According to CNBC, the latest small business optimism index finds 52% of small businesses saying finding employees this year is harder than last year.

Read the article on CNBC

Small businesses need to get creative to drive traffic to their business, reports the Motley Fool. In addition to social media small businesses need to get out into the community.

Read the article on The Motley Fool

Hackers often target small businesses because they know that those business often lack the IT knowledge or staff to remain up to date on the latest cyber security protocols, reports Herald Palladium.

Read the article on Herald Palladium

Amazon is giving a boost to small businesses, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The company’s annual report shows that it has over 1.9 million small businesses selling on its online platform.

Read the article on San Francisco Chronicle

Every small business owner gets bogged down and behind at some point. However, the one business practice that you must consistently perform is reading financial statements. To really understand the position of your business, you need consistent reviews of your balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow.

These statements work together to answer to the question, “How am I doing?”

If you don’t ask the question, you may find yourself sunk before you know it. The review gives you time to pivot and react to any problems before it’s too late. Or, a review may reveal when it’s time to scale and propel your business.

The Purpose Of The Reports

Each statement provides a picture that together form a mosaic to give you the full sense of your business’s success / struggles.

• Balance Sheet. A company’s balance sheet is the financial statement that gives a snapshot of your business’s health at that moment. It reports assets and liabilities at the point in time of the publication.

• Income Statement. The income statement is where earnings are reported; this is a critical line to understand the health of your business. An income statement represents a slice of time, a given period, and can tell the story of your business over the past year, quarter, or even month.

• Cash Flow. The cash flow statement is critical as it shows the use of a company’s cash. In the business world, cash is king, and improper use of cash, or failure to bring cash into the company, can lead to the demise of the company even when the other financial statements look good.

The Nuts And Bolts: What To Review

A balance sheet is broken down into two sections, which must balance in order to have an accurate statement. If the liabilities are greater than the assets, there is a problem to address. So, the goal is to continually check the balance between Assets (Current (short term) Assets; Cash, Accounts Receivable, and Inventory, and Long-Term Assets; Land, Buildings, Equipment, etc.) and Liabilities (Current (short term) Accounts payable, short term loans, and Long-Term Liabilities, usually only long-term loans).

An income statement shows net sales and cost of goods or services, yielding a company’s gross margin so that you can calculate the percent-of-profit for the reported period. Below the margin line, other operating expenses such as Selling, General, and Administrative (SG&A), depreciation, interest (positive or negative) are listed to show the income before taxes. Then, after taxes are calculated and deducted, the company’s net income (or loss) is shown.

The cash flow statement tracks cash into and out of the company over a set period. The cash at the beginning plus-or-minus all lines in the statement lead to the cash at the end of the period, which is then transferred to the top line of the next period. Cash flow tracks cash receipts and payments, including salaries, payments to suppliers, and receipts from customers; equipment purchase or sale (listed in whole on the cash flow, but may be depreciated on the balance sheet); and draws on loans or loan payments.

Consistent Review Is Key

Together, these financial statements reveal how your business is doing. Without consistent review, you may find yourself out of cash, full of liabilities, and out of business.

Depreciation is perhaps one of the most complex terms for small business owners to grasp. With many rules associated with it, it becomes even more complicated for anyone except for the professionals in the finance sector. The most important way you can ensure you understand this concept is to avoid being intimidated by big words employed.  You can achieve this by focusing on how depreciation affects us in our daily lives.

What is depreciation?

Depreciation is the phenomenon where the value of items reduces over a given period of time.  For example, assets such as furniture, computers, buildings, office equipment, machinery outdoor lighting cars, etc are assets which last for approximately three or four years. It is known that these assets will not last forever. As time goes by their value reduces. During each accounting period, -say monthly, quarterly, yearly etc, a given portion of these assets gets used up. This portion is normally shown on the income statement as depreciation expense. Primarily, this entails allocating the cost of the firm’s tangible assets in its useful life to be used to account for declining value.

Usually, firms depreciate long-term assets for the purposes of taxation and accounting. For tax purposes, for example, businesses may view the cost of the tangible assets that they buy as business expenses and deduct them. However, IRS rules must be considered while depreciating these items as well as how and when the deductions can be taken by the company.

Depreciation can be calculated and reported using two principles. These principles are:

Cost principle: With this principle, Depreciation Expense needs to be reported on the income statement and the amount of asset based on its historical or original cost. The amount of the asset should not be based on the current market value.

