CEO SPOTLIGHT
From Army Officer to Entrepreneur
By: Meghan Traynor
Kirby Atwell always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but he also felt called to serve in the military just as his father, grandparents, and great-grandparents had done. While Kirby knew he didn’t want to make the military a career, he knew for certain he wanted to serve. After attending West Point for four years and serving six years as an officer in the U.S. Army, Kirby got out of the military and immediately started his real estate business.
Ready to start something of his own, Kirby launched Green Vet Homes, a “real estate business that buys, rehabs, and rents properties with a mission of supporting veterans.” Green Vet Homes supports veterans by either renting their rehab properties to homeless veterans or by donating 10% of profits to a veteran-related cause. After successfully running Green Vet Homes for four years, Kirby decided to launch his second business, Living Off Rentals, to teach others how they can generate enough income to comfortably live off their rental properties. Since launching his second business in January, Kirby has seen great success in such a short amount of time that we just had to know his secrets!
Most importantly, Kirby’s advice for other small business owners, or those who are thinking of starting a small business, is to “keep things as simple as possible.” How, you ask? Avoid scaling. Kirby learned firsthand from a previous business he had that scaling is not the key to success. His previous business scaled too quickly, and he wished he had paid more attention to turning a profit instead of just getting bigger. In his current businesses Kirby intentionally keeps things smaller, all his staff is contracted, and things are running a lot more smoothly! But wait. How can you grow your business and keep things small? (more…)
Did You Know?
2021 is finally here (was 2020 just the longest year ever, or what?), and here at Powerhouse Planning we are all set to make the most of it. To get the year started off on the right foot, we’re focusing on business development. You know, that vague phrase tossed around the office so ubiquitously. What is business development, exactly? According to Forbes, “Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships,” a definition the author further clarifies as “. . . figuring out how the interactions of those forces combine together to create opportunities for growth.” We can definitely get on board with that.
Did you know that one of the pillars of Powerhouse is our business development service? Whether you need help with writing an award nomination package that will get your business the recognition it deserves, or you are on a nonprofit team that wants professional grant-writing work, or you need some help with your strategic planning, our business development services can help you make your small business grow. In addition, all business development services come with coaching, mentoring, and cheerleading because here at Powerhouse, we’re your biggest fans.
Tips for Business Development for Small Businesses
By: Randi Cairns
Interested in new ways to approach business development as a small business? Some of the best advice has stood the test of time (for example, content is and always will remain king). Here are a few other thoughts and ideas to consider if you’re interested in shaking things up for your business.
Go live! We’re all living glued to our computers these days for everything from our kids’ classes to our work meetings. You’re probably an internet pro by now if you weren’t already. And with too many Zoom calls to count, you’re probably also a lot more comfortable looking at your own face on video, right?
Use that to your advantage and create and share videos that showcase your business, your products, and/or your team. People may shop at businesses or use services, but they connect with people. So put the people behind your business front and center. Have fun with this. It doesn’t need to be perfectly curated or filtered, and you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously (unless you run a funeral home, and then perhaps more decorum is in order).
When you’re excited and passionate about what you do, it shows, and it makes others excited about what you’re doing too. (And you can grab one of those kids to do the videotaping!)
Recycle creatively. You don’t need to start from scratch with every piece of content, marketing collateral, or social media post you use. Especially if you’ve got great stuff already that people have responded well to. And even the stuff that got less than a stellar response can be useful as a starting point for new materials (if you’ve paid attention to what might have been executed differently).
Recycling isn’t just good for the environment, it’s also great for a small business budget. Look at what you’ve already created and think about how you might repurpose or reuse it again. Some content will be evergreen and that’s perfect already. Other things you can transform into something new altogether—like changing a blog post into video content or a report into an infographic. In these times, you have an almost endless list of creative opportunities to showcase your work and, more importantly, the story of your business. So be creative! (more…)
BUSINESS ETIQUETTE
How to Merge Business Development with Business Etiquette
By: Meredith Flory
As you grow and develop your small business, it’s important to not lose the special touches in customer service that encourage customers to support local and aspiring companies. There are ways to build into your business while being conscious of how your company interacts with the public. As you grow your company, be mindful of the ways you establish company etiquette, with an eye to the values and ethics that are important to you. Here are ways to think about interacting with customers, social media, and business partners while maintaining the values you established when your business was just a dream.
1. Interacting with Customers
Make customer service a part of your business plan. Thanks to online shopping and increasing interconnectedness, small business doesn’t have to be local, and customers can purchase goods and services from around the world. This means you need to stand out in the quality of goods and ease of customer service. Make sure to include in company planning what customer service looks like for your business. Growth plans shouldn’t only include product and sales but should also outline how you treat people and what kind of business culture you are developing.
Make sure employees are trained and committed to customer service. Do not assume when you make a hire that your employees will interact with customers the same way you would, even if you hired them in part due to their people skills. Establish company guidelines for behaviors such as time limits on returning contacts, away messages, language, and expectations for handling problems. Making this a part of job training, rather than fixing a problem when it appears, will help you, the employee, and the client. Win, win, win. (more…)
POWERHOUSE SERVICE & SUCCESS
Client Profile: HelloHealth
Powerhouse Services Provided: External Communications
“The best part of working with Powerhouse Planning was responsiveness and trust. Trust is the most important aspect of any business relationship. I would definitely choose to work with Powerhouse again!”
– Meagan Davies, HelloHealth
BUSINESS RESOURCES
Looking at creating or refining your business development plan can be daunting. There are a lot of things to keep in mind when determining which ways to grow or improve your company. For a good overview on what business development is and what goes in to creating a successful business development plan, check out The Ultimate Guide to Business Development.
If you want another perspective that offers some tips on how to get started, check out Investopedia’s blog.
For those who are trying to envision what a business development plan looks like in a post-COVID-19 world (and aren’t we all?), check out this article by Kevin Sneader and Bob Sternfels.
Wherever you are in your business development cycle, Powerhouse can help.
