Female entrepreneurship has been hot for decades. There are currently more than 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the US, reports Fundera, and that number climbed by 1,821 every day in 2019. Currently, 40% of all US businesses are now owned by women.

However, women-owned ventures lag on a number of fronts, including financing and revenue size. Only 25% of women-owned companies seek financing, according to Fundera, and when they do, they receive less money than men; men borrow an average of $43,000, while women borrow $38,000. Although we don’t know why there is a difference, it may be due to an inability to qualify for more funding or a level of discomfort in applying for more.

For some women, the decision to put boundaries around their company’s size and growth potential is a conscious choice.

Creating a Lifestyle Business

Many women entrepreneurs choose to limit the growth of their companies, building businesses that fit their desired pace and way of life rather than aiming to create a business empire. They are often service-based companies that depend on the skills and abilities of the owner and which are operated around the owner’s schedule.

Referred to as “lifestyle” businesses, these companies are frequently started by women who are caring for children or other family members, or who have other roles or conditions that make it more difficult to hold a full-time job. Some are differently able and find it more comfortable to work out of a home office, rather than traveling to a facility. Some are going to school and having to work in between classes. Others may find that they can earn more part-time working for themselves, and prefer it.

Although the “lifestyle” name subtly implies that these types of businesses are less desirable than a business that is scalable– because lifestyle businesses aren’t structured for aggressive growth—there is nothing wrong with a lifestyle enterprise.

Typical lifestyle businesses include graphic design firms, law firms, consulting firms, hair stylists, personal shoppers, housecleaners, tailors, delivery services, and caterers, just to name a few.

Lifestyle businesses can generate tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for the owner, who doesn’t have to assume responsibility for managing employees. Some entrepreneurs tap into the skills of other independent workers on an as-needed basis to expand their capacity, but either way, the earning potential is certainly there.

Just because a business does not employ hundreds of workers and have locations statewide or globally does mean that the business is less desirable or less profitable.

“It is absolutely possible to run a highly profitable lifestyle business,” says Ed Gandia, business-building coach and host of the “High-Income Business Writing” podcast. With lifestyle businesses, “it’s all about finding ways to earn more in less time,” Gandia says. “You have only so much work capacity every week, so you need to ask yourself, ‘How can I maximize the value out of each one of those hours?’”

Gandia describes a “Freedom Triad” that consists of three potential ways of generating more revenue without significantly increasing your workload. They are: 1) Attracting higher value work, 2) Completing the work more efficiently, and 3) Structuring work so that it becomes recurring.

“These are all the things that enable you to really run an extremely profitable lifestyle business,” says Gandia.

The biggest downside, or disadvantage, of such businesses is that its growth is limited to your capacity. “There is still a ceiling,” he says, because there are only so many hours in a day and only so many hours you, personally, can work consistently.

The alternative is to build a business that is not as dependent on you and which can operate independently. We’re calling that type of business a “sellable asset.”

Building a Sellable Asset

The obvious advantage of a sellable asset is that at some point, there is the potential for you to sell it to someone else and walk away with money in your bank account. To do that, however, you need to structure the operation such that you’re not an essential participant, as you are with a lifestyle business.

Sellable assets generally have employees, which provide additional capacity and capability. They often involve equipment and processes that allow your business to run even when you’re not there. Typically, they are operated from space outside your home.

A venture that can continue to operate without your daily involvement has the potential to become a sellable asset.

Sellable assets often include businesses such as retail stores, beauty salons, advertising agencies, restaurants, construction firms, magazine publishers, and financial planning firms.

Achieving Financial Success Through a Lifestyle Business

Although many entrepreneurs believe that they need to establish large operations in order to “make it big” financially, that’s not the only way.

Gandia points out that professional athletes are the epitome of lifestyle business owners. They are their own personal brand and, as such, are unable to outsource any aspect of their performance. They also know that at some point in the future, their bodies will no longer perform at the same level and they’ll be forced to find another career.

What smart athletes do is plan ahead for that time when they can no longer play professionally. They diversify their portfolios from the outset, meaning they invest in businesses beyond professional sports.

Lifestyle business owners can take the same exact approach, taking a portion of their profits and investing in other income-generating assets. That might include the stock market, or real estate, or other businesses.

Gandia cites Shaquille O’Neal as a perfect example of how to leverage your lifestyle business to build wealth.

Worth an estimated $400 million today, O’Neal earned millions as a professional basketball player, saving and investing 75% of his income, CNBC reports. He then took that money and bought car washes, he bought Krispy Kreme franchises, Auntie Anne franchises, as well as others. He diversified into acting and TV appearances as a sports analyst. He constantly adds new income streams whenever he can.

O’Neal didn’t let the fact that he was running a lifestyle business impede his growth and his wealth. He simply took a portion of his business’ earnings and regularly invested in other industries, effectively diversifying his portfolio. He did what he loved, and what he excelled at, worked to be the best that he could, and then took the majority of the money his lifestyle business generated and invested it in other industries.

You can certainly do the same. Ignore the naysayers who suggest that a lifestyle business can’t help you build wealth.

