of all is in taking regular and effective action toward a worthy goal. Our personalized boost is certainly a big help to those businesses, but is by no means enough to create long-lasting success. That can only come from the many regular actions that they must take, and that you must also take. By the end of this book, you'll know exactly what steps you must follow to create that long-term success.
Companion Site
I have more good news for you. We have developed a companion website to this book. Some best practices in business are timeless, like certain effective leadership techniques. Other best practices are highly dynamic, like the best ways to be found by search engines.
In this book we give you a wide variety of these techniques. As those practices change, or we identify additional ones, we'll update the companion site accordingly. You can find it at deluxe.com/SBRbook.
You Are Part of a Worthy Tradition
I'm a huge believer that small businesses are the bedrock foundation of our communities, and also of our country. In any large or small city in America, the number of small businesses is much greater than the number of big employers. Small businesses create the majority of new jobs in our country and provide essential services to fellow citizens on a local and national level. Clearly, I don't want to take anything away from the big employers, because we are one of them! Large companies were once small companies too, and they also have a key role in community success, employing hundreds or even many thousands of people.
However, it's the small businesses that make up Main Street, before the big employers come to town and after they leave. It's where all the services are created that a community needs: auto repair, hair salon, watering hole, pizza parlor, health service, literacy center, and dozens of others. And it's where a huge variety of jobs are formed, money changes hands, and taxes get paid to pave the streets, build schools and parks, and deliver health care. In fact, big businesses don't move into towns unless the small businesses have already provided the solid foundation of people and services to make it all work.
This Guide Can Also Help You to Start a Business
One of the Deluxe companies is MyCorp, which offers cloud-based incorporation services for people who want to start businesses. That company gives us a unique window into the state of business formation in the United States. It was remarkable to see: in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of businesses formed skyrocketed. According to our data from MyCorp, business incorporations were up 11 percent year-over-year during the pandemic.
Clearly this pandemic caused people to stop and think about the jobs they had, or lost, and what other options there were. In some cases, they decided that this was the time to make their business dreams come true.
If you're one of those people, and you picked up this book in the hope that it might give you a boost to your brand-new business, you're absolutely right.
Our Deluxe team found in producing SBR virtually every business either was not using certain powerful business practices at all or they were using them ineffectively. For example, many businesses had no website, or their site was ancient and by no means presented the operation in the best light. In some cases, their site was solid, but the business was not using some other business-building method effectively, like email marketing.
In a sense, new businesses can especially benefit from this book, because they don't need to unplug or unlearn outdated practices. They can start fresh and in the direction that's been proven to work, instead of having to figure it all out the hard way.
How SBR Analyzed Businesses, and How This Book Is Organized
You can see from the Contents that most of the chapters are on specific business-growth principles. Certainly, it's possible to dip in and out, depending on what you need at the moment. However, you'll benefit the most from reading this book in the order that you find the chapters.
In the SBR series, we followed a methodical approach to helping businesses. First, we got acquainted (as we have in this first chapter). Then we sat down with the business owners and got a sense of how the business came about, and what the revenue and expense situation look like. Then we explored the assets of the business, not so much in terms of equipment but the products and services that are most successful.
Then the discussion shifted to the positioning of the business in the community: where business comes from, what we know about customers, and what the unique positioning of the business is, if any. There's also a discussion of the competition or any other seismic events facing the business.
The final part of the interview revolved around some difficult discussions and initial actions to be taken. In some cases that meant bringing in special talent to the business or making sure that written agreements existed among friends. Business has a way of testing friendships; if you have a real business, you might start with a handshake, but you need to follow up with something in writing.
In the SBR series, this is the point at which the Deluxe team of experienced professionals like Amanda, Julie Gordon, Cameron Potts, and many others rolled up their sleeves and brought their expertise to bear. Each episode is a bit different, but also similar in certain respects.
That's where this book will be particularly handy to you. The chapters do a deep dive into key business elements, and especially where many small businesses run into trouble. As you read each chapter, either make notes in the margins or have some paper handy, because you'll need it. This is a read-think-and-do kind of book, and not some new business theory that doesn't get specific.
You're likely to find one chapter may be pretty familiar information to you, and several others are not. This also will vary by business, but I can tell you this: we chose some great businesses in the many episodes of SBR, and not a single one of them was successfully using all the advice that we cover in these chapters.
Now that I've given you some perspective on what this book is about and how it can help you, it's time to ask some hard questions about your business. That's the topic of Chapter 2.
Note
1 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Annenberg.
2 Why? Tough Questions, Tough Decisions
I FREQUENTLY SPEAK with small-business owners around the country. Sometimes we have the chance to sit down over coffee or a meal—or, more recently, over Zoom. I have certain questions that I've found to be most useful in understanding their businesses. Perhaps the most important question: “Why are you doing what you're doing?”
With some of the businesses we see in the SBR series, the answer may be: “I love to bake.” In the case of Ohm Nohm Bakery & Cafe in Season 5, Episode 5, we met the owner, Jessamine Daly-Griffen. She was a devoted mother of kids who needed gluten-free baked goods. For her, the original “why” was “I couldn't find healthy and delicious baked goods for my family nearby, so I decided to make them myself.” That's a wonderful example of taking matters into your own hands and solving a problem. I tip my hat to her.
Here's the interesting thing: your “why” may change
