If you work in management in any way, shape or form, chances are that at some point in your career you are going to have to propose something to someone. This could be a proposal to your boss to start work on a marvelous new project, a proposal to an investor or a bank for an injection of cash into the company, or an approach to another company for some form of co-operation. What all of these have in common is that you, as the person making the proposition, are trying to get something from the recipient. This immediately puts them in a position of power in any negotiations, so it is vitally important to impress and make yourself out to be competent and worthy of their time, effort and investment.
All business proposals need to meet some criteria before sending them off to anybody. Firstly, be original. Copy-pasted form letters impress people as much as junk mail through the mailbox. If you want your recipient to give you the time of day, extend them the same courtesy. Write your proposal, make it individual and tailored to them and their needs, and be as frank and honest as possible. Don’t try bullshitting, as this will more often than not make you look like a complete idiot. At the same time be confident and straightforward, and don’t try pandering to their egos or filling valuable writing space with aimless platitudes. Make your point, make it clearly and concisely, and sign off with a simple “Yours Sincerely/Truly/Faithfully,”
However, this does not mean that your proposal should be dull and boring. Let your personality show through to a point—the occasional joke or anecdote is often appreciated and helps remind the recipient that you are an actual person and not some automaton paid to hammer words on to a keyboard and not say a damn thing. Don’t ever be informal, but feel free every now and again to prove that you are actually a real person.
Keep your language jargon-free and as simple as possible. Avoid acronyms if at all possible—nothing is worse than reading a business proposal that looks like something you expect to find in the top-secret drawer at the Pentagon. Read it through three or four times, run it through a spellchecker, get someone else to proof it, and then read it yourself one last time for good measure. It is impossible to stress the importance of good writing in any proposal. Clearly set out the aims, goals and needs of your proposal, in a format that makes sense. There are hundreds of business proposal templates floating around on the Internet, so don’t be afraid to research styles and layouts.
Lastly, always keep the reader in mind. Stress why they should be part of this grand plan you have envisioned, and what the advantages are to themselves or the company of going along with your madcap little scheme. At the end of the day this entire endeavor is for their benefit, so do not forget that fact while you are putting your proposal together.
This is a difficult question for any small business owner to answer as incorporating a business has plenty of legal and tax-based advantages, but can also be a potential minefield, a massive expense, and ultimately not worth the hassle for the gains and returns made.
So, before we go any further, let’s take a quick look at the major advantages of incorporating your business. First up, there’s limited liability—probably the single most attractive benefit of incorporation. As a sole trader or partnership, if the business incurs debts then you personally may be forced to liquidate or turn over assets to pay for them. This can include homes, property, vehicles—fortunately, your dog will remain safe from these legal actions. As a corporation, the corporate entity takes on the financial responsibility of guaranteeing any loans made, meaning that investors and shareholders are only responsible for what they put in to the company.
Secondly, incorporation grants a much greater degree of income control to the shareholders and executives. By incorporating your small business, you give yourself the option of determining precisely when you, as a shareholder, receive income, which can definitely work in your favor tax-wise. Instead of getting your income when it’s received, being incorporated allows you to receive a dividend based on your share value at a time when the taxation environment is more to your advantage.
Another advantage of this is that anybody can be a shareholder—your spouse, your kids, heck, even old Uncle Albert, if needs be—meaning that income can be divided among family members in different taxation brackets. This is a nifty little benefit if you want the taxman to keep his grubby little paws off your family’s hard-earned cash!
Unlike sole traders, who can tail off if the owner dies or retires, corporations exist in perpetuity which allows the ownership to change through whatever reason and still carry on existing as a legal and commercial entity long after the esteemed founder has shuffled off this mortal coil (or earned a stack of cash and run off to Honolulu to spend their retirement drinking piña colada and debating the merits of the grass skirt.)
Lastly, there’s the fact that people are more likely to do business with a company with Inc., Llc., Ltd. or Corp. after the name. Contractors may find, for example, that certain companies will only deal with incorporated companies as it gives them an air of legitimacy and helps reduce the risk of becoming associated with a rogue or fly-by-night outfit.
However, despite all the great-sounding benefits, incorporation does have its drawbacks. For example, be prepared for you paperwork to go through the roof. You may find yourself needing to hire a lawyer or accountant to help yourself through the arcane process of incorporation, and to deal with the red tape to come afterwards. It is an expensive process to begin with, so make sure that the potential tax pitfalls are not more than you stand to gain from the process. Have an accountant look at your finances and give you proper, personalized advice before you decide to take the plunge.
Thats right. Forget to think big. You are bootstrapping your business after-all, so remove the dreams of external funding, and high dollar loans. You don’t need them in order to succeed! Toss out that whole “THINK BIG” idea for a while, and focus on the fundamentals of your business and the core structure that is going to fuel your success.
Bootstrapping your business is about getting into the mud and doing whatever possible to get your business off the ground with as little money as possible. We are all guilty of dreaming the life of Donald Trump or Steve Jobs for a while where you are the poster boy for a huge multinational company. It is fine to believe you can get to that point, but starting your business by focusing solely on that, you will lose track of the smaller things that are the building blocks of your business and get lost in the haze of the bright lights.
