Small business development- ideas?

[DaveO]

I've seen a couple recent posts by members who are self-employed, and thought it might be an idea to start a post about small business development and allow ideas to flow. I'm not a pro but I have friends and relatives who are self employed, and I hear them say they spend as much time drumming up new business as working on established business.

One of the things I hear them say is to create a searchable online presence. When you type your business name into Google along with the name of your town, what comes up? There are ways to get there: for instance, yelp.com and yellowpages.com offer free business postings on their sites which can get your foot in the door. (They offer different levels of premium services for a charge, of course.) CraigsList.org is another way to get free advertising- there are a couple welding businesses around here that maintain constant posts on CL.

I'd be curious to know if our self-employed members are on the approved vendors lists at their state and local contracting offices. My cousin got a gig with his county, who wanted barbecue grills for highway rest stops. He submitted a bid and won, partly because he suggested a clever design change, and they ask him back to do repairs. Right now the Virginia procurement website has an open bid for welding services: they are asking a rate per hour to perform as-needed repairs to snow removal equipment (they're gearing up now for winter). You may find these types of procurements by visiting the contracting website for your city / county / state; they may be called something like RFP (request for proposal) or IFB (invitation for bid). Sometimes there are bids that are reserved for small businesses.

The U.S. Small Business Administration website (SBA.gov) has ideas and links to resources across the country, which can put you in touch with the small business development center for your state. SBDCs offer training, consultation, and similar resources.

Anybody care to share an idea that has worked for them?

[Tritium]

I am a self employed Rancher who welds but only on the ranch (fences, equipment repairs and builds etc.).

Thurmond

[SeanMurphy265]

I think it depends on where you live. I moved from Memphis, TN to Amory, MS back in August, and I changed all my internet adds to Amory and have not had any calls! I got calls daily in Memphis between Craigslist, website, yellowpages.com. For small towns I think you have to put out a little cash to advertise. I've got to decide whether or not to put an add in the yellow pages or place an add in the local paper. Word of mouth is also big in a small town, big city not so much a big deal. Internet has not helped in Amory whereas in Memphis it was my #1 source.

[DaveO]

If it helps to generate ideas, I see guys around here marketing welding services toward
~ boat yards- mast, propeller, skeg, and cavitation plate repair
~ furniture repair
~ bike shops- steel, aluminum, and titanium frame repairs
~ truck repair- emphasis on mobile welding

Or maybe you've thought about these already~

[SeanMurphy265]

I think what happens is most people start out doing whatever comes through the door, to put some food on the table. After a while and word spreads most people end up specializing in something, because word gets out and return business. Most customers are loyal to good work and good service. My dad's best friend ended up doing the majority of his business around the logging industry. He still did other stuff, but mostly he worked on log trucks and logging equipment.

[DaveO]

Sure, you could see how that happens- develop the relationship, know the people, know the equipment, and accumulate the inventory of the right tools for a particular industry or client, and then you become the knowledgable dependable guy that knows the drill and doesn't have to figure things out. I knew a guy that traveled a bit specializing in maintenance and repair of pumps on fire trucks. It helped that he was factory trained and authorized, but he became the guy to call when there was a problem.

[hooda]

So far, I'm blown away by the amount of buzz a few dozen homemade business cards, and my non-drinking presence in the local biker-bar has generated. When I moved into the building I'm currently in, I laid low for the first couple of weeks. Selecting the place to go was spur of the moment and driven by desperation more than anything else. I needed a place to go NOW, and the price was right. I was forced to sleep in the building (I'll either start new or continue an existing thread on this), and was pleasantly surprised on the first Saturday morning when 60-70 Harleys came rolling up to the bar across the street for a start of a bike-run. I laid low for a couple of weeks to assess the situation, then introduced myself to the owner of the place. We hit it off immediately, and he started referring people to me right away for everything from a broken clutch cable on a $40,000 custom, to a leaf blower that had a gummed up carburetor. I have a bunch of obligations that have caused me to put the business on hold for a spell, but I'm fully confident that along with a little help from my friends here and on the other 2 forums that I frequent (ford trucks and harley's), that once I focus on it, things will take off nicely. Does anyone out there know how to get better exposure results when people use google?

