By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

Giving and receiving criticism is inevitable in the workplace. Remember that feedback is not an attack on your identity. When people criticize your work, they are not attacking you personally. For small businesspeople, feedback may come from employees, partners, clients, or any of the inhabitants of your business environment. 

Part of your business strategy should involve designing pathways for criticism that lead to a productive resolution, and don’t threaten the health of your workplace. For example, a starting point might be ongoing, routine one-on-one sessions. This strategy could nip developing problems in the bud

Inevitably, problems will move past this stage. In response, managers can strive to integrate healthy strategies into the company culture to ensure all parties have a realistic understanding of their performance and the requirements of their role. Prioritizing these behaviors may nurture the type of healthy environment that the productivity of the institution depends on.

1) The First Step When a Problem Arises May Involve an Apology. Handle Apologies Well

In cases where an apology is necessary, both employers and employees should handle the situation in a way that conveys an understanding of the issues. Apologies must be sincere. However, remember that a sincere apology may incorporate ownership of the person’s role in the situation, instead of the person taking on all the blame themselves. 

Of course, insincere apologies only throw kindling on the situation. Before considering what to say at the outset, all parties should ponder the complexity of the situation before digging in their heels and refusing to budge.

2) Maintain Professionalism

A manager should tread discretely with their criticism, even when tempers flare. Mistakes are inevitable. Additionally, from an employer’s perspective, accurate coaching means the difference between a successful business and a failure. From a worker’s perspective, keeping management happy advances their careers and keeps them out of the employment line. 

However, delivering criticism can be almost as painful as receiving it. No one likes awkwardness. Additionally, managers like to defend their hiring decisions. Hence, on both ends handling criticism can be a tightrope.

Mindfulness and introspection can ensure that all parties keep the wheels greased. For example, sometimes someone’s day has just not gone well. Some discussions can wait until cooler heads prevail. Managers can wait, and workers can often reschedule. Both handling conflict and delivering feedback require a good degree of emotional intelligence. 

3) Prepare a Course of Action

Remember that in some cases an employee has perfectly good reasons for their actions or behavior. In others, a manager may need to initiate a disciplinary process. Unfortunately, many times the course of action may result in the employee’s or colleague’s termination. However, often a new procedure or policy change can address the issue. Maybe even a change in the workplace environment can appease the unsatisfied parties. 

It is crucial to remember to contemplate healthy pathways before the environment becomes toxic. Everyone’s goal from feedback should be productive growth on all sides. Every institution needs to practice honest self-evaluation. The more Veteran Business Owners and their partners prioritize these strategies, the greater their success. 

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hope that this article has not only been valuable but provided some unique perspective.  We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful, and timely information and are the “go-to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  

https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

Small business opportunities are endless. You may have your own idea, but depending on your circumstances, there are so many potential opportunities. There is no limit to them. Some small business ideas require little overhead or almost no startup costs. Others do require a strong emotional commitment. 

Remember, many of these fields require licensure. In some cases, such as accountants or lawyers, jurisdictions mandate these licenses to practice your profession. In others, the state or jurisdiction may offer a license that could step up your game as a small businessperson. 

1. Home Organizer

Working in this field takes a special kind of expertise. Home organizing is an art form. As with many artists, home organizers should create a portfolio to demonstrate their skills. There are even companies that specialize in training home organizers as independent contractors. At the same time, sprucing up a messy house is in a field all its own. Professional organizers need to know what they’re doing before asking someone else to pay for their services.

2. Landscaper

Again, landscaping is an art. A portfolio might get you far. It helps to have experience or a special interest in the field. A green thumb can net you income on many fronts. A landscaping business may keep you busy with both residences and businesses. Also, growing your own plants can supply you with the stock for your own produce market! A talent for plants and landscaping can launch you on any of a series of trajectories as a small businessperson.  With current water shortages, there are opportunities for creative, cost-effective low-water landscaping.

3. Moving Service

Management skills and a good means of transportation can suffice for a decent small-scale moving company. A local operator can employ two or three individuals part-time and serve their clients well.   Perhaps contact a few furniture or appliance outlets to offer your services to their clients.

4. Music Teacher

Who said you can’t make a living off your musical talents? If you can play an instrument well, you can make over $50 an hour sharing your talents. To get started, you can connect with local music schools to find leads and get started. Again, music is a risky business to get into. For any artist, your heart needs to be in it.

5. Notary Public

A notary public verifies the legality of certain documents and bears witness to their signing. Once a notary has met certain licensing requirements, they can work from their own home or affiliate with a small business.  There is a big demand for mobile notaries too.

6. Opening a Repair Shop

Whether computers, cars, bicycles, or electronics, the market for repairers is inexhaustible. Depending on your talents and interests, any of a range of endeavors can make a successful living for a talented repairperson.

7. Photographer

Weddings, headshots, family photos, and event photography can provide a skillful photographer with a steady income. However, the field is competitive, so a background in the field may help you stand out from the crowd.

