Small Business Success Strategies

Top 10 Business Plan Myths of Self Employment

A recent study of 29,000 business startups noted that 26,000 of them failed. Of those failures, 67% had no written business plan. Think that's a coincidence?

Here's the top 10 myths self employed solo business owners often have about business plans - usually, the reasons why they don't have one. De-bunk the myths, and see how having a self employment business plan can actually be easy and fun--and can jumpstart your success!

   1. Myth: I don't need a business plan--it's just me!

      Starting any business without a plan is like taking a trip in a foreign country without a map. You might have a lot of fun along the way, and meet a lot of friends, but you are likely to end up at a very different place than you originally set out for - and you might have to phone home for funds for your return ticket.

Read Terri's entire article Top 10 Business Plan Myths of Self Employment

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Self Employed Business Marketing Plan: 4 Tips to Fine-Tune Your Niche Marketing

Before you can have clients, you need to have prospects -- that's what marketing is all about. If your marketing isn't attracting the kind of people you'd like to be working with, it's like pushing a rope -- you are trying to sell them something they don't need, and they are looking for something you don't offer. A little fine-tuning of your marketing plan can make the difference between a solo business that lurches and stalls, and a business that runs smoothly and is fun to operate.

Your Four-Point Marketing Tune-Up Checklist:

Understand the difference between your Target Market and your Niche. A target market has distinguishing demographic characteristics; for example, recently widowed working women under 50.

Read Terri's entire article Self Employed Business Marketing Plan: 4 Tips to Fine-Tune Your Niche Marketing

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Information Product Marketing Strategy: Give Away What You Know (and Lots of it!)

One of the best ways to generate more income is to stop selling your expertise by the hour. Your expertise -- knowledge, skills, methods -- are your most valuable assets. By taking your expertise and packaging it in various information products, you can sell your expertise 24/7/365.

So if your knowledge, skills and methods are your most valuable assets, why in the world would I suggest that you give it away as a marketing strategy?? Because giving away your expertise lays the foundation for multiple streams of income. Why this works:

Access to lots of free information is already available and potential customers expect to find it.

Read Terri's entire article Information Product Marketing Strategy: Give Away What You Know (and Lots of it!)

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Self Employment Taxes: Minimize with a Medical Reimbursement Plan

A common mistake self-employed solo entrepreneurs make is not taking advantage of all the tax deductions available to their business. You may be familiar with the home business deduction, mileage and meal reimbursement, and other common deductions. But there is one tax provision that is not as well-known, but is clearly worth far more than all the typical deductions put together: a Section 105 Medical Reimbursement Plan.

Given the skyrocketing costs of medical insurance, copays, deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses, this one deduction can save you, quite literally, thousands of dollars a year. You must be married and able to legitimately employ your spouse at least part-time in your business in order to qualify. If you are and you can, read on -- your heartburn over outrageous health insurance premiums and skyrocketing medical expenses may be about to go away!

Read Terri's entire article Self Employment Taxes: Minimize with a Medical Reimbursement Plan

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

The Customer is Always Right, (Especially when you think they aren't!)

It takes a long time for a self employed business owner to build up a reputation for great customer service. I am a caring person, and putting customer service first is something I hold very dear as an important aspect of how I do business. And recently, I almost blew it. In a fit of irritation over a client's request for help, I made a very poor assumption -- and almost made an idiot of myself in the process.

As I reflected on that experience, I came up with these four elements of providing great customer service as a self employed business owner. I share them as a model of how to think about your own customer service interactions (especially those that occur via email) and as a reminder to myself too. I call it the CARE model of email customer service.

Read Terri's entire article The Customer is Always Right, (Especially when you think they aren't!)

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Part 2: Designing Virtual Classes Your Students Will Rave About!

Adding Structure, Accountability and Community to Your Self-Paced Classes

In Part 1 of this series, I offered various ideas for designing your live classes to offer maximum value to your students. Beyond just learning the concepts, students have a much better chance of actually applying your wisdom in their business. If you provide these three important elements in your classes:

    * a schedule to do the learning (structure);
    * a modest work assignment each week, and a place to post completed assignments (accountability);
    * and a rich network of fellow students to share with and learn from (community).

Applying these elements in self-paced classes (i.e., written, audio and video content available to the student on their own schedule) is quite different, and perhaps more challenging, than in a live, scheduled environment.

Read Terri's entire article Part 2: Designing Virtual Classes Your Students Will Rave About!

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Self Employment Niche Marketing: Finding Your Ideal Client

Have you ever had a client/customer that was more trouble than they were worth? Maybe they were always late to pay, or didn't do what they said they'd do. Maybe you just had a personality clash, or they expected more than you were able to offer. Whatever the situation, chances are you had an inkling when you first met that client...a tiny voice that you didn't listen to, that was probably overshadowed by the bigger voice of self employment panic that said, "Hey, it's business; I'll take it!"

Learn to say no to those clients, before they start draining your energy! The key to being able to do this is understanding Your Ideal Client. Once you know how to recognize who is ideal and who is not, you can practice turning down business from the latter.

Read Terri's entire article Self Employment Niche Marketing: Finding Your Ideal Client

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Marketing Mythology: Putting Lipstick on a Pig

When I first started my career as a solo entrepreneur, I hired a web designer to create my website for me. He was awesome, and I loved his work. When I received my first bill, it included a contact email address for his "support department" and "billing department". I was a little curious about who those other people were! Later I found out it was just him...he was ALL of those departments -- design, support, billing, the works! A true case of putting lipstick on the pig. Even though he attempted to "paint" his business with these additional departments, underneath it all, he was still simply a solo entrepreneur.

Read Terri's entire article Marketing Mythology: Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Self Employed Business Marketing Plan: 4 Tips to Fine-Tune Your Niche Marketing

Before you can have clients, you need to have prospects -- that's what marketing is all about. If your marketing isn't attracting the kind of people you'd like to be working with, it's like pushing a rope -- you are trying to sell them something they don't need, and they are looking for something you don't offer. A little fine-tuning of your marketing plan can make the difference between a solo business that lurches and stalls, and a business that runs smoothly and is fun to operate.

Your Four-Point Marketing Tune-Up Checklist:

Understand the difference between your Target Market and your Niche. A target market has distinguishing demographic characteristics; for example, recently widowed working women under 50.

Read Terri's entire article Self Employed Business Marketing Plan: 4 Tips to Fine-Tune Your Niche Marketing

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert

Got website visitors? 5 Steps to Get Them to Subscribe

You've put a lot of investment into your website, and perhaps even more into various marketing activities to drive traffic to your site. And it's working -- your traffic numbers are up. You are halfway there -- now you need to turn those visitors into subscribers. Building a list of potential clients who are interested in what you have to offer is the only way you are going to make money from your online efforts! The secret? Put yourself in your visitor's shoes. Here are five steps that helped me increase my own visitor/subscriber conversion rate from 2.61% to 4.44% in just eight months:

   1. Get the right visitors. Seems basic, but it's one of the most important ingredients to building a responsive list; it's also the most time-intensive task. Extra effort spent on this step will also pay off handsomely.

Read Terri's entire article Got website visitors? 5 Steps to Get Them to Subscribe

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo-Entrepreneur Expert