Small Business Startup - The 90/10 Rule

Small business startups require a lot of work. You might however, be surprised by what type of work should be taking up the majority of your time. Computer consultants, when they contemplate small business startups, tend to focus on the technical aspects of the business. The rational is that they want to offer a decent service and must have great technical skills before anyone will be willing to pay them.

In fact, the 90/10 Rule tells us that during small business startups, 90% of your time should be spent on direct marketing activities and only 10% on building technical skills. The type of small business startup activities to spend 90% of your time on include:
prospecting
lead generation
going out on sales calls
preparing proposals

During the small business startup phase you must be very attuned to the need for acquiring high quality clients. Every non client hour that does not have to go into administrative or organizational duties should be plowed into prospecting and networking. This can ease up a bit once you start to get beyond the small business startup phase. For now though, client generation is your priority.

The Bottom Line on Small Business Startup

For small business startups, following the 90/10 Rule is critical. Spending 90% of your time on direct marketing and business development activity versus 10% on technical skills development is a trade-off that is well worth it. There is no point gaining technical skills if you have no clients to practice them on. Small business startup is a time that will make or break your business. Put your training and certifications on hold for a while and get out meeting people and making as many contacts as possible.

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