Feeling Accomplished

Have you ever sat down to write a business plan or a marketing plan? It can be a very daunting task, even for seasoned writers and entrepreneurs. If you've been there, you've probably stared blankly at your piece of paper or computer screen. You maybe even took breaks often to tend to other 'more important' projects. Why is it so difficult to physically write a plan of some sort? I have a theory. I believe we find it difficult because we can't see the big picture of the impact it can make to a business. We make excuses and tell ourselves it's menial and we would rather 'do business' than write about business.

Let me use an analogy to explain. I recently purchased a chew toy for our dog. You see, he likes to chew on things such as the fence, the hot tub, the patio door, the dog house, patio furniture and just about anything else he can find. But he doesn't like the dog toy. He would much rather shred an empty box all over the backyard than chew on the toy we bought him. Why is that? I think it's because when he's done shredding a box, he sees the fruits of his labor. He can take pride in the fact that the backyard looks like a tornado tore through it. This makes him feel accomplished. But when he chews on the rope chew toy, he can't see that he's accomplished anything. There's no mess...no teeth marks...no angry owner...no disgruntled kids having to rake the backyard. There's still just a rope toy laying on the ground.

I think as entrepreneurs, we are the same way. We find it difficult to write out a plan because we don't see that we've actually accomplished anything. When it's all said and done, we've taken what's been floating around in our heads and put it down on paper...but we only see a rope toy. Let me assure you that so much more has just happened. If you've written out a formal business plan, marketing plan or strategic plan, you've actually just shredded a box all over the back yard - in other words, you've accomplished a lot!

You've given yourself credibility to lenders, investors, and partners who may get involved in your business someday. You've also given yourself something to measure. You can now track the progress of your goals and measure against them. If you don't know where you're going...you won't know if you've arrived. So if you're struggling to write a plan of some sort, hang in there. You can do it and you'll feel so much better when you're done. But don't stop there...make it a fluid plan - constantly updating and changing it. The best plans keep improving.

And remember, if you get stuck, give me a call or send me an email. Sometimes small businesses owners and entrepreneurs don't have anyone to talk to, so I am here for you.

Jeri
918-343-7509
jkoehler@rsu.edu

Market Research

We recently received a grant to expand our market research services. The grant funds have been used to purchase databases for business intelligence research. This is going to be very useful as we help start-ups and growing businesses.


Let me give you some examples of how these services could benefit a small business.


Business to Business (B2B)
A local manufacturing facility would like to find new customers and scope out the current competition. We can now search companies by industry, employee size, annual sales, geographic location or about 25 other criteria. We can customize a list for the local manufacturing company to be used for direct marketing such as direct mail, personal visits, phone calls or competitive intelligence.


Another service available, thanks to the Stratton Taylor Library here on campus, is First Research. This database allows users to search for industry data. I can pull together reports in First Research to show me the industry’s latest news and trends - this is invaluable to any business from retail to manufacturing to everything in between. The database will also help if I want to become familiar with the business landscape in a given state. I can learn about the housing market in Vermont or the livestock market in Montana. That's great info to know when considering growing your business in a new state.


Business to Consumer (B2C)
Perhaps you're marketing business to consumer, instead of business to business as the example above discusses. For example, you are starting a lawn care service in northeast Oklahoma. You want to target homeowners in a certain geographic area (south Tulsa). You also want to only service homes valued over $250,000. One of our databases will pull a list together of all the homeowners you wish to target - based on your search criteria. This list would be helpful in a direct mail campaign.


So whatever your business research need, we either have the solution or know where to find it - thanks to funding for cool new resources.


Here's a picture of Dr. Brown accepting the grant funds from RCB Bank on behalf of FHL Bank in Topeka. We received the grant through an economic development initiative called the JOBS program.