By Stephen Fournier – KeyBank Central New York Market President
Next month, we will celebrate National Women’s Small Business Month, a time to recognize the contributions and successes of our nation’s women small business owners. I’m often asked for advice about what it takes to be a successful small business owner. While there is no magic formula or “secret sauce,” it requires a considerable amount of self-confidence, flexibility, and ingenuity, but it offers the opportunity to reap big rewards.
In addition to being your own boss, you can decide where and when to start your business. However, while you may choose your working hours, a small business owner is always working.
Here are a few considerations to keep in mind when embarking on your venture.
Bounce your idea off of others
If you find yourself with a great business idea, the next rational step is to reach out to a small network of trusted friends and colleagues and bounce the idea off of them. It helps if they have knowledge of your intended target audience. What do they find most appealing about the great idea? What drawbacks come to mind? How would they approach the questions of marketing and product pricing? Getting honest feedback on your business idea from friends and colleagues is crucial to ensuring you have a viable plan. While sometimes difficult, it is a crucial step in ensuring your business idea can succeed and grow.
Study the market
In-depth market research is a primary necessity for small business owners. Here are some questions you may want to consider, depending on the kind of business you’re looking to start:
- What business, if any, currently occupies the market space you wish to claim for your own?
- Are there niche markets where you can take your new product or service?
- In what way exactly will your product or service differ from what’s already out there? Speak to prospective clients to determine their expectations and ensure your business is ready to meet them.
Part of the research process is determining why businesses similar to your proposal have succeeded, as well as why some have failed.
Incorporate smart hiring into your business plan
Every small business owner needs a plan outlining goals and opportunities in a single document, which can then be used to attract investors and other funding sources. In today’s highly competitive job market, this plan should outline a detailed hiring strategy. This strategy should include:
- Crafting job descriptions that attract the right type of candidates with prior knowledge of the industry
- Pursuing individuals whose experience demonstrates the ability to think quickly and make responsible decisions on their own
- A process for rapid employee onboarding that integrates them into an upbeat, flexible work environment in which these new hires can shine.
- Finally, do all you can to hire people with a track record of honesty and integrity. While it can be tempting as a startup to hire anyone who shows passion for your business, it’s important to do your due diligence and perform lawful background checks and promote a healthy workplace environment.
Get ready to raise money
All of the planning and strategizing in the world doesn’t amount to much without the funding to underwrite your venture. Successful small business owners start thinking about funding sources as soon as they embark on their enterprise, whether it’s taking money from their own savings, obtaining bank loans or financial assistance from the Small Business Administration, or even appealing to outside investors or crowdfunding options. With a funding commitment in place, it becomes a lot easier to achieve the vision of owning and operating a business.
Acknowledge what you don’t know
A successful businessperson is quick to concede gaps in their knowledge base; therefore, hire specifically for an area of the new business in which you lack expertise. Alternatively, seek outside experts and consultants and enlist them in the earliest planning stages and/or as the operation gets underway. Most entrepreneurs understand that it’s impossible to personally do everything that running a startup or small business requires. Hire the right people to handle administrative or operational functions (everything from balancing the books to designing the new company logo), so you can maintain focus on the big picture.
Rarely does anybody have the ability to do all of this on their own. Key4Women understands that and we’re putting our commitment into action by taking new steps to help guide women business owners. During the month of October, for Women’s Small Business Month, 200 KeyBank and community leaders will be offering 1,000 complimentary coaching hours to current clients. Reach out to Rachel Galusha at [email protected] to take advantage of this opportunity.
Five Traits of a Successful Leader
The traits of a successful leader include confidence, determination, empowerment and vision. While these may seem universal, only 25 CEO positions at Fortune 500 companies (5%) are held by women executives. More inclusion, sponsorship and action are needed to pave the way for more women to enter into additional C-suite and board positions.
Recent research shows that at every organizational level, women are disadvantaged because they receive less career guidance and sponsorship from senior leadership. Here are five leadership traits that can help better position women leaders for their next opportunity and help increase the female talent pools in companies of all sizes.
Courage
Standing out among peers requires bravado and projecting a sense of strength that doesn’t always come naturally. Asking for raises, promotions and assignments that are a stretch beyond your comfort zone demonstrates a willingness to be noticed, a keen interest in the company as a whole and the ability to step up when needed.
Resilience and Perseverance
Roadblocks and detours are encountered at every turn and navigating them is an important trait of any successful female leader. Pushing on, making adjustments and even halting projects despite costs are a few of the hard decisions that leaders have to be prepared to make. Fostering these characteristics at every step of a career will hone the skills needed to bounce back from unsuccessful endeavors and provide the backbone needed to press on when the going gets rough.
Manage Ambiguity
Working without a playbook is an essential element of operating within senior management. Being decisive despite having incomplete, imperfect information is a critical part of being a leader. Software companies would be completely stymied if they waited until all software bugs were known and rectified. Be comfortable with releasing products knowing that everything won’t go perfectly. Showing the ability to be nimble and navigate the unknown will help set the stage for a spot in the C-suite.
Risk-Taking
The dichotomy of risk and reward is very real in the business world. Taking a seemingly lateral move that breaks an upward pattern may provide exposure to another industry or business unit and be seen as a career-risk. The valuable skills, experience and foundation of risk-taking is something few people will take advantage of.
The Drive to Mentor the Next Generation
Teaching and guiding someone else is a great way to cement personal knowledge and perpetuate diversity and inclusion. Articulating career options, enhancing networking opportunities and trouble-shooting new encounters provides insight into a new perspective while fueling the ranks of companies with interested talent, fresh ideas and thoughts toward fearless innovation.
