Have you reached a pivotal point in your business’ growth where you think expanding is the next step? Are you ready to branch out to a new location or start a second store? Opening a new location for your business is an exciting prospect to consider but it also requires some risk and market research. Even if your business is established and enjoys a profitable position in the marketplace, you’re not guaranteed immediate profit or the same level of success with a second location.

Consider the following as you think about branching out:

Opportunity and Timing

1. Is there a large and relevant market that can support the products or services that you’re offering?

Perhaps you’ve lost potential customers because of where you’re located. Maybe your business can urbanize a growing area and there’s opportunity to fulfill an economic need. Be strategic about where and why you want to branch out. Also, be careful not to choose a location that’s too close to your original store to avoid competing with yourself.

2. Who are your potential competitors and what is your demographic?

Find a consumer need that you can fulfill and your competitors cannot. Potential customers may not be willing to accept your business if they’re loyal to an existing business that offers similar products or services. Set your business apart, offer a unique product or provide a service in an innovative way.

Gather as much information as you can. Inc. Magazine suggests using Quantcast, Compete or Spyfu to access market data, new trends and competitors.

Logistics

1. Do you have the funding and additional time?

You first priority is to not jeopardize your original business. Investing in your new business or getting a loan incurs risk. Take the time to weigh pros and cons and consider the consequences if you have to give up ownership.

The following factors require additional financial costs and energy for opening a second location:

• Leasing a space
• Stocking and maintaining new inventory
• Hiring and paying a staff
• Building a new business plan
• Training employees
• Marketing a new location

2. Can you share management responsibilities?

Opening a second location involves putting your business in the hands of a partner or experienced employee. It’s important to have someone who’s trustworthy and responsible as well as properly trained and skilled to manage the new location’s sales and services. Both stores should be able to operate in your absence.

Diversifying

Diversifying and expanding your services or products can help your business increase sales. For example, current customers may start visiting your new location in lieu of your original. If your second store offers an additional service or different type of product, then you can maximize both businesses’ full potential. Although your services may be interchangeable or diverse, make sure that your brand remains consistent and identifiable.

Profession Help

Entrepreneur.com suggests reaching out to an attorney or real estate professional to help make strategic decisions once you’ve decided on a second location. Experienced professionals can help you with the details from negotiating a lease and understanding consumers in a new area to writing a new business plan and paying unexpected fees.

Expanding your business is exciting and rewarding but only if you’re prepared!

As an entrepreneur, a business owner or even just as somebody with a dream, it’s unlikely that you haven’t been affected in some way by the legacy of Steve Jobs’, CEO of Apple Inc. and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios. Since his death, Steve has been glorified for his profound innovations, impact on Apple’s evolution and headstrong spirit toward uncompromising success. Steve’s inspiration remains alive in Apple’s coveted products as well as his memorable words such as:

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

“People with passion can change the world for the better…I’d get a job as a busboy or something until I figured out what I was really passionate about.”

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

In this digital age, Steve has become our generation’s icon for embracing brilliance, taking chances and changing the world. Whether you’re a high-profile executive or a college student, we can all internalize Steve’s drive for accomplishment and apply it to our own lives.

Passion can be innate or cultivated over time while discovering interests and talent. Feeling passion is easy. Believing in your passion is intimidating. Deciding to pursue your passion is scary. Making your passion be all that it can be is frightening.

Your passion would probably lack rewards if it was effortless to pursue. Facing challenges is part of doing anything meaningful in life. As you decide to turn your dream into a reality, preparation includes a willingness to accept obstacles and failure during any stage of the game. Achievement belongs to those who forge ahead.

Turning Dreams into Realities

As a start-up business, it’s likely that you’ve already become enamored with your passion and you’ve decided to pursue it.

Keep these tips in mind as you build your business and work hard to stay passionate:

• Believe in your work: When you truly believe that there’s a need for your work and the products and services that you’re offering fulfill that need, then you’re on the right path. The first step is turning your passion into a propeller for success by believing in what you do and how it’ll positively affect others.

• Establish your goals and stay focused: Adopt the attitude that you’re going to accomplish your goals. Promise yourself that a dissolution with your passion is non-negotiable. Also, take the time to identify clear goals that are set high but realistic.

• Understand your capabilities: Reaching for the stars is admirable and nobody should abandon their dreams or put a limit on how much you can achieve; however, truth, self-awareness and straight facts can help you determine your capabilities. Sometimes talent and drive aren’t enough and inevitable factors need to be accounted for such as money or the state of the economy.

Turn Setbacks into Successes

Perhaps your business has reached its peak or your services remain stagnant. Maybe you failed at reaching a particular goal or your business is just going through the motions.

Rediscover your passion by:

• Recognizing that staying passionate is hard work: Nobody said getting out of a rut or moving forward from failure is easy. Choosing to keep your passion alive is in your hands!

• Reinventing yourself or your business: Your business doesn’t necessarily need a complete revolution but a slight tweak can be re-inspiring.

