A Small Business @ Home Start Up to Success Story

Does Your USP Deliver Like UPS?

Judy & Sam knew how well UPS delivered. They had used United Parcel Service to deliver their first small business order. As a start up business, they counted on UPS to deliver on time, at a fair price and provide business management tools to help them grow their small start up business.

Judy's role as marketing manager of their small business was a "learn as you go" experience. USP (Unique Selling Proposition) was a new term to her. She became aware of the concept and initials "UPS" while reading an article she found on the Duct Tape Marketing website by John Jantsch. According to the article:

"A simple strategy for positioning your firm or product deeply in your target market's mind is a tool called a USP. The term USP has been around for a long time. The letters stand for Unique Selling Proposition.

The idea here is to identify and then communicate a concise statement of your firm's most compelling offer and benefit in a way that the potential client can automatically answer the what's in if for me question. That's all a USP is."

As Judy learned more from the article, she was inspired to develop a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) to help deliver more customers and sales to their start up business just as well and reliably as UPS was delivering their small business packages.

Lessons Learned - Small Business Profit

Over their first 15 months in business, Sam & Judy had learned a lot of small business start up lessons. Some were learned through the proverbial "school of hard knocks" others from small business owners, vendors and consultants. All of the lessons learned lead to a successful start up business and a modest level of small business profit.

During one of their weekend business planning sessions, they decided to organize the lessons they'd learned around a framework of business basics. Each of the eight business basics formed the foundation of the business plan they had consistently updated over their first 15 months in business.

For starters, they published a presentation "32 Ways - Small Business Profit" to share with the people who had helped them during their first 15 months. They used an on-line service, SlideShare, to make their presentation readily available for viewing and comment.

Ultimately, they planned to publish a workbook they could use to review each of the 32 lessons they had determined had been most helpful to their small business start up success. On a scheduled basis they would note their current actions related to each small business lesson and what they would do going forward to grow their small business profit.

Too Shy 2 Share

Sam wasn't one to toot his own horn. But Stan and Ruth insisted. They were proud of what their kids had accomplished with their small business idea. Judy, Ruth's daughter and Sam, Stan's son, had come up with a business idea and made it work. Their start up business, after 15 months, had grown from it's kitchen table start to a small retail space. And, it was making a profit.

A family friend had been impressed with what Sam and Judy had accomplished. As a writer, he had taken it upon himself to chronicled their start up to success story in the form of a power point presentation.

At Stan and Ruth's insistence, the friend had posted his Sam & Judy story on a website specifically designed to share slide presentations. Now, everybody was calling, emailing and sending notes about how much they enjoyed the "Sam & Judy" Small Business @ Home Start Up to Success Story Power Point.

As a new business owner, Judy had learned a lot about marketing and PR. She knew, even if both she and Sam were the shy type, they weren't too shy to share their story. If nothing else, it was good for business.

Sam & Judy Discuss Small Business Lifestyle

During their seven years of marriage, Sam and Judy became a good team. They both grew up in active, involved homes. Sam liked to work alone without the help of others. Judy was more outgoing and preferred to be part of a small group.

Both parents lived nearby. They often got together for family activities and also on holidays. Sam's father was about to retire and expressed an interest in doing something to keep busy and add to his retirement income.

Sam and Judy weren't interested in becoming "rich and famous". They did want to do a good job of providing for their family, being in control of their lives and creating some options.

How Did Sam & Judy's Complete These Action Steps?

1. Tell yourself what you want.

2. Set goals for each area of your life.

3. Use the time you have wisely.

Sam and Judy Set Small Business Objectives

As a computer programmer for a large corporation, Sam was only responsible for completing his portion of a project. He did not have any management responsibility or experience.

Judy's job in customer service only required quick, short responses; no management. As a Mom with two small kids, she knew how to handle unexpected events and demands.

Their casual discussions about starting and running a small business centered on how much fun it might be and what they could gain from it. So far, the only thing they'd written down was their individual business achievement statement. They were both concerned about their lack of management experience.

