Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / If I Had to Do It All Over Again with Melinda Emerson

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If I Had to Do It All Over Again with Melinda Emerson · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Hi everybody.
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  This is Melinda Emerson and I wanna welcome you to another edition of the Small Biz Chat
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  podcast.
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  I'm so excited to have you all here today.
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  There's been a lot going on and I haven't come to you guys in a solo podcast in a while
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  because I just, like everyone else, was just trying to wait for the other shoe to drop, I
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  guess.
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  But you know what?
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  I'm not even gonna deal with that.
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  Let me just formally welcome all of you.
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  Hi everybody, this is Melinda Emerson, the Small Biz Lady.
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  And I wanna welcome you to another episode of the Small Biz Chat Podcast where our mission is
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  to end small business failure.
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  Today is a solo podcast and I haven't done one of these in a while, but you know what?
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  I felt like it's National Small Business Week.
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  There's
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  been
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  so much going on in the news that affects small businesses.
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  And I also needed to celebrate with you guys the fact that last month I've been in business
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  for twenty six years.
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  So I thought that I would spend this time today really just getting real with you guys about
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  what it means to build, grow, and win, and yes, learn some very expensive lessons in business.
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  I'm here to tell you that if I had to do it all over again from scratch today, I wouldn't.
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  The game has changed so much.
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  What I want to share with you is just some strategy.
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  I'm going to break down exactly what I would do differently and how you can start and grow a
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  business smarter, especially in an economy like this.
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  And if you're serious about creating wealth, freedom and legacy and you want to win, then
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  lean in because I am going to break it all down.
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  So thank you for being with me.
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  Absolutely, twenty six years, gosh, I can't even believe it.
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  So what I want to do is tell you guys some truth, some wisdom, and absolutely what I would
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  do differently, especially if I was starting a business in an economy like this one.
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  I think that if I had to think of the two to three key lessons that I've learned about
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  business over the years, is that absolutely it's about the relationship.
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  People do business with people that they like, know and trust, even if you meet them on the
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  internet.
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  So don't ever forget to focus on building relationships in real life.
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  The second thing I would say is that it's cheaper to keep her.
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  It's cheaper to keep him.
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  You need to work on keeping your customers.
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  Anybody will buy something once.
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  You must, must, must get them to buy it over and over again from you.
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  And that means you have to continually add value to the relationship because no one owes
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  you their business.
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  So you really want to focus not just on chasing new leads.
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  I feel like there's so much conversation about, I got to get leads, I got to get leads.
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  No, you need to work on keeping the customers who've already loved you.
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  I cannot stress that enough.
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  And I think the third thing is that you got to know your numbers and you got to know your
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  numbers from day one.
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  You should not be out here waiting until tax time to find out how well your business did.
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  That is not okay.
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  So it is extremely important for you to really get on top of your numbers.
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  How much does it cost?
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  What is your breakeven cost?
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  How much does it cost for you to put your key in the door and unlock and lock the door every
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  month in your business?
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  You gotta understand how much profit is in every sale.
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  And if there's not going to be profit in the sale, that has to be a strategic sale.
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  There has to be a reason.
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  You need to know that going in, why you're doing it and what you're going to get out of it
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  if it's not profit.
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  So if I had to boil down twenty six years of experience to three things, would be it.
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  But I also want to talk to you about running a business is like being on a roller coaster.
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  You do have highs and lows, but eventually that roller coaster is gonna come back around and
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  that means your business has to come back around.
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  I think there's a big difference between failing and failure.
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  And you are not a failure because you fail at something or you fail one day at something.
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  So I think that you have to learn the lesson well the first time.
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  What I pray for you is that you don't make the same mistakes over and over again because that
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  is draining.
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  That's what leads to burnout.
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  I think that what you've got to do is you've got to work hard in your business, but you've
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  got to moderate it, with working hard on yourself, with downtime, with spending time
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  with friends.
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  It's very hard to be a mom with young kids and work twelve or fourteen hours a day.