• Initiating growth: Look for ways that can excite and expand your company. Stay on top of your competitors and think outside the box. Can you offer a new and innovative product? Can you improve your marketing strategy? Is additional training or experience an option?

• Striving for endless success: Don’t put restrictions on yourself, your company and your products or services. If you tell yourself that success is limitless, then you’ll always need your passion to take you there.

Whether your business consists of 100 or four employees, fostering a team-oriented environment will help your company achieve goals and reach successes. It’s a simple philosophy. Each employee does their part to contribute to company goals and expectations. In football, you won’t score if the quarterback, wide receivers and running backs aren’t in sync and playing as teammates who rely on one another’s skill and talent. Your business is no different. Success is achieved with individual drive and collective effort.

What is a team player?

A team player is somebody who seeks excellence beyond their own capabilities and mind set. Team players value cooperation over competition and confrontation. Team players strive to create teamwork, which produces synergy. Synergy is the act of working together rather than as individuals in a compatible manner. Team players are dependable, committed, flexible, supportive and respectful.

The Benefits of Teamwork

Every type of business benefits tremendously by instilling team players within each employee. Whether you’re an auto repair shop or advertising agency, team players can inspire one another, catch mistakes and create opportunities.

Teamwork helps:

• Individuals realize their potential
• Individuals learn and think outside the box
• Small businesses grow and expand
• Inspiration and motivation flourish
• Create positive and productive environments
• Spark innovation, new ideas and creativity
• Achieve individual as well as group success

Ways to Establish Real Team Players

It’s easy to believe in teamwork, yet day-to-day tasks and individual responsibilities may keep employees professionally reclusive and on the narrow path to personal pursuits. Teamwork requires a little sacrifice, additional effort and communication among business owners, management and employees.

Your business can maintain efficient and ongoing teamwork by:

• Establishing clear responsibilities for every employee or staff member
• Ensuring that employees understand the importance of their role within the company
• Valuing employees and their role
• Offering ways to stay informed and initiate open communication
• Maintaining the right attitude
• Looking for solutions and solving problems with the support of others as opposed to overcoming challenges on your own or in competition
• Staying up-to-date on what you’re trying to accomplish and being aware of what’s going on within the organization
• Seeking opportunities and fresh perspectives
• Participating actively and staying engaged
• Recognizing the achievements of others

Ask yourself if you’re a real team player!

• Am I reliable?
• Do I complete my work on time and follow through with my commitments?
• Am I consistent?
• Do I listen and communicate constructively?
• Am I direct, honest and respectful?
• Do I offer assistance and can I ask for help?
• Can I adapt to new situations and consider different opinions?
• Am I considerate and courteous?

You may need to re-establish your work ethic if you’re guilty of:

• Being critical, argumentative or defensive
• Being difficult to work with
• Blaming others for mistakes or shortcomings
• Focusing on personal achievements at the expense of others
• Being close-minded and judgmental

Maintaining a cohesive and effective team for your business is a never-ending process. By adopting these tips and continually re-establishing expectations and goals, your company can excel in every way!

As summer transitions into fall, autumn leaves and cool breezes indicate that October has arrived. Amongst pumpkins and Halloween decorations are pink ribbons that adorn any and everything. Pink ribbons signify that October is not only the month for fall festivities but for breast cancer awareness. During October, businesses and organizations promote breast cancer awareness and share personal stories in support of research, victims and survivors.

Linda Wells is one of millions of breast-cancer survivors who didn’t let a life-threatening disease defeat her. During her battle, Linda found strength unexpectedly from a young bull-riding star and she continues to share her knowledge and inspiration.

In April 2010, breast-cancer survivor Linda Wells’ life changed when she was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, which is an aggressive type of breast cancer that invades breast tissue and spreads to lymph nodes.

In response to the diagnosis, Linda had a lumpectomy and the cancerous lymph node removed. The Burke, Va.,  resident underwent six rounds of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation. With the support of her family, Linda got through her diagnosis and treatments. Linda’s passion for Professional Bull Riding (PBR) also provided her with strength for her fight.

Linda became a fan of professional bull riding about three years ago when she came across a television show that featured celebrity bull riding. As she went from an unassuming viewer to PBR enthusiast, she followed and admired bull-riding star J.B. Mauney.

J.B. Mauney is a talented professional bull rider from North Carolina whose philosophy is “one jump at a time,” which Linda adopted as her mantra for enduring her treatments and staying strong.

“There was something special about that kid from North Carolina,” Linda told PBR. “When he made the whistle and he grinned and he held that finger up in the air and his swagger as he walked out of the arena, I just knew he was someone special, but little did I know at that time how much he would really mean to me.”

Halfway through chemotherapy, Linda had the pleasure of meeting Mauney at a bull-riding competition in North Carolina. She shared with Mauney how “one jump at a time” was her inspiration for battling cancer.

Because Linda’s perseverance and strength left an impact on Mauney and PBR, she leads PBR’s breast cancer awareness initiatives. Her inspirational story is the spotlight for PBR and Wrangler Western Wear’s “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” campaign. PBR fans and athletes support the campaign by wearing pink at bull-riding events in October. The campaign has raised more than $9.75 million.

