There are periods of time when business might be slower than usual and the cash flow is diminished. To avoid going out of business, here are a couple of things I like to do to make sure I have enough income for several months.

1. Keep in touch with your customers – use their email address to send them a newsletter with recent updates regarding your company, a free report or even a funny joke. But make sure you don’t abuse their email, just remember them that you still exist

2. Make promotions and offer discounts – when business is slow, discounts and a good advertising plan are the best way to go to attract new customers. People love the idea of saving money and are drawn by the words like “discount”, “10% off” or “special offer”

3. Focus on web marketing – the Internet is full of resources and potential customers. You just need a nice website and the right promotion techniques to attract new clients. If you can’t do this yourself then hire someone to do it for you

4. Write a couple of articles and publish them on ezine sites – if you have at hand some informative pieces of material you can publish them on the most popular ezine sites that rank very well on Google. You will get a lot of exposure this way

These tips are only a few of the tricks I like to use to get things moving in the right direction. You need to maintain a positive attitude and be ready to do some hard work to get yourself back on the line. Without perseverance and determination you won’t get anywhere.

Providing specific and organized information on your company regarding its goals, strategies, market, cash flow and financial forecasts, a business plan is essential not only for yourself but also for the bank allowing you a lend or for the people your business comes in contact with. And take it from me, because I have tried succeeding without a proper business plan and failed: having a well written and organized business plan will also help you achieve your objectives faster.

Just think of yourself as a constructor that needs a blueprint to be able to begin a building. Don’t get lazy before you even open your business. It’s not enough just to have a few great ideas, you also need to have them organized and analyzed to convince everyone else as well that your business will succeed.

Now that you know how important a business plan is, here are a few things you need to take into consideration before starting to write it down:

-          The type of services or goods your business provides

-          The needs of your potential customers and why will they purchase from you and not another similar business

-          The types of advertisements you will use to bring in potential customers

-          Where are your finances coming from

You don’t have to write a complicated business plan, all you have to do is keep it clear and organized. From my personal experience and what I have seen so far, people willing to build a business plan and presenting it to potential customers and investors are more likely to be considered serious and get themselves noticed than the ones that avoid this task.

I don’t think there is out there an entrepreneur that can say about himself he is not busy and has a lot of free time. Being busy is the nature of this job, the only difference is that some manage their time better than others. It’s hard to get everything done in time, and sometimes I wish a day would have more than 24 hours so here are my favorite time management tips that help me get through the day and solve all the problems:

1.      Write a TO DO list for each day – this way you’ll always have in front of you everything that needs to be done and you won’t forget anything. It’s better to write down your list the evening ahead, because mornings at an office are usually very busy

2.      Be realistic – don’t just throw things on your list. You need to take into consideration the time you’ll be required to do the tasks. At the end of the day you’ll feel better if all things on your list will be marked as done

3.      Set a schedule and follow it – it doesn’t matter that now you’re your own boss, you still need to set up for yourself a schedule. Breaking your schedule for different last-minute appointments will lead to a very unproductive day. Learn to say no!

4.      Learn to delegate – even if your business is small there are still a lot of things that need to be done. Delegate smaller activities so you can take care of more pressing matters. For example you can hire someone to take care of all the phone calls and emails and make sure your office is never out of supplies.

You have decided you want to be your own boss, you even have a great business idea but do you actually have what it takes to start your own business? That was me a few years ago, thinking that just with an idea I was going to be able to start a successful business. And I have learned the hard way that not anyone can do it and not everyone is meant to be a boss.

The first step indicating that you are ready to start your own business is the strong desire not to work for anyone and be your own boss. But you have to understand that starting and running your own business is not easy and you will most likely encounter a lot of problems along the way. You have to be prepared to solve all of them; because once a problem is solved a new one will show up and so on. It’s a never-ending loop hole.

To become a successful entrepreneur you also have to be creative. It’s not enough to just start a good business, you need to make it stand out among the other similar ones. You need to come up with your own twists and pursue new opportunities all the time.

Being persuasive is another quality successful entrepreneurs share. You have to make your customers believe in your business get them excited over your plans. Share your vision with them and convince them it’s a great opportunity to take.

Last, but not the least take only calculated risks. Don’t jump into anything before doing a thorough research and having all the details in front of you.

When I decided I wanted to be my own boss I didn’t realize how many years it would take me to reach my goal. I made tons of mistakes, only because I wasn’t very well informed and I didn’t plan ahead. I just quit my regular job and developed my own business plan. After years of making and learning from my own mistakes I can finally share with you the 5 secrets of any successful entrepreneur:

1.      Think big! – don’t underestimate yourself and your strengths. Once you decide it’s time to run your own business envision yourself already successful and with a great portfolio of clients and projects. Successful entrepreneurs have faith and always think positive.

2.      Be passionate about your business – if you love what you do then you will automatically be good at it. I have never seen people hating their jobs succeeding in life or having outstanding results.

3.      Work hard – I haven’t seen so far a successful entrepreneur getting there without a lot of hard work. All they long they only work, work and work a little more. Combine hard work with perseverance and passion and you have a winning combo.

4.      Learn new things – don’t limit yourself to what you already know. It doesn’t matter what school you have finished or how famous was the university you went to. In real world, successful entrepreneurs are those who are willing to learn new things each day and adapt themselves accordingly.

5.      Plan ahead – it’s not enough to have a great idea. You need to develop a good business plan, you need to be able to envision how your business will look like and you need to set up some goals to reach along the way. Otherwise you’ll just remain with your idea.