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10 Management Lessons From A Young Entrepreneur

Only in America can a 19-year-old kid launch a million-dollar music business from his dorm room and two 17-year-old twins own a media empire worth close to $1 billion. And while it's easy to watch with envy as young entrepreneurs continue to grow up around you and fulfill your entrepreneurial dreams, you really have two choices: You can seethe at their success, or you can put jealousy aside and listen to the advice they have to offer.

Scott Smigler, 22, is one young entrepreneur who has learned some important lessons from his pursuit of entrepreneurship. Smigler started Exclusive Concepts Inc., a company that provides professional Web design and online marketing solutions to growing businesses, when he was only a freshman in high school. Smigler ran the company by himself at first, slowly building a reputation with his clients and gaining more business through word of mouth. As he put himself through college, he ran the business out of his dorm room until May 2002. Now, he has offices in Burlington, Massachusetts, and a staff of five, and expects to bring in sales of $300,000 in 2003. Between working full-time on his business, maintaining a 3.7 GPA as a finance major at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, and running the Entrepreneurship Society he co-founded at his school, Smigler took some time out of his 90-hour week to offer entrepreneurs-of any age-some advice: ten of the most important lessons he's learned from starting and running his own business.

1. It's all about perseverance. Implementing your dream is never as easy as you think it will be-it can take years to develop. Make sure you're organized and stay focused. And understand that you can't reach the highest levels of success without taking risks and maintaining the strength of mind needed to persevere through the difficult times.

"I know there are so many people right now, especially my age, who are looking to start and develop their own business," says Smigler. "It's such an intimidating process once you've broken through the first layer and you have to worry about insurance and payroll and making sure your accounting is perfect. So many people allow themselves to get intimidated by it&$151;they're not willing to follow their dreams. It's very important for people to really sit down and recognize exactly what they want out of life-and their business life-and just go for it."

2. Understand the value of mentorship and teamwork. A small company doesn't have all the resources it will need internally. So it's essential to have a network of advisors, mentors and other people who can help you work through the problems you encounter-whether those problems are related to finances, marketing, whatever.

3. Stick to your niche. "I've learned that I can only make money when I stay focused on what my company does best," Smigler says. "This isn't to say I don't pursue avenues where I can expand my business. Ultimately, the needs of my customers will dictate the services I offer.

"Everything I do has to be based on a very strong customer-service focus. We know a lot about our clients because we spend a lot of time knowing exactly what they need."

4. Stay on top of news that affects your clients. Major events happen almost every day that will affect your customers. In order to ensure the best for them, you must be up-to-date on the latest market trends and implement them so your company consistently offers the best services and your clients receive the best there is to offer. "Even on the busiest of days," says Smigler, "my entire staff and I are required to monitor late-breaking news. Knowledge separates you from your competitors."

5. Communication is key. While you think your clients understand what you say, often they don't. Be sure to always speak clearly and follow up with concise e-mails. You must also pace their expectations with the reality of the project. Part of the communication process involves documenting the understanding between your company and the client so that in the event of a misunderstanding, you have an agreement to fall back on. Not only does the client need to know what they can expect from you, it's essential that the client understands your expectations of them. Success is a two-way street.

"Search-engine marketing and Web development can be very intimidating to a lot of people," says Smigler. "My clients tell me over and over again that what makes a huge difference to them is that I take the time to explain things clearly and that I'm patient with them. They know they're not just getting a cookie-cutter solution."

6. Capitalization is crucial. Everything is more expensive than you'll anticipate. In your budgeting process, you need to plan for things you haven't anticipated but that will more than likely happen. In addition, don't be a penny-pincher: Don't be afraid to spend money when you believe the return will warrant the risk.

7. Communicate unwavering honesty and integrity. Above everything else, you must be truthful. Dishonesty is a sign of weakness, not to mention a poor business strategy. If your clients know you'll always be truthful with them and "tell it like it is," they'll never have any reason to doubt you. Your reputation as an excellent service provider takes years to develop-but it can be destroyed in a minute.

"My family pushes the simplicity of life that comes from honesty and character and integrity," Smigler says. "One of the big things that makes [our company] different is our clients really do trust us."

8. Stay on top of the curve. The environment of business changes rapidly, and education is a critical factor to success. "There was a time when I was tempted to drop out of college and devote all my time to managing my growing company," Smigler says. "I recognized that it wouldn't be a smart strategy for the long term. It's possible to grow a company while being successful in school."

9. Take ownership in your clients' success. When you undertake the commitment to provide products or services for a company, you must work at it as diligently as they expect you to. Keep your customers' needs in mind at all times. And remember: If you're able to help your clients become successful, they will make you successful because what goes around, comes around.

10. Never stop marketing. Never forget that anyone can be a prospective client. Constantly look to build on your existing relationships, as well as acquire new ones. You need to catch the customer at the moment they have a need. By staying in front of them on a regular basis, you become known to them, so when they do have a need, they'll be more inclined to give you the business without shopping around. The value of a referral is always more than the value of a cold lead.

And finally, Smigler offers these final words of advice: Don't forget to find the correct balance of work and play. Although starting and running your own company requires much focus, dedication and time, you must strive to maintain a balance in your life. As much as you want your business to succeed, you have to recognize that it doesn't have to be at the expense of not having a life outside of it. Being properly structured in your business also means being structured enough to allow yourself some personal time off.

