Today's Guest

Before launching Small Business Edge, Brian Moran spent 20+ years helping America's entrepreneurs realize their dreams. Brian was the Executive Director of Sales Development at the Wall Street Journal overseeing the financial and small business markets across the WSJ franchise. He also ran Veracle Media and Moran Media Group. Both content companies utilized various media channels to help entrepreneurs manage and grow their companies. Brian talks about what the most successful small businesses do consistently and the value of having a business GPS plan.

Follow on Social:

Episode Summary

Before starting my company, I spent 22 years publishing magazines and newspapers for small business owners. There are few things I enjoy more than helping business owners work on their dream, build their dream, and watch them achieve that dream. About three years ago, I launched Small Business Edge with a focus on building a community for small business owners. We are about to launch the small business marketplace to connect small businesses when they have a need.

Most business owners are great in one or two areas of business, maybe it's creating a great product or marketing their services. However, rarely do you find a business owner where finance is an area of strength. Because of this, small business owners aren’t as confident as they should be when it comes to topics like account receivables. Their net 30 days to their customers turn into a net 60 days or worse a net 90 days. Meanwhile, the accounts payables keep coming in like clockwork each month, the rent, utilities, taxes, and so on. This creates a panic cycle because money keeps going out the door, but they don’t have enough coming in.

The most successful small businesses we’ve worked with have a laser focus on providing a great customer experience. Their customer experience is why people buy from them, not because they always offer the lowest price. If you were going to compete against Wal-Mart, you wouldn’t try to compete based on price. If you are competing against another small business, you might be able to win a few rounds competing on price, but you are still losing valuable margin. Providing a great customer experience is the key to winning in either scenario and it is sustainable in the long run.

A term I’ve coined is a business GPS plan, similar to a business plan but if done correctly it will help you get to a destination you’ve never been to before on time and with gas still in the tank. Often people think of a business plan as something they write down and never look at again. Whereas a GPS is something you refer to frequently and can reroute when needed to get you back on course. If done correctly your business GPS plan requires you to be disciplined, stay committed, and have accountability. Without those three things, your likelihood of success decreases substantially. Life happens and it will knock you off course. But when you have your business GPS plan, you can be confident you will get back on track.

Resources Shared

• Small Business Edge
• Small Business Edge Podcast
• Thryv
  

Listener Reviews