Matching principle: With this principle, the cost of an asset should be allocated to the Depreciation expense of the asset’s lifetime. The asset’s expense is matched with the same period of accounting as the revenues that the asset helped to generate. Simply put, matching principle requires that revenues that are earned in a given accounting period be matched with the expenses related to that asset.

The methods of depreciation for achieving matching principle can be categorized into two: Accelerated depreciation and straight-line depreciation.

Straight-line depreciation is known for its simplicity and as such, it is widely used in the US.  With this matching depreciation method, a company charges an equal amount of the cost of assets in each accounting period. The formula of this method is:

(Historical cost of the asset – its estimated salvage time)/useful life of the asset

For example, assuming that the cost of purchasing a car is $10,000 and has an estimated value of 5,000 and a useful life of say 5 years, the depreciation expense for the first year is $1000. (10,000-5,000)/5.

Accelerated depreciation on the other hand is mainly used for income tax purposes or accounting which allows more deduction in the asset’s early years. Contrary to the straight-line depreciation method which spreads the cost of assets evenly throughout its life, accelerated depreciation allows higher deductions to be made during the first years after the assets purchase and lower expenses as the asset ages.   

Regardless of the difficulty you may encounter when calculating depreciation of your assets, the most important thing is that the IRS provides tables which simplify the calculation. Also, quite a majority of accounting software some of which you might be using in your business come with a program for calculating depreciation. It will therefore be easy for anyone to calculate depreciation if they know the basics.

As a start-up, you are pulled in many directions, and all seem equally important. From developing your customer base to fulfilling promises of goods / services, you must jump in fast and keep the momentum going. So, at first, you focus on generating business, but very soon, you must devote time to your finances.

A Steep Learning Curve

A business degree is unnecessary to become an entrepreneur, but it would help to possess some financial acumen to avoid costly pitfalls. To stay profitable, start-ups should be mindful to prepare for and overcome the following accounting challenges that confront small businesses:

1. Poor Bookkeeping Habits. Start-ups that experience financial struggles often lack a good system to track income or neglect to balance their accounts. Find the right software or spread sheet template to record transactions to accurately balance your books, or if feasible, hire a bookkeeper. It’s important to find a method, stick with it, and continually review your books.

2. No Accounting Analysis. Entrepreneurs who fail to interpret their finances will ultimately fail to thrive. Bookkeeping alone won’t monitor growth and success. Knowing what your balance sheet and income statement mean is the key to understanding the direction a business is headed. So, start-ups need input from an accountant or at least some online research into how to analyze the books.

3. Ignoring Cash Flow. A new business owner who doesn’t understand that cash is king may get in trouble fast. Without a sense for cash flow, the numbers will be a confusing mess. For example, the books show income earned, but the account won’t receive cash until 30 days later. Properly maintained financial statements should distinguish between money due versus paid, or you won’t see an accurate picture of the business.

4. Too Much Debt. The adage, “It takes money to make money,” is popular because it’s true. New start-ups face steep expenses, and if entrepreneurs turn to credit cards, then it’s easy to get underwater. The challenge is to incur the right amount of debt to support your business without the debt becoming an overbearing liability. So, be conservative, watch interest rates, and look for alternative sources of debt like small business loans or an investor.

5. Inappropriate Resource Allocation. When you’re getting off the ground, it’s hard to manage your resources. Whether it’s time or materials, you have no base of comparison to guide you since everything is just starting up. How can you plan ahead? Instead of flailing in the dark, work with others who do have experience like a mentor or business coach. Get help to develop a solid strategy to follow so that you can allocate according to plan.

An Ounce Of Prevention

As an entrepreneur, if you stay mindful of the challenges you’ll face when starting your own business, then you’ll be better prepared to confront and overcome them. Much comes from finding the right resources and using proper tools. Also, many of the issues facing start-ups come as a surprise to the entrepreneur, but may be well-known to a seasoned small business owner, so learning before they arise might even mitigate those.

‘Tis the season as we are all recovering from the excesses of the Holidays. After weeks of giving and receiving and with the start of a new year, now is a good time to engage your organization in philanthropic goals if you haven’t done so already.

