Canadian Small Business Women

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6 mistakes entrepreneurs make when seeking out funding

Praveeni

Entrepreneurs often have many  “great” ideas and rely on funding in the form of a business loan or investors to bring their dreams to light.  Pitching your business and asking for funding can be an intimidating and grueling process. However if successful the payoffs can be huge. Unfortunately many entrepreneurs aren’t successful in securing the funding they require. Here’s a look at 6 mistakes entrepreneurs make when seeking out funding:

  1. Over-valuing their firm or product
    Ok you’ve got an idea- that’s great, but how much is it worth? If it’s your idea it’s probably priceless to you but how much is your business really worth? People tend to over-value their business in hopes of securing a greater investment but that very often fails. Take an objective stance when valuing your business – look at how much you’ve done in sales, your costs and how much revenue you’re really brining in. Remember sales do not denote firm value. Don’t forget to factor in your production, operational and carrying costs.
  1. Presentation & pitch is too long
    Your elevator pitch and investor presentation should be short and informative. Keep your presentation under 10 slides and make your slides concise with 3-5 points per slide. Your elevator pitch should be about a minute long at most. If you can’t summarize your business in under a minute you may need to spend more time understanding your business. No one wants to be stuck listening to a 20 slide presentation.
  1. No concept of market size
    Whenever you offer a product or service you must be aware of how large or small its market is. Whether it’s a nice or mass market item, every product/service has a market. It’s up to you as an entrepreneur to research your market and determine who your target audience is and how much of a market share you would like to capture. Remember 100% market share isn’t always a viable or profitable goal. Be realistic in your market share goals and understand the size of your market.
  1. No professional business plan

A well written, factually correct business plan can garner you the funding you               require. It’s important not to skimp on your business plan. Don’t rush it, take time     to understand the risks, opportunities and profitability of your idea. Make sure you     comprehend your product and what it will take to bring your idea to market.  Many     people overlook the financial aspect of a business plan. Projections can be                     intimidating so seek out professional help if you require it, never assume always ask.

  1. Inability to explain what problem their product solves
    Ok so you’ve got an idea – great! How can it help me? What problem will it solve? Many times entrepreneurs are unable to explain exactly how their product is useful to consumers. This can be off-putting to investors as they think – if a person can’t even explain their own product then how can they sell it? You must fully understand your product or service and how it benefits consumers. Be prepared to answer questions about your own product and your competitor’s offerings as well. The more informed you are the better.
  1. No flexibility
    When asking for funding you need to be flexible. Remember you’re asking someone else to put their trust and money in you and your business. You may not always get the offer you prefer and in some cases may have to counter offer as well. It’s good to be prepared with at least 3 different counter offers when pitching to investors. You should also be open to different kinds of offers. This doesn’t mean give away your whole company for free but listen to what they have to say and run the numbers before you decide to accept, counter or decline. Most importantly be realistic – have a realistic valuation and seek out the appropriate amount for the share you’re offering.

 

Praveeni Perera is the CEO and co-founder of Professional Edge Consulting a corporate training company based in Ottawa offering training and coaching services to clients around the world.  She can be reached via Website, Twitter, Facebook or her Blog.

The Biggest Mistake Made When Networking!

 yvonne

A few months ago I attended a networking event where someone walked up to me, and the first thing they did was give me a business card, spoke barely a few words and walked away, and I noticed they did the same with others, distributing their business card. I was at another networking and business event, where someone brings out a BIG bundle of business cards to give me one, and this left me speechless, but with a strong desire to revisit the art of networking.

Considering the amount of information out there on effective networking, one could be forgiven for assuming the art of networking would be common knowledge. The biggest mistake that unfortunately is still happening is when people see networking as an opportunity to ‘sell’, ‘promote’ or ‘get’ as much possible to their benefit.

Networking can be described as the process of interacting or engaging in communication with others for mutual assistance or support. Note the word ‘mutual’? When networking is done properly, its benefits can be endless, and includes making business contacts, establishing new friendships or relationships, or seeking advice and information.

Networking is not a race to distribute as many business cards or get as many cards as possible. Yes networking is effective for building your professional career or business, and I can testify to having great results from networking, but this happened when I was being present in the moment, being authentic, and interested in the other person.

From my own experience, trainings attended and reading done, one key point that cannot be overemphasised is that ‘Networking is about building Relationships’. Only in getting to know someone and vice versa can a need be met effectively. We need to change our mindset from focusing on not just what we can get, but to also what we can give. The law of nature and reciprocity has proven that in giving we are bound to receive.

 How to Network Effectively

  1. Prepare beforehand by having a positive attitude and think of what you would like to achieve from attending i.e. meet two new people today. However, keep an open mind at the event, which could open you to receiving more than you expected.
  2. Have your elevator pitch/speech ready on how to introduce yourself effectively; short, to the point and effective.
  3. If you feel lost, nervous or struggle to join a group that is already in conversation, find someone on their own and introduce yourself.
  4. Develop the art of small talk; start a topic in relation to the event you are presently at, a related current affairs topic or admire something about the person you want to start the conversation with. Some simple conversation starters include ‘great event…’, ‘Is this your first time here…’
  5. Listen and focus your attention on who you are talking with, imagine how you would feel if you were talking with someone and they are constantly looking around or at their cell phone.
  6. Use open-ended questions that will help keep the conversation flowing, as opposed to closed-ended questions that solicit a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
  7. When you receive a business card. Write a note on it to help jog your memory for the next time you look at the card.
  8. Make sure you follow up after events; it could be call to say hello or how well you enjoyed meeting them. This helps to create a connection that you can work towards building.
  9. Networking does not start and end with formal events, you can also network effectively at social events and online on social media.

We are constantly faced with opportunities to network in the many facets of our lives, and what you do with your opportunity has the capability to positively and significantly impact your life or not.

Share some of your networking stories or tips with us below. What do you think of Networking?

To learn about Yvonne’s latest book on Changing your Mindset for greater results, visit http://www.oliveblue.com/changeyourmindset/

Yvonne is an Author, Speaker, Change Consultant & John Maxwell Leadership Coach who is passionate about working with Individuals, Entrepreneurs and Organisations to help implement change they want and achieve their goals.   

She can be reached at: www.oliveblue.com . www.facebook.com/oliveblueinc . www.twitter.com/oliveblueinc.www.youtube.com/ChangeYouWantTV

Your Brand Values and Governance Model: Developing Your Content Strategy

GovernancePlanning (2)

Part 2 of a 6 part series on Content Strategy for Your Business

 

In the first post in this series, I outlined what a content strategy is and why it’s a critical part of your digital business model.  Over the next 5 weeks of this series, we’ll go through a full content strategy, but where to start?  Sometimes it’s best to start at the end.

 

Governance: Start Your Strategy at the End

When it comes to Content Strategy, A Governance model is perhaps the most important factor.  Why?  Because if you understand up front what it will take to create, measure and maintain your online business communications, you will be more realistic and strategic when you develop your content strategy.  In this post I’ll outline what your governance model will include, and then go into some detail on the creation of the first piece of your content strategy and resulting governance model.

What do I need to Govern?

Online business communications are the basics on your website, which might include

  • Your Home page
  • An “About Us” page or section
  • A services Section and/or product pages
  • Your contact page
  • Campaign based landing pages

Depending on your business goals, it might expand to include content marketing such as

  • Email communications such as e-blasts or newsletters
  • Blogging or articles
  • Info graphics or tools

And depending on your customers and where they are in the sales funnel, it might include brand awareness tactics like

  • Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Linked IN, Instagram, and Pinterest…
  • Influencer marketing

 

Governance of your content strategy means managing these communications, and it is like running a second business, your digital business.  It is part marketing, part sales, and part corporate communications.  And like any business, you need a plan: that’s what Governance is.

Your Governance model brings together all of the pieces of your content strategy into a structured, executable plan of action.  Putting a realistic and actionable governance model in place means being very clear about your brand values and goals, your customer needs, knowing which platforms your ideal customers are using, and which blend of content types will give your brand voice consistency and regularity, and then putting it all in a calendar.

 

A Governance Model Outline

 

Your governance model will be made up of:

1) A clear statement of your brand purpose.  This can be in the form of a mission statement, or it can be in the form of a message map, elevator pitch, or Value proposition (also sometimes called a unique selling proposition or USP).

2) A customer avatar or persona that describes your ideal customer

3) A clear idea of the conversion funnel for your ideal customer and which content types, on which platforms are likely to reach them.

4) An editorial calendar outlining when and what you are going to create or curate and some handy tools to keep it all running smoothly.

These things need to be written down!  Don’t keep it all in your head.  I keep my governance model in front of me in the form of sticky notes and charts pinned to a large piece of foam core that serves as my content strategy whiteboard.   Knowing that these are the building blocks of your content strategy governance model, you can sketch them out very high level, and over the next 5 weeks we’ll fill in the blanks, starting this week with Brand Values.

 

Your Brand Values: Let’s Clarify

What are your brand values, and what are your business goals?  By getting this down very clearly you will have some good material for your About Us page and a guide that will help you with your future content, customer, and platform decisions.  The problem with typical mission statements is that they are very high level and often include a lot of jargon.  For this reason I prefer to create more tactical artefacts, such as a Message Map or Value proposition.

Build a Message Map

A message map is perhaps the most tactical artefact you can create.  It is quick and relatively easy to put together and is a good guideline document if you need to write something quickly such as a product launch announcement, or if you need to give something to your employees so they know the talking points on a particular product, initiative, or your business generally.  CEO’s or PR writers use message maps if they are preparing to do a media interview, for example, or write a press release.

Watch this video about message maps, or use this basic formula, starting with a Twitter-friendly headline.  This means a short, maximum 140-character statement about your brand or product.  Then, write down 3 key points about your brand or product, making sure they are short bullets.  Finally, for each of those three points, come up with a few supporting facts, statistics, or stories that bring the point home.

 Message-Map-Diagram (2)

 

Clarify Your Value Proposition

 

Creating a value proposition using this template from copyhackers will give you a little bit more range of options in terms of how you might talk about your brand as a whole.  Copyhackers has an excellent suite of worksheets and tools for all aspects of content strategy and a great process for figuring out your value proposition, that has you think about your brand and your service(s) or product(s) by filling in this grid.  In the left-most column, write down all of the statements you can come up with that describe the benefits or features of your brand, service(s) or product(s), then really ask yourself if that statement gets a “tick” in the boxes to the right.  When you have a statement that ticks all the boxes, you have a great value proposition!

 

Christine McG
My favourite tool is taken from the book “Gamestorming” because it brings customer target into the mix, and it is visual and easy to fill in the blanks.  Try to make a few of these until you find a combination that feels right.

 

 

elevator-pitch (2)

Once you have a clear idea, or collection of ideas and statements on what you have to offer as a business, the next step is having a very clear picture of your customer: knowing what they want, and where they are going to find it.

Over the next 3 installations, we’ll cover

  • Your Customer: figuring out what your customers want, who they are, and where they are.
  • Social media strategy: we’ll answer the question: do I need a website AND do social media? (The answer is, yes!)
  • Editorial and Content types: we’ll look at creation vs curation and finding the right balance for your brand and your customers, and why you need a schedule. Regularity and consistency is key to building audience.

 

This sounds like a lot of work

I could spend all of my time on creating and maintaining content.  But obviously then I wouldn’t be running my business.  Every business owner has to be a sales and marketing pro these days, however, and much of that sales and marketing activity is contained within the governance model of your online content strategy.  It’s important to find the right balance-or governance model-for your business.

 

For more resources and information on Content Strategy and to download a detailed description of what content strategy entails, go to analyticalengine.ca/resources or download a Content Strategy Info graphic at http://bit.ly/1qY9tYp.

Christine McGlade is a Business Analyst, Content Strategist, and Usability Consultant.  With over 25 years experience in the media business, Christine helps small business, social enterprise, and Not for Profits how to leverage the power of the Internet to grow their business.  Learn more about Christine at analyticalengine.ca

Elevating Your Elevator Pitch

Martina-R.

Do you know how to ‘wow’ listeners within sixty seconds? That is all you have when introducing our business to someone new, be it in the proverbial elevator, a networking meeting, or anywhere else. It is such a short time, yet long enough to ramble on without getting your point across.

Toastmasters clubs offer a good place to practice and improve not only what you say but how you say it. As an international not-for-profit organisation they have chapters across the Greater Toronto Area (www.toastmasters.org) and provide a safe and supportive environment to take your public speaking skills from ho-hum to wow!

 

Your Delivery

The hands-on approach of Toastmasters meetings means no teacher lectures you; instead, members evaluate each other`s presentations and provide constructive feedback. For example, you may not notice how often you use filler words, for example, um, er, ah, or the North-American favourite “like”. Initially this knowledge may make you self-conscious while presenting, yet over time you will improve and reduce your use of filler words.

Body language is important, even more so if you are the main presenter at a meeting or workshop. John, the VP Education at Beaches Speeches, advises to “claim your space”, meaning watch what you do with your arms and body within your personal space, at a lectern, or even on stage. Control your movements but do not become as stiff as a tree trunk, just limit moves and gestures to emphasize your strongest points.

You have sixty seconds – make them count! Speaking fast lets you fit in more words but reduces the quality of your delivery and is harder for people to understand and process, therefore short pauses are your friend.

 

Good Content

Short and sweet does the trick. Your elevator pitch should contain just a highlight of your business services or products. Give the listener a glimpse into what you do or offer, a little tease, leaving them wanting more. Resist temptation to give a sales pitch; rather tell your audience what you can do for them by explaining a problem that you have a solution for.

Include a call for action or next step. Do you want your audience to come and look at, try out, taste, or think about something you can provide? Or are you raising funds for a special event? Tell your audience what you want them to do next. And practice, practice, practice. Say it out loud – to yourself, a friend, colleague, or record yourself and listen back. Did you include the important points your want to get across? Was it within sixty seconds?

You can see more details in 6 Tips for Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch (www.entrepreneur.com/article/228070) or join your nearest Toastmasters chapter.

The important thing is that you get out there and just do it! After all, practice makes perfect and attending networking meetings on a regular basis is the best place for honing your speaking skills.

 

Martina Rowley is the founder and operator of Beach Business Hub – THE co-working space east of the Don Valley. She combined her passion and experience in the environmental sector with her community engagement side to create a local work environment where space and resources are shared. She fosters and facilitates collaboration, networking, and learning for and with small business owners and new start-ups.  Contact her at:http://www.beachbusinesshub.ca, on Facebook and on Twitter