Running a Small Business

What do you know about business? In simple words, business is any activity that provides goods or services to make a profit. But you should note that business is not always giving a profit, sometimes you get a loss, it depends on how you manage the business. A person who risks time and money to start a business is called an entrepreneur. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you must be self-discipline, even though you are the boss (self-directed). You should believe in your idea, even if no one else does (self-nurturing). But great idea is not enough, you have to make it real (action-oriented). You must mentally and physically able to work long and hard (highly energetic). The last, you must be able to take some risks (tolerant of uncertainty).

When we run the business on small scale, that’s small business. So many people today have a business. Most of them started it from the small business. To start a small business, there are some steps you should do. If you think this looks easy for you, you are wrong. So many new small businesses fail each year. They don’t know what to do, don’t know how to manage their businesses. To avoid the failure of your business, you should remember these points:

• Learn about the industry. This is important for you if you have no business experience.
• If you can’t finance your business at the beginning, you may borrow money anywhere. You should make a planning how and when to pay it back.
• Be careful in determining the amount of capital. Starting with too little or too much capital will affect your business.
• It is important to know the market price, so you can price your product competitively.
• Try to understand the customer wants, or you should say goodbye to them. You can make a survey and let them critic your products.

The following factor increase the chances of small-business success:
•    Customer requires a lot of personal attention
•    Product is not easily made by large firm
•    The owner pays attention to new competitors
•    The business is in a growth industry

So, these are the steps in managing a small business:

Planning Your Business
The first step, you need a business plan. You must describe you business, determine the product you will offer, estimate how much money you need to start, determine how to operate your business, make a strategy to market the products, etc.

Financing Your Business
You have to risk your money when starting the business, to finance the capital and expenses. You can use your personal savings, or borrowing it from the bank, relatives, finance companies, or government agencies.

Knowing Your Customers
Indentify your market needs, set out to fill those needs. It’s not enough to get the costumers, you have to keep them. So they will come back to you for your products.

Managing Your Employees
If you planned to manage your business by yourself, as your business grows, it won’t be effective. You will need some employees to help. Determine the efficient number of employees, motivate them, so your employees will be satisfy with their job.

Keeping Records
It is important to record sales, expenses, and profit, so you can see the progress of your business. Many business failures are caused by poor accounting.