Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, Revised and Expanded

A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works Today!

Melinda Emerson

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781507215982
• eBook ISBN: 9781507215999
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

Get expert advice on marketing, selling online, accounting, and more—all tailored to the current economic climate—in this new, updated edition of the go-to resource for hopeful entrepreneurs. America's #1 small business expert is back with a brand-new, updated, and expanded edition of her essential handbook, Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months. Using her years of entrepreneurial experience, Melinda Emerson guides you through the process of opening your own business with step-by-step instructions for leading effectively, developing a winning marketing plan, setting a budget, and maintaining your business once it's up and running. She also offers new strategies for social media techniques, customer engagement, selling online, and more.This new edition of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months can help you build your business and invest your time (and money) where you need it most in order to succeed in today's market. With Emerson's expert business advice, you can finally follow your dreams and be on your way to becoming your own boss!

CHAPTER 1 SO YOU THINK YOU WANT TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR

This is not a decision to take lightly. Becoming your own boss means not only having a solid business idea but also knowing the “business of running a business.”

Many people think a small business starts with a business plan. That’s part of it, of course, but there’s more to it. Before you write a business plan, you must develop a life plan. You need to start a business that aligns with your personal and professional goals.

You must consider if you have the courage, persistence, confidence, skills, work ethic, and focus needed to succeed as your own boss. You need to know if you can handle all the jobs entrepreneurs must do. Unlike a regular employee of a business, your job will not be specialized. You’ll be chief salesperson, secretary, payroll clerk, social media strategist, IT technician, and HR manager. Once you make a sale, you must service the customers.

You must focus on numbers and measurement. Too many small businesses operate at a net loss and do not realize this until it’s too late. Use this book to reduce your learning curve.

Here are five questions every would-be entrepreneur should answer before going into business:

1. How much does it cost to make your product or deliver your professional service? Look at your hard costs, including labor, materials, packaging, and shipping. Factor in a percentage of your soft costs, such as marketing and your business support services.
2. How much do you sell the product for? Look at the competition and pull industry data to determine whether your cost plus a healthy profit margin is reasonable in the marketplace.
3. Can your business be easily copied? What is your secret sauce that only you bring to your business? If your business can be easily duplicated by bigger competitors, that is a sign that you might need to rethink it and come up with a unique twist.
4. Does your marketing and branding make sense? In order to connect with customers, you must have a good product or service, good pricing, a good offer, and good follow-up systems. Your customer engagement will define your brand. The name of your business should indicate what you do. Do you have a specific niche target customer for your product or service? Do you have a strong marketing message? Do you have a helpful website and a good shopping cart experience? Is your packaging attractive? Do you have a video marketing strategy? Do you have a monthly marketing budget to buy online ads?
5. Can you sell yourself? In business, you are selling yourself as much as you are selling your product or service. You must carry the confidence to make people believe in you and what you are selling.

If you become a parent, many people will tell you that the first five years are the toughest for parents. That little person is dependent on you from the moment of conception to the day you put him or her on the yellow cheese wagon headed for kindergarten. Your job isn’t over once your child goes to school full time, but at that point children can do some things for themselves.

The same is true for a small business. If you think you work hard now, just wait until you become your own boss. You will come to know what the word “sacrifice” means. You’ll scale back eating out, buying the latest gadget, and shopping whenever you feel like it. You’ll cook at home and eliminate all unnecessary spending. Yes, that well-deserved surf and turf dinner at your favorite restaurant is now an unnecessary expense. Small businesses typically take eighteen to twenty-four months to break even and three years to generate any profits. Year four is when a business blossoms into a self-sustaining entity. It will take every bit of enthusiasm and energy you have to grow your business into a viable enterprise with a powerful social media brand.

Being a successful entrepreneur is also about having patience. You need to be patient with yourself, your employees, your strategic partners and, most importantly, your customers. Despite challenges, if you can just hold on, being an entrepreneur can be the most satisfying professional experience of your life.

So the first step is to decide whether you’re cut out for the entrepreneur lifestyle.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset

The first step, they say, is always the hardest, and that’s true in business. You must take a long, hard, honest look at yourself and decide if you’re ready for the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Here are some things to consider:

Entrepreneurs are always thinking of new and better ways to do things. Do the following attributes describe you?

• You’d prefer to be in charge.
• You think your boss is generally clueless.
• You feel underused by your supervisors and dissatisfied with your job.
• You know you would do things differently if it were your company.
• You sit at your desk calculating the amount of money you make for your employer, thinking that you should be working for yourself.
• You are convinced that you could do a better job than the folks above you.

Entrepreneurs are natural leaders. They are self-motivated and creative thinkers. They can make a decision quickly and stick to it. Entrepreneurs are visionaries, hard workers, and extremely perceptive. They typically have demanding personalities and are extroverted. They are passionate risk takers who are always seeking to improve upon current conditions.

On the flip side, at times such people can be stubborn and impatient. Entrepreneurs are not always good listeners or coachable, and can be paranoid and territorial.

