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Are You Thinking Too Small and Dooming Your Small Business To Failure?
One problem that many small business owners run into is simply
thinking too small. I often have readers writing to me asking
for helping getting their business ideas off the ground. I also
often hear from folks who have run their small businesses into
the ground. There are five key areas where you can think too
small -- and doom your business to failure.
Niche Too Small
Is your niche too small? Finding a small market to target with
your business is key to success, but sometimes people narrow
their niche too much. While doggy dental products could be a
wonderful niche (as almost any dog owner can attest) you could
even narrow your focus down to a certain type of dog (such as
lap dogs) but going for one specific breed would be taking it
too far.
Target Market Too Small
Is your target market too small? If you are looking only at one
community or small geographic region then you may well doom your
product to failure. It is far too easy to saturate a small
market and it is far too easy for any marketing mistakes to end
your campaign before it gets off the ground. In today's economy
with the availability of global marketing you need to think big
when you are planning your target market.
Budget Too Small
Is your budget too small? You don't need a million dollar
advertising budget but you should have some seed money to get
your business and its marketing campaign off the ground. It is
possible to build a business from nothing but it is also a lot
more difficult and you might find yourself making some mistakes
that cost you a lot more down the road than putting a little
money up front.
Schedule
Too Small
Is your schedule too small? Do you have enough time to devote to
your business? Starting, running, and growing a business takes
time. Some people get swept up in the planning and dreaming
stages and never really start their business. Other people start
before they have completely planned everything out and quickly
get mired down by unexpected difficulties. While others do
everything right in the planning and startup but once the
business is running they get overwhelmed by day-to-day business
and never think aobut ways to improve and grow their business.
Mind Too Small
Is your mind too small? You need to open up your mind's eye to
continually seek new opportunities to find new customers, to
find new potential partners, to find new ideas for products, and
to find new opportunities for marketing. Flexibility and
adaptability are key to surival in today's business climate and
you always need to have new ideas cooking to grow and expand
your market and your business. This means raising your head up
out of the trenches once in a while. Yes, you might need to
dodge the occasional missile lobbed your way but this is the
only way to see those opportunities heading your way.
If you do your best to avoid these five not-so-small mistakes
then you will be on your way to small business success.
About the author:
Deanna Mascle is happy to help you with your Small Business
and offer her recommended Internet
Business Tools as well as advice about Doing Business
Online.
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| United States Small Business Administration |
| An electronic gateway of procurement information for and about small businesses. Search engine for contracting officers, marketing tool for small firms, ... |
| www.sba.gov |
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| SBA |
| The Small Business Planner includes information and resources that will help you at any stage of the business lifecycle. ... |
| www.sba.gov |
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| Main Page - SmallBusiness.com - Small Business Resources |
| Find Small Business plans, advice, tutorials about organization, corporations, entrepreneurship, and smallbusiness. |
| www.smallbusiness.com |
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| Yahoo! Small Business: Domain Names, Web Hosting, E-commerce ... |
| Yahoo! Small Business provides products and services that enable you to establish and grow your business on the Internet. Services include domain name ... |
| smallbusiness.yahoo.com |
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| Small business advice business start up small business finance ... |
| business start up small business finance start up advice. |
| www.smallbusiness.co.uk |
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| Smallbusiness.gov.au redirect to business.gov.au |
| Business Entry Point - Helping small business in big ways. An Australian Government initiative. The content from this website has now been consolidated into ... |
| www.smallbusiness.gov.au |
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| Business & Small Business |
| Online and print small business publication. Information to help start, grow or manage a small business. |
| www.entrepreneur.com |
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| Microsoft Small Business Center |
| Your home for information about Microsoft's small-business products and services, tailored business advice, technology tools, and more. |
| www.microsoft.com |
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| The Small Business Advisor - advice for starting and operating a ... |
| Advice and assistance for starting and operating a small or home based business. |
| www.isquare.com |
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| SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" |
| A nonprofit association dedicated to encouraging the formation, growth, and success of small business nationwide through counseling and mentor programs. |
| www.score.org |
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| Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource |
| IR-2006-2, January 3, 2006 - Temporary and proposed regulations will significantly reduce tax filing burden for nearly 950000 small business owners. ... |
| www.irs.gov |
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| Welcome to Small Business BC your business resource in British ... |
| BC Business Services offers assistance and resources for those running or starting a business in British Columbia and Vancouver. |
| www.smallbusinessbc.ca |
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| Small Business Service | Home |
| Provides information and advice to help small businesses realise their potential. |
| www.sbs.gov.uk |
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| NSW Small Business |
| A site developed by the NSW Department of State and Regional Development for small businesses. Topics include management, resources, current issues and ... |
| www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au |
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| Business Management & Advice: Small Business Resources & Information |
| Looking for business management and advice? Our website includes small business resources and information that can help you. Visit the small business ... |
| www.businessweek.com |
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| Small Business Lawyer, Attorney, Law, Legal Help - FindLaw for ... |
| Information and legal sites relevant to small business. |
| smallbusiness.findlaw.com |
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| Small Business Funding Opportunities (SBIR and STTR) |
| Links to Small Business Funding Opportunities and SBIR / STTR Applications. |
| grants.nih.gov |
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| Microsoft bCentral Small Business Directory |
| Directory categorized by industry with company business card feature. |
| sbd.bcentral.com |
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| Our site has moved! Please update your bookmarks! |
| Facilitates the sharing and exchange of information among small business development centers, the small business administration and other business-oriented ... |
| sbdcnet.utsa.edu |
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| Small Business Development Corporation |
| Our business information services provides guidance to improve business skills and knowledge on advice on starting, buying, selling and expanding a small ... |
| www.sbdc.com.au |
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