How Did Sam & Judy's Complete These Action Steps?

1. Answer the question "What business am I in?".

2. Create goals and set deadlines.

3. Write a business overview statement.

Sam & Judy Consider Starting a Small Business

Sam had always been interested in starting some kind of small business. During the summer he had given serious thought to the idea. He loved working with his hands and spent hours putting together very intricate jigsaw puzzles.

Judy was more of a people person. Now that both kids were in school, she was interested in working part-time, using her experience as a customer service representative.

Neither of them were risk takers. Their summer conversations centered on starting a business they could do together that could also involve their parents and kids. They were excited about the idea, but worried about their ability to succeed.

Sam & Judy's Actions Steps Online in The Profit Puzzle

1. List and prioritize what you are good at or like to do.

2. Write and individual achievement statement.

3. Set a specific time to update your list and statement.

Sam & Judy Start a Business - How About You?

According to a survey by Yahoo! Small Business and Harris Interactive, 66 percent of American adults say they've considered starting a business. Maybe your situation is similar to Sam’s or Judy’s.

You’d like to start some sort of small business, probably home based at first. You’re not a huge risk taker but with the proper knowledge, step by step guidance and support you’d get started on developing a simple business plan to test out your start up idea before taking a full time leap into small business ownership.

Your motivation to start up a small business of your own maybe grounded in creating more time and money to spend with family and pursing those things which you value most in your life. In your mind, successful small business ownership offers those types of rewards.

An investment in your personal copy of The Profit Puzzle, one you can mark up and make notes on and learn from the mistakes and rewards of Sam & Judy’s story, is a smart place to start.

Passion, Purpose and Profit

There are numerous books on the subject of the importance of passion as a success driver. Passion as a key component of small business success is a given. Equally important is having a purpose for your small business and your role in it, particularly at the start up stage. Ultimately, without profit both for the business and its owners, passion and purpose will not sustain a small business idea. The lack of profit, by definition, leaves you with an activity you're invested in but not a "business".

At the start up stage Sam's passion centered on his love for doing hands-on things and solving problems. That's what lead him to his current career as a software programmer. Judy's passion also included a problem solving component but involved people not formulas.

Sam and Judy shared a common purpose. Their academic perception of small business ownership as a way to have more time and money to devote to raising a family and doing more of what you love to do.

Profit was least familiar to both of them. They had no business experience to give them an understanding of making money and paying themselves from the proceeds of their business success. Nevertheless, both Sam and Judy figured they could learn about the business side of things as they got started. Passion and purpose along with a cautious enthusiasm is what drove them.

The Start Up Couple Next Door

Sam and Judy weren't much different than any of their neighbors. Life was OK. The children were healthy and happy. The Grandparents were available and loving. But, something was missing. Life wasn't as fulfilling as it could be.

Slowly, that something missing took on a fuzzy definition in the form of a business idea. Why not and what if, they could start a business of their own. Neither Sam or Judy could identify exactly why small business ownership appealed to them, but it did. Over a period of time their "something missing" feeling found a start up idea they thought was a good fit for them.

I wonder just how many couples or individuals living right next door to Sam and Judy entertain actively or passively the idea of business ownership. In their case they took their feeling to the important next step of setting some individual and business objectives.

Are you one of those Start Up Couples next door to Sam and Judy?

21 Places to Network Your Start Up

A major marketing challenge for most small business start up is getting the word out. Word-of-mouth marketing is one typically low-cost marketing method you can use to network your start up into greater visibility within a targeted community of potential clients.

According to PowerCore - Build Your Business Naturally, there are 21 types of business networking associations you could use to develop awareness of your business. The 21 Association Types chart published by PowerCore includes the Association Type, Frequency, Examples and Purpose of each networking association.

To take advantage of one or more of the association types listed print out the web page and check off which types of business networking associations are available to you. Also, note which types would most likely include people or businesses within your small business start up target markets.

You're going to spend your time some place promoting your start up. You might as well pick the best places to network your small business start up.