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Is Your Business Small? Nobody Has To Know!
By Isabel M Isidro
You may be operating your business as a solo operator in your garage or
bedroom; but guess what -- no one needs to know! Image plays a huge
part in business, and to be perceived as a small home-based business
entity can sometimes work against you. Here are tips to make your small
business look big.
You may be operating your business as a solo operator in your garage or
bedroom; but guess what -- no one needs to know! Even if your capital is
less than $1,000 that you borrowed from your grandparents, you do not need
to shout to the world how undercapitalized and how small your operations
are.
Sure, you hate to pretend to be somebody else! But you also have to realize
that image plays a huge part in business. To be perceived as a small
business entity can sometimes work against you. Let’s face it: some
potential clients will refuse to touch you with a ten-foot pole if they consider
you too small. Whether you like it or not, other people sometimes equate
being small with inability to deliver, lack of credibility and a tremendous
business risk.
If you’d like the outside world and business community to view you with
larger lenses, you can try these tactics:
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If you live in an apartment or condominium, you can use the word
suite rather than apartment to describe your workplace and include in
your address. |
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Be careful in using a postal box; it sometimes projects your business
as a fly-by-night operation. A better alternative is to use mailing
services, such as Mail Boxes Etc. where you will be given an address
(instead of a P.O. Box) for the mailbox that you rent. |
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With the advent of voice mail, one trick to show to your potential
clients that you have someone else in your staff is to ask someone
else to record your message that greets callers. Hearing another voice
will make your callers think that you have employees to help you in
your business. |
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For correspondence, use the same approach, only with three lower
case initials typed on each letter that departs your office. This will give
the impression that you have a secretary or clerk. Remember, every
little detail counts! |
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If you have Internet presence, make sure that your web site does not
scream “amateur!” Make your site as clean as possible, with easy
navigation and readable fonts. Avoid using intricate wallpapers as your
background that makes fonts difficult to decipher. Your web site is
your “face” to the rest of the world; how you create it will impact on
the image and credibility that you and your business projects. |
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Join business or trade organizations; and make sure that you list the
professional credentials or larger groups to which you belong. |
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Knowing you belong to a nationwide community of your peers is very
reassuring for your clients. |
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Make strategic alliances with other professionals who can
complement your work. As a start-up, you may “ride-on” in other
people’s projects, getting a small percentage of the work, until you
develop your credibility and business history. |
Isabel M Isidro is currently the Managing Editor of Power Homebiz Guides. For a step-by-step
guide to starting a business, order the e-book "Checklist for Starting a Small Business" from
PowerHomeBiz.com at http://www.powerhomebiz.com/Index/checklist.htm
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