It’s a tough world out there, no matter the industry of a business, and it takes a thick-skinned person with persistence and tenacity to be successful in any small business. For women, some of the challenges can be especially difficult. In the U.S. we have come a long way from the Women’s Right Movement in the 1920s, but even so many women still face lower wages than men, more prejudice than male counterparts, and more sexual harassment than men do. Many single mothers face the challenge of raising a family alone while at the same time trying to bring in an income.

As easy as it is to focus on those challenges, sometimes it’s better to turn your attention to those things you can control. So instead of attacking the system, this article focuses on ways we as women can take our fate into our own hands and succeed at owning our own small businesses. And while I’m specifically talking to women in this post, most of these points are equally applicable to anyone starting a business.

Ask for Help When Needed

In a business world still predominantly male, women may be pressured to rely on their own resources. Don’t try to conquer the world on your own if you can identify people who can help you attain your goals. Everyone needs help at times. Surround yourself with a strong support base who believes in you and your dream. Consider everyone’s advice. If someone’s advice doesn’t work for you then don’t use it. Network within your field and establish a base of support by finding other like-minded individuals. Look for people in similar situations as yours, if possible. Start an advisory group. Check out the local chapter of the Small Business Administration. Resources abound, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Another very important resource that every woman who owns a small business should take advantage of is the Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Certification. Holding this certification gives women tax breaks and other helpful advantages. For more information, check out this Inc.com article.

Research Your Business and Ideas

To really find success in a business, thoroughly research your idea. Make sure you are creating a brand that people need. Strategically identify every aspect of the market you plan on tapping into. The more information you acquire, the more you will avoid surprises and the easier it will be to make informed and logical decisions.

Of course, this researching applies even after you get your startup going. Never stop learning! Technology changes constantly and  so do most industries. Stay on top of the most recent happenings by carefully selecting a few trade journals or regional publications to subscribe to. It’s a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of the industry and also identify up-and-coming competitors.

Business is Business

Don’t forget that you are going to have  to make tough decisions and you can’t always expect everyone to agree with them. Your business requires you to be shrewd. Try to make decisions that will benefit your employees but ultimately serve the needs of your business. This can be the most difficult task, but could be a huge factor in the success of your company.

If you are like me, then you probably have an emotional attachment with most of your contractors or employees or even suppliers or partners within your industry. However, there was a point in time when I had to make the tough decision and let my contractors go before the rest of my business went down, which is something I could not afford to let happen. When you arrive at tough decisions such as this, it may be helpful to draw up a “pros” and “cons” list to help you better see the situation with an objective eye rather than an emotional one.

Maintain Control of Your Finances

Keep an eye on your money. Understand what is happening in your company on every level. Where are you losing money? Where are you making money? Are your largest margins of profit occurring on holidays? Is your business a seasonal commodity?

Don’t just look at your finances when you file your taxes or run into financial trouble. Keep an eye on them throughout the year and remember that understanding your finances will provide you with more information about your company and render a roadmap to help you navigate through the complex field of business. You may want to have a day each month set aside to evaluate your cashflow and other financial indicators.

Don’t Stop Pursuing Success

photo by flickr user Zahlm

If you run into road blocks, don’t stop moving forward with your goals. To avoid procrastination, map out a plan. Putting your goals into a realistic arrangement will allow you to focus on one step at a time. To avoid becoming overwhelmed,  keep your tasks in an achievable format. Create a to-do list and work toward checking off a certain amount of items each and every day. This will keep you actively engaged. Creating lists is one of my personal weak points; I tend to put off creating a daily or weekly to-do list. However, I notice that every time I work with a list in front of me, I get more done than when I my list is absent.

You may also want to embody positive mantras to help motivate and push you when you are struggling to keep active. For example, “All you can do is the next right thing.” Learn from each experience, whether positive or negative. You can only fail if you stop pursuing your goals.

Here’s a trick from personal experience: one of my favorite times for gaining motivation is during my exercise time, whether I am doing a cardio routine, weights, or yoga. I find the empowerment and confidence that I need for the rest of the day in my morning exercise routine. Having a mantra, such as the one mentioned beforehand, in mind while exercising also gives me a motivating point of focus both during my workout and for all of my tasks the rest of the day, whether its in my business or time with my kids.

Take Full Advantage of Technology

New resources are being created every day. Utilize programs created to streamline your many business needs. Social media is a great way to expand awareness of your brand while allowing you to market your business and advertise its products at a relatively low cost. Be careful, though, as Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ can be quite  time consuming. Allot a small amount of time each day to your social media marketing and then leave it alone for the rest of the day.