8. Ride-Share Driver

Uber and Lyft have both provided opportunities for independent contractors. However, the status of these contractors is still up in the air. Cleaning up your car and creating a Lyft or Uber account may very well suit you well. However, a little creativity can get you further.

9. Personal Trainer

Fitness enthusiasts can have fun and make money at the same time by helping others on their fitness journey. Personal trainers can help their clients to avoid injury as well as get the right results in a reasonable time frame. Just consider any licensure requirements, depending on the jurisdiction. Certification in this field may increase your employment prospects.

Conclusion

Once you’ve made the decision to go out on your own, look to your own interests and talents. People who start small businesses may do so for many reasons. Small business opportunities may come naturally to you, or you may look to any of several ideas that might help you hang out a shingle. 

In some cases, you may not be able to imagine doing anything else. In others, you may have obligations that restrict your ability to commit to a career where you don’t have flexibility.  You may have your own idea for a small business. In other cases, you may need to start a small business because of your personal circumstances. In any case, the above leads can place you on a path and allow you to take your first steps toward an independent work life.

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hope that this first article of this two-part series has not only been valuable but provided some unique perspective.  We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful, and timely information and are the “go-to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  

https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

Choosing the Wrong Metrics of Success

Consider the industry and market. Many businesses are seasonal, especially in the eCommerce field. Short-term measurements may hold limited relevance for long-term success. In addition to sales revenue, important considerations may include customer satisfaction, customer turnover, customer engagement, and the cost of acquiring new clients. Feedback from customers may prove just as useful for long-term growth as raw numbers reflecting factors such as sales revenue.

Remember the bottom line. Metrics such as site views are a good sign, but don’t let your head puff up until you’ve seen the end rewards. Beyond tactics such as “search engine optimization,” businesses should flesh out their intelligence with a multidimensional approach that provides multiple perspectives and can better develop strategies for the future.

Plan for a Reasonable Balance Between Supply and Demand

In the initial excitement of contract negotiation, business owners might overestimate demand for their projects. Wise entrepreneurs take baby steps while wading through the planning phase. The time for a deeper plunge is after a realistic assessment of product demand. Only after meeting demand becomes a challenge in itself should a new business expand its initial investment.

Too much product at the outset complicates a website, adds to maintenance costs, and wastes the original investment.

Work Out Sales Promotion Strategies in the Early Stages

New business owners can also go overboard with their initial advertising. Remember to carefully ponder sales promotions, and tailor them to your company’s goals. Some business managers can dump money into advertising that can misfire, even harming brand image or simply wasting resources.

A tasteless, spammy, or annoying sales promotion does no one favors. Neither do wasteful practices such as carelessly executed free sample campaigns. Remember that ads should take advantage of the right time, place, and style to effectively influence potential clientele.

Prioritize Wise Contract Negotiation

Irrational optimism can doom new companies. Small business owners need to put together contracts with the worst possible outcomes in mind. Human nature tends to assume everything will go smoothly, but the inevitable snags often pop up unexpectedly. Veteran business owners should pour over contracts with a fine-tooth comb with an eye toward the life of a contract rather than the bare minimums and the foreseeable future.

Careless Choice of Advertising Partners

Remember that you have as much of a right to choose your advertisers as they to choose you. Advertisers need to stay relevant, ethical, and lucrative. Advertisements should stay interesting and tasteful. In other words, new business owners should maintain self-respect and not get carried away in the excitement of finally receiving sponsorship.

Consider Effective Customer Contact Strategies

Email lists can provide a free method to reach prospects on demand. Remember to form these lists quickly, efficiently, and ethically. When soliciting contact information, make sure to obtain a full profile of the customer’s interests, goals, and potential. Effective customer contact lists can save a fortune in advertising later.

Conclusion

Ecommerce presents its own set of risks. Without careful contemplation, Veteran Business Owners can go overboard in the wrong direction at the outset, in ways that can quickly deplete resources. The remote nature of the online customer relationship amplifies these. Careful, realistic, and multidimensional feedback and planning can effectively prepare for success in the modern, largely internet-based economy.

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hope that this article has not only been valuable but provided some unique perspective.  We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful, and timely information and are the “go-to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

Do not forget that VAMBOA members receive significant discounts on technology needs.   Check them out here: https://vamboa.org/dell-technologies/ 

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

Never Lose Sight of your Core Competency

Your business idea is your own, companies should never lose sight of the uniqueness of your core enterprise. Superfluous bells and whistles only add confusion when they distract from the basic functions of your business. 

Merchants can control the traffic to the website, if not their profit margins. Websites should be carefully designed considering the basic functions of your business. 

In other words, your website should center around the services you can provide. Tangential and superfluous information waste resources and distract from the bottom line. The marketing pitch should be clear and to the point, and traffic to the website should consist of interested consumers rather than gawkers attracted by irrelevant additions to the website. Good SEO (search engine optimization) can avoid this failure.

Don’t Turn Your Website into an Unrelatable Mess of Brick-a-Brack

A website rife with irrelevant information messes with the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your company, as well as its analytics. An organized website, on the other hand, attracts the best kinds of business. 

