A Start Up Life

Getting Business to Come to You
Paul and Sarah Edwards & Laura Clampitt Douglas

Another great book for a small business looking to establish themselves and learn the essentials of marketing. Getting Business to Come to You focuses your attention on the most effective, low-cost methods of marketing and also gives very useful technical details on the process of creating your own marketing materials.

The four most effective, low-cost marketing methods are

1. Word of mouth. To have a business thrive and grow with only word of mouth marketing should be the goal of every entrepreneur. Not that you can’t give it a kick with some other methods when you want, but what sweet bliss it is to have your customers and new ones beating a path to your door with no effort on your part except your great reputation and service. The key is to get yourself into the mind of the people that matter…your customers. Focus your efforts on those people that will buy from you and get them to give you referrals. Everything else you do is in order to reach this goal.

2. Public relations. PR is your ticket to being established as a leader in your industry. Create a publicity kit and get the media’s attention. Use your publicity to get others to recognize your name and know that you are the expert in your field.

3. Direct marketing. Use it to control how often your business enters into the mind of your customer. A monthly newsletter or a quarterly sale or discount, that they are alerted to via direct mail or email, will keep you in their minds and keep them telling their friends about you.

4. Inventive advertising. New customers will be attracted to your business if you are effective at advertising. Being inventive is the key. Your copy has to stand out from the rest and you have to be creative. Experiment with different media such as bulletin boards, radio and TV shows, yellow pages, trade directories, etc.

This book has helpful lists of when a particular marketing technique is right for your business and when you’re just wasting money. It helps you tailor your marketing campaign to your needs. I especially enjoyed the technical details on such topics as building a publicity kit and writing and designing advertising copy that sells. Other topics were detailed as well, but these stood out as the most important for my business at this time. Read the book and see which ones stand out for you!

While reading Getting Business to Come to You I often found myself putting the book down to implement some of the things I had learned before moving on. For example, when it talked about focusing in on getting your name into the minds of your potential customers, I had to stop and write emails to all the teachers I know to find out how best to let math and science teachers in the Urbana/Champaign, Illinois area know that Quantum Tutoring is THE tutoring company that they should refer their students to. After reading the chapters on advertising I came up with a strategy to post flyers at football games and other local school events; after reading about public relations, I planned to get involved in the local parent teacher associations and set up a booth at the local schools’ career fairs. I also used the tips in this book to create my business cards and letterhead.

Click here to read part 1 of this post.
Click here to read part 2 of this post.

Of course, setting up your company to serve as your employment only can limit your potential. After interviewing Jim Wilkie about his company At The Docks Marine Electrical, I was convinced that he could expand either the number and types of services he offers to his boat-loving customers or expand to regions outside his local area. His service of repairing electrical problems on boats while they remain stationed at the marina is phenomenal and very marketable. However, he is currently content to remain his sole employee, do what he enjoys, and as I’ve said, make a nice salary off it. In addition to limited growth potential, other disadvantages of remaining small are that you do everything (bookkeeping, marketing, budgeting, the actual labor, etc.) and that when you stop working for your business, your business stops working for you and your income from it dries up.

In the end, it depends on what you want to get out of your business. Will you be more happy just doing what you love or would you rather put in the effort required to create a larger and (potentially) more profitable business?

Both Quantum Tutoring and Quincy Massachusetts Voice Lessons were created to give Sara and me something to do and earn a little money in the mean time. Additionally, they are giving us a platform to learn the basics of business, marketing, finances, etc. Both of us could expand, and may do so in the future. However, for now the benefits of owning our own businesses are great and we’ve enjoyed creating our own employment opportunities.

Click here to read Part 1 of this post.

Creating your own business allows you better hours, greater earning potential and control over job security. Entrepreneurs often work much more than 40 hours a week at their businesses, because they have a passion to see it succeed, but this is not a necessity. Your own business allows you to use your time as efficiently as possible, set your own work hours and work as many or as few as you want. On the other hand, if you were to work for an employer, there are not very many job options in which you can work as little as 10 or even 5 hours per week and make more than minimum wage. Nor can you often work more than 40 hours, because employers would rather not pay you overtime. Additionally, because your job security depends entirely on the success of your business, it is completely under your control. You control your time, you (and the market) control your earning and you control your job security.

Keeping your business small allows you to avoid the difficulties of a complicated business structure and the hassles involved with employing others. My husband’s family owns and runs Cromar Painting, a contracting company. They have tried expanding in the past, but have found it more profitable to employ very few contractors and keep their operation simple. You can remain a sole proprietorship, never dealing with partners, incorporation and the taxes, finances, insurance, lawyers, and headache that go with all that. Less time spent on such things, means more time spent doing what you enjoy and getting paid to do so.

Click here to read Part 3 of this post.

I have recently begun to think of running a business in a new way. There are many benefits to creating a business for the sole purpose of creating employment for yourself. You create the job you want to be doing, and your business doesn’t have to be large and complicated. You may be limited in the growth that your business can achieve, even if your idea is the world’s greatest. However, many people simply create a business, so they can work for themselves and not for other people.

After reading and reviewing The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Business Don’t Work & What to Do About It, I was convinced that the only smart thing to do in running a business is set it up so that it can run without you. This means systematizing everything in your business, so others can be trained to take your place in every position you occupy in the company. This way, you can expand, allow your business to grow, open more locations, sell a higher volume of merchandise, etc. But, what if you just want a job, that you enjoy, that pays well, in which you don’t have to answer to others? What if you don’t want to be able to run your business on a national or international scale? What if you just want to earn a few more dollars a month? At least for now.

Click here to read Part 2 of this post.

Click here to read Part 3 of this post.