As a business owner, you’re part of an elite group. Many people dream of starting their own business, either to follow their passion, or just to get out of someone else’s cubicle. The fact is, most small businesses don’t last very long, and few people ever act on their desire to run a business in the first place. And even if you do take that risk, the passion you had can fizzle out if spend all your time on administrative tasks. The key is having a plan, and knowing a few basics will help you build that plan. These are five things you should know how to do whether you’re just starting out, or have been at it for a while.

Keep Track of Projects

Nothing will put your business on the path to destruction quicker than missed deadlines. As a business owner, your name, face, and word are inextricably linked with the reputation your business builds. When you promise a client something, you have to deliver on it. And if you can’t, you must have the integrity to own up to it and try to make it right. Even if you only have one client, they may require multiple products, so you need a way to keep track of your projects.

Set Up Conference Calls

Savvy business owners know they can save a lot of money on overhead by engaging employees and client remotely. It also allows employers to draw from a much larger hiring pool because, as long as it’s not necessary for employees to be physically present in the office, you can hire employees who live just about anywhere. You may also have clients located in other cities or states, and it will save everyone money if you can communicate without involving expensive travel. Along with e-mail and instant messaging, there is conference calling.

E-mails are good for quick, day-to-day communication. Employees can check in and provide status reports on their projects, and you can relay that information to your clients. But there will be times when a lengthier discussion is required, especially when something goes wrong. You need to reassure your clients, and they need to hear that reassurance in your voice.

Market Your Business

You can’t expect your business to grow if no one knows it’s out there. Relying on potential clients to drive by and see your sign on a building isn’t the best marketing strategy. You have to get the word out, but you have to do it in such a way that you’re not turning potential clients away, either. No one likes to be bombarded with spam e-mail, and cold calling isn’t really fun for either participant. Marketing your business can be done well, even with a few inexpensive or free tools at your disposal.

Even if your business is based online, you need business cards. You may, at some point, attend a conference. Or you might strike up a conversation with someone in an airport, or at the grocery store. Having business cards handy tells people you’re professional, and serious about your business. Writing your site’s URL on a napkin does not. Also use free services like Facebook and Twitter to create fan pages, or broadcast accounts to provide both clients and customers with information about your products and services. Eventually, you can use a Twitter account to provide customer service, if you have the ability to monitor it properly

Manage Taxes

Ok, the one thing that will put your business out of commission even faster than missing client deadlines is messing up your taxes. Tax management mistakes can cause minor headaches that require an accountant and a bunch of paperwork to fix. If you’ve always worked for someone else, you had it easy. Your employer automatically deducted your taxes, and paid a portion of your social security and Medicare taxes for you. As a business owner, you’re responsible for the whole thing, all by your lonesome.

You’ll be able to ask questions and get help from financial experts, and other business owners who have experiences similar to yours. Then, as soon as you can afford it, get an accountant.

Know When to Switch Gears

There may come a time when you just have to admit it’s not working. You’ve done everything you can to get your business going, but it’s still just limping along, and you’re not sure how much longer you can keep it up. Now hold on before you just quit altogether and hope your old boss hasn’t already hired someone to replace you. Maybe you just need to switch gears.

Take some time to examine what you’ve been doing with your business, and assess the success rate of each tactic. Have you used every marketing avenue available to you? Find ways to improve what you’re doing, and if something doesn’t work altogether, be willing to let it go. The business world is ever-changing. It has to be, or no business within it can grow. You must be willing to adapt and make changes when it’s necessary.

Combine this knowledge with drive, ambition, and above all, integrity, and your business will be on its way to being a success.

Till next time.

Here are the logos:

Renovo is a specialist technology company working to develop ecologically friendly chemical products, hence the butterfly wings and use of green.

This was a concept for an in-house initiative at the New Plymouth District Council. They wanted a mark showing sustainable thinking across four departments that wasn’t clichéd. So I used a combination of paper, various shades of blue (NPDC’s brand colour is a dark blue), and a windmill.

Ironically they chose another concept, but this was my personal favourite of the ideas submitted.

For those who are wondering, the three clocks are for London, New Plymouth and New York in that order.

Take a look at the new site here.

So here are my thoughts from the conference, in order of appearance…

Jessica Hische

I really enjoyed Jessica’s presentation and work – she seems to have a great sense of humour and also clearly enjoys her work. It’s a good thing she is based in the States, which is big enough to handle her specialisation; I dare say that the NZ market wouldn’t be able to sustain that. See her work at jessicahische.com and also Daily Drop Cap

Karen Walker & Michail Gherman

Whilst this segment felt slightly flat, I got a lot out of Gherman’s offerings in particular – I found him engaging and intelligent. Much of what they have done makes really good business sense, not-to-mention Walker’s great fashion. See her work at Karen Walker.

