Partnering with others

I often talk to small businesses who are looking for a partner in their business. It could be because they don't feel their strengths lie in a particular area i.e. marketing or another popular reason for a business partner is that they generally work well with other people and don't fancy the thought of running a business or doing a project on their own.

Whatever the reason, having a business partner is an attractive option - it's someone to bounce ideas off; work together on a business or a project and of course, you don't need to pay them unless the business or the project takes off.

But, a word of caution for all of you who think having a business partner is the perfect option - it's often not all it's cracked up to be. Firstly, you've got the problem of FINDING a business partner - where do you start? If you don't know someone already, it's really difficult to find someone who can fill that role. I often think that someone should start a recruitment agency style business to match business partners - maybe someone wants to take on the idea!

Then, if you find someone, you're going to have to be really careful to make sure the workload is shared and gets done. What tends to happen is that one person is the 'ideas' person and the other is the 'do-er'. While the 'ideas' person tends to be generally very happy with this arrangement, the 'do-er' will become pretty annoyed very quickly if they find that they're the only person doing the work.

Oh yes, and then there's the making sure both of you are satisfied in your roles too and that you're both getting everything you want out of the relationship. Constant communication is a MUST - as is setting clear expectations from the start.

If you want to go down this line, good luck and give it a go. But remember to keep the lines of communication open.

Should you create a newsletter?

One thing that it seems everyone wants to know at the moment is whether they should create a newsletter for their business, so here are my pros and cons:

Pros

• Newsletters are great if you prepare for them. What I mean by that is if you plan to send out one a month (so 12 a year), write enough content for 12 newsletters in advance so that you don't have to think about what to write each month.
• Newsletters are also great if you are clear about what you want from them. Don't expect newsletters to automatically get you new customers - that comes later. Newsletters are best if you want to keep in front of people and build your credibility.
• If you're not sure where to begin - get some help. We work with lots of small business owners setting them up a template and even writing articles for a year's worth of newsletters. We can even send it out too, so there are people around who can help you.

Cons

• Newsletters can take a lot of time to do. I see a lot of small businesses putting their heart and soul into creating one newsletter only to realise that it takes so much time that they haven't got the energy to do another one - preparing in advance (see above) can really help with this.
• Technology can really put people off creating a new newsletter - they think it's far harder than it is. To create your first one, it's best to create it in Word and then copy and paste the whole thing into Outlook (or whatever package you're using to send out your emails). Learn how to set up a distribution list (click on help in your email package) and then send it out. I'll be going through this in more detail shortly so watch this space.
• Newsletters require dedication - if you hate writing and have absolutely no time to dedicate to writing one, it's probably not for you.

If you decide to create a newsletter, great and good luck. But remember it's only with the dedication of writing and sending it out that you will see results from it, so make that commitment too.

How to come up with a great title that people want to read

How do you come up with a great title that people are really interested in reading? Well, the trick is to use some very simple words at the beginning or end of your sentences and fill in the blanks. They are:

How to...
Avoid...
Who Else Wants....?
Are you...?
How I...
Secrets of...
Warning:...
Top 10 ways to...
Don't...

You can play around with these titles as much as you like, but if you use them, it's very difficult NOT to have an interesting title.

The other tip I would give you is to just say in the title what you're going to be talking about as though your target audience is stood in front of you. Let me give you an example - which sounds more interesting:

Title 1: The power of blogging, or
Title 2: How to start blogging and make it work for your business

I hope you agree that the second title sounds more interesting. In it I'm just saying what the topic is about.

Try these tips for your business and see if they make a difference.

How to deal with non-payers

This year, dealing with non-payers is more important than ever. Every second that someone who owes you money delays payment, it has major implications on you and your business. I've seen many a small business go under because they haven't been tough enough with non-payers.

Being tough is definitely a mind-set. If you make it clear to your clients that you expect payment, they'll toe the line 90% of the time. But if you're pretty laid-back about payment and your clients recognise this, they'll definitely mess you about.

Here's my policy on payment: if we do work for a client, we expect payment.