Some ugly websites can get away with it. Craigslist, for example, has a nostalgic, folksy appeal that reminds us of the days before sophisticated website creating apps such as WordPress and Etsy. The Drudge Report has a brutalist look that harkens to the days before “web designer” became a staple hipster freelance gig. These older websites already have established reputations, with the associated goodwill.

New Veteran Business Owners need to put more thought into website design. Remember the importance of the brand building. With the development of the company, the “goodwill” of target customers develops

In the case of some websites, such as Craigslist, the plain, no-frills design is in fact part of the brand. Established users enjoy the look because of the familiarity and would probably raise hell in the case of a redesigning. Craigslist is an example of a company whose website in fact has accumulated enough “goodwill” to compensate for its hideous look.

However, most new business owners need to develop that goodwill over time. “Goodwill” for a business means positive relationships with your consumer base. Good marketing should reflect in your website. Hopefully, as you develop a more sleek, well-directed website, your marketing strategy should communicate more directly with your target audience.

 WordPress and other web-building applications tend to give analytics that shows progress as your website develops. In general, website analytics go a long way in showing how well your website reaches your target. 

The Work Doesn’t End with a Finished Website

Even with the development of your own business, remember the importance of consistent improvement of your own product or service. Business owners should take feedback seriously, consistently building up the quality of their products.

Veteran Business Owners should not rest on their laurels after designing a workable online presence. Any such website should provide comments sections and other forums for feedback. On the business owner’s end, this feedback should provide starting points for improvements, especially when the feedback is consistent. 

Conclusion

In the end, remember the importance of good communication. Some terrible websites maintain relevance through their relationships with customers. However, generally, new business owners should consider relevant designs that speak directly to their consumer base. Who knows, maybe even your own design might go out of fashion one day. But with goodwill and brand loyalty, you may preserve good relationships in the long term.

In other words, for the initial stages of business development, don’t forget the importance of a sleek website that speaks to its target audience. Goodwill can take time to develop. But consider whatever market analytics you have available and try to make sure your website fulfills the goals of your business in the here and now.  

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hopes that this article has not only been valuable but provided some unique perspective.  We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful, and timely information and are the “go to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

Do not forget that VAMBOA members receive significant discounts on technology needs.   Check them out here: https://vamboa.org/dell-technologies/ 

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

A visible presence in the community can do wonders to raise the profile of a small Veteran Owned Business. Engagement in community activities can imprint your brand into the minds of those around you and entrench your products or services into the hearts and minds of the most active citizens. Four strategies can help businesses integrate into the public sphere and make your brand synonymous with responsible public engagement.

First, consider the special contributions your business can make available. The best value comes from the optimal use of existing resources. Surplus goods can go to work as donations fundraisers, and these contributions can increase goodwill toward the company. Even special expertise can go to building new campaigns or initiatives. Redeployment of existing resources can not only ensure the maximum outcome for all parties but can effectively advertise the quality of the business for anyone involved in the charitable cause.

Along the same lines, businesses can solicit relationships with organizations that involve themselves in your business’s field in the economy. Never undervalue your expertise. The relevance of your business provides huge value to nonprofits in your sector.

Perhaps you have a restaurant. Your restaurant can provide excess food to the homeless or even for catering events, assuming (importantly) the food is well-kept. As for non-perishables, items such as clothing can be embroidered into relevant t-shirts or even donated. The possibilities are endless for high-quality excess goods and services.

Second, consider input from employees. Each employee may have their own interests in the nonprofit sphere. Engagement with nonprofits can encourage engagement with employees as well. Every idea from an employee can bring your brand into a new sphere. Oftentimes, the employees’ interests in the community can pose an educational opportunity that can even expand your brand.

Third, business owners should keep a strong gauge of customers’ nonprofit concerns. Customers themselves might provide ideas and insights into community engagement. Entrepreneurs can strengthen goodwill among customers by chiming into their concerns. For this reason, business owners should always value customer feedback.

Fourth, remember your values and stick with them. Some companies might provide ethically made clothing brands, free from sweatshops or forced labor. Others might provide vegan or vegetarian food. Still, others may oppose religious persecution abroad. These companies have their nonprofit work cut out for them.

Still, other entrepreneurs have their own causes that energize them, outside of their own scope of business. Still, good karma follows from maintaining a presence year-long with favorite nonprofit initiatives. Just remember the above precepts and the resulting opportunities for associating your brand with your passions about the direction of your community.

In conclusion, business owners with community concerns can profit immensely from engagement with their favorite causes. Even placing excess inventory into the hands of community workers or charity recipients can serve an advertising purpose. Still, beyond that simple measure, the simple presence of your company’s logo in a fundraising drive can serve a marketing function beyond warming your heart or the hearts of others. Wise engagement with community causes rarely has a downside. Veteran Business Owners should always remember the nonprofit sector no matter how successful their own ventures are.

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hope that this article has not only been valuable but provided some unique perspective.  We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful, and timely information and are the “go-to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

Do not forget that VAMBOA members receive significant discounts on technology needs.   Check them out here: https://vamboa.org/dell-technologies/