The Basics Of Creating An Embroidery Business Plan

The Basics Of Creating An Embroidery Business Plan

by | | Embroidery Business Planning

A business plan will give you a clear direction on the steps you intend to take in the running of your embroidery business and help you to stay on track so that your business can grow.

A key element to writing a great, actionable embroidery business plan is to take it piece by piece. You can begin by planning out your day-to-day actions. A great Simple Working Plan needs to be laid out at the end of every day. Set aside a few minutes to write down the things that need to be done the following day, prioritize them, and you are ready for the next day‚’s work.

When you are in the habit of planning the next day‚’s work, you can move on to planning your week. At the end of every week, set aside some time to lay out your next week‚’s work. This will help you to know if you have spots open for more embroidery work as it comes in.

As the planning progresses and you are able to schedule out a few weeks' worths of work, you are then ready to really think about how to plan out your entire embroidery business.

An important part of any business plan is to include how you intend to check your progress along the way. Because there are so many different types of business plans, some you find may already include this, and some may not. In either circumstance, you will want to create for yourself a simple plan or roadmap to help you check your progress and make sure you are staying on track.

This simple embroidery business plan will require you to do some research on your embroidery competition, what is going on in your market and what you can do to stand out from the crowd.

You will also want to write down why you want this embroidery business and what goals you intend to reach as a result. These will be your markers and help you to create a plan that is real and one that you will actually use!

Now, if you are planning on seeking financial assistance, then you will need to progress to a formal business plan. This will take some more research so that you have the right facts and figures to present to the financial institution. Take your time and fill this in as you use your simple business plan.

It does not matter if you are using a simple plan only or if you are writing a formal Embroidery business plan, it is important to remember that you will be making changes to your embroidery business plan and will adjust it as you go, just make sure that you are referring to your plan to help keep you on course and using it to help you make the right decisions.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

3 Tips To Help You Prepare To Make More Money In The Coming Year

3 Tips To Help You Prepare To Make More Money In The Coming Year

by | | Embroidery Business Management

We all need to start thinking about how we can prepare to make more money in the coming year! I have been working on my new marketing plan and during this time I have come up with 3 Tips that may help you as you are preparing to make more money in the coming year.

  1. Create A Great Mindset!
  2. Set Your Goals!
  3. Start The Year Off With All Of Your Financials In Order!

Create A Great Mindset!

This is the very beginning and most important tip of the 3. That is why it is No. 1.
Do you have a great or positive Mindset? Many times our thoughts, especially the negative ones, are what hold us back from succeeding at what we want to achieve and may really be hurting our chances of having a successful embroidery business. I thought that I had a positive mindset but I discovered that I had fallen victim to a negative mindset and it was all of my own self-talk and negative feelings.

I wanted to charge higher prices for my embroidery work when I first started my business but then the negative talk started. I had been told so many times that there was no way that I was going to be able to make a living with an embroidery business that I actually started believing it.

We second-guess ourselves and we have doubts when this happens. With all of the negative thoughts and other people‚’s opinions, we soon tell ourselves that we aren‚’t good enough, smart enough, talented enough, or whatever to be able to charge the prices we want or need to for our work. So we end up just settling for what we think we can get and really create a tough struggle for ourselves.

This was a huge struggle for me when I first started my embroidery business and it lasted for almost 15 years!I was determined to have the highest quality embroidery of anyone that I knew of that was in the embroidery business and I was told many times that I had accomplished that. I was offering this very high-quality embroidery at a price that was as low or lower than the embroidery businesses that were offering low quality. How stupid was that!

I thought that my customers would not pay the prices that I really wanted to charge and I found that the secret is not to project your thinking & feelings onto your customers! This mindset held me back for 15 years! Since everyone else was charging low prices, I thought that I had to stay in line with them or charge less to get the customers. That mindset almost cost me my entire business!

I did not realize that what I had to offer was a product that I could have priced much higher right from the beginning of my business but my mindset had blocked my ability to see that. It took my accountant practically batting me in the head to get this point across.

It was a struggle for me to change that mindset but with his help, I was able to do so. I guess you would say, he was my first business coach. When I changed my total mindset and started promoting my quality product and excellent customer service I had plenty of work! Most of my customers were already coming to me for my quality and service and when I raised the prices, they were OK with that.

I would love to be able to convince you and all embroiderers that you need to charge for your expertise. We are not or should not be struggling artists! We are highly skilled professionals and should be paid accordingly and you need to develop the mindset of a professional!

Set Your Goals For The New Year!

Now is the time to start thinking about the new goals for the coming year! This year is already half over and we need to be prepared to get the new year started off on the right foot! Are you on target to reach your goals this year? If not, how far are you from reaching them? What is the obstacle that is in the way that has prevented you from reaching your goals?

Sit down with a pad and paper and look back over each month of this past year and see where you were and think about what you could change to make this next year a more profitable year.

Now is the time to set your new goals for the coming year. Do not wait until January gets here. You need to get prepared months in advance so that you can start January off with the right plan to reach those goals.

