‘If I had it to do all over again, I would ...’
Small-business owners find experience points out missed opportunities
NEW YORK — April Oury started her physical therapy practice 14 years ago wanting to give all aspects of her business the same focus and attention to detail she gave patients — even when it came to choosing paint colors or an internet provider.
She wouldn’t do it that way again. “There was not enough time in the day or the workweek to put that kind of effort into every single thing,” says Oury, owner of eight Body Gears physical therapy centers in the Chicago area, San Diego and Clayton, Mo.
Probably every small-business owner would handle some things differently the next time. Learning from experience is part of starting and running a business, and the
list of things owners wish they could do over is likely endless.
Oury gave up her drive for ultraperfection when she realized it prevented her from getting things done. While she fixated on the details of a marketing brochure, “I missed all those opportunities to pass out a brochure because I didn’t have it in my hands.”
What others would change if they had the chance:
What’s in a name?
Andy Curry came up with what he thought was a unique name, WallaZoom, for an app he created over a year ago to help shoppers find local retailers. When he went to trademark it four months ago, he learned it was in the process of being trademarked by someone else. He hadn’t checked beforehand.
“I didn’t think there would be a chance of anyone else using that name in the trademark category of advertising and marketing,” says Curry, who’s located in Colorado Springs, Colo. He still hopes to get the name, but also has backups in case he can’t.
Selling themselves short
Jill Caren charged her web design clients a flat fee of $1,500 no matter how much work she did or how complex it was. She ended up working too many hours and not making enough money.
“I learned the hard way that low pricing is not the way to get quality business,” says Caren, owner of 2 Dogs Media, based in Marlboro, N.J. Her low prices tended to attract clients who were difficult and disrespectful. When she started charging based on what each job required, she got to spend more time with her family and got clients who appreciated her more.
Yungi Chu thought he’d sell more headsets and make more money by offering cheaper models and undercutting competitors. Six months after starting HeadSetPlus.com in 2003, he found he had very little profit: $2 a headset, and often just $100 a week. He decided to raise prices and sell wellknown brands. Sales picked up quickly.
“I found customers don’t mind paying more for better service, better products,” says Chu, who’s based in Redwood City, Calif.
Taking few risks
Vladimir Gendelman worried about running out of money when he started his printing business in 2003. He had $50,000 in credit, but for five years he built Company Folders very slowly. Revenue was under $20,000 the first two years. It accelerated gradually and by 2008 reached $525,000.
“If I could do it all again, I would spend the money faster so that I could create a better baseline to generate revenue sooner,” says Gendelman, whose company is based in Pontiac, Mich. “This means everything from building my website faster to hiring my first employee, which is something I waited five years to do instead of making that hire right away.”
Who is your customer?
BeenVerified.com, which helps people carry out background checks, didn’t do any market research or come up with a plan to target specific customers. Its marketing campaigns advertised the website’s features, not how it could benefit users. Over the first two years, it had barely any revenue, co-founder Ross Cohen says.
“You end up marketing this broad message and we found we were really talking to nobody,” says Cohen, whose company is based in New York. After BeenVerified.com began explaining how it could help users, the company went from annual revenue of a few hundred thousand dollars to $15 million in two years.