Companies that engage in philanthropic activities are more likely to see gains in their employee productivity and retention. For one reason, highly socially aware employees appreciate the chance to contribute to causes that matter, and another, most employees enjoy extra-curricular activities that elevate their work-days out of the ordinary. Overall, employees will experience greater work-place satisfaction that translates into higher rates of productivity and investment in their jobs.

In synch with work
A standard concern for management when it comes to activities outside the bounds of business is effects to the bottom line if employees aren’t plugged into their work 100% of the time. For most managers, reducing distractions is the goal, not handing out a big distraction on a plate like a day of volunteering. However, though it may seem like a step back at first blush, volunteering or charity work is really two steps forward in the company’s efforts to generate highly motivated employees.

Today’s workforce highly regards companies that care about the community. Most workers will double-down on their efforts to keep up on their workloads in order to participate in an activity, and many find themselves feeling better after giving back, channeling into their performance as they attain a higher level of satisfaction at work. So really, what goes around comes around; when you give employees a chance to participate in charity work or volunteering, they will produce better work, allowing you to gain an advantage in the market.

When you partner with the community, you develop a reputation as a vital community resource that affords your organization a higher level of prestige. The more you do, the more your reputation grows, and the more impact you have in the market. People will want to join your organization and others will want to work with you. It’s also a solid marketing strategy to develop name recognition because your name or logo really gets out there.

Take control
You control the parameters of the organization’s focus on giving back. Limit or expand the scope of effort you want to put toward philanthropy. From simply donating proceeds after a lunch-hour bake sale to sponsoring a local 5K charity run, you have plenty of options that require either low-level or high amounts of effort. In addition, you can also decide the extent that you want to create engagement. It’s up to you whether you offer an annual charity event, a quarterly activity, or a random opportunity throughout the year. Whichever and however you decide to participate, it’s to your organization’s benefit to get involved.

So, while you’re revving up the crew for a great fiscal year or new quarter, don’t forget to muster up volunteers for one or more charity events this year.

In the wake of open office spaces and hot desking, another trend is making its way to the forefront: personal devices as work tools. Mobile tech has removed the barriers between work and personal lives. Before mobile devices, a clear division existed between personal and professional life; today, work emails are answered at 1 am and Facebook updates are sent from employees’ desks.

We’re Always Connected

Now that everyone is connected, no one wants to disconnect. It may be more accurate to claim that in today’s world, it’s not possible. There are no more neat borders between work and personal lives. These segments of our lives have joined, and at the junction is our tech.

So why not let employees use their own devices to perform work tasks? Should your company have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy in place and truly create a free-form work space? You have to weigh the risks and rewards:

Upside Rewards of BYOD

• Easier Tech Deployment: If the company has proper safeguards in place for Cloud data storage, the access point may not matter. Any device may access the data if the password and protocols apply. Rather than purchase, track and deploy devices, it’s only a matter of registering users.
• Reduction in Costs: The costs savings would be huge. No more giant tech budget—set criteria for the devices to ensure they’re up to spec for doing business, and then that’s it. No more responsibility for tracking, upgrading, or inventorying tech.
• Improved Personnel Satisfaction: As ties to a formal, personal workspace break down, BYOD would allow employees some measure of personalization. They may not care where they work if they have their own devices customized to their habits and uses.

Downside Risks To BYOD

• Liability Control: If employees use their own devices, then the company loses oversight. You could enact policies to limit this liability, but the device belongs to the employee and entitles them to a degree of privacy that doesn’t exist on a corporate-issued device.
• Data Security: Company protocols for handling data may not get followed. Access and storage on the Cloud is one thing but downloading is another. You may be unable to account for devices holding corporate information or control who possesses the data.
• Loss Prevention: Corporate-sponsored devices are easier to replace in the case of loss. If an employee loses a personal laptop or phone, there is no guarantee they can efficiently or satisfactorily find a replacement.
• Accounting Challenges: You still pay technology allowances, but now there’s a blurry line for determining reimbursement. It will be harder to distinguish between business or personal use.

To Do Or Not To Do

Companies handling sensitive data or some sectors of business (i.e. healthcare) may be best to opt for a more traditional and regulated information system. Others that may be under less stringent regulation could opt for BYOD, but only do so with measures in place to ensure security and policy enforcement.

 

 

When you own your own business, there may come a point when running your company requires you to spend a good chunk of change. Most start-ups and even successful enterprises may not have enough liquid cash to afford the price tag of equipment, goods, or real estate up front. You may need financing.