One year after her diagnosis, Linda remains cancer-free. She stays committed to breast cancer awareness by volunteering at the non-profit organization Life with Cancer in Fairfax, Va. As a sponsor for the organization, she helps other women who are battling cancer at support groups and free informative classes.

“Nobody can understand what you’re going through unless they’ve been through it,” Linda told The Connection. “It’s a place you can go when you’re going through it, to talk to people who have been there and done that that are willing to give you honest answers. Once you’ve been through it you can be there for other people who are just starting their journey.”

She continually attends breast-cancer seminars and stays informed. She is not only a survivor but an inspiration for anyone battling a life-threatening disease. This October, your organization or business can support breast cancer awareness by getting involved, sharing stories and thinking pink!

Are you a “solopreneur” or a one-man show? Maybe you only have one or two employees that make up the foundation of your business.  Either way, when you start out as a small business with a small workforce, it’s still important to think big. The creation of a professional brand gives the outside world a reputable impression of a growing business. Even if you don’t have big numbers yet, there are many strategic moves you can employ that will make a big difference in the perception of your business.

Establish a Distinguishable Brand

The public needs to know what your company is about and what your brand is. Know thyself! If you don’t establish your brand, no one can get to know you or your products. Marketing and public relations matter. It’s important to research methods that will attract new customers. Do you have a Web or online presence? This is essential. Virtually everyone is online so make sure you have an updated, strategic website that will draw leads.

See the Bigger Picture  

You may like the idea of doing everything on your own but if you want to grow your business, it’s essential that you outsource certain tasks. Do you dislike finances? Then it might be better to hire an accountant to take over the time-consuming task of balancing the books. Then you can concentrate on building the brand and running day-to-day operations. Are you skilled in Web design and writing? If not, it’s better to outsource the creation of your business’ website to an experienced professional who can leverage your business in a positive way.

Mentor a Youth

Students are often looking for internships during the summer or over winter break to gain valuable work experience. If you can pay them a small wage, great! If not, many students will take unpaid internships in return for industry experience. This gives your business an increased workforce at a fraction of the cost.

Embrace Your Roots

The goal is to create an established, trusted image. Grow your business, yes. Hide the fact that you’re a small business, no. Who wants to be the biggest, anyway? Huge corporations have a reputation for long wait times and impersonal service. Create a brand that’s reputable but embrace the fact that you offer personalized service that’s hard to find anywhere else.

Remember That First Impressions Count

How do you envision your company’s growth? Create that image now and you’ll be ahead of the game. Incorporate professional tactics into the operation of your business. Get business cards, professional email addresses and uniforms for employees. Have a company voicemail with a professional greeting. Remember that what you do now shapes the future of your business.

In the beginning stages of starting a business, you may be focused on developing a business and marketing plan, outlining financial goals and attracting customers. Once your business is settled, getting yourself online is the next important step.

First, establish your business on the Internet and feature your products and services through a company website. With online marketing and sales, your services are readily available and customers will have increased awareness of what you offer. Alongside your website, creating and maintaining a blog can increase conversion rates and drive sales.

What can a blog do for my business?

A blog is virtual space on the Internet that is updated with content for a specific audience. Blogs are free reign for various kinds of content, including words, images and videos. A blog will not only increase your online presence within your industry, it can be a reflection of your company and provide a personal touch that assures your customers that you care about more than just a sales pitch or closed deals.

A company blog can:

• Increase credibility
• Solidify your identity to separate yourself from competitors
• Provide a vehicle for social networking (i.e., Facebook and Twitter)
• Invite customers to interact and stay engaged by posting questions, feedback and recommendations
• Create a community
• Provide a wide range of information such as:

- Service and product updates

- Upcoming events

- Tips, ideas and facts

- Features on industry advancements and innovations

- Limited-time special offers or coupons

- Awards and recognitions

For example, if you’re a home renovation company that specializes in remodeling projects, interior and exterior painting and flooring installation, your blog can highlight current projects and showcase end results. You can also post design tips on color schemes and décor and do’s and don’ts for properly cleaning hardwood floors. Perhaps you own a yoga and Pilates studio; your blog can profile a new instructor and offer recommendations for fitness apparel and gear. If you manage a boarding and grooming facility for dogs, you can post about upcoming adoption events and health risks. The opportunities are endless.

How do I start?

• Review your business’ brand, goals and objectives

• Determine how it’s going to be managed; who will update and write for the blog?

• Set up you blog as part of your website or as a separate entity by registering for a domain; available blog services include WordPress, Blogger and Typepad

• Brand your blog with a name, header and graphics

• Start writing and promoting!

Keep in mind that you can invest as much time and money into your blog as you’d like. There are no rules. Sufficient blog posts can include a single photo of a beautiful window installation or a reputable article that highlights a new dental study.

Strive to:

• Update often
• Be consistent
• Use relevant keywords for optimal search engine results
• Make it useful
• Speak to your customers
• Be authentic