Today's Guest

Ramon Ray is a leading expert on small business success and a best-selling author. He inspires and educates thousands of business owners every year through his articles, books, live appearances, social media, and interviews. He's a four-time entrepreneur, who has successfully sold two companies. Ramon gives us his take on what it takes to build a successful small business and how you can build your personal brand.

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Episode Summary

My journey into entrepreneurship started while I was working for the United Nations. A travel agent was working at one of the offices I managed and offered to pay me to help them get up and running with some new software they had purchased. That is when the lightbulb came on. I realized I enjoyed helping people by working with them directly.

When it comes to running a small business there are four main themes I have found top entrepreneurs do well. The first one is having a leadership mindset. The second would be a good grasp of the marketing side of the business. The third would be a knowledge of the technology side. And the fourth is definitely to know your numbers. You do not have to be classically trained, in the sense of getting a degree or completing a class, to be successful in business. While education can certainly be helpful most of the skills you need can be learned a little each day while working on your business.

The only way a small business can grow and maintain that growth is to have the right business systems in place and to have those systems built on top of great processes. This is where technology can be really useful. It can help you segment customers so you know which ones are driving you the most value. Technology can also help you scale your follow-up communications with potential customers and help you get feedback from your existing customers about their service experience. All of this helps create a personalized experience for your customers without you having to remember all the little details about each one.

Personal branding is something I believe becomes more important as you grow your business. You likely won’t start out having much of a personal brand but as you grow your business the branding aspect becomes more and more important. This will help your business in three areas, you won’t have to discount your prices as much, you won’t have to be afraid of losing your customers to the competition, and you will increase your inbound lead volume. Some of the ways you can build your personal brand are to host some local events, write a book or guide about your area of business, or be active on social media and engage your audience there. The key is to ask for a smile before you ask for a sale.

Resources Shared

• RamonRay.com
• SCORE.org
• Black Enterprise Magazine
• Inc. Magazine
• The Celebrity CEO by Ramon Ray
• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
• Thryv
  

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