As you may recall recently, we held our first GrowSmartBusiness.com webcast event on Thursday, April 30 from 2-3pm EST. In preparing this detailed review of the webcast, I have to say — after re-playing it numerous times to collect all the wonderful little data nuggets of wisdom shared by the panel — each time sounded better and better. That’s because the practical advice given by each speaker was insightful, highly relevant and packed with invaluable, real-world experience.
Moderated by Roy Dunbar, CEO for Network Solutions, the panel included the following individuals:
- Kristina Bouweiri, CEO of Reston Limo, the largest independent limousine service in the Washington D.C. area
- Anita Campbell, Editor of Small Business Trends
- Tom Heath, Columnist, The Washington Post’s Value Added
- Kelly Muccio, Founder of Lost Boys, a fashionable clothing store recently featured on Good Morning America
- Surfy Rahman, Co-owner of Indique, a popular DC-area restaurant chain.
This talented group of small business owners and advocates came together to discuss a range of topics covering current small business trends, the challenges and success stories of these entrepreneurs and some sage advice for those currently in business or thinking of starting one. Well, actually…that was the marketing blurb used to promote the webcast. In reality, however, this panel accomplished much more than they set out to achieve. Their candor and pragmatic guidance on a variety of topics was instrumental in providing an extremely timely and realistic point of view of how small business owners learn, adapt and overcome infinite challenges their face from changing trends and hiring goofs to customer service issues and difficult recessions.
Here’s a recap covering the breadth of small brilliance shared throughout the webcast for those who either missed it or for those who simply wish to have a documented reference.
Gender findings: Women and Male owned businesses
Network Solutions’ Small Business Survey Index (SBSI) findings, according to Dunbar, indicate 27% of small businesses are women-owned. Survey findings also seem to indicate that women-owned small businesses are, on average, more successful than male-owned businesses.
Why would that be? Some of the panelists shared their (paraphrased) thoughts on the matter:
Rahman: “Women are very focused. Most of the old adages are gone and we are living in a very different world today. Whatever was once holding women back, a lot of it has been removed and we are seeing some of those results.”
Kristina: “After 10 years of working side by side with my husband day in and day out, we finally determined I would run the business and my husband would be a stay-at-home dad. Since making that decision, our business has tripled in size [ this statement caused a wave of laughter amongst the panel and Dunbar hoped the husband wasn’t at home listening! ] But I have to give my husband the credit he deserves. He had the guts to start it all up and he was the visionary. He was born with incredible business sense and if he hadn’t started the business, I certainly wouldn’t have thought to either. Overall, I think woman are just good multi taskers. We are accustomed to running a business and the coming home to run the household. We are, consequently, natural business planners. Additionally, I believe women tend to be more empathic than men, and leaders have to be empathic … leaders have to listen.”
Anita: “Women seem to excel in customer service. They are just so good at relationship building especially within the women-owned business owner community both on- and offline. They support one another which helps them to create and strengthen the focus on the customer’s needs. This, in turn, adds an advantage.”
Tom: “I agree with Anita … women are great at customer service and multitasking. Multitasking for me is watching tv and eating a sandwich! My wife, in contrast, is just great at multitasking. And regarding customer service? Women are probably more congenial, sure. Who really knows, though? Women were hitting the glass ceiling but now they’ve been unleashed in the last few decades. They are very self starting and they seem to want to go out there and just do it.”
Dunbar agreed the subject of male vs. female run business was “provocative” and discussed the possibility of doing further research on the topic in the future.
The Challenges of Capital
One of the top audience questions, shared Dunbar, is that of capital availability for small businesses. It can often be very difficult to find working capital if you are a small business and folks in the audience wanted panel input on this subject.
Here’s what Anita from Small Business Trends had to share on the matter (again, paraphrased):
Anita: “Look for equity in a business. Venture capital is down so consider angel investors in your local community. You can actually now go online and look up angel investing networks and connect with them there. Angel investments are still being made even in a recession. Angel investors tend to have different motivations than a venture capitalist. Usually, a small business may have better luck with angel investment.”
Dunbar additionally shared an often overlooked fact: local financial institutions, which are often smaller and still have appropriate capital ratios, are often in a better position than larger banks to provide capital because they tend to know their communities so well.
And what about social media?
Again referring to the Small Business Survey Index (SBSI), Dunbar cited findings referencing only 12% of small businesses are using social media for communication, marketing or outreach — a figure he found “fascinating.”
“What are other things that you are seeing out there with regard to social media?” Dunbar asked the panel.
Here are some of the responses shared:
Kristina: “We were an early adopter of social media and digital marketing. We tried to grow our email database over the years. Today, we have well over 50,000 some emails in our database. Twitter is another way to grow your network. It’s important to focus on growing your network as much as you can.”
