Skip to main content

Small but Mighty Homepreneurs

Work-from-home businesses are often small—with one or two employees. But when homepreneurs sell their wares in the marketplace, they often compete with the big dogs. Presenting products or services next to large, established companies with dedicated staffs and expensive marketing materials can be daunting. It's easy to feel minute when faced with a behemoth or even a mini-behemoth. This feeling of inadequacy is a confidence buster. Worse, it can give a small business an identity crisis. A business owner who originally entered the market energized may begin to wonder if her business can compete. In her mind, she may question whether the business is a career changer or just a hobby.

So what makes a business a game-player? Is it the number of employees an organization has? Maybe, it is the size of the company's product portfolio. It could be the company's budget or profit margin. These certainly help, but businesses strong in these areas still fail. I say, it's the professionalism and ideas a company brings to the table. Just because a company operates out of a garage doesn't mean it doesn't have valuable ideas or products that can benefit others. I say, go into the market big. Show how your business will benefit your customers. Present your ideas professionally and clearly. Brand your business mightily and support your brand with your actions. With hard work and confidence about your abilities, your small company can compete side by side with the seasoned veteran—and maybe show them a thing or two.

How do you compete in the marketplace?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Writing the Essential Business Plan

It's tempting to jump in with both feet when starting a business. There's so much to do, from choosing a company name to finding employees. Before adding too many items to your to-do list, though, take a deep breath, sit down at your computer and write out a business plan. A business plan serves two main purposes. It is a resource for leaders within your company to follow throughout the life of the business. It is a resource for others such as investors and creditors to learn about your company. Each business plan is unique to the company that creates it. Length and content may vary based on the audience that will view the plan. If you are writing for investors, focus on the financials. If you are writing for creditors, include information that explains how they will be repaid. Because your company is a growing and changing business, your business plan will also change, but by including key information about your company you will always have a jumping off point for makin...

Customer Loyalty is Up for Grabs

Recently, I contacted a dance studio via the business’s Web site for information about dance lessons for my child. After several weeks the company emailed a brochure with upcoming classes. I picked the class I wanted and sent the company an email asking how to sign-up and pay for the class. No response. I sent a second email. After receiving no response again, I called the gym down the street. They answered their phone and signed my child up on the spot. I’d like to say that this experience is rare, but it is unfortunately too common. Customer service seems to be a lost art at many businesses, but it is one that can mean the difference between repeat business and no business. Something as simple as responding to an email, honoring an appointment, and even saying hello when a customer walks in the door can make all the difference in a business’s success. As a business owner, it’s easy to say that customers will stick around because they need the product or service a business is sel...

Organization Will Save Your Organization

In the office, you had a small corner of the corporate world from which to ply your trade. You may have had a cubby in cubicle city or an office with a window. Either way, your space was compact, standardized, and vacuumed by the night cleaning crew. Not so at home. Unless you live in a studio apartment, you home has multiple rooms to spread out your stuff. And stuff can make a mess. Receipts, contact business cards, and paperwork all pile up quickly. Mix in your personal bills, magazines, and junk mail and you have business paper chaos. Searching through stacks of paperwork reduces productivity and can lead to errors. Organization isn’t complicated. It just requires a little extra effort and a method to sort through the madness. Step 1: Set aside space for a filing cabinet. In today’s electronic business world much is done through e-mail, fax and phone, but paper still exists and needs to be stored. Create a file for bills, customer documents, and receipts. You may need these docume...