Setting your goals is the very first step in creating your plan for the coming year. Do not set goals so high that you cannot reach them and do not set them so low that they do not mean anything. Set your goals a little out of your reach so that you do have to stretch in order to reach them.

Write down your Goals. I have found that if I commit to them on paper, not just on the computer, but actually writing them down they mean a lot more and I am more apt to follow through and reach my goals. You must create a plan for each one of your goals in order to be able to reach them.

Start The Year Off With All Of Your Financials In Order

Do you know how where you will stand financially for your year end? I know that the year has not yet ended and we  are few months away, but you should be able to anticipate how your year is going to end.

Are you happy with the results of where you are presently? Can you run off a quick report and see where you are today? You may or may not be happy with the way that your year is going to end or where you are today, but knowing exactly where you are financially is the first step in being able to make a change.

Without the knowledge of your current status, it is impossible to create a plan that is going to help you reach your goals and make the necessary changes in your business to do so for the coming year.

If you cannot run off a quick report to find out where you are, you need to start preparing to get all of your financials in order and be ready to start the new year going in the right direction. By the time the year ends, you need to have all of this information gathered.

  • All of your expenses, month by month
  • Your credit card purchases
  • Your Bank Statements
  • Loan information

Your next step is to see if you are making a profit. If not how far are you behind? Do you know your break-even point? This is exactly how much money you need to be bringing into your business each day, week or month in order to pay all of your bills, including a salary for you! You need to be rewarded for all of your hard work.

You need to know which area of your business is profitable and which area is not. This is the only way that you can realistically make the right course corrections and start your plan for next year. If you find an area in your business that is not profitable, get rid of it. It is not servicing you well and is costing you money.

Change your mindset, Set your goals and get your financials in order. This is the beginning of creating a great plan to help you make more money during the remainder of this year into next year!

If you will do some serious thinking about what I have given you in this article and start applying these tips, it will help you to get prepared for the coming year.

Want To Get Faster Results In Your Embroidery Business?

Want To Get Faster Results In Your Embroidery Business?

by | | Embroidery Business Marketing

Do you want to get faster results in your embroidery business?  Are you tired of staying at the same place year after year? In my last newsletter, I talked about “6 Ways to Jump-Start Your Embroidery Business Growth Today!”I hope you found those useful and that you’re putting into practice what you’ve learned already to get the growth you desire. Of course, there’s more to the subject than we’ve covered so far, and you have some options about how to go forward. I want to go through each one of these options with you:

 

Option 1:

You can continue working on expanding your business on your own and juggle it with your other business activities. You might get there eventually, or you might get side-tracked by other things. You may be too busy to “Work on your Business” because you are so busy “Working in your Business!”

Option 2:

You can do nothing and go back to what you’re doing now, though that may mean that your business doesn’t grow at all

Option 3:

You can let me give you a helping hand to get the outcomes you want faster and more easily.

In my course on how to create your “ Embroidery Business Growth Plan,” I’ll walk you through the process step-by-step. It’s totally hands-on, so you’ll be taking action and implementing what you learn at each step. Here’s exactly what you’ll be able to do when you go through my program:

  • Take a fresh look at why you are in business and what your aims are for your business growth so that you can reconnect with what motivates you
  •  Reaffirm your ideal target market and specify your ideal customer profile, so that you know exactly who to market to
  •   Get a snapshot of the financial situation of your business, so that you understand the resources available to you
  • Define what you do well as a business, so that you recognize what already works for you
  • Assess the places in your business where you aren’t performing strongly so that you can take steps to lessen or eliminate those weaknesses
  • Identify your business opportunities to see where growth can come from so that you tap into any hidden potential
  • Flag the external conditions that could hinder your business growth, so that you are aware of what you need to do to mitigate them
  • Take a look at your current marketing and its effectiveness, so that you know what to focus your efforts on
  • Review how your current team members are working individually and together so that you can identify changes to make for greater productivity
  • Examine your current business processes and tools to assess if they’re delivering what you need, and to make sure you have the most up-to-date systems
  •  Put together a comprehensive Embroidery Business Growth Plan for the next 12 months that will guide and support your success goals
  • Review your Embroidery Business Growth Plan and identify your next steps, so that you can achieve the goals you set for the course

This is a live class for the remainder of January.  We are going to have 2 more live sessions and then we will have a live Q & A class to help you review your plan and answer any questions that you may have.

You’ll also get all of the following:

  • Video Replays of each Module.
  • Note sheets to use to take notes on as you are watching the videos.
  •  A Workbook so that you can fill in the blanks with each step.
  •  Formatted Spreadsheets
  • Your Embroidery Business Growth Plan Template

Do you want to get faster results in your embroidery business? I’ll help you avoid the mistakes that most people make and get to the level of income you want… without the headaches and lost time of trying to do it on your own. So if you're ready to move ahead and figure out exactly what you need to do to raise your business to new heights….