If your industry offers classes for businesses in your field, sign up. Look for opportunities to pull ahead of the competition, such as taking an accredited course to gain some highly desired skills. Watch competitors in your industry to see what resources they are utilizing and do the same. Remain creative by continually looking for ways to use technology to build your business.

For More Information

For more reading on this topic, check out the following resources:

• http://www.5min.com/Video/Business-Advice-for-Women-242587922
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/05/20/top-five-tips-for-women-small-business-owners/
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/avrildavid/2011/10/17/claudette-christians-10-tips-for-women-in-business/
• http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/7394258-1.html

Tara Hornor has a degree in English and has found her niche writing about marketing, advertising, branding, graphic design, and desktop publishing. She writes for PrintPlace.com, an online printing company that offers brochure printing services, business cards, flyer printing services, posters, postcards, booklet printing services, and more printed marketing media. In addition to her writing career, Tara also enjoys spending time with her husband and two children.

How many times have you thought “somebody should make…” or “why doesn’t anybody sell…”? Palo Alto Software customer Kelly Chaney had a moment like that, but instead of just wondering why nobody was making cake mix for dogs, she decided to solve the problem by becoming the somebody who does. And so Puppy Cake, innovative and gourmet treats for dogs, was born.

“People, myself included, love their dogs. I imagined that many dog owners would want to provide their dog with a cake. I wanted to create a cake mix that was close to cake mix for people”  she explains, but with ingredients that were dog friendly, like carob in place of chocolate. The mixes are professionally packaged and like regular cake mix, require just an egg, oil, and water to create a finished cake or batch of cupcakes. They even include a yogurt frosting mix so you can top your dog’s treat just like a traditional cake.

If Puppy Cake sounds familiar, it may be because you recently saw Kelly on the T.V. show Shark Tank. Kelly says she had been a fan of the show for years, adding “I have used the advice they give other entrepreneurs to help my own business. Auditioning for the show was a no brainer.”  While she didn’t get funding for her business, she did get national television exposure which was a boon for her business. “Appearing on the show was huge for Puppy Cake. We are still cashing in on the free publicity.” In fact, Kelly recently used the business plan she created with Business Plan Pro to pitch to a major investor who found her after seeing the show.

Kelly found that her biggest challenge in getting her business off the ground was her own inexperience. She started the company at the ripe old age of 21, and says “I thought I could do anything and that I knew enough to start a business. In some ways I was right – I could do anything and I did know enough to start a business, but definitely not enough to know how to run a business well.” For instance, she was able to secure a line of credit to finance the company fairly easily, and she found it was just as easy to burn through the money, primarily on inefficient advertising campaigns.

“I had no idea how difficult it was to make a dollar,” Kelly notes. “Perhaps it was my youthful naivete fueled by the American dream, but I really thought I would have $1,000,000 in sales in the first year. But it takes time to build a brand and reputation.”

Kelly was quick to learn from her mistakes. “I got creative in advertising my business. I require all of my advertising campaigns to have 100% ROI and I have sophisticated ways of calculating the ROI before I make the ad spend.” Social media plays a big role in her efforts, she says, noting “It’s an excellent way to connect with my customers and fans of Puppy Cake.”

Puppy Cake has already seen great growth (sales jumped 250% from year one to two!) and Kelly’s future plans include getting her mixes into more retail locations. “I have no doubt in my mind that in five years, Puppy Cake products will be in every major retailer that sells pet products.”

Learn more about Puppy Cake, healthy and satisfying treats for dogs.

With colleges receiving record numbers of applications each year, any edge students can get helps increase the chances of getting in to their chosen schools. And that’s where The Edge in College Prep comes in.

Started in late 2005 by Palo Alto Software customer Jessica Brondo, The Edge in College Prep provides in-person and online admissions counseling and tutoring for standardized tests, test prep boot camps for schools, and online SAT courses.

Brondo got her start as a tutor in high school and continued helping other students throughout her college days at Princeton. She then went to work for an SAT prep company before deciding to launch her own business, which she says “has a much more customized and global focus than other companies.”

Recently, the 24-person company expanded to cover six international cities and grew revenues by a whopping 500%. “I never expected to go international so soon. We hit Europe and Latin America very quickly!” With some big names in the same space as competition, Brondo’s company has benefited from the same kind of edge that students get when they use her service.

In this case, the edge is a creative approach to problem solving, which has played a major role in the company’s success and growth. Brondo says one of the biggest challenges she’s faced in her business has been “finding quality, standardized test instructors who have the perfect balance of intellect and charisma, especially in smaller cities.”