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  And I know a bunch of you guys are out here doing it.
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  And I want to just caution you that it can wait.
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  You want to enjoy the time with your kids while they're still interested in being around you
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  and spending time with you.
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  And so for all my ladies out here, for all my parents out here, try to carve out some time
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  for your kids, even if you just make dinner every day.
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  If you're working from home and you could just make dinner every day and sit down with your
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  family at dinner, that is quality time and that's what they want.
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  You've got to build your business, but you've got to carve out time for them and you need to
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  make them feel like they are your number one customer.
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  And I want to really emphasize, just figure out this one thing that you can do with your
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  family.
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  And if it's just you and your partner, don't forget date night.
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  One day a week you cannot work twelve hours.
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  You have to focus on your honey or someone else will.
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  So you want to make sure that you are spending quality time with people you care about in your
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  life.
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  And do a better job of showing up for people because then people will show up for you.
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  I think that the biggest difference between starting a business today and when I started my
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  business in 1999 is really the business landscape is completely different.
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  Everything is faster, riskier, and tech driven.
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  If you haven't already dove into these AI tools, please, please, please pay for one of
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  the tools and use them.
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  I don't want you using these tools for free.
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  I want you to be able to protect your intellectual property.
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  But you've got to figure out tech tools.
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  You've got to figure out AI workflows.
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  It's just gonna make you, everything's moving faster and so you can't afford to be moving
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  slower.
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  And I get asked this question often, if I had to do it again from zero, just an idea in the
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  back bedroom of my house, would I start from scratch again?
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  The answer is absolutely not.
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  The reason why is because there's energy barriers, there's capital barriers, there's
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  technology barriers, and you want to position yourself to work smarter, not harder.
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  And what would I do instead if I didn't start from scratch?
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  Well, I would invest in a franchise or I would buy an existing business.
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  So let me just break down my options around this.
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  So if I were going to invest in a franchise, what are the pros of doing that?
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  Well, A, it's a proven business model that already makes money.
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  B, they have training.
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  Three, hopefully it's already a brand that has some brand recognition in the marketplace.
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  There's a lot less guesswork.
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  It's much faster to ramp up, and it's really ideal for today's uncertain economy.
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  The thing about it is, you guys, there's 4,000 franchise concepts in America, Four Thousand.
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  When we think of franchises, I think all of us think of McDonald's, Wendy's, like the food
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  franchises, but you guys, there's so many more in so many different sectors.
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  Health and wellness, pet care, elder care, certainly quick serve, food, restaurants.
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  But there's just so many options out here, commercial cleaning, lots and lots of areas
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  where you could find a franchise that could work for you.
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  Haircuttery, Fantastic Sam's, these are all franchise driven businesses.
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  Want you to think about, and they're not all like you got to have $3,000,000 You can get
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  affordable franchises.
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  There's a lot of franchises in the education space too that are worth looking at, daycare,
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  that kind of stuff.
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  So just think about, could you move further faster?
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  If you have great credit, savings, four zero one ks, you can tap into, really a franchise
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  could work.
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  One of the other options too, I'd like is to buy an existing business.
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  And the awesome thing about an existing business is existing businesses already have
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  customers.
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  So what that means is that you can generate cash flow on day one.
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  But now they also have staff, they have customers, they have infrastructure already
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  built.
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  And what you can do is just, I would not buy an existing business that you didn't see
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  additional runway for.
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  If this business has additional capacity, you could restructure the business and scale it up
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  and make it bigger.
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  Like if you buy a 1 to $3,000,000 business, how can you turn that business into a $10.20 or
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  $30,000,000 business?
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  That's what you want to think about.
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  What is your plan to expand this business?
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  The other thing you can do is once you buy a business, you can buy other adjacent businesses
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  and do what we call a roll up strategy and create a much bigger company.
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  So that's another option again.
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  And once you buy a business that has assets, you can borrow against those assets.
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  So just think about the different ways that you can grow a business.