And those are wise words whether you're old or young.

Sarah Pierce
U.S.A.
10 Apr 2007

Sarah Pierce is a freelance writer living in Southern California

Learning To Delegate

Excuses, excuses. I've heard them all.

"It's faster if I just do it myself."
"I'm afraid I'll forget to tell them something important."
"No one does it better than me."
"I don't know what to delegate."
"I can't afford to hire anyone."
"I'm too critical of other people's work."
"If I give up control over everything, things will start to fall through the cracks."

Sound familiar? You know that in order to grow your business, you need to grow your team. Yet as small-business owners, there's something in us that fights against asking for help. It's almost like there's some right of passage in being able to "do it all" ourselves. But the reality is, you can't do it all and focus on your strengths without stretching yourself in too many directions.

Delegation is about handing over authority, and for many small-business owners, that's a scary concept because you don't know what will happen when you give up control. But the good news is, delegating doesn't have to be scary-you have more control than you think. Because when you've clearly defined what's to be done and what the outcome should be, it's difficult for a skilled assistant, employee or virtual assistant to be unsuccessful. The key to controlling delegation is to establish what the tasks are, how they should be completed and what the final outcome looks like before you assign the task to someone.

Now, no more excuses. Here are five steps, each with specific actions you can take to develop your what, how and the final outcome, to get you on the road to delegating effectively.

1. Determine what to give away and what to keep. First, consider your strengths. What are you directly contributing to your business that's making it successful? Those are the things you should continue doing. The tasks that are outside your expertise or those that could easily be performed by others are the first things to delegate or give away.

One of my clients, who's in the insurance industry, found that she was spending a lot of her time checking in with clients. And while she really wanted to be in contact with her entire client list on a regular basis, she didn't want to spend unnecessary time with clients who didn't need her immediate attention.

So she decided to delegate her client "keep in touch" calls to an assistant. Now her assistant makes each initial client call. If she finds the client has a question or is interested in more information, she adds their name to her boss's follow-up list, who then calls the people on that list when she has time to talk. Now she's only talking to those clients who really need her, but all her clients are happy because they're contacted on a regular basis.

Your Actions: Make a list of everything you do on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Then go through the list and determine what's essential for you to keep doing and what can be given away.

2.Create a plan. Consider what you need to accomplish and how you want the task done. In order for delegation to be effective, you have to be able to tell someone exactly what it is you want him or her to do. Maybe "no one does it better than you" because no one truly understands what you want done.

So plan out what needs to be accomplished and exactly how you want it done.

Your Actions: Create your processes. Determine what the final outcome should be and create the specific, detailed steps needed to get there. Once you've hired someone to help out, give that list of steps, along with any applicable files, forms and checklists, to the person you've hired.

3. Hire the right person. The key to finding the right person for the job is to determine what skill sets your position requires. What do you really want someone to do for you? Are they going to be taking care of administrative tasks? Are they focused on marketing or sales duties? Are you looking for an analyst? Once you know what skills you need, search for a person who has exactly the skills you need. Don't just hire the first person who happens to be available.

Your Actions: Look at the tasks being performed, and decide what skill sets are needed. When interviewing candidates, ask open-ended questions that allow you to discover if that person has the expertise you're looking for. Remember to ask people you know and trust for referrals of potential candidates.

4. Assign results and accountability. One of the most important steps to successful delegation is to plan ahead by determining what the end results should be. Picture what you want to be holding when those final deliverables are handed to you. Then communicate those expectations. And remember, all expectations have to be reasonable, clear and measurable. For example, you may want to require that someone "complete a minimum of 30 sales call per week" as opposed to just "complete sales calls."
Accountability is not a bad word-there have to consequences if the results you need are not being met. Because if the quotas, goals or results you need aren't being achieved, it's you and your business that will suffer.

Your Actions: Create specific goals, quotas or outcomes that need to be accomplished by the person you're delegating work to. Effectively communicate those expectations, and create consequences if the results you expect aren't being accomplished.

5. Check in from time to time. "Set it and forget it." Some people think that rule applies to tasks that have been delegated. I hate to burst your bubble, but people are human. They make mistakes, they accidentally skip over things-they may even drop the ball.

Instead of leaving them alone once you've assigned some work to them, establish specific times you'll check in with them to see how they're doing. You can set a regular appointment time, such as Tuesdays at 2 p.m., when you'll sit for 15 minutes to an hour and review regular duties, project milestones and answer questions. Or you might select a specific point in the project where you'll review their progress. For example, you might say, "After you've called all 50 prospects, come see me so we can discuss the feedback you've been getting from them."

Checking in with your employees allows you to stay in the loop, fix problems as they arise, and educate and develop the people working with you. And setting specific times allow you the freedom to focus on other things the rest of the time.

Your Actions: Establish a check-in schedule that works for both you and your employee. And then be sure to touch base when you say you will.

Beth Schneider
07 May 2007

Beth Schneider, president of Process Prodigy, helps business owners leverage the best business practices to help them build a thriving business. Beth is also co-author of Inspiration to Realization.