The solution was not to be dependent on local talent to get her services where they were needed. “Over the last six years, online seems to be the direction a lot of students are going,” Brondo notes. So the Edge shifted focus. “We developed an innovative online learning platform, as well as Skype tutoring. We also recently launched our first online course for the SAT which gives students 24/7 access to nearly 700 questions and 1,000 instructional videos.”

A lot of people dream of making a similar transition, and according to Jessica, confidence is the key.  “A lot of times, it can be overwhelming to think about competing with some of the larger companies, and some entrepreneurs get frustrated about trying to accomplish too many  things. I often think that people are too focused on what other companies are doing and less focused on just doing what they do really well. In yoga, teachers will tell you to focus on what is going on your mat and not look around at what others are doing and I think that holds true as an entrepreneur.”

The Edge in College Prep is a growing business. Within five years, says Brondo, they expect to employ 100 people. “We hope to continue the expansion of additional online course products, and hope to create a network of Edge-certified tutors throughout the world for students looking to supplement their courses with in-person or online tutoring.”

Two years ago we introduced our readers to Business Plan Pro user Sarah Lanphier of Nuts About Granola. She was a young entrepreneur who turned a one-time fundraiser into a successful business.

Today, the small business Sarah started with her mother, Gayle, is growing beyond what anyone, except maybe Sarah, might have imagined. In the fall, they closed not one, but two big deals that are taking Nuts About Granola to a whole new level.

First came a co-packing agreement with Alpina Foods. Apina was looking for a company to produce granola to accompany their new line of Revive Greek yogurt, when they “stumbled upon” Nuts About Granola. As Sarah says it wasn’t just a lucky coincidence. “The reason they found me is because I worked very hard so I could be found. You have to prepare yourself for the moment when an opportunity arises.”

Preparing for success

Part of the preparation that led to the partnership with Alpina was carefully managing her online presence, which includes a website, Facebook page, Twitter, and LinkedIn. “I manage all of them, update them regularly, make sure they all work together and have the same message.” Sarah says that played a big part in how Alpina found her and why they wanted to work with her company.

Before the Alpina deal came along, Nuts about Granola was working out of a commercial kitchen with an attached 2,000 square foot storage facility. With Alpina needing 10,000 pounds of granola a month, Sarah knew they’d need to expand, which lead to the next big development – a partnership with the Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired (SABVI) and Shiloh Farms to utilize the SABVI’s 19,000 square foot manufacturing facility. “Partnering with SABVI means we’re truly going to be a food manufacturing facility. So we can do the Aplina account, and take on other accounts as well.”

Sarah started her business with a mission of supporting local businesses and farmers. Now her desire to give back to her community has broadened. “That was the point of partnering with the blind center: to create jobs for the vision impaired.  It’s awesome,” she says.

“I always knew that I wanted to get to this point. So I did things along the way that prepared me to be ready to take advantage of the opportunities that came along,” says Sarah. She calls herself a planner by nature, so she planned for success from the very beginning. She says this includes doing endless amounts of research, and “always having a contact who knows a lot more about what you’re doing than you do.”

Growth isn’t without its challenges, Sarah notes. “The hardest part of expanding is logistics. With every increment of growth, you have a new set of problems. And they don’t scale; sometimes they just pile on top of each other.”

But Sarah doesn’t let the challenges get in her way. She’s still running marathons and racing triathlons and still loving what she does. “This industry is very in line with my lifestyle. A lot of the races I do, our business sponsors. It overlaps, and because it’s integrated it’s a lot of fun. It may be a business function, but I’d be doing it anyway. I think that’s really the key to making it not seem like I’m working all the time.”

Nuts About Granola has been featured on the Rachael Ray show and has found its way into the gift bags at two Emmy® Awards. Soon you’ll be able to find it on your local grocery store shelves, sitting atop cups of Greek yogurt. With Sarah Lanphier’s drive, determination, and planning skills, who knows where Nuts About Granola will turn up next.

Bonus Recipe: PB&J Pumpkin Pancakes

Sarah was kind enough to share this recipe with us. Created by her blog manager Lauren Podolsky, it includes peanut butter and jelly flavored granola to make delicious-looking pancakes.

photo by Lauren Podolsky

Ingredients
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup skim milk (or almond, soy or rice milk)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 C College Staple Granola (divided)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, pumpkin puree, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract, mixing well until smooth.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing with a spatula until just combined.
4. Stir in half of the granola and mix to combine.
5. Heat a frying pan or griddle over medium heat.
6. Lightly spray the pan with cooking spray, and, in 1/4-cup increments, cook each pancake until lightly browned on each side, about 1 minute per side.
7.  Repeat with the remaining batter.
8.  Top with remaining granola, sliced banana, and maple syrup.