Avoid Credit Card Financing

As a small business, there are options for financing that you should explore well before you pull out a credit card. It’s too easy for the high interest rates associated with credit cards to run amok and sink your business.

First, the allure of 0% interest may sway you and seem like a no-brainer, but this is a mine field of explosive APRs that could trip you in the end. That 0% is usually an introductory offer that ends after a period of several months; after that introductory period ends, that APR can balloon. Most importantly, if you miss a payment, these types of deals often include a penalty APR that skyrockets into the upper 20%, as high as 29% in some cases.

Cash advances are another risky type of short-term loan available with a credit card. You can pull cash, like an ATM, from the account, but again, your interest rate on the re-payment will be sky-high compared to other financing options.

Better Financing Options

When it comes to financing, explore some of the lower-interest and safer means to get cash fast.

Loan. Loans are a good way to receive a lump sum of money quickly that allow time to pay back the principal with interest. You can also shop around to find the lowest interest between banks or credit unions, and sometimes, you may even find family members or friends willing to loan you money -- maybe even interest free. In some cases, you may even negotiate with the lender to help you with payments or re-finance your loan for a lesser interest rate.

Microloan. Intentionally designed as a resource for small businesses, a microloan can offer entrepreneurs and start-ups a real leg-up. These loans offer the advantage of borrowing small amounts, as little as $500, to meet the needs of new businesses trying to pay for fees or other expenses. However, they can also be larger, up to $50,000, for capital expenses. Also, microlending organizations offer lower interest rates and better repayment plans than the larger, traditional financial institutions.

Invoice Factoring. Depending on the type of your business, you may be eligible for invoice financing, or asset based lending products. If you have slow-moving accounts receivables, you can opt to sell those. Your business receives the cash up-front from the sale of an asset rather then accepting money for repayment with interest like a typical loan.

It is very typical for a small business to require a sudden influx of cash but consider your options carefully so that you don’t find yourself worse-off once you receive the money. Avoid credit cards and opt for financing options that work for and not against you.

If you own a small business or your main source of income comes from freelancing you know that cutting costs is an essential part of your day. It could be as small as saving money by buying a slightly cheaper coffee for the office or buying office supplies in bulk. It could even mean cutting down on printing costs. In fact, you can save a lot of money on printing costs. Between the actual printer, paper stock, and toner; printing can get expensive. Before pressing Command + P on your Mac, make sure you’re not throwing any unnecessary money away.

Lets start with printers themselves. The price of printers can vary from $40 to $400. Ensuring that you get the most for your dollar is critical. Before purchasing a printer – read the reviews. Once you decide on a printer in your budget, shop around and see where you can find the best deal. A quick search for the Epson XP-340 Color Ink-jet came up with prices ranging from $74 through Amazon to $99 at Walmart. That’s a $15 savings and for a small business that can be a lot.

Next, let’s look at ink cartridges. When I was a kid I didn’t understand why we had a color printer when we weren’t allowed to print in color. Of course now in my thirties I understand completely. Color cartridges may cost less than black ink but they don’t last as long. When it comes to printing projects, make sure you only print in color when you absolutely have to- you’re printing invitations, official flyers, and or graphic design projects. If you’re just printing out this article to show your friends- black ink will do. Maybe just email them the link to the article and cut costs there. You can conserve a lot of money on ink by buying third-party brands that you can purchase for a discounted price. In a report by Consumer Reports, they found that 63% of surveyors found that third-party ink cartridges were just as good as their brand-name counterparts. That being said, the remaining 36% complained that discounted cartridges clogged their printer heads and set off warning messages. Whether you buy brand-named cartridges or knock-offs, it’s important to do your research and pick the one that you’re most comfortable with.

Next we come to paper. Paper stock isn’t the same and can vary from a thick stock used for resumes and creative projects to flimsy paper that might blow away at any given moment. Figuring out which type of thickness meets your requirements is the first step. From there finding a paper that is inexpensive yet durable is critical.

After you’ve bought your printer, ink cartridges, and paper you’re ready to roll. Turn your printer on, pat yourself on the back for saving money and start printing to your heart’s content. Not so fast. Even after you’ve purchased a printer you can still save

money when it comes to actually printing your documents. Before you press that print button ask yourself these questions:

• · Do I really need to print this file? Can I email it instead?
• · Does this article have to be printed in color or is black ink OK?
• · Can this document be double-sided to conserve paper?
• · Do I need all 40 pages of this essay or can I just print out the first 12?
• · Have I proofread my document?

