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Staying Strong in Financially Hard Times

Featured Mom
 

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The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business

From Publishers Weekly
Female entrepreneurs start businesses at twice the rate of their male counterparts , and in this book they will find a practical compendium of everything there is to know about launching and sustaining a small business. Mears and Bacon emphasize building an individualized business plan and developing a firm foundation by establishing clear goals, frankly evaluating your skills and refining answers to the Big Questions: what are you really selling? Who is your target audience? How should you best package your business's public image? The authors cover the fundamentals of crafting a mission statement, developing branding, handling finances and legal issues, hiring good employees and expanding your business with admirable clarity, bolstered by success stories, helpful exercises and sample budgets. Women with dreams of owning their own businesses and looking for a place to start will find much to aid them—and much to enjoy—in this thoughtful guide. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

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Staying Strong in Financially Hard Times

How do you keep a small business afloat in difficult economic times? There's no magic bullet to keeping the doors to your business open but there are some tried and true measures to making sure you're still standing...and standing apart, when all is said and done.

First, remember that even in the worst of times, someone, somewhere is doing business. Make sure your customer service is impeccable, that your store or site is fresh and welcoming and of course, scale back if you need to...trim the proverbial fat.

Second, take a hard look at your business and ask yourself the hard questions. Do you offer enough product (or services) that people REQUIRE. Frivolity is the first line item cut from every budget. Make sure you are meeting the day to day needs of your customers. What are you offering that customers MUST buy regardless of their budgets. If you are a service provider, rethink your pricing strategies or types of services offered. If you are a retailer, really make your product practical as well as beautiful.

Third, if you've been operating your business with a lot of credit card usage or a line of credit, stop now. Get out in front of that debt as soon as you can. Keep a very close eye on your payment cycles and make your payments early if possible. It's not uncommon in times like these for companies to change your due dates or terms unexpectedly and then your rate goes through the roof. In my first retail partnership we actually had it in our contract that the business could never owe more on debt than it had in the bank. That allowed for cash flow management but always kept us restrained.

Finally, don't panic. The way you've been running your business may need to change but if you come at the challenge head on, with the same energy and creativity that caused you to open your doors to begin with, than you'll become your strongest and best asset.
 

Blog entry by Steph of Women Take Wing