Enjoy!

You can follow Sarah and her growing success on Twitter: @granola_grl and @nutsaboutgranola

Don Barton’s family has been farming walnuts in the San Joaquin Valley for four generations. In 1912, his great grandfather, P.F. Barton, rode a boxcar west from Illinois and settled in Oakdale, California to grow prunes and walnuts on what became the Barton Ranch. Almost 100 years later, the walnuts are still growing in Oakdale, and his descendants have grown the family business to include processing, packaging, and shipping walnuts all around the world.

Don had left the ranch and moved to the East Coast after getting his MBA in Agribusiness, leaving his brothers, Brent and Gary, to manage the business. In 2002, Brent was approached by a neighbor who wanted the Bartons to take over his walnut shelling and packaging operation. Until then, the family had been involved only in the growing and harvesting of walnuts, but not processing. It was a logical step, but also a big one. Still, Don agreed when Brent suggested he come back to California and run the new arm of the family business, GoldRiver Orchards.

Securing Loans and Planning for the Future

While most of the funding for the new venture came from internal sources, the company did need to seek funding to purchase some new equipment. To write the plan the bank required for the loan, Don bought his first copy of Business Plan Pro. “It provided an excellent template to allow us to think critically about the business–not just in terms of the financial forecast, but also in terms of our intended markets, our competitive set, and how we would build a brand.” The business plan Don created using Business Plan Pro was presented to the bank and secured the loan in excess of $1 million. And business has been even better than he had planned. “I’m happy to report that our initial assumptions were conservative, but we never underestimate the value of planning.”

Don recently upgraded to Business Plan Pro Version 11. “We plan to build a new processing plant in time for the 2013 crop. As we begin the planning for the land purchase and build-out of the new facility, I thought it would be important to update our business plan with an eye on the new facility and its implications–both financially and in terms of sales volume–to our existing business.”

He quotes Dwight Eisenhower, when he says, ” ‘Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.’ We at GoldRiver Orchards could not agree more.”

There were a couple of challenges that came with writing the original plan for GoldRiver Orchards. One was figuring out how to incorporate “a long-established business culture on the ranch into the brand-new–and just evolving–business culture of GoldRiver Orchards. A second challenge was to cast our vision over the upcoming five-year period and try to envision where GoldRiver would be by the end of that five years. Many of the goals set in that plan have not only been achieved, but exceeded. Other goals have been set aside owing to the changing marketplace.”

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Don Barton

In the years Don was away from Barton Ranch, he worked in marketing at several large companies, including Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. and The H.J. Heinz Corporation. He finds many benefits to working for himself. “You’re learning from your own mistakes and seeing a direct correlation to the cost of those mistakes. You set your own work schedule and work hours. You are able to establish the tone and culture of your organization, and pass those values along to your employees.”

Those values run unusually deep at GoldRiver Orchards, when you consider that it is located right next door to the ranch that has been home to much of Don’s family. Recently Don’s son Josh joined his uncles, Gary and Brent, on the management team at Barton Ranch, making him the fifth generation involved in running that side of the business. Among the mementos of family that can still be found on the ranch is the small house that Don’s father was raised in. “It has housed at least three different families of Bartons throughout its history and is a living testament to the family’s roots on this land and our heritage as farmers.” One of the largest walnut trees in the country can also be found on the ranch. It’s the sole survivor of the original walnut crop P.F. Barton planted. “It’s healthy, thriving, and still productive after all of these years. And, as you might imagine, it gets a lot of tender loving care and personal attention from our family members.”

In his final comments, you get the sense that the spirit of P.F. Barton is alive and well at GoldRiver Orchards, and in Don Barton. Talking about the rewards of entrepreneurship, he says, “Best of all, you have the unique opportunity of being a pioneer–of building something that you hope and expect your grandchildren and great grandchildren will someday be a part of.”

Sarah Lanphier was a sophomore at Elizabethtown College competing on the triathlon team. When the squad needed to raise money to attend a national meet, she thought outside the (cookie) box.  “Instead of selling cookies or something like that, I had this recipe for granola. So I packaged it and sold it. And it was very successful.”