By asking yourself these five questions every time you press print, you can save a significant amount of money in the long run. So not only can you conserve money when it comes to printing technology itself, but you can continue to save money as time goes on.

Public relations is how businesses promote their  brand to the public. Press attention from news outlets offers an opportunity for brands to share more details than what can be shared in advertising and gain exposure on a wider scale.

Landing an interview or article in a publication, however, is a highly-competitive undertaking.

In this article, we’ll explain how to give your business an edge in attracting publicity for your brand in ways that don’t require a major financial investment. Use it to create strategies for approaching public relations on a budget.

How Social Media Can Help with Public Relations

Social Media offers brands the opportunity to reach the public directly. Consider the following social media marketing tactics.

Use Hashtags

The social media platform you use for promotion can determine the level of visibility and engagement you earn.  

Facebook, for example, makes it difficult for your content to earn visibility without running paid promotions.

To increase visibility, experiment with hashtags for your social media content.

Pinterest and Instagram include “hashtag feeds,” a which are search feeds businesses can get listed in by including relevant hashtags in their posts.

Publish PR-Worthy Content

User-generated content (UGC) can increase a business's exposure and sometimes help generate press.

UGC is any non-paid content that other people post about your brand, including reviews, videos, and images.

UGC is direct public relations when users share the content to their own feeds, exposing your brand to a wider audience.

For example, Country Walking created a UGC campaign called The Free Walking Challenge to encourage people to walk an hour a day using the campaign hashtag #walk1000miles.

Source: Walk 1000 Miles 2019

 

To encourage people to walk, the campaign offered competitions, shared routes, and encouraged photo-sharing on social media.

The hashtag #walk1000miles accompanied all campaign promotions, and users were encouraged to share it with their images and stories across social media.

The results of the campaign were outstanding: it garnered  4+ million interactions across social media, national press coverage, and an award for the publication and its agency, Bauer Media.

There are many ways to encourage user-generated content that can contribute to your company’s public relations.

Experiment with incentives such as prizes, recognition, or provide charitable donations in exchange for shares to encourage users to share content about their experiences with your company brand.

How Social Responsibility and Social Good Can Help With Public Relations

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social good aren’t only for big-name brands.

Small businesses also can build a strong connection to the public through CSR, which often results in positive press coverage.

Small businesses can leverage the benefits of social responsibility by:

• Taking a stand on an issue that resonates with customers
• Donating a portion of every sale to a social cause
• Starting a movement around a social cause
• Setting company standards that include sustainable, environmentally or pet-friendly policies.

Finding ways to give back to the local community is another way your business can practice social good.

For example, Geekdom co-working space in San Antonio gives back to its community by allowing its office area to be used for local blood drives.

There are many causes that people care about, and learning which ones are important to your target audience can help steer the direction of your company’s social activities.

A recent survey from Clutch found that company attributes people find important include:

• Environmentally-friendly business practices
• Giving back to the local community
• Social responsibility
• Support of social movements

While your company can benefit from the public relations aspects of social good, the causes you support should align with your values and represent causes you genuinely want to support.

CSR is not a public relations strategy – it should be an authentic expression of social responsibility.

All Businesses Can Benefit From Public Relations

Working within a small budget is a reason to pursue public relations, not shy away from it. There are many things a brand can do to generate exposure to the public and in the press, including social media, social responsibility, and social good campaigns.

If you’re still unsure of how PR can benefit your businesses, consider consulting a public relations agency in your area.

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Bio: Grayson Kemper is a Senior Writer for Clutch, a B2B research, ratings, and reviews platform based in Washington, DC.

If you’ve ever gone on vacation and returned feeling renewed, then you’ll understand the popularity of a small business retreat. The concept of leaving the office behind and bringing the team to an off-site, special destination follows the same vein as a vacation. A retreat offers the chance for a team to refresh and return to work in a better state of mind.

Unlike a 1:1 in your office or a conference center townhall, informal retreat meetings break the mold and give the team a chance work outside the confines of roles and titles. The more relaxed atmosphere of a retreat promotes better communication and team bonding, allowing your employees to let go of office politics and embrace a shared experience. Even with nothing in common at the workplace, everyone on the retreat can find common ground through the experience of the get-away.

Reap the Benefits of a Small Business Retreat

The benefits of a retreat appear in employees’ increased productivity. Like the advantage of a vacation, retreats are a break that lets employees relax so that they can come back with more energy. Also, taking their work to a new environment brings fresh perspective to the job and can inspire more contributions back at the office. Finally, retreats improve communication by opening channels between management and employees and developing informal networking between teams in ways that just aren’t possible at the office. The more relaxed retreat atmosphere fosters connections, even between those who may not normally interact, and improves communication overall.

Not Your Traditional Retreat

Though beneficial, there is a cautionary tale from the 2000s to be told about using retreats as rewards without value. Tradition saw executives splurge on retreats while employees watched from the sidelines as these lavish paid vacations catered to the top tier management. Back then, a retreat was a sign of executive largesse, excessive and reserved only for the C-Suite & Friends.

Value-Added Experience

Today, a retreat offers much more meaningful value to the business and pertains to all levels of employees. The ability to remove the team from distractions of the workplace is an opportunity to really focus on an initiative. If you do it right, you can use the time to focus on training, brainstorming, and team building in ways that the office just doesn’t allow; you have the space and atmosphere to shake employees from the routine and explore new ground.

Investment With Returns

There are costs to a retreat, but more than just the price of doing business, this expense is an investment. Spending the money to develop your employees only comes back to you in droves when the work gets done better and more efficiently by employees who feel valued and more committed.

March is the perfect time of year to schedule a retreat since you can take advantage of the quarter’s end and Spring Break season. Use the time to evaluate the years’ progress thus far and set goals as well as minimize the bite from budget with seasonal travel discounts and packages available.

No matter what industry you’re in, there’s always an unknown element when it comes to job security. The economy, who happens to be President, natural disasters, and a host of other life events could take a stable job and turn it on its head, or you may be one of the lucky few who enjoys a 30+ year run at the same organization. Yet with as much innovation as there is in today’s job market, it’s tough to say with certainty that we won’t all end up getting replaced by robots at some point in the future.

On a more serious note, however, it can be difficult to plan ahead if the foundation of your career is uncertain. While there are steps that people can take to help secure their future, it seems that the roadmap to success is always changing. According to a recent article in USA Today, it is possible to create your own destiny in the career world, and it’s as easy as taking two little steps.

Evaluate Your Employer

All too often, we think about changing jobs because of our dissatisfaction with our own position. Perhaps we want more money, different responsibilities, or our coworkers are flat out terrible to be around. But how regularly do people take a hard look at who’s running the show and try to predict where things are going? Probably not as often as is needed.

Whether you work for a small corporation or a multi-national group, try taking an objective look at the future. Are the people in charge innovative? Do they have the foresight to adapt to a changing marketplace? Will they survive and thrive, or will they fall by the wayside as other newer brands make them irrelevant? While you may not be able to control any of the factors that help to answer these questions, you can watch for red flags that may indicate it’s time to look for other opportunities.

Put Yourself First

Time and time again we hear that making yourself valuable is incredibly important in the workplace, but many people don’t really take this message to heart. No matter the industry, you should create a personal mission of always continuing your education. Being someone who is on the forefront of upcoming changes, new ways of doing things, and contributing to the vision of your organization puts you on the short list of getting a raise, promotion, and at the very least, not being the first one to get laid off.

Even more important is the time and energy you put into building your own reputation separate from your company. Online review platforms often associate you with the place you work, making it hard to create a name for yourself within your given industry. However, at Completed.com, you can put all of your networking skills to good use and develop a profile that demonstrates how valuable you really are.

If and when it comes time to make a change and you’re looking for another job opportunity, you can consider your Completed.com profile as an extended resume, highlighting qualities that will help you to stand out from the rest of the crowd. At the very least, it’s a tool that every career-minded individual can benefit from, even if their current corporation is on the path to success.

Young leaders typically go too far or not far enough. They are born to take chances but when the time comes, many retreat to what they have been told by elders or those with more experience.

There is something to be said for brash youth, its penchant for breaking the rules and coming at problems from an entirely different mindset.  But sometimes those rules are there for a reason, and going completely against what has been done before leads to a road to nowhere.

