by EGBI Tech Team | Jan 25, 2017 | Business Tips
Por Al Lopez, Director Ejecutivo de EGBI
Traduccion: Veronica Trevisan, Wester
Para los propietarios de pequeñas empresas y emprendedores, una de las claves para el éxito es mantenerse enfocado. Eso puede sonar obvio, pero muy a menudo, los propietarios de pequeñas empresas tienen tantas ideas nuevas y oportunidades al comienzo del negocio que pierden su intención original u objetivo del plan de negocios. Con esto en mente, detallo aquí tres maneras de permanecer súper enfocados durante sus primeros 12 meses como nuevo dueño de negocio:
TIP #1: Empiece de manera pequeña y lentamente
Si, todo es más grande en Texas, pero eso no significa que su negocio va a convertirse en un gigante de la noche a la mañana. De hecho, no hay tal cosa como un “éxito nocturno” en los negocios. El camino hacia el éxito futuro está lleno de muchos mini-pasos a lo largo del camino.
Una de las razones principales para empezar de a poco y lento es porque el crecimiento requiere capital, y eso es algo que la mayoría de los nuevos dueños de negocios no tienen. Es por eso que usted escuchará en inglés acerca de “startups bootstrapping” que en la traducción al español sería algo así como “emprendedores con autoarranque” ya que, en su camino hacia el éxito, estos emprendedores son muy cuidadosos del dinero que están gastando antes de hacer sus primeras ventas. Si usted permanece enfocado, podrá controlar cuánto efectivo está gastando.
Una manera de “arrancar” su nueva empresa es considerar un ambiente de trabajo en equipo. En lugar de derrochar por un costoso contrato de arrendamiento de 12 meses, a menudo se puede alquilar un espacio de trabajo cotidiano sobre una base de mes a mes. Además, como bono adicional, usted puede interactuar con otros empresarios de características similares en un ambiente que tenga la particularidad de una incubadora de negocios.
TIP #2: Escriba su plan de negocios.
Una manera de mantenerse enfocado es poniendo su plan de negocios por escrito. La mayoría de los planes de negocios incluyen discusión de temas como: oportunidad de mercado, finanzas y operaciones y estrategia de marketing. Al pensar cuidadosamente qué nicho de mercado va a buscar, cómo va a financiar sus operaciones en curso y cómo va a llegar a su consumidor específico, estará en una posición mucho mejor para evaluar nuevas ofertas y oportunidades a medida que surgen.
Por ejemplo, digamos que usted es una empresaria latina que le gustaría abrir un negocio de salón de uñas en el centro de Austin. Su plan de negocios incluiría detalles sobre qué parte del mercado de salón de uñas está tratando de alcanzar, información sobre los precios y algunos detalles como puede ser llegar a las mujeres dentro de ciertos barrios de Austin (por ejemplo, a través de medios sociales, anuncios impresos, campañas publicitarias). Entonces, cuando alguien le propone una nueva idea, usted será capaz de ver cómo se ajusta a su propia visión para el negocio.
TIP #3: Escriba una declaración de la misión d la empresa
Muy a menudo, los dueños de pequeñas empresas arriban con un gran concepto del negocio, pero no tienen la manera de comunicar qué hace que ese negocio sea especial para otras personas. Una forma de hacerlo es elaborando una declaración de la misión empresarial para poder compartirla con otros integrantes de la misma como son los empleados, socios, vendedores e inversores. Las declaraciones de misión más eficaces y emocionantes son aquellas que explican cómo usted planea cambiar el mundo con su nuevo negocio.
Tal vez usted está pensando en abrir una tienda de ropa para las mujeres. Su declaración de misión podría incluir una descripción de algún mercado que esta insuficientemente atendido y al que usted está llegando (por ejemplo, “madres solteras que quieren ropa de moda para el lugar de trabajo, pero a bajo costo “) o alguna descripción de lo que hace que su producto sea diferente de los otros productos, por ejemplo “100% ropa local 100% y con materiales naturales”). Entonces, cuando reciba una nueva oferta u oportunidad, podrá ver qué tan bien encaja esa oportunidad con su visión u objetivo único para su empresa.