Since then there’s been no stopping her. By the time she graduated from Elizabethtown in 2009, she and her mother, Gayle, had turned a one-time fundraising scheme into Nuts About Granola LLC, selling hand-made granola at farmers’ markets throughout South Central Pennsylvania and online, at www.nutsaboutgranola.com.

Getting Organized

Sarah was still in college when she decided to get serious about granola as a business. In December, 2007, she realized she needed a business plan. “The purpose of my plan was not to take to a bank. It was more to gather my thoughts and try to lay them out — to organize my thoughts and put them on paper.” It was a somewhat daunting

prospect, she remembers. As a business major, she was aware of a course called New Venture Creation, which took students through the process of writing a business plan.

“I thought… I have to write this 30-page document [for my business], I might as well get credit for it. Plus, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know how to write a business plan. I didn’t even know what-all was in a business plan!”

So she signed up for the class, and discovered Business Plan Pro. “We used the program as a step-by-step tool to guide us through the entire process. It made it easy; you’re not just pulling things out of thin air.”

Sarah says the examples found throughout the software were particularly helpful. “You could see the general descriptions that the software gave you. But it was sometimes difficult to… translate that into your business. Then you read a couple of examples of other businesses and how they interpreted the guidelines and it was really easy to then write it for your business.”

Fresh, local, and real

Sarah and Gayle Lanphier

Part of Nuts About Granola’s mission is to support local businesses and farmers. In addition to selling their products at farmer’s markets and online, they do sell their products wholesale. But the company requires vendors to be independently-owned businesses — no big corporate chains for Nuts About Granola, says Sarah. “It’s very locally focused.” As supporters of the Buy Fresh, Buy Local movement, Nuts About Granola products contain only all natural, local ingredients and have earned the “PA Preferred” seal from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Sarah creates all the granola recipes herself, and one of her favorite parts of the business is interacting with her customers at the farmers’ markets. “It’s fun for me to develop those recipes and test them out. I really enjoy that aspect of it.” With flavors including “College Staple,” “Lover’s Combo,” and “Orange Creamsicle,” her goal is to create unique flavor combinations that are delicious served with milk or on top of yogurt or ice cream, or eaten right out of the bag.

Nuts About Granola seeks to create support for local businesses and bring healthy, natural products to consumers who might be used to something more processed and artificial. “We’re trying to bring back the local bakeries and the local stores by offering fresh product. We serve real food. We don’t use preservatives and artificial ingredients. It’s just food. We want to bring back real food!”

There’s more than enough bad news in the world.

That’s basically how Paul Gerstenberger used to feel. Murders, fires, wars… Gerstenberger started feeling like the purpose of the daily news was just to make him feel bad on a regular basis. “I decided then to start trying to change that, and at least give people the option of also seeing some good going on in our world,” he remembers.

In 1996, Paul and his wife Celerina started GoodNewsDaily.com, a website dedicated to sharing only good news. “Since that time we have worked every day, for free, to find and post the good news of the day — not religious or politically leaning, but simply good news.” The site now receives stories from readers across the globe, and covers topics ranging from U.S. and international news, to sports, entertainment, even good weather news.
“We have grown to almost half a million readers….without any money or any advertising,” Paul notes, adding a television pilot for a 24-hour Good News channel is currently in the works.

Paul began using Business Plan Pro in 1996, and has written business plans for a number of businesses he has launched. Calling himself a serial entrepreneur, he says, “I have used Business Plan Pro for many years and within many different ventures. I have raised millions of dollars using the plan [software]… It is great and really gives the professional investor an insight into your company and your ability. It helps so much, I would be lost without it.”

The business plan for Good News Daily was an interesting one, Paul says, because it was the first one he’s written in which making money was not the objective. The process was, as always, a valuable one. “It helps me to clarify my thinking and to think of things that I did not consider,” he says. “The business plan process through Business Plan Pro is without any doubt the best available to help get your business on track.”

Paul’s ventures run the gamut from car rentals to self-defense classes, non-profit children’s health research to diamonds. He says he’s written plans for about 16 businesses, and hasn’t always used Business Plan Pro. The stories he could tell about those plans written without Business Plan Pro definitely would not be appropriate for his GoodNewsDaily.com website. “Frankly,” he says, “trying to write a plan without Business Plan Pro is a major mistake.”

A quote in one of my email newsletters caught my eye today.

 ”As you grow in this business, you learn how to do more with less.”

–Morgan Freeman,
recipient of 2008 Kennedy Center Honors Award

If you drop the “this” out of the quote, those words can hold true for small businesses.

“As you grow in business, you learn how to do more with less.”

Fantastic words to think on for the day.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager