Post by Josh Snider on Mar 28, 2014 22:45:23 GMT -5
It took me some time to answer this question. There are two instances recently that stick out and have helped me answer it.
The first was when a business owner and friend asked to commission my help in building their price list. It never dawned on me that someone could be in business and not know how to make this calculation.
I jumped at the opportunity to help, as small business development is a big passion in my life. I began writing how to make a price list. This particular business is in wholesale manufacturing, so every penny really counts. After writing about twenty pages, multiple revisions, and changing the outline, I decided to take a hands on approach and work out the details in person.
After a few hours we were able to figure out labor costs, equipment costs, and production materials down to each item made and we deduced a price list based on the margin that was desired.
Although they were shooting in the dark with their price list before, it was pretty close. But it was a stir-fry between price lists from competitors and round-a-bout idea of how much things “should” cost. My friend/client was pleased with the results because now they could rest easy knowing their margin, and knowing all their expenses were being covered.
The second instance was while I was looking back and defining my job that I did while I was a business owner, I ended up with a laundry list of average skills that anyone could do. And it was true, the list was indeed all things that I did. Things like sales, customer service, marketing, promotions, advertising, human resources, scheduling, shipping, accounting, collections, and all the other things as a business owner just fell in my lap.
I saw that as “what I did” and while these are things I did do, it’s not all that I did. My wife was asking me “What do you to differently than someone who works at a retail store just folding pants?” After seeing it that way, the things that set me apart were creating customer incentive programs, knowing my business and my customers so I knew when to have sales. Customer retention could be as simple as putting a sticker on each box saying “$1 off your next order when you return this empty box for us to recycle.” It sounds too easy, but months later, customers could come back with these boxes and be stoked to get $4 off of their $600 order. Those customers set those boxes aside and said to themselves, “I’m going to go back there for my next order, and these boxes will be a reminder.”
It was hard to think of myself as different than someone who “works at a retail store just folding pants” because I think that anyone doing a job like that has the same potential as me. They just need to do it.
There are many other problems and solutions that arose during the corse of my businesses development. But these are a few of the critical thinking skills that stood out to me as to what makes me different.
The first was when a business owner and friend asked to commission my help in building their price list. It never dawned on me that someone could be in business and not know how to make this calculation.
I jumped at the opportunity to help, as small business development is a big passion in my life. I began writing how to make a price list. This particular business is in wholesale manufacturing, so every penny really counts. After writing about twenty pages, multiple revisions, and changing the outline, I decided to take a hands on approach and work out the details in person.
After a few hours we were able to figure out labor costs, equipment costs, and production materials down to each item made and we deduced a price list based on the margin that was desired.
Although they were shooting in the dark with their price list before, it was pretty close. But it was a stir-fry between price lists from competitors and round-a-bout idea of how much things “should” cost. My friend/client was pleased with the results because now they could rest easy knowing their margin, and knowing all their expenses were being covered.
The second instance was while I was looking back and defining my job that I did while I was a business owner, I ended up with a laundry list of average skills that anyone could do. And it was true, the list was indeed all things that I did. Things like sales, customer service, marketing, promotions, advertising, human resources, scheduling, shipping, accounting, collections, and all the other things as a business owner just fell in my lap.
I saw that as “what I did” and while these are things I did do, it’s not all that I did. My wife was asking me “What do you to differently than someone who works at a retail store just folding pants?” After seeing it that way, the things that set me apart were creating customer incentive programs, knowing my business and my customers so I knew when to have sales. Customer retention could be as simple as putting a sticker on each box saying “$1 off your next order when you return this empty box for us to recycle.” It sounds too easy, but months later, customers could come back with these boxes and be stoked to get $4 off of their $600 order. Those customers set those boxes aside and said to themselves, “I’m going to go back there for my next order, and these boxes will be a reminder.”
It was hard to think of myself as different than someone who “works at a retail store just folding pants” because I think that anyone doing a job like that has the same potential as me. They just need to do it.
There are many other problems and solutions that arose during the corse of my businesses development. But these are a few of the critical thinking skills that stood out to me as to what makes me different.