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Ser propietario de una pequeña empresa es un reto ya lo suficientemente grande como para ser atrapado además en un montón de nuevas ideas rápidamente. Empiece pequeño, trace su plan de negocios y prepare una declaración de misión. Al hacerlo, usted preparará su nuevo negocio para el éxito futuro.
by EGBI Tech Team | Jan 19, 2017 | Business Tips
By Al Lopez, EGBI Executive Director
For small business owners and entrepreneurs, one of the keys to success is staying focused. That may sound obvious, but too often, small business owners get so many new ideas and opportunities early in the life of their business that they lose their original intent or business plan target. With that in mind, here are three ways to stay super-focused during your first 12 months as a new business owner:
TIP #1: Start small and start slow
Yes, everything’s bigger in Texas, but that doesn’t mean your business is going to become a giant overnight. In fact, there is no such thing as an “overnight success” in business. The path to future success is filled with many mini-steps along the way.
One big reason why you want to start small and start slow is because growth requires capital, and that’s something most new business owners don’t have. That’s why you’ll hear about startups “bootstrapping” their way to success, by being very careful about how much cash they are spending before they make their first sales. When you stay focused, you’ll be able to control how much cash you’re spending.
One way to bootstrap your new venture is to consider a co-working environment. Instead of splurging for an expensive 12-month lease, you can often rent a co-working space on a month-to-month basis. Plus, as an added bonus, you get to network with similar types of entrepreneurs in an incubator-like environment.
TIP #2: Put your business plan in writing
One way to stay focused is by putting down your business plan in writing. Most business plans include discussion of topics like: market opportunity, finance and operations and marketing strategy. By carefully thinking about what market niche you are going after, how you are going to fund your ongoing operations and how you plan to reach your target consumer, you will be in a much better position to evaluate new offers and opportunities as they arise.
For example, say you are a Latina entrepreneur who would like to open a nail salon business in downtown Austin. Your business plan would include details about what part of the nail salon market you are trying to reach, some information about pricing, and some details about how you plan to reach women within certain neighborhoods within Austin (e.g. via social media, print ads, billboards). Then, when someone proposes a new idea to you, you will be able to see how it matches up with your own vision for the business.
TIP #3: Create a mission statement
Too often, small business owners come up with a great business concept but don’t have a way of communicating what makes the business special to other people. One way to do that is by crafting a mission statement that you can share with other stakeholders in your business – employees, partners, vendors and investors. The most effective and exciting mission statements are those that explain how you plan to change the world with your new business.
Maybe you’re thinking of opening a store selling clothes for women. Your mission statement might include a description of some under-served market that you are reaching (e.g. “single moms who want fashionable but low-cost clothing for the workplace”), or some description of what makes your product different from every other product (e.g. “all clothes made from 100 percent locally-sourced, natural materials”). Then, when you get a new offer or opportunity, you’ll be able to see how well that opportunity fits in with your unique vision or goal for your company.
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Being a small business owner is challenging enough without being caught up in lots of new ideas too fast. Start small, map out your business plan, and come up with a mission statement. By doing so, you will prepare your new business for future success.
by EGBI Tech Team | Sep 26, 2016 | News & Events
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by EGBI Tech Team | Mar 30, 2016 | Business Tips
By: Luis Delgado, The Critical Update
Let’s play a game!
Take a minute to picture the best day at your business. Everything is going right, business is moving along, staff is productive and the planets are aligned. Ahhh, feels great doesn’t it? Just like a cool breeze.