Before young leaders head out to conquer the world, Phuong Uyen Tran, author of Competing with Giants(https://www.thp.com.vn/en/) and deputy CEO of THP Beverage Group, Vietnam’s leading beverage company, says they should dig deeper into their beliefs, actions and goals in order to chart a successful path.

“Young leaders bring passion but sometimes it doesn’t make up for a lack of wisdom,”  Tran says. “Before they set sail, there are a few questions they need to ask themselves to increase their chances for success.”

Tran says the six questions are:

• What are your core beliefs?  To be successful, a young leader needs to be grounded in some fundamental beliefs. Understanding and writing down core beliefs will guide you through stormy times.
   
• What is the mission statement of your product or service? - The mission statement reflects every facet of the business: the range and nature of the products offered, pricing, quality, service, marketplace position, growth potential, use of technology, and your relationships with customers, employees, suppliers, competitors, and the community.
   
• Have you done your homework? - As a young leader, it is imperative that you  do plenty of research.  Older leaders can sometimes go by their gut feelings, but young leaders don’t have that luxury.  You need to be over-prepared before moving forward.
   
• Do you really believe in you product or service? Great leaders truly believe that whatever their product or service is, that it is the best option among all the competition.  If you don’t believe in your product, it is hard to lead your troops into battle.
   
• Are you ready to set sail or are you moored to the dock? - Sometimes you have to take chances. Are you ready to take risks and not be tied to what has always been done in the past?
   
• How will you handle success or failure?  One of two things usually happens - you will succeed or you will fail.  How will you handle success - are you ready to pull all the levers you need to get to the next level?  If you fail, how will you handle it?  Will you go into a depression and blame others, or will you learn from your mistakes?

Tran says young leaders can overcome many obstacles by taking some extra time to  ask themselves those questions.

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Phuong Uyen Tran, author of Competing with Giants (https://www.thp.com.vn/en/), is deputy CEO of the THP Beverage Group, a leading beverage company in Vietnam that was founded by her father. She is responsible for the company’s marketing, public relations, and CSR programs nationally and across Vietnam’s 63 provinces. She also leads THP’s international marketing programs across 16 countries where THP’s products are distributed including Canada and China.

As a small business owner, only you set the tone or appoint direction for the enterprise. Therefore, the onus to stay abreast of relevant business practices falls to you. You must learn as much as you can to stay ahead of the game.

Though it isn’t always possible to take a refresher course in business or to pursue your MBA, you can – and should—continue learning. Sometimes, it’s a matter of shifting your perspective and other times, it’s a matter of learning about a new method that will help your business.

Resources Aplenty

There are some great books available that can motivate, inspire, and teach you. Reading one or all these titles just might make a hill of difference when it comes to walking an easy path to success versus a rough trail full of hard-knocks.

Far from an exhaustive list, the following are entertaining and relevant business books that will give you fresh insights into management, strategy, and methods for running your business (sometimes, a kernel of knowledge turns into a whole new way to think, and these moments of revelation can become breakthroughs that take your business to the next level):

The Art Of War, by Sun Tzu. Not all business books are about business. In this ancient book written in the 6th Century B.C., you’ll find a treatise on human nature and conflict that will guide you through any meeting. The Art of War gives you timeless knowledge about practicing strategy to win that still matters and applies to the world at large but much more specifically to the business world of today.

The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. An influential and timeless tome for the business world, this book delves into The Theory of Constraint and will change your thinking about the goal of your organization.

The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel, by Dwight Jon Zimmerman. The ultimate comic for a professional, this graphic novel brings the concepts of The Goal to life in story-form, demonstrating the management paradigm in a fresh, captivating format.

Switch, by Chip & Dan Heath. The one constant in life is change, yet it’s a struggle for most people to accept and react accordingly. What causes obstacles to change? How can you navigate change in your life but more importantly, in your business? Switch combines thought provoking tales with a step-by-step method for managing change in your organization and beyond.

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything, by Chris Hadfield. As inspirational texts go, this one certainly provides new perspective beyond the 30,000-foot view! Lessons of life and work from Hadfield’s career translate to any situation, particularly for a small business owner who is attempting their own launch sequence to get a business off the ground.

Taking advantage of these resources will make the process of entrepreneurship easier. Gain wisdom from those who’ve gone before you, learned the ropes, and took notes so that you can follow suit.