Anita: “I agree it’s important to stay on top of social media but let’s not forget staying on top of the search engines as well. Being found in the search engines is one of the most powerful things a small business can do. SEO/SEM and PPC advertising are very powerful areas where small businesses should look into investing more.”
Tom: “I think it’s fascinating to see the growth in social media and in Twitter in particular. It’s eye opening that only 20% or so of small businesses are using Twitter. Makes one wonder about the rest who aren’t.”
Dunbar agreed with much of the panel’s input, adding that most of these topics can be a bit complex and daunting. To that end, Network Solutions has a complete reference library of resources, online videos and tools available on the main site as well as on GrowSmartBusiness.com to help provide some easy-to-follow references for those getting started in search and online marketing endeavors.
Staffing and hiring the right talent
Another exceedingly important question is that of staffing and hiring. During recessionary times, the labor pool is readily available. When Surfy first opened his restaurant, he really struggled with staffing issues. “It was very difficult to retain staff; it was one of our biggest challenges. The extra challenge is that in an effort to provide excellent customer service, you really need to have continuity. It’s hard to do that when the server does not see his position as a career.”
Dunbar agreed and reminisced about the times in the 90s when there was a war on talent. “It was so hard to get good people,” he said. In stark contrast, recently he overheard NPR reporting on a story where a small business based in Michigan was being flooded with resume after resume of folks who have Masters degrees all vying for low paying jobs “cleaning up” after pets.
Tom also agreed. “Hiring is really hard. You just never know. You can have a great resume and great references but you still just never know. And in this market right now, everyone’s looking for a job. Last night at a restaurant where my wife and I are regulars, the restaurant owner was circulating around a lawyer’s resume who is looking for work! For us, we are in a recession. For that attorney, quite possibly we are in a depression. And a bagel guy I know said to me recently that he can fill a job ASAP today. There are just that many people looking for jobs.”
Kristina also had some specific thoughts on this point. “Everything I know today I know by having done it wrong the first time. Some of the earliest lessons I learned include the importance of delegating. I used to be the worst micromanager there was. I just couldn’t remove my hands out of any part of the business and, as a result, I wasn’t training the staff how to do their jobs effectively. It wasn’t until my twins were born that I had to learn to step back and let people do their jobs without my hovering. Another important point is that small businesses need to hire the right people and teach those folks how to do their job right. Small businesses have a tendency of cutting corners when it comes to staffing resulting in mediocre pay for employees. What happens with mediocre pay is that you get what you pay for: mediocre results.”
Marketing can also be a significant (and often underestimated) challenge
Kelly Muccio, founder of clothing store The Lost Boys, shared something that surely happens to the best of small businesses: what happens after you open your doors for business? Kelly explains, “When you finally get your doors open, people don’t just show up. You have to get the word out and let them know you are there. You have to invite them to your store and let help them get to know you.” Kelly also talked about the fact she even sends out press releases much to the dismay of her friends who question her stature and ask, “What makes you think you can do that?” Kelly’s response: “Because I can!” And she does!
Sound words of advice
As the webcast began to draw to a close, Dunbar asked the group to share some final words of advice for the webcast audience and the advice that was given was truly insightful.
Here’s a round of up final call tips from the panel of small business experts:
Anita: “Don’t be afraid to spend money. Bootstrapping ok but I have found it really slows down your growth. There is a definite market risk when your bootstrapping gets in the way of reaching or winning new opportunities. Also … trust your inner voice. Listen inside.”
Kelly: “Don’t be afraid to try something new. As an example, at Lost Boys, we needed models to shoot for the new line of clothing that had arrived. As a team, we wondered why not have DC local men with style be our models? And that’s exactly what we’ve done. This is our second year doing that and it’s really worked out extremely well.”
Surfy: “Customer service is so important. You can build ambassadors who can go out there and work for you and that’s what we try to do.”
Kristina: “Network, network and network. Build up that database of contacts. Start an email campaign. Get social. Blog. It really does pay off.”
Tom: “I have three words: owner on premises. These three words are so important and especially so when you are interfacing with the general public like in a retail establishment or restaurant. Employees tend to behave or perform better when an owner is on the premises. And having the owner on the premises shows patrons you really care about their business.”
In his closing words, Dunbar cited that small businesses are resilient and have access to more productive tools than at any other point in history. He graciously thanked the panel and welcomed everyone on the webcast to learn more about the services and resources available on the Network Solutions and the GrowSmartBusiness.com web sites.
Some parting thoughts by Dunbar: “Small business owners tend to know their customers better and have a better pulse of their business than do larger companies.”
To compare your small business to other small businesses, visit www.growsmartbusiness.com and take the Small Business Index Survey.
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