[SeanMurphy265]

To get better results using google you need different people to click on your add from different computers. As in you can sign up for a free add at switchboard.com where you can place your name, address, phone, fax, website, and a description of your business. You can place an add on craigslist. You can also develop a website. Have people or go to different computers at a library, hotel, friends houses etc, and have them google welding in your town. Search for your add or information and then click on it; the more clicks your add receives the higher up you get on the search results. I have been told it takes around 10 clicks on your add or website for it move to the top of the results. Google also has a pay per click deal for your website, which places your company name at the very top of the page or the adds on the side of the page.

Switchboard.com (yellowpages) has an affordable deal $5.00 a month that will also help get your name at the top their results.

If you live in a small town you may get lucky and can sign up for google or switchboard's minimum pay services and get more exposure, especially if no other business have signed up for any of these services.

[SeanMurphy265]

In smaller towns sometimes you are better off to place an add in the yellowpages. If you have multiple companies producing yellow pages it gets complicated. I have a friend who places adds in two different yellowpages. He polls all of his customers to find out where they heard about his company. He found most younger people use the actual yellow book, but older people use the local yellow page company because the font size is larger than the original yellow pages.

[DaveO]

Glad to hear you got to know the guy at the bar, and not just for the business references he's passed on. By meeting him you established a trust relationship, and you can look out for each other- even if it's little things like accepting UPS deliveries for him while he's out, and vice versa. One of the things you can help each other out with, as friends and business owners, is physical security: I'd hate to hear about a B&E robbery, and you losing all your tools. Every now and again on Craig's List around here a guy posts something like "my truck was broken into, everything stolen, my business and my livelihood is destroyed, can you spare any tools so I can keep my business going", which makes you want to find the thief and give him a stern talking to (at midnight, behind the barn, with an ax handle).

[SeanMurphy265]

I spent some time getting all of my online (free) advertising updated. switchboard.com and yp.com both have free services. I also setup a free account from att advertising solutions that will help get my information out there as well. I'm hoping that I can get my business listed in the yellow pages without having to pay for an add. I still have a Memphis cell phone number, but I did not want to change it to a local numbers. I went to Skype and purchased a local number 3 months for $18.00, I wanted to see if a local number would help. With Skype I forwarded the number to my cell phone, so I do not need another phone line. I will probably look into placing an add in the local news paper's classified section.

[DaveO]

A local phone number is probably an excellent idea- if people are cautious about making a long distance phone number they may pass you over. (Remember when you could really get someone's attention by saying "Somebody is calling for you, long distance"?)

What kind of newspaper ad are you considering, a run for a week, or maybe a spot on a high circulation day? I forget where I was living at the time, but the Wednesday paper was a high circulation day because it was also the day to advertise job openings (in conjunction with Sunday). That will vary from town to town, of course.

Speaking of Sunday... at our church there's a Sunday bulletin with announcements and such, and it's paid for by advertisers who get a small square on the last page. If churches in your town do this, is this worth a consideration, in terms of generating business and generating word of mouth? I'm not asking SeanMurphy265 only, anyone else who can comment please let us know your experience.

[SeanMurphy265]

I was going to try a small classified add first to see if I get any calls.

[hooda]

Lately, I've been hounded by someone who CLAIMS to be from Google. And further claims she, and ONLY she, can give me the best google exposure for my website (she also claims to offer the best website creation on earth) . I'm what one might call less than savvy about this internet thingy, but I could see through her ploy to peel the greenbacks out of my wallet. Good thing I was enlightened here on how google works. Once I get a website up and running, I will use this thread for reference, and try having people I know from around the country search me out.

[DaveO]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure google is big enough that they wait for people to come to them.

Once I get a website up and running

You don't necessarily need a website first- there are free internet exposure options that Sean mentioned in this thread that can get your name and phone number out.

[geezer]

Welding skills, advertisements and websites will do little to make your business, you need an inovative product that you can build during the slack times when the phone is not ringing, for example, many years ago when Honda trykes were popular, people had the nasty habit of having their feet slip off the foot pegs and falling between the plastic fender and the foot peg, evenutally running over their own legs, very bad results, A local welding business started making large foot rests that replaced the foot pegs. Soon a demand for them was evident for saftey reasons and they were building and suppling to local dealers as aftermarket products.

That type of inovation (building foot rests) kept the shop humming and soon they were well known for other things and services.

With all the new rec vehicles out there some type of winch bracket or other device could be just the thing to set your apart and make your business grow.