|
Roadmap to a $1 Million Business
4/4/2005
By Jennifer McGuiggan, Communications Coordinator, NECWB
The best business advice comes from those who have "been there and done that." And if they've done it successfully – all the better! Members of Women Presidents' Organization (WPO) are successful women entrepreneurs leading businesses with at least $2 million ($1 million for service businesses) in revenue. Marsha Firestone, president and founder of WPO, inspired women on their way to growing profitable businesses during her morning keynote presentation at Seton Hill University's Building a World-Class Business conference on March 15, 2005. Firestone offered a plethora of "lessons learned" to help the owners of start-up and growth businesses achieve their goals.
Checklist for Success
According to Firestone, members of WPO have average revenues of $11 million, have been in business for an average of 16 years, and have an average of 199 employees. Firestone shared the following list of tactics used by successful entrepreneurs and members of WPO.
1. Use professional advisors. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Focus on the aspects of your business that you do well. Hire consultants, an attorney, and an accountant to help manage the other facets of your venture.
2. Apply sophisticated management practices on a regular basis. This tactic is especially important for the financial management of your business, said Firestone. Use financial reports to manage your cash flow and expenses on a daily basis.
3. Use technology. Have a good website. Your site should look professional and be updated regularly. Don't be afraid to sell online using e-commerce. Utilize e-marketing to reach a larger audience of potential customers. If you don't know how to do these things on your own, refer to tip number one and hire experts in these areas.
4. Use bootstrapping strategies. You need money to make money. But what if you don't have money to begin with? Tap multiple funding sources such as vendor credit, credit card loans, venture capital and angel investing, as well as bank loans. Firestone emphasized the importance of this point, saying that successful entrepreneurs take a creative approach to funding growth.
5. Secure corporate and government contracts. Don't know how to do this? Read advice from these experts and women business owners.
6. Become certified as a woman owned business. Fortune 1000 Companies want to do business with woman owned businesses because these entrepreneurs are also their customers. Being certified can help you obtain government and corporate contracts.
7. Join professional organizations. Learn from and network with your peers. Make your business better by increasing your knowledge and widening your circle of contacts. Firestone reported that second stage entrepreneurs indicate that they learn best from each other.
Three Bonus Factors
According to Firestone, WPO members tend to fit the following profile:
1. They are corporations, not partnerships or DBAs.
2. They have partners.
3. They work in an industry that is non-traditional for women.
Best Practices Strategies
Firestone honed in on the following best practices strategies for operations, as pinpointed by WPO members:
Innovations: Don't let your product be ordinary. Stand out by using things such as nonstandard packaging plans tailored to each customer.
Strategic Alliances: Align your company with complementary businesses. Sometimes splitting the profits can be worth it. This concept of "teaming" can help you keep your staff small while reaping big rewards.
International Expansion: Going global can open a whole new world of business opportunities.
Multiple Products: It's easier to sell 10 new products to one existing client than to bring in just one new customer.
Niche Markets: Don’t try to be all things to all consumers. Define your niche.
Competition: Use market research to find out what your competitors are up to. Then be better than them in some way.
Division of Labor: When you first start a business, you usually do everything yourself. In order to grow successfully, you must learn to let go and let others control certain aspects.
Performance Evaluations: Using performance evaluations allows you to stop worrying about letting go of some control by enabling you to formally track employee performance. Evaluations give you a regular measure of success rates.
Personal Characteristics
Through her experiences with successful women entrepreneurs, Firestone has observed some personal characteristics that seem to be common among owners of fast growth companies:
Locus of control: Owners of fast growth companies tend to be people who feel responsible for their environments. In other words, things don't happen to them; they make things happen. They are in charge of their own destiny.
Smart, but not usually an "A" student: Don’t get the wrong idea – these people are smart. But they were probably a behavior problem in school and have never liked to play by the rules. Instead, they create ways around rules and obstacles and constantly challenge and even change the status quo. They are excellent problem solvers who are highly focused.
Driven: To be a successful entrepreneur, you must be willing to work day and night and have a true passion to "make it."
Confident: Good business owners are confident, not fearful. At the same time, they know that they need encouragement and support from others.
Big dreamers: Making it as a growth company means being willing to dream the big dreams: making a lot of money, having multiple locations, etc.
And finally, Firestone noted, successful entrepreneurs have 100 ideas a minute. Out of those, a few will stick. And those few are just what business owners need to get to the next level.
About the Author:
Jennifer McGuiggan is Coordinator, Electronic Communications at Seton Hill University's National Education Center for Women in Business.
0 Comments By Other Users
Join Now or Login To Comment On This Article |
| Be the first to comment on this article! - Join Now |
|