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  It doesn't just have to be your original idea.
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  And let me just talk a little bit more about a roll up strategy.
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  So what is that?
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  A roll up strategy is when you buy multiple businesses that are the same or multiple
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  businesses that are complimentary so that you create a much bigger business.
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  And if you buy two or three complimentary businesses, you can create what we call
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  economies of scale.
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  Does each one of those little businesses need HR folks?
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  No, you can make one business the main business that manages it for all of them.
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  And why is this a smart move when the market is unpredictable?
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  Well, when the market is unpredictable, people wanna sell, people wanna get out.
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  So buying a business isn't necessarily a quick thing.
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  It can take eleven months to two years to find the right partner that's ready to sell.
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  But just do your due diligence, make sure you have a good team.
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  If you're somebody that thinks you wanna sell your business one day, the first thing you
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  gotta do is get audited financial statements so that you're ready for someone to do due
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  diligence on your business.
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  When I think about what people need to know about getting started in business today, Look,
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  you want to look at recession resilient industries, healthcare, home services,
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  education, tech.
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  Don't just start a business, buy cash flow.
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  That's why existing businesses are a little bit more attractive.
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  I would also say focus on service, value creation, building strong customer
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  relationships.
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  Those things are going to pay off over time.
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  And get comfortable with AI automation early.
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  Don't be out here afraid of it.
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  Hire somebody that knows how to do it.
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  Get them to create some AI workflows for you.
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  There's lots of businesses that have been created during tough times.
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  Microsoft was started in 1975 in a recession.
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  Disney was started in the Great Depression in 1929.
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  You've got Airbnb and Uber, they were started in the Great Recession of 'eight, 'nine.
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  Mailchimp is another one.
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  It was started in 02/2001.
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  There's many of them, TollhouseCookies, CNN.
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  I mean, there's lots of other businesses that were started in recessions, but it can be done.
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  I'm certainly not claiming that we're in a recession, but there's a lot of things pointing
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  to the fact that we may soon be in one.
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  But here's the thing I want you to know, tough times build tough entrepreneurs.
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  So don't be afraid of a recession, look for your angle to get rich during the recession.
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  So here's the thing, I'm not gonna romanticize this stuff for you.
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  Starting a business is hard.
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  That startup grind is not a joke.
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  So you wanna be smart, you wanna be strategic because these things make you unstoppable.
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  I want you to think about how you can build wealth in this new economy.
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  And listen, if there's anything I can do to support you, please reach out to me.
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  I am a coach, I have an online school, I have a monthly membership organization for women
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  business owners.
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  If you're serious about getting into business smarter and not harder, reach out to me.
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  Whether you want to buy a business, look into a franchise, or just scale your existing business
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  with a roll up strategy, I am here to help.
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  Before we wrap up, let me just leave you with this.
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  You never lose in business, either you win or you learn.
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  And you do not have to figure this out all alone.
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  If you are ready to stop guessing, if you want to start building a real business that
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  generates cash flow, freedom and impact, I'm here for you.
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  I would love to help you get there faster.
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  So Please reach out to me on my website, supportsmallbizladyuniversity.com.
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  I want to support you.
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  I want to have a one on one chat with you to see how I can support you in your business.
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  And if you're just getting started looking to level up your skills, to figure out whether or
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  not starting a business is for you right now, please grab a copy of my bestselling book,
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  Become Your Own Boss in twelve Months.
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  I really give you everything you need to think through whether or not you have the skills and
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  the appetite to start a business.
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  Because whether you buy into a franchise or not, you're still starting a business from
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  scratch.
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  You're in a location from scratch, although a franchise gives you a lot more systems and
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  things, you don't have to think through all that stuff yourself, they'll give it to you.
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  But make no mistake, you're still going to have to sell every single customer.
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  But I just want to say this is your season to build smart and win big.
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  I am here to help you every step of the way.
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  Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  I'll see you next time and until then, God bless.
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  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
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  more fantastic information and interviews.
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  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.