Help Start My Small Business

One way to get prospects to trust you and overcome their fears of doing business with you is by offering a warranty or a guarantee. This week we discuss some of our best ideas when it comes to warranties/guarantees. Also discussed legal tips for warranties/guarantees how to follow up on service work how to turn warranty work into referrals the difference between a warranty and a guarantee Do you offer a warranty/guarantee?  Please comment below...

It's an age old question in starting a small business. Do you need to rent office space or can you work from home? This week we consider some of the pros and cons of each. We also share what we decided to do when we started and why. Can you overcome distractions? What kind of image does a home office portray? Do you need people interaction? What types of inexpensive office space is available? Do you have a rented office? Why or why not? Please comment below...

Every local business needs a website. In fact it's our number one source for new leads. And even if your customer doesn't find you online, it's very likely they will check you out before they call. So this week we share 6 tips for making your local business website the best it can be. What needs to be on your site? What should you NEVER have on your site? How can you turn your website into a lead generating machine? What is the number one page visitors come to on our sites? Should you have one? Do you have a website yet? Please comment below...

In this week's show get three simple actions you can use to take your business to a new level. By spending less than ten minutes on one of these actions you can change the course of your business for years to come. To get even more simple actions you can take try this link to 21 actions What action will you put in place as part of your weekly routine? Please chime in below...

This week get all the information you need on business partnership agreements. Including: Who needs a partnership agreement What does a partnership agreement cover What is a buy/sell agreement and how is it different What does a partnership agreement NOT give your business How to cover the big three - Death, Disability, and Divorce What do Neil & Joel have in their agreement What's the risk in not having a partnership agreement   Do you have a partnership agreement? Will you be drafting one soon? Please comment below...

Having a clear picture of WHY you own a business is essential to your success. This week the guys discuss what is the difference between a goal and a mission and how does having both help your business? Do you have a mission that you live by?  Please comment below...

Every business has a relationship known as The QSP Ratio. Whether you know it or not your business is sending your customers a message every day about Quality, Service and Price. But did you know you can't have it all? This week we discuss how The QSP Ratio works and what you need to know about it for your marketing as well as when you are the consumer.   What ratio do you have in your business?  Please comment below...

What does it feel like to buy your product or service? This week Neil got the chance to purchase some remodeling services at his home. The guys reflect on how having empathy for your customer can improve your sales and marketing process.

Following key performance metrics is a great way to improve your business. Numbers tell a story if you let them. By tracking key numbers month after month you will be able to make smarter decisions in your business. Decisions that will make you more money. This week Neil shares some of the metrics he uses each month and what story they tell. Discover how your accounting can tell you about the past, present and future of your business.   What key numbers are you following each month in your business?    

We spent the last two weeks collecting survey results from the first Help Start My Small Business listener survey. Wow, did we get some surprising results. This week we'll go through the survey question by question and let you behind the scenes to hear our thought process on - why we did a survey what surprised us most about the survey why we asked the questions we how we use surveys in our 'everyday' business what we plan to do with these results moving forward   What do you think of our plans for changes to the podcast?  Comment Below ...

So many business owners have told us recently that networking is not working for them anymore. Maybe they're doing it wrong? This week we identify how to be more successful with your business networking. Ditch the low productivity networking and create your own network of highly influential people that can help you launch to the next level. In this episode Joel mentions a book he is currently reading - The Tipping Point. It's a great book and one that could have made the top ten books last week. What have been your most successful networking experiences?  Please comment below...    

Every new business owner needs a leg up. And the quickest (and cheapest) way to improve yourself and your business is through books! You've heard 'knowledge is power?' Well I say KNOWLEDGE IS MONEY. In fact I saw a great sign recently -"Rich people have big libraries, Poor people have big TVs"  That is so true. To help grow your library here are ten books you must read. The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money by Rabbi Daniel Lapin The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur by Jim Horan The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business by Jay Conrad Levinson The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Target Your Audience! Get Out Your Message! Build Your Brand! by Dan Kennedy A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life by John Kralik I'm Stuck, You're Stuck: Break through to Better Work Relationships and Results by Discovering Your Disc Behavioral Style by Tom Ritchey Hiring Smart!: How to Predict Winners and Losers in the Incredibly Expensive People-Reading Game by Pierre Mornell The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently by Tony Dungy What are your favorite business books of all time? Share your comments below...          

This week we open up and give you a behind the scenes look into our lives, business and future plans for Help Start My Small Business. It's been a while since we talked about us. And who doesn't like to talk about themselves? ;) So we go back to the beginning and share with you the story of how and why we started a successful remodeling company in the Chicago suburbs. Learn : what is the secret to our companies success what frustrations lead us to start our own company how many employees we had and currently have on our team what our annual revenues are what chain of events prompted us to start Help Start My Small Business Most importantly this week we need your help To make Help Start My Small Business even better than it already is we need you to spend five quick minutes to take our survey. Find the survey here   What about our story resonates with you?  Comment below...      

This week I interview singer/songwriter/performer Anthony Snape. Anthony shares with us his recent experience with Kickstarter. He has a wealth of information about: goal setting attitude knowing your customer/client/fan using social media building a community planning a marketing blitz perseverance Find Anthony's Kickstarter page here Find Anthony's official website here Find Anthony's music in iTunes here   What was your biggest takeaway from Anthony? Comment below...  

Writing a business plan is hard work. When Joel & I wrote our first business plan many years ago we spent months agonizing over every detail. And you know what? It just didn't matter. Now don't get me wrong. As a planner and highly detailed person I would never tell someone to start a business without planning. But we have all been sold this idea of a Holy Grail of a business plan. How it must contain specific facts and numbers and statistics. The truth is, you just don't know! This week we give you some practical advice regarding business plans: What basics should you include in a plan? Why does a business plan keep you from starting your business? What financial projections should be included in a business plan? What do you need to know about yourself to write your business plan? Do you have a written business plan? How detailed is it? Comment below...