I Want More

Have you ever had a real appetite for something? You crave it so much that the thought of it consumes you. And when you get a taste of it ... you want more. Sure, I feel that way about chocolate ice cream some times, but I also feel this same passion for glass work. It began when I signed up for a beginner class, then took up stained glass as a hobby. Soon people were making specific requests of me and the hobby blossomed into a part time business. As the love affair with glass continued and the opportunity arose, I jumped into the glass business full time. This is the second year that I've been running Trickett Glass full-time. I'm thankful to be able to pay the bills and to make a living while doing what I love, but ... I want more.

As an entrepreneur who is building a business, paying the bills is not enough. I want more. I want to learn. I want to develop relationships with my clients. I want to network with other business owners. I want to share my knowledge.

When the internet (the world wide web) was born, it was promoted as "The Information Highway". This is so true today. I feel we are bombarded by information on the web, whether we want to be or not. But when I want to research a topic on the net, I am usually amazed at how much information is available. For most businesses, if you are not promoting your business on the internet, you are missing out on additinal business. Lately I've been asking myself, "How can I grow my business, with the help of 'The Information Highway'?" There are so many opportunities, it's hard to know where to start. Over the last couple of months I have sought out direction and prayed for wisdom in this regard.

Here are two of the building blocks that I am going to put in place in the coming months to position Trickett Glass for more success on the internet. These same steps could be applied to any small business who has an appetite to grow.

Most importantly, my website needs a fresh makeover. Over the past few years it has fulfilled it's purpose, but business needs are changing. It needs to be more customer interactive. If I want to build relationships with my clients, the website needs to encourage this. An email opt-in allows a business owner to be able to communicate with those who visit the site and want to know more. Shopping carts allow the option for customers to purchase online and makes your products available to those who are unable to visit your physical retail store. Videos and ebooks are a wonderful learning tool to assist in distance learning. There really is no excuse for not having an attractive, informative and engaging website.

Any small business owner wears many hats. Besides making and selling stained glass panels, I also promote my business, keep my books, make deposits, purchase materials, pay suppliers, ship orders, teach classes, print flyers, attend shows and seminars, quote on potential orders, price products, arrange displays, answer the phone, emails and snail mail, etc. Makes me tired just thinking about it. No one works harder than an entrepreneur! A friend of mine who is also an entrepreneur kept telling me to, "Work smarter not harder." I guess it has taken me awhile to catch on, because I still hear this phrase quite often. The second building block that I am installing is using automated systems. Many things that you do repeatedly can be automated. Here are some of the systems that I'm considering: http://www.infusionsoft.com/, http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp, and http://www.aweber.com/. Why spend valuable time doing things that you don't need to do? Along the same line, maybe you can't automate something but you can deligate someone else to do it. You might want to consider hiring a Virtual Assistant. Wikipedia describes a Virtual Assistant as "an entrepreneur who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office. They usually work for other small businesses, brokers and consultancy groups".

These two building blocks are only the beginning. I'll share more in a future blog about promoting your business online, driving traffic to your website, analysing, etc. Do you want more for your small business? Do you have a craving to dive into entrepeneurship? What's holding you back? Go for it!