Check out my full course here: https://theembroiderycoach.com/embroidery-business-growth-plan/

6 Ways to Jump Start Your Embroidery Business Growth Today!

6 Ways to Jump Start Your Embroidery Business Growth Today!

by | | Embroidery Business Marketing

Are you confused as to how you can jump-start your embroidery business growth?  Do you feel overwhelmed with all you have to do currently and wonder how you can fit in the time to grow your business at the same time?  Where do you even start with embroidery business growth?
The first step is to tackle overwhelm with an organized and systematic approach and then use your current customers as the foundation for your embroidery business growth.  I want to think very strongly about your current customers, what you have to offer them and about the 6 ways to jump-start your embroidery business growth that I am going to share with you.

Discover Your Strong Points

• Talk to your customers and get their feedback: find out why they like doing business with you and your business
•  Customers know things about your business you don't know
•  Once you know your strong points, you can leverage them to grow

Get New Product and Service Ideas

•  Your existing customers can help you come up with ideas for offers they'd like to see
•  Ask your followers on social media for products or services that they would like to see you offer that they are not able to get other places.
• While you're discussing ideas, you can also ask for feedback on changes you could make that would improve your products or services or your business.
•  Once you have some ideas, take them back to your team and discuss what would lead to profits or business growth.

Go the Extra Mile for Your Buyers

There are many different ways to make improvements for your current customers
•  Decrease Customer Delivery Time – respond to your customers’ inquiries immediately and deliver your products or services slightly faster.
•  Take an Individual Approach – Interact with customers and respond to issues personally.
•  Win People Back – Solve your customers' problems quickly and give them something extra to assure their  satisfaction.
•  Know Your Customers Well – Use marketing data and personal interactions to modify your customer service to their tastes & preferences.
•  Be Consistent – Handle all issues in the same way and establish procedures so everyone offers consistent customer service
•  Always Put Customers First – Always consider how changes will affect your customers and make sure it's in their best interests

Nurture the Relationship with Your Customer

•  Great customer service is not enough. You need to build strong, long-lasting relationships with your customers
•  Email Marketing – Build an email list and send your subscribers regular messages with helpful exclusive content
•  Social Media Challenges – Increase engagement by giving your audience a challenge on social media
•  Entertain Your Audience – Know your audience well and share content sometimes that's just for fun
•  Create a VIP List – Identify VIPs who are the most engaged with your business, offer them special promotions and nurture a relationship with them
•  Interact Offline – Host offline events or join local community events where your customers are

Offer Rewards for Referrals

•  Referrals are the best and most cost-effective marketing for any business.
•  Ask for referrals:
•  Right after a purchase.
•  When someone sends you a personal message thanking you
•  At the conclusion of helping solve a customers’ problem
•  Offer a small incentive or reward for referring you
•  Publicize your referral program
•  Reach out to reviewers, bloggers, and others with a large audience and offer them an incentive to talk about you.

 Extend Your Customer Database

•  Always look for opportunities to gain new prospects.
•  Regularly attend networking events and talk to as many people as possible
•  Create a system for following up and telling people about your embroidery business or offering ways you can help them

Was this article helpful? It should give you a great starting point. But there's more you'll need to do in order to take your business to the level you desire. If you're ready to get started, I'm offering a course that teaches you step-by-step how to create embroidery business growth so that you can achieve your long-term goals.

Want to start growing your business today? Click on this link to get started TODAY!    Embroidery Business Growth Plan

 

 

Evaluating Your Current Business Plans And Creating A New Plan

Evaluating Your Current Business Plans And Creating A New Plan

by | | Embroidery Business Planning

Evaluating my current business plan and creating a new plan is a task that I look forward to at the end of every year. This is the end of the year, 2018. It is hard to believe that another year has passed so quickly but here we are. At the end of every year, I like to take some time to reflect on what I have done within the past year and see what changes I need to make in my business plan to make some improvements for this new upcoming year.

Napoleon Hill says The majority of men meet with failure because (they don‚’t create) new plans to take the place of those that fail. I have found that to be very true. It is extremely important to evaluate what is working and what is not!

This has been a great year for me. I have accomplished a lot more than I had planned at the beginning of this year and it really is a wonderful feeling. I have also not been able to finish some of the projects that I had started, but I am continuing on with those projects into the New Year. They will be finished.

This is going to be another exciting year of growth for me and my business! I am really looking forward to all of the new opportunities that are still awaiting me!

Make sure that you take the time out to really reflect on what you have been able to accomplish this past year and update your business plan for the New Year. If you have not yet created a Business Plan, let me help you get that process started. I have created a Business Plan Template for you to help get you started. If you purchase my book, “7 Elements to a Highly Profitable Home-Based Embroidery Business,”  this will help you even further to get this process started quickly!

If you have been in business and have already created a business plan, it is time to update that plan and create a plan to help you grow your embroidery business.  I have a course called “Embroidery Business Growth Plan” where I teach you how to evaluate your last year for efficiently and create a new plan for this coming year, one that is going to help you grow your business the right way!