Challenges that rural small businesses face are their distance to clients, partners and resources. I’m sure many readers of the Infusionsoft blog will generally agree these challenges can make it tough to grow a business quickly and profitably.
Today, I found 14 tips for rural small businesses and I’ll add a few of my own. (Of course, these aren’t limited to only rural small businesses — any small business owner can use these tips!)
Some of the challenges that hinder the growth of small business are location to customers, increased costs, time to deliver products and services and other issues that turn the dream of owning a business into a chore.
3 Tips for Rural Small Businesses:
- Automate as much as you can.
When running your business, step back and think about how you could improve the use of your employees, time and energy. A few examples of business processes to look at: How are orders taken? Newsletters? E-mail campaigns? Discounts? The point is, you want to use automation to your advantage so you’ll be able to spend time pleasing customers and spending quality time with your family. (Seriously, look into Infusionsoft to automate your small business so you can grow profitably and quickly.) - Get a Web site.
I believe a Web site is one of the most important assets for every business — to own their own real estate on the Web with their Web site. You can easily get your own Web site in a matter of minutes for a relatively low cost. Many Web site hosts (like Bluehost, Dreamhost, iPowerWeb) and domain registrars (like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Register) offer special packages designed just for small business. If you’re not familiar with how to build a Web site, there are plenty of people who are — contract it out and deduct it off your taxes.
- Use Third-Party Fulfillment Processing.
If you are handling all the shipping and processing of products to your customers, you’re actually not leveraging automation. Consider using a third party to handle shipping of your products and services. Many of them are very quick, affordable and even provide return processing services. (If you’re an Infusionsoft user, check out our Partner Resource Directory which contains recommended partners that work with Infusionsoft.)
Read more tips like these on WorkIt Mom, 14 Tips for Really Rural Businesses. I found the link via Small Biz Survival.
I know we have plenty of clients who run a “rural small business,” we’d love to hear your tips in the comments below.
[Image credit: Markhillary on Flickr]
