7 Ways to Do More With Less

“Too much money, not too little, is a bigger problem for most small businesses,” says Paul Hawken. “In a business, money does not create anything at all, much less ideas and initiative. Money goes where those qualities already are. Money follows, it does not lead.”

Here are a few ways to pump up the initiative.

° Create attention-getting devices. Your business name, tagline, or vehicle call all get you noticed for the right reasons. If you need inspiration, study how the Geek Squad did it.

° Adopt a protégé. Since we learn best by teaching, what better way to sharpen your skills than by helping someone else? The satisfaction of encouraging and supporting someone else’s success is immeasurable. Ask any teacher who’s had a student go on to do great things.

° Become a media darling. Radio, tv and Internet programs are always on the hunt for interesting people to interview. So are local newspapers. Be one. Don’t just think of this as a way to promote yourself, however. Offer useful information to the audience. You never know who’s listening.

° Join forces with a bookstore. A friend and I once spent an evening at a local bookstore listening to two women who were feng shui consultants. Although they were not authors themselves, the store had publicized their talk. A nearby table display was piled with the store’s inventory of books on the subject.

Another variation of this came from a career coach who did a reading list of books for career changes printed on her letterhead. The list was placed on a display table at the bookstore along with the recommended titles.

° Add a personal touch. In this noisy, often indifferent world, looking for memorable ways to distinguish yourself can make a huge difference. Use your photo on brochures and your Website, have a trademark color, do something that nobody else is doing…like sending handwritten thank you notes.

° Show up on stage. Give talks to local groups, volunteer to be part of a panel discussion at a conference. You may not get paid for these gigs, but you’ll be creating connections.

° Participate in community events. A dogsitting business expanded their visibility and customer base by marching in a local parade wearing t-shirts emblazoned with their business name.

You might donate a prize to a local fundraiser, volunteer for a community project, talk to a local high school on career day. Opportunities exist whether you live in a small town or large urban area. Look for them.

 

Is Your Work a Fit for You?

There are numerous ways to became an entrepreneur. If you’re Italian, you might be born to it. Just as homes stay in the same family for generations, Italian businessowners commonly pass their enterprises down to their children. If your family made wine, there’s a good chance that you’ll make wine. Even some Venetian gondoliers are following the career path of their fathers and grandfathers.

Paradoxically, there’s a Tuscan proverb that says, “Whoever does another’s trade makes soup in a basket.” I guess that doesn’t apply to family endeavors. As much as I love the Italians, I’m grateful that finding a career by inheritance isn’t such a common practice here. If it was, I’d be an electrician. 

Although it’s less common to hand down careers and businesses today, family pressure still plays a huge and unsavory role in career choice. When people say to me, “My parents always told me I should work for someone else,” I want to counter with, “Would you wear your parents’ clothes?” Their thinking may not fit you either.

A few years ago I had an ultrasound and noticed that the technician was obviously a weight lifter who seemed a bit out of sync with the hospital environment. As the procedure was being done, I asked him how he’d chosen his profession. He laughed and said, “Well, I was 18 and didn’t know what I wanted to do. My sister is a nurse and thought this would be a good line for me to get into and my parents wanted me out of the house, so I became an ultrasound technician.”

Every day I encounter people like him who are making soup in a basket, who are bored, inept or downright hostile because they are doing work that comes from a place other than their heart and soul. Happily, more and more of us are awakening to the truth that it doesn’t have to be this way, that we can discard inappropriate choices and make new ones based on who we have become and what we want our lives to be like. 

Clothiers talk about bespoke garments, meaning made-to-order clothes that are fitted to the wearer. I think it’s time to talk about bespoke businesses, one of a kind undertakings that are perfectly suited to the owner’s values, talents and dreams. It takes more time and energy to create such a business, of course, than to just pull one off the rack. Like a master tailor, we can only produce a bespoke business by  knowing our personal measurements, making numerous adjustments and investing pride in our work.

In a world that often seems determined to do things fast, creating a bespoke business requires a willingness and discipline to slow down, take things a step at a time and pay loving attention to details. Think it’s worth it?