barter Archives - Canadian Small Business Women

For every small business, there will always be costs to be paid out. The trick is to receive more business than having to pay bills. Whether you are a small start-up company or a retail store, these tips you can do right now. Marketing and advertising doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money. With a little planning and some time, you can achieve the results you want. Try all of these tips once and track the progress. If it works, great! Do it again. If it doesn’t, note why you think it didn’t and how you would do it over again.

Tip#1 Know your customer! A pet peeve of mine is when an entrepreneur will tell me that EVERYONE is their customer. Although it is true that we can take business from anyone, there will be a group of people that will be your primary customer. This is the “type” of customer that buys from you regularly. They say 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers. Get to know your customers very well. Learn about their buying habits, their education, and lifestyle.

Tip#2 Following the previous tip, create a customer management system. This means a database where you place all your customers information including birthdays, anniversaries, spouse’s name and number (for gifts), and any other information that you can use to personalize the experience for your customer. These types of small gestures will bring a lot of business over time and a loyal clientele base.

Tip#3 Hire a student. College and University students are looking for experience in their field. You can hire them for an hourly basis or per contract. For example, I had a business mentor that didn’t have time to punch in her receipts into her excel so she hired an accountant student to simply punch in her numbers. The student gets extra money and the business owner has more time to do what they love to do.

Tip#4 Do not go with a very elaborate website. Start with something small and simple then work your way up when your business grows.

Tip#5 Try a joint venture. During your travels as an entrepreneur you’ll find some great people in the same industry but are not your competition.(For example; a makeup artist and hairdresser) These two professions are not in competition but they do cater to same market. You can join together on marketing (IE one business gets one side of a postcard, and the other has the opposite. Together you can split the cost of printing and get your business out there twice as fast)

Tip#6 Know your competition. Do a SWOT analysis of your greatest competition. “S” stands for strengths. What does your competition do better than you? “W” stands for weakness. What does your competition lack? “O” stands for opportunity. How can you improve your business from your strengths and weaknesses? “T” stands for threats. Where can your competition really hurt your business?

Tip#7 Barter goods. When you make great connections with other businesses, you can sometimes barter for goods. This means providing a service for a service instead of using money. You may give a service of printing business cards to get your car detailed for instance. This is a win-win relationship.

Tip#8 Track your invoices, receipts, and bill payments. When you have a handle of your finances, you are able to see where you are making the most money and how. Keep a journal and calendar on when bills need to get paid and when invoices are being charged.

Tip #9 Conduct surveys regularly. The best way to improve your business is to find out directly from your customers. Give coupons or discounts to your customers for participating in the survey.

Tip #10 Give out useful information for free. Your brain is full of so much expertise. Create opportunities to showcase your talents. You can hold free webinars. Volunteer to speak at different engagements. Write articles for different newspapers.

These ten tips will increase your bottom line immediately and save you money. Not every business owner has thousands of dollars to hire an advertising agency. Become an expert in your own marketing.

For more information contact Jemi Echevarria, marketing campaign manager at

(647)785-5851 or jemiechevarria@gmail.com

You’ve been thinking about it, but something keeps stopping you from starting your business? And by now you’ve most likely come across many articles such as this on ‘How to …’. If the truth be told, giving advice is sometimes easier said than done. I myself can testify to that. However, here are a couple of practical tips you can easily implement today to help you raise finances and kick-start your business.

Do your research. Research simply put is knowing your market and customers. How do you know your market? Read trade magazines and newspaper, visit industry seminars or conferences, check online or take a drive round your business geographic area and see what similar services and products exist, sample some of these services or products, ask suppliers about the market, and ask potential customers who they currently patronise. All these and more will help you build a broad picture of the market before you entering.

How do you know your customers? If they will want your products or services and what exactly it is they want? As many people as you come into contact with and see as potential customers, ask them questions. When you go to an event, take the opportunity ask people pertinent questions in a conversation-like manner. Develop a questionnaire, and email to all your family, friends, colleagues and former colleagues, ask them to email to their network of people, and voila! you have conducted your research. However, do bear in mind that the bigger your investment risk and the more complex your business model, the more structured your research should be.

For more information on business research check this article Business Research Demystified

Raising finance. The usual advice is personal savings; loans from family, friends or the bank; government funding; grants; venture capitalists etc. But what if these sources don’t quite cut it for you? You don’t have the savings, you can’t get a loan, or you fall outside the qualifying criteria for grants and funding. Here are some additional avenues and tips;

Trade by barter. Offer your services, products or skills in exchange for goods or services that will help build your business i.e. you need to develop your website, and you are a marketing consultant, why not offer some free consultancy to the web designer in exchange for your website development
Cut down on your personal overheads, which may include; downgrading your car or moving back to live at home saving on the monthly rent, reduce your spend on social outings such as cinemas, suspend club memberships (except of course it is required for effective business networking purposes)
Start your business with incremental steps such as piloting your business idea, or starting with one product or service, and as the business starts bringing in returns, you can then consider expanding and implementing more plans and ideas
Consider alternatives to reduce your start-up cost If you are low on capital. This includes working from home without needing to lease office space, converting your garage, shared office space, virtual assistants, start with offering your services and products online etc.
Consider crowd funding or sourcing capital from customers or suppliers. With some services pr products you could actually seek to get upfront payments or deposits from clients, which could then be used for your initial capital requirements. A successful example is that of a hosting company who offered potential clients a lifetime hosting package if they would pay a certain amount upfront to help fund the start-up of the business.

These tips are not all-encompassing, and there are many things that go into having a successful business such as a business plan. There is no running away from it either now or later in your business life cycle. If you need help with your business plan, also read Business Plan Demystified, Writing Your Business Plan Once And For All.

Get a free eBook to get started on your goals: http://eepurl.com/xeDrf

Yvonne is a Change Consultant, Coach and Speaker who is passionate about working with Individuals, Entrepreneurs and Organisations to implement change, drive results and achieve their goals. She can be reached at: www.facebook.com/oliveblueinc,www.twitter.com/oliveblueinc, www.oliveblue.com

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