According to a report released in June by the Kauffman Index of Growth Entrepreneurship, 2016 represents the largest year-over-year entrepreneurial growth increase in the past decade. It found that young entrepreneurial firms are contributing significantly to U.S. business and employment, creating an estimated 200,000 jobs.
Despite this, growth of startups remains below the percentage the U.S. experienced during most of the 1990s and the initial 2000s. The number of private businesses with $2 million or more in annual revenue after three years appears to have plateaued. Out of 100,000 companies in business a decade or or less, only 1,100 grew to 50 employees or more.
With so many entrepreneurs successfully creating start-ups, why don’t these businesses see more growth?
Mathew Paulson explores and offers answers in his new book, “Business Growth Day by Day: 38 Lessons Every Entrepreneur Must Learn to Get More Done and Make More Money.”
“First-time entrepreneurs make a lot of mistakes,” Paulson says. “I was no exception.” When he began his first business, in 2006, he had no business education or experience. “I spent far too much time working in my business as an employee and not early enough time working on my business as the owner.”
What he offers in this new book are “lessons of entrepreneurship” and his perspective on how to run a business.
Paulson describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur if there ever was one,” as well as a prolific writer. In addition to authoring four best-sellers, one of his companies, MarketBeat.com, publishes a daily financial newsletter that boasts nearly half a million daily readers.
The book is divided into 38 chapters on a range of topics including finance, sales, online businesses, marketing and productivity. The author suggests the entrepreneurial reader work through one chapter a day for 38 days. He intends for readers to not only think about the content but how it can be implemented.
Among the initial ideas he suggests for entrepreneurial growth is to move away from hourly billing to per-project billing. Instead of trading time for money (as both food service workers and lawyers do) entrepreneurs gain the flexibility to deliver results using the most efficient means. By building a system of people and processes that don’t rely on the small business owner, “you can work yourself out of a job” he says. The business then becomes increasingly scalable.
Another chapter focuses on email marketing strategies that could apply to anyone. The top eight are:
1. Be Personal. Use a conversational tone as well as the name of the individual you are addressing. This will increase the likelihood your email is read.
2. Have a Clear Call to Action. This should be located at the bottom of your email. A secondary call to action can go below your email signature.
3. Be Repetitive. Resend the email a week later to the people who didn’t open the initial one.
4. Use Single Purpose Messages. Users should have a clear choice: delete your email or move forward with your call to action.
5. Avoid Image-Heavy Templates. Do your selling with your copy not with an image-heavy template.
6. Be Creative. Using short, intriguing subject lines will help ensure your email is opened.
7. Manage Your IP and Domain Reputation. Use blacklist checkers like MxToolbox and SenderScore to check the reputation of your domain name.
8. Track Your Results. Ideally, you should know the value of revenue that came from each email you sent.
In the chapter “Saying I Quit: Spring Cleaning in Business and in Life,” the author recommends regularly evaluating your business and how you spend your time. The ability to focus on what matters is crucial. Entrepreneurs often come across new opportunities that they are inclined to follow, resulting in a series of miscellaneous businesses that contribute little to the bottom line.
Paulson issues a challenge that will endear him to many business writers. In the chapter “Want to Be A Millionaire? Become a Voracious Consumer of Content,” he points out millionaires tend to be lifelong learners. Understanding that you need to read books and magazines, listen to podcasts or take online courses, helps ensure that you can keep up with the constant change in the business world. Key to this is identifying the medium that helps you learn effectively.
If it happens to include reading Paulson’s clever and insightful book, you may find it’s the breakthrough you need for entrepreneurial and business growth.