So by now, you may have been bit by the entrepreneurial bug (see “Starting a Home Business”), and effectively planned your business with your target market and management strategy in mind (see “Writing a Home Business Plan”). Or you may have minimized the planning and purchased an existing business that already generates income (see “Buying an Existing Business”).

Now that you are your own boss, you may be managing services, inventory, and even a team of employees while trying to find the combination of these operations elements that lead to a profitable outcome. If you purchased an existing business or franchise, you still have some latitude in terms of improving its profitability, or changing operations altogether to attract a different market.

This all may be very confusing for the first-time business owner/operator. However, if you are willing to be experimental in your approach, you may find a system that works for you, your management style, and even the employees you have or will have. Essentially, you are finding an operations strategy that you can repeat and that produces successful results. Once you have worked out any operations practices that don’t produce results, you will have a working business model that may stand on its own, meaning it can be managed whether or not you are taking hands-on steps in management.

The National Association of the Self-Employed (NASE) suggests a three-step process to find the right “recipe” for your emerging business. Initially, you want to spend some time brainstorming any and all strategies related to attracting business, selling products, or offering services to your market. This is intended to “distinguish your business” and come up with many “recipes” for success.

From there, you can test out all of the ideas brought about through brainstorming. For instance, if you decide to advertise to your target market with a direct marketing campaign, you can start with one local market, and 1 to 3 types of ads. From there, you may be able to distinguish which ad elements were most successful in attracting new clientele.

Once you have found the best strategies for your business, NASE suggests you repeat the process to ensure you can duplicate the positive results found during the testing stage. You may want to try that marketing campaign for a second run in the same market, or distribute it to additional markets. Should it prove successful, you know which promotions strategy to use in the future.

There are numerous organizations and agencies that can assist you in tailoring your operations to your newly founded (or newly purchased) business so that you can achieve entrepreneurial success. The Small Business Administration (SBA) and SCORE are government non-profit organizations that help.

References

National Association of the Self Employment. The Micro-Business Edge
Entrepreneur.com. How to Buy a Business