In June of this year, 2024, I celebrated 19 years of running my brick and mortar business. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics approximately 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and 65% during the first 10 years. Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more!
So, I’m very grateful to my years of wonderful staff, customers and amazing community for surpassing 15 years.
I’ve survived 2 wild fires, a flood and a pandemic! Plus, I was born with a heart condition as well, but hey, I’m not here to brag!
It’s been a rollercoaster ride of learning. I LOVE running into people just starting a business because there so much I want to tell them so they can learn from my mistakes. Out of all the things I’ve learned, here’s a handful of my top 18, to celebrate my 18 years of success of being a small business owner.
18 Things I wish I knew before I opened my small business:
- Know you have immense value and worth and that worth is worth paying for.
- Be friendly with your customers, but caution not to make them your friends.
- Just because you may not be able to afford the prices you are charging YET, doesn’t mean your customers can’t afford your products or services. You need to make a living and there’s no shame in that!
- Do what you do best and slowly start to hire the rest.
- Be accountable to your customers. Open when you say you will and follow through with what you say you’ll do. It will build trust and long time raving fans.
- Charge for everything. Once you start to give away a service or product, expectations from customers can start to form.
- Wait at least 2 years before having any sales or discounts.
- Create a policy when an issue that doesn’t work for you arises as soon as possible. Quick action can protect you from having other issues or be taken advantage of.
- If something isn’t working, notice it, change it or get rid of it.
- Try your best not to be distracted by shinny new inventory until you know for sure you can get your investment back from it.
- Make time to check your inventory history. Check how many days or months your inventory turns over.
- Be creative with what is NOT selling, don’t just put it on sale. Shockingly raising the price gives the impression to the customer it’s more valuable.
- Don’t be afraid to LISTEN to your customers. They will tell you what they want and then you don’t have to guess.
- Ask better questions of your customers more often. You’ll get a better idea of their wants and needs.
- Before you burn out, hire. Hiring your first employee can be scary, but the impact can be wonderful.
- Don’t hire friends.
- Employees are just that, your employees, keep your boundaries and don’t make them your friends.
- Change things around every month or so. It gives your environment a fresh, new look for your staff and your customers.
- Upselling is giving your customers ideas.