to leverage new technology and knows how to delegate and collaborate.


Community Spirit


The desire to contribute to the community in which one lives is a singular motivation of most successful small business owners. When Mike Glauser, a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Jon M. Hunstman School of Business at Utah State University, began traveling around the country on a mission to learn the secrets of America’s small business owners, he and his team found that an interest in improving the community was a primary motivating factor for most entrepreneurs in small towns.


Carving out a niche in the community was even more important than money or profits for the entrepreneurs Glauser interviewed. Most of these small business owners were men and women who wanted to stay in their own hometowns and make livelihoods for themselves and their employees.


A Passion for the Work the Business Does


Few small business owners can succeed if they aren’t willing to get down in the trenches and contribute to the real work of the business. Successful entrepreneurs don’t close themselves off in an administrative glass tower.


While they do attend to management and office affairs, they love nothing more than making the time to personally bake the cakes, stock the shelves, give the haircuts or repair the bicycles. That’s because, for most entrepreneurs, a small business is an opportunity to build a career in a chosen field.


Technological Know-How


flowerTechnology is changing the way we do business, and it’s making it easier and easier to work from even the most remote, rural locations.


Thanks to the Internet, small businesses are able to reach out to their customer base day and night, and customers are able to reach back. Advances in technology are even making it easier for businesses to get more done with fewer employees. A successful entrepreneur knows how to leverage technology to maximum effect to help his or her business grow.


You don’t have to have all the newest equipment in order to use technology to your business’s advantage. Often, leveraging tech is a matter of finding the simple innovations that ease the administrative burden and streamline your operations, like free online estimate templates, for example.


An Eye for the Future


Most successful entrepreneurs don’t have what some call an “exit strategy” — a plan to build the business up and then sell it to the highest bidder as soon as possible, before moving on to the next venture. Instead, most successful business owners plan to build their business until they’re ready to retire. That requires an eye for long-term, as well as short-term, planning.


Instead of focusing on growing profits to attract a wealthy investor, these business owners are thinking about offering the products and services their customers need, keeping their business relevant and continuing to diversify their product offerings as the market evolves.


 A Collaborative Mindset


Successful entrepreneurs know they can’t run a viable business over the long term all by themselves. They know how to choose great employees and they know when and how to delegate tasks to those employees. They take the time to forge solid relationships with their staff, management team and customers, as well as vendors, freelancers and consultants. They understand the need to collaborate to open up opportunities for others, who can in turn open up opportunities for them.


Small business owners remain the backbone of the American economy. A successful small business owner uses his or her business as an opportunity to enhance his or her community by filling a need in the market and creating opportunities for others, all while doing the work he or she loves most.


                   



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