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What's a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant is a business owner who provides administrative support and specialized services to assist businesses and executives with their overflow. A Virtual Assistant can handle any task that is usually handled by an in house employee, but unlike an employee, a Virtual Assistant shares your goals to succeed in business -- we only succeed if our clients succeed.

The Importance of Knowing the Three Stages of Your Businesses Life

So you want to start a business, or perhaps you have started a business and you feel like your business has hit a stalemate. As a business owner, it’s important to know that each and every business is subject to three stages: birth, growth and death. Without this knowledge it will be very difficult to develop and maintain a thriving business. If you cannot identify the stages, you run the risk of getting stuck or falling victim to an early end of your business. Let’s look at each stage and talk a little about how they will effect your thriving business.

Phase 1 – Birth

According to Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1), birth is any coming into existence; origin; beginning: the birth of an idea.

You’ve come up with an idea for a business and now you need to know what to do to make it come to fruition. Perhaps it isn’t an actual business you are trying to develop, but a new idea for your business to make it even better.

During the “birth” stage, you will need to do a lot of research and make various business decisions.

- What type of business will you have?

o Sole Proprietorship – This is the most common form of small business ownership. The liability of the owner is unlimited.
o Partnership – This is a legal relationship between two or more persons contractually associated as joint principals in a business.
o Corporation – This is where your company actually forms its own legal entity separate from you. There are many types of Corporations and it is best to do the research to ensure that you establish a Corporation that is best for both you and your business.

- What type of pricing are you going to have for your products or services?

- What type of financing, if any, is your business or venture going to need?

o Grants
o Loans

- Along with what type of financing, how much financing is your business or new venture going to require?

- What type of marketing or networking are you going to do so that word gets out about your business or venture?

- What type of internal operating procedures is your business going to require?

Phase 2 – Growth

The growth of your business, of course, is something that is very important. According to Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1), growth is of or denoting a business, industry, or equity security that grows or is expected to grow in value over a long period of time.

To grow your business, you need to make sure that you’ve decided on a target market (your preferred client) and your niche (the product/service you’re going to be offering). You need to locate your core client and then, from there, create new clients.

To create new clients, you may need to expand/diversify what you have to offer. Continue your education by:

- reading books
- attending seminars
- attending some college courses

By continuing your education, you will not only be learning, you will be learning various ways to expand/diversify your business.

As I’ve said before, you might also want to look at writing special reports or eBooks to add to your products.

And now…

Phase 3 – Death

According to Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1), death is extinction; destruction.

Indications that your business is dying could be:

- a drop in sales
- loss of profit
- competitors taking clients

Remember if your business is not in the birth or growth phase, it must be dying. To try to keep your business thriving, there are a few things you can do to avoid the death phase:

- Re-do your business plan
o Take a look at your business plan and see what changes can be made to keep your business growing.

- Reduce benefits
o If you have employees, you may want to look at their salaries, benefits and perks.
* Your employees may not be extremely excited that you’re taking benefits away from them or that they may not get a raise when they think they should, but they’ll also understand. They want to see your business stay alive and thrive just like you.

- Add competent personnel
o I know I just mentioned cutting costs and reducing benefits, but one thing you should also look at is your personnel and/or subcontractors. Make sure that the individuals you have employed or hired are competent enough to handle the tasks they are given.

To assist you with these questions and stages of your business, you can also look at http://www.sba.gov or http://strategis.ic.gc.ca. Another thing you can do for your thriving business is to purchase The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business to assist you along the way.

 

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