Frost Design

Many were a tad disappointed that Vince Frost, the man behind the studio, wasn’t able to attend S-P. They were represented by high-energy environmental designer Sarah Estens. I was really impressed by the range of work that this multi-disciplinary studio creates and how they collaborate with others to get the work done. My favourite: their work for Mike Walsh’s Futuretainment Check out Frost Design.

Duncan Speakman

Duncan began his presentation by standing centre-stage and not saying a word; thus introducing himself as a man who works in the sonic realm. This was a highly engaging and fascinating part of the day, possibly because it was not strictly design-related. Duncan’s ideas and activities certainly got you thinking. See him at duncanspeakman.net

Andrew Gordon of Pixar

I am a huge fan of Pixar’s work, so was quite excited to hear from one of their animators; but to be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by this spot. It certainly had some interesting information, and seeing the ‘office’ setup at Pixar was a real insight. Maybe I was expecting a bit much? Pixar

Chris Allen of The Light Surgeons

I think I was tired by the time Chris came on and found that his section dragged a bit, although I was impressed by the multi-layered nature of their work. It was interesting to see the Light Surgeon’s progression from old-school analogue technology to new tech. Take a look at The Light Surgeons.

Dick and Otis Frizzell

What a great way to start day two. I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between father and son, and also gained a great insight into one of NZ’s best know artists. Otis was great and is quite a multi-talented, if lo-tech, artist.

Nicolas Roope of Poke London

Nicolas started slowly, but in the end this turned out to be one of the highlights of S-P for me. I was hugely impressed by Poke’s work and the way that Nicolas had structured his presentation. Their work on The Teen’s Speech, BakerTweet and for Orange is superb. Take a look at some of their other work at Poke London.

Katrin Sonnleitner

Probably the segment I got the least from, so I won’t say much more than that.

Adrian Shaughnessy

Adrian was like everyone’s favourite design professor. I really enjoyed his presentation and what he had to say about design and business. His 15 Paradoxes of design were spot-on. See more of Adrian’s work at Unit Editions.

Gareth O’Brien of Buck

Another engaging and entertaining presentation. Gareth was well prepared for S-P and showed of some fantastic work – all presented by his puppet Garrot. Seeing the lengths that Buck went to for their 30-second Sundance TVC was inspiring. See Gareth’s personal site Graffe or check out Buck.

Storm Thorgerson

Billed as the headline of S-P 2010, Storm did not disappoint! Being a fan of a number of the bands that he has designed album covers for (Pink Floyd, Muse, Peter Gabriel amongst others), I loved hearing his explanations of how they were developed. Everything was delivered with dry British humour and made for a fitting end to the conference. People will be talking for a long time about Storm’s “F*#k Avatar 4D Experiment” – where he had everyone in the audience hold kiwi-fruit halves up over their eyes for a mass photograph.

All up Semi-Permanent 2010 was well worth the trip and I came away inspired. A big shout out to the gang from The Church and all the sponsors for a well organised and executed event.

The California Guitar Trio with guest bass guitarists Tony Levin and Guy Pratt, who have both played with Pink Floyd amongst others

G-Taranaki 2010 has come and gone this past weekend – in the best kind of way!

This was a project that we did a significant amount of work for, including designing the website, posters, press-ads, programme, banners, and most of the related collateral. It certainly kept us busy.

After putting so much into the event it was incredibly satisfying to go to the event and to see the work we had done put to good use. Not only that, but we got to see some of the world’s finest rock, blues and guitar musicians in action. It was brilliant!

We’ve also had some great feedback from event promoter Dan Allen: “Thanks for the great work on your end. I have never been associated with such a complete and wonderful team ever. Was so good to see the big smile on your face at the shows—that’s what it’s all about. Look forward to working with you again in the future.”

Our good friend and photographer Mark Harris was at the amazing Midnight Sessions and concerts and took some superb photos. Take a look at them here.

Ex Pink Floyd and Roxy Music bass guitarist Guy Pratt was a highlight

UFO Main Man Vinnie Moore got the crowd going

Blues Man Oli Brown got out and mixed it up with the crowd

One of our regular clients is law firm Auld Brewer Mazengarb & McEwen. One of their partners, Cherie Clarke, recently applied to become the Crown Solicitor for New Plymouth. We worked with Cherie and her team to design an expression of interest document containing the required application information.

Cherie’s application was successful and here’s what she had to say about C7′s involvement: “Thanks for all your hard work – it certainly had a big impact on the success of my expression of interest.  The panel were very impressed with the final version and asked who had assisted me.  So thanks so much.”

So if your business needs help with producing material that stands out, contact us and see how we can make a difference.

We worked closely with them to design their Logo, printed collateral, advertising templates, store signage, website and more.

The feedback that we received from them post project was phenomenally positive. We were able to help Silk Spa build a cohesive brand from the get-go which is already seeing benefits – after only nine months in business.

Material included A2 posters, an event guide, T-Shirts and web graphics. We set up a photo shoot in studio and brought on our friends and Klone to do some re-touching, and all-in-all had a lot of fun with this project.

The event was officially launched today with press advertising, website and Twitter page. More >