That's it. Full stop. If there's a problem with the work, we're happy to have a chat and fix it of course, but we do expect payment for work done.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable. We're not a charity and anyone who doesn't pay, as far as I'm concerned, isn't holding up their side of the bargin.

I make this policy very clear up-front and very few people have a problem with it.

On the rare occasion where payment is overdue, here's how I deal with it:

1) Polite, gentle reminder about payment - which sorts 95% out
2) Tougher letter/email reminding them about payment - which sorts another 4% out
3) Small claims court letter - this is where I send them a stern letter with a fill-in small claims court letter attached telling them if they don't pay, the small claims form will be sent
4) Small claims court letter sent to court

In 6 years of doing business, we've only had one serious non-payer which was resolved in the small claims court. Most people are sorted out by the above steps.

So, get tough. Don't put up with non-payment. If you do a job, expect to get paid for it and go to the ends of the earth and back if you don't.

Post New Year Blues?

Hello and Happy New Year to you! Here, at Exceptional Thinking, we've been back two weeks now and yet we only just feel as though we're getting back into the swing of things.

It's seems we're not the only ones too. Many of the people I've been speaking to have said that they've felt a bit of the Post New Year Blues. I think before Christmas, people were talking up the New Year and now that it's here, it's difficult to hold onto that optimism of New Year's Resolutions and having a great 2009.

If you're feeling a bit down at the moment, remember that:

a) The weather hasn't been great
b) January is naturally quieter for business, and
c) Projects that all of us wanted to start come 1st Jan don't have to happen now - you've got all year!

So, forgive yourself for having the New Year Blues. But, make it your goal next week to snap out of it and get back to some hard work. Yes, I think this year will be hard work to achieve what you want, but YOU can do it.

Keep your spirits up!

December can often be quite a depressing time for a lot of businesses. Let's face it, people in general are more concerned about Christmas, presents, parties and having a bit of time off - and usually they're more concerned about this than buying your products or services.

Although I think most of us understand it, it's still quite demotivating when no-one buys your product or service no matter what marketing does.

December and January usually are a bit quieter than normal in your business, but don't despair. Do what you should be doing at this time of year. Namely:

1) Planning for the New Year
2) Doing some marketing for the New Year
3) Last minute admin (sending out Xmas cards, notifying customers of opening hours etc)
4) Me time - having a bit of a break and recharging your batteries
5) Thinking about how you can get quick wins (such as selling low-cost products for January sales)

Doing this work when things are a bit quieter will set you up well for 2009!

This is our last blog of 2008, as we're trying to clear everything off our plate, so we can have a break over Christmas too.

So, on behalf of everyone at Exceptional Thinking, we wish you a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Why you should focus on one business idea

I meet many business owners who have two or more businesses or ideas. They may be working on opening a cafe while selling alternative therapies or doing PR while also doing coaching or have several internet sites selling very different things.

Several businesses are often started at once because a business owner believes that if one doesn't take off maybe the other one will. It could also be that one business isn't bringing in as much money as it should and so the business owner starts up another business that can supplement the income. Or it could just be that they've got bored with the first business and another idea that looked more interesting came along at the right time.

I can completely understand the attraction to starting more than one business, but it also has it downsides too. For a start, you're splitting your time, energy and money between two or more businesses - it's impossible to do them all properly and often end up where one idea is neglected or worse all the ideas are just picked up and put down occasionally.

Also, it's difficult to tell what someone does if they have lots of business ideas going on at the same time. How can someone possibly refer a customer to you if they're not sure what you do? It also weakens your credibility - how can you be an expert in all of those fields (P.S. it doesn't matter if you are an expert in all of these fields, it matters that people don't BELIEVE you are).

I know it's hard and I know it's scary but focusing on just one business idea will actually create more results than if you spread yourself across many ideas. You'll be able to concentrate on it properly and give it the time and energy it deserves. And yes, it might not work straight away but you'll be able to tweak it until it does rather than focusing on something else.

Give it a go...you might be pleasantly surprised!