When starting your business, or putting together a product, don’t aim for the laundry list of features, or the largest inventory, but aim for getting your name out there, and making sure you even have something that people want. The WANT has to be there in order for your business to succeed, or you have to have the power to make people BELIEVE THEY WANT AND NEED your product / service. Starting small will also give you more time to work on other aspects of your business like customer service, which is key in any successful business.
Thinking Big in the beginning will just leave you with analysis paralysis over the smallest details, that really, get in the way of taking action in the early stage of a business. Get your product or service running, and get feedback from your clients. The feedback from them will give you all of the things you need to work on in the future. Rely on their feedback, because after-all, if you like your product and the customers don’t, you have a crap, period!.
If you are having trouble putting this in perspective for your business here are 4 thoughts to keep in mind.
- Think small – You can make all the money you need solving a small problem well instead of trying to tackle the world’s issues.
- Close your mouth – If need to draw your line in the sand at some point. Once you do, stick to it!
- Open your ears – Now find out if it is sticky now that you are stuck, Feedback and testing, they will let you know if you have the next post-it-note or if it is just a generic gum wrapper.
- Get out there – My friend John Assaraf said that if you sit on your couch planning and meditating all the time eventually people will come and take your house from around you and all that is left is you and a couch.
Shiny wrappers promising delicious treats inside, perfectly tied bows sealing seductive sweets within, colors of the rainbow catching the eye at every angle…I’d like to address the kid-in-the-candy-store phenomenon and how it applies to your marketing (more specifically, how it shouldn’t apply). Through my years of experience of working with my clients and trying to educate them on their marketing and working with a bootstrapped budget, I’ve noticed that they really appreciate it when I slap their hands and help them slow down before they burn through their budgets like a chocolate-smeared kid blowing through his allowance in a candy store. Granted, there are some very effective marketing methods out there today, but without the occasional hand-slap, you might get as excited as a child and buy up every shiny new marketing solution that you see.
First, the following is not supposed to be considered a popularity contest, and by no means am I claiming to be the coolest guy out there-well, my five-month-old son may think I’m pretty cool! But what I’d like to ask you is: Who do you know? I don’t want to know if you’ve ever seen James Woods in a Starbucks or if you’re the type of person who gets the thumbs up from everyone you pass. I just want to see if you can develop a list of people you know. Why develop a list? Because, whether you’re a first-year small-business greenhorn or a veteran badass, creating a contact list is one of the best ways to get your marketing wheels rolling. And…uh huh, you know what’s coming here…it’s free!
Instead of buying the first shiny marketing package that catches your eye, set aside a significant period of time and develop a list of all the people you know. By first creating a list of contacts that you can solicit and present your business to, you’ll be taking advantage of verified, warm leads; leads you didn’t have to spend a single marketing dollar on. The first phase of creating your list should be done through a stream of consciousness, writing down every single name that comes to mind. Subsequently, you’ll use a filter and qualify each of the name’s you’ve written down. Try categorizing them into Direct Purchase, Referral Prospects, Barter Candidates and Sleepers.
- Direct Purchase: Who on your list is ready to buy? Which names did you write down that fall under your classifications for your ideal client?
- Referral Prospects: Want to double or triple your new contact list? Then ask yourself “Who do they know?” For example, let’s say you’re a used-car salesman. Okay, so you’ve got your brother on the list, but he’s always been a new-or-nothing kind of guy and though he loves you, refuses to buy from you. Instead of testing this familial tie’s strength, simply think of who he knows or ask him if he thinks any of his friends might be interested. No matter what industry they’re in, business owners would do well to view their company as a network marketing company or an MLM. Look beyond the surface; there are many levels to a solid business.
- Barter Candidates: Who on your list could you trade services/products with? Perhaps your neighbor doesn’t need a car at this time, but you can still ask him if he’d be willing to trade you a few hours of his skills for some car repair discounts you get through your vendors.
- Sleepers: These are the people you just can’t seem to categorize. Perhaps you only briefly met them on the street once and don’t have an actual relationship with them. Either way, you should never assume a contact is worthless until you’ve made the effort to market to them.
Just as we encourage equality in society, so shall it be with your business. Never assume anything about your prospects or contacts until you’ve dealt with them directly-after that, you can judge them as much as you’d like.
Look for our future feature article on follow-up to help you capitalize on your contact list.
Well seeing as it is Monday again and we have to come back inside after enjoying a spring weekend (we just got rid of our snow and finally our spring fever).
I figured I would continue on with my favorite Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns that I have found around the web. Happy Monday everyone!
Ego Boost
I love when simple concepts are the ones that make the biggest impact. This one is fun, innovative and feeds male ego at the same time.
Jaws Eats Bus Passengers
I am huge fan of the vehicle wrap. When done well you will always get attention. Your audience is bored waiting in traffic, it has movement and it is memorable. All the makings of a campaign that will be talked about at dinner tables and push your message along.
Half a Bus Stop
The last time I had a blog post that had the message to use less we had a huge discussion about green marketing and the merits and morals of advertising.
The impact this one creates is great. One of the best ways to get attention is to take a familiar object and turn it’s concept upside down. Good job Denver Water!
Is IKEA taking over the world
It would seem that I have accidentally created a public transit guerrilla marketing post I will continue with the theme. As the one above it is a great job of taking the familiar and playing with perception. I hope that it does not rain.