If any of this describes you, or if you possess any of these qualities, then entrepreneurship may be for you. But before you go into business, there are six things you must have:

1. A life plan
2. A solid business idea
3. Exceptional credit
4. A business plan
5. A supportive family or spouse
6. Faith

The Life of a Small Business Owner

Becoming your own boss means more than sacrifice. It means long, hard, consistent work, often with little reward up front. That’s why you need a life plan before you commit to your own business. You need to evaluate what you want out of life first.

Consider the following questions:

• What kind of lifestyle do you want to have as an entrepreneur?
• How big do you want your business to get in terms of profits and staff?
• Will you have employees?
• How many hours a week will you work?
• Do you need to meet the school bus every day or take off every Friday?
• Are you willing to work seven days a week? For how many years can you keep that up?
• Will you need a partner, and could you handle working with one?
• How will you fund your household while you build your business?
• Are you fit to work from home?

You may have a great business idea, but you must decide if it’s a good business for you and your family. Try this exercise: Close your eyes and think hard about what the best day in your business will look like five years from now. It may help if you write it down. Spend some time on it and get it fixed in your head.

Once you have that vision, consider what it will mean to you and to those you love for that day to become a reality. Be careful creating this vision. Make sure it includes personal and professional aspirations. Don’t confuse success with happiness.

Your Business Idea

Even if you come to the conclusion that you can be an entrepreneur, you must decide if you should. In other words, do you have a solid business idea? On a sheet of paper, write down answers to the following questions:

• Who is your niche target customer?
• What problem are you solving for your customer?
• How much competition is there in your market?
• Does your business solve some unmet need?
• What will be your unique value proposition?
• Are you selling products or services or both?
• Will you sell wholesale, retail, e-commerce, private label, etc.?
• Will your business be bricks and mortar, online, or both?
• Will you need a manufacturing partner?

Researching the industry, the market opportunity, the potential customer, and the competition is crucial. Your research will also help determine whether there’s a viable market for your product or service.

Know Your Business

Your business venture should be something in which you have experience or professional training. The only exception to this rule is if you buy into a franchise or take over an existing business. In those cases, the franchise company typically provides some training, or there are people working in the business who can help provide institutional information about it. (Even in those cases, don’t buy a food franchise if you have never worked in a restaurant.) Work for a business like the one you want to start for at least a year before starting on your own. Do not start a daycare center if you have never worked with kids, just because you heard those kinds of businesses make a lot of money.

Love the Work

On those hard days when there’s no money and plenty of work to do, your love for your business will be the only thing that keeps you going. Also, when you love what you do, your customers can see that, and they will be that much more interested in doing business with you. Savvy business owners figure out how to do something they are passionate about and get paid for it.

EMERSON’S experience

There is always something that inspires or drives someone to become an entrepreneur. In my case, after three TV news jobs, I decided I had to figure out another way to earn a living. My dream job was really a nightmare. Seven years earlier, as a sophomore in college, I had been inspired by Oprah Winfrey, who started Harpo Studios.

I decided that one day I would have my own production company.

When I started my business, I had no idea how to use a basic spreadsheet or presentation software. I barely knew Microsoft Word. One of my mentors let me call her administrative assistant and ask questions about how to format business letters, do mail merges, and such. I am sure I gave her headaches, but she graciously gave me the support I needed. I later invested in computer-based training to learn the software I would be using.

Consider Business Education

If you’re in college and you think that you might want to start a business someday, double major or at least minor in business or marketing. If you are already interested in starting your own business, write an outline of your business ideas as soon as possible.

As a business owner, you must constantly look for ways to improve your skills. Start a library of books about small business, marketing, finance, sales, and leadership. In the Further Resources section at the end of this book, you’ll find a list of the top small business books every entrepreneur should read. Use this list to gather even more information about running a successful business.

How Are Your People Skills?

Your ability to interact with people, including customers, staff, and strategic partners, will be critical to your business success. Many entrepreneurs get frustrated managing employees, even if they have management experience in a corporate setting. If you are a business owner who has never dealt with external customers or worked in a team environment, your people skills may need some polishing.

It all comes down to communication. Consider what you’re trying to accomplish and do your best to determine what level of communication is required. It could be a face-to-face discussion, a memo, an email, a video chat, a handwritten note, or a phone call. Or you may need to use more than one method. Try to always end any interaction by recapping deliverables and any action items. Do not hesitate to follow up any communication in writing.

It’s about the Money

There’s no way around it: Starting a business is expensive. It will be a while before you see a return on your investment; you may go without a regular paycheck for years. That’s why, before you hand the boss your walking papers and box up the personal...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• What This Book Can Do for You
• Chapter 1: So You Think You Want to Be an Entrepreneur
• Chapter 2: Why Does It Take Twelve Months?
• Part I: Get Ready!
• Part II: Get Set!
• Part III: Go!
• Sample Customer Satisfaction Survey
• About the Author
• Further Resources
• Index
• Copyright