Now, let’s throw a bit of reality into the mix. Suddenly, one of your employees says…”My computer is acting weird”. You think nothing of it and just tell the employee to restart the computer. After all, that is the most common “fix” to weird issues. Unfortunately, once this happens, the computer does not work. What do you do?
Let’s add a little more flavor to this mix. Let’s pretend the computer that just failed has your QuickBooks® file and client list, payroll is supposed to run today… Now what? The cool breeze is now a category 5 hurricane!
If you are like most business owners, you have a technical resource that you would call in a panic. Then the recovery and troubleshooting process would begin and take from one day to several days to return to normalcy. That is, assuming you did not lose data and get sticker shock.
- Let’s stop the game now and consider some options.
Many businesses have a reliable technical resource that keeps everything working. The problem is, most of the time, as technicians, we assume certain things. If you ask a techie what it means to “take care of everything”, you will get a different answer from what a business owner would think. Planning for the gaps in this is where a bit of communication can make the difference between expensive chaos or getting back to work with sanity.
Here is an example; I just talked to a member of a medical organization who said the IT company handles everything. When I asked him the above scenario, he said he has no idea about a continuity plan. This is not unusual. Business owners have so much to think about, that business continuity planning is usually overlooked or not even thought of.
There is a technical side with backups and replacement computers, but there is also a critical component that most IT companies do not provide. The side that affects business operations.
There are a great number of companies out there who are fantastic at providing technical support and managed services. Truth be told, Austin has a large number of them competing for clients.
The one thing that I would encourage is to make it part of your yearly business planning to create, review and update your business continuity plan. Invite your friendly IT consultant to be in those meetings and help plan for the worst.
Luis Delgado is a Certified HIPAA Professional and the President of The Critical Update inc., a technology consulting firm that works with business owners and non profit organizations in the Austin metropolitan area. Luis and his team help schools, professional service providers, financial services and legal professionals with ongoing support and consulting. Luis enjoys time with his loving family and Church community. Most days you can find him serving people and building community through business consulting and relationship building. Luis graduated from EGBI in 2009.
by EGBI Tech Team | Feb 11, 2016 | Business Tips
By Michael Mason
You might have a great product or service, but one of the mistakes people make is assuming that your customers will automatically find you, just because you are a great company. You have to remember that people in general are very visual. Wharton School of Business says that a well-produced video increases information retention by 50% and speeds up financial decisions by 72%. 90% of the communication provided by video is nonverbal, such as body language and tone of voice. In addition, there are all kinds of trust barriers that are knocked down by video, which can mean everything for your company.
What not to do when making a video:
The first mistake people make when making a video is the inclination to make something too long. Understandably, companies have a lot to say and want to say all of it. You have to remember, your videos aren’t required viewing. We find 1 minute 30 seconds is usually the sweet spot.
Another common mistake we see is people often come off as too formal in their videos. This is your chance to humanize yourself. Don’t say what you think is standard for the situation. Always speak from the heart.
What do you do with your video?
When you have a video you have to post it in the right places. It’s great to send your video to email subscribers, people who are already familiar with you will love the personal touch of video, which will increase retention.
It’s vital to use social media, which is peerless for video sharing. Facebook alone represents a whopping 4 billion video streams a day and video sharing from one’s own network is exponentially more effective.
Posting on YouTube is an absolute must. If YouTube is considered a search engine (as it certainly should be), it is the #2 largest search engine in the world and is largely the preferred search engine for millennials.
And you need to make sure your video is prominently embedded on your website. The average time a person spends on a website with only text is 57 seconds. A website with video? 6 minutes!
Can you afford it?
Thanks to new technologies, film production is getting better and better for less and less money. The most significant cost should be the skill and creativity of the filmmaker. You need someone with a great eye for shooting and editing. With the right production team you can have something of cinematic quality for minimal cost.
Michael Mason is Owner and Executive Producer of Perfect Chaos Films in Austin, TX, a video/animation production company specialized in corporate culture videos, product explainers, commercials and feature development.