Annalise Freytag shares her very personal struggle with mental health challenges and substance abuse as the reason behind the founding of her future Chicago-based yoga studio, Trikona Yoga. The details of her personal history demonstrate how effective yoga can be and how passionate she is about building a business that provides such services. Although Annalise’s own perseverance and strength come through in her application, there were some business details that were missing that the grant committee would have liked to have seen.

To help Annalise improve her odds of winning a grant — Amber Grant or otherwise — the WomensNet advisory board went back through her application to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the information she provided.

Here is the application as submitted:

Tell us about your business or business idea…

Trikona Yoga

Not all stories begin as fairy tales…

trikona yoga co. was created after a long internal battle with my own mental health and substance abuse disorder that I‘ve been suffering with for the past 12 years. Though a native of Michigan, I lived in Chicago from 2011-2018. This is the city that I consider home.

In my early twenties, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and clinical depression. Struggling to manage the stresses of life and shamefully battling my failing health issues, my life unraveled and led to unveiling my impending alcohol abuse disorder. In 2018, my mental health and substance abuse disorder peaked and I relocated back to Michigan after bouts of suicidal ideation. The move was an attempt to try and fight my way through sobriety. To my surprise, the “geographical relocation cure“ didn‘t work as I only continued to struggle to keep my health in check. It was then in May of 2019 that I decided that I could no longer live like this – that I wanted my life back, so I surrendered. I checked myself into an in-patient treatment program (Maplegrove of Henry Ford) and finally took back my power through intensive therapy and healing work. This treatment program helped me learn the tools that I needed to manage my disease and mental health disorder. May 1st, 2020 will mark my one year sobriety date and my life has changed dramatically for the better.

One of the greatest gifts and tools that aided in my recovery was yoga. Though a practitioner for over 4 years, it wasn‘t until my life was on the line with my depression and alcoholism that yoga became absolutely instrumental and fueled my recovery process. Not only do the principles and values of yoga synergistically align with the teachings of many recovery programs, but yoga finally helped me start believing in myself that I could do this – that I could live a life worth living. It has been through my sobriety and consistent yoga practice, that I made it my mission to re-frame the conversation around those struggling with their mental health & substance abuse disorders, and to break the sociological negative stigma. trikona yoga co. is my calling and I aim for this studio to be tangible proof that there is a hope out there for those struggling. My mission for this studio is to let the others know that they are not alone, we are here to help and that they are worth it.

Shame, guilt, lack of sufficient resources and help, was what kept me in the closet with this vicious cycle of ailing mental health for so long. Having first hand experience with being a victim to the negative stigma while battling this disease alone is what propels me to become a leader in creating a community where those struggling can find an affordable, holistic method to improving their mental health and recovery.

I am starting this journey because I feel with every fiber of my being that this path is where I need to be. To transparently share my story, to help and serve those who are lost and above all, to help heal those who are suffering by opening their journey of healing with the transformative powers of yoga.

Tell us what you would do with the money if awarded a grant…

If chosen for the grand prize, the funds would go directly into acquiring and launching our physical studio space. Additionally, the funds will allow us to extend our partnerships and boost marketing for our launch in 2021, letting the Chicago community know that there is an affordable, holistic, health space here to help them. If granted the $4,000 prize, the funding will go towards educational training & technology for our yoga instructors so that they are equipped with the tools needed in teaching our niche classes.

Our critique

Annalise has provided lots of background information regarding what led her to yoga, which makes it clear that she is committed to this business concept and has been moving in these circles for several years. That’s good. She’s not trying to start a business in an industry with which she’s unfamiliar.

Her plan to use grant funds to secure physical space is a smart priority, since finding and leasing space will determine so many other factors for her business, including marketing, hiring, etc. That she’s starting in a city she’s familiar with is also good; she knows the local area and probably has a good sense for where a yoga studio may be needed, or where her target client lives or works.

And her plan to invest in the education and training of her instructors also demonstrates her commitment to providing a quality service to her clientele. That’s another plus for her business concept.

Opportunities for improvement

Annalise has a lot of things going for her, not the least of which is the sheer strength and determination she has demonstrated in getting sober. If she can do that, she can do anything. However, her application did leave out specifics about her business that the grant committee really wanted to see.

With more than four years of experience as a yoga practitioner, Annalise likely has the background to run a studio, though more detail about whether she’s led yoga classes, rather than participating as a student, would be great information to add to the application. How much business experience does she have? Does she have any yoga certifications?

Specifics about the kind of yoga she’d offer, how big a space she’s looking for, how many instructors she plans to hire, and other operational details would also help explain the type of studio she intends to build. Right now the description of the business is vague—it’s hard to picture what it would look like.

More information about her ideal client, pricing, marketing, and financials would also be useful, to demonstrate that she knows who her client is and has a plan for promoting her studio to them.

It’s obvious that Annalise has a vision for her business. For a grant application, however, it’s helpful to share the specifics of that vision with the committee members who are reading about it. Show us how it’s going to be successful – what are you going to do better than other yoga studios in the area. Including some basic sales projections is always a good idea, too, to prove that the business can be profitable.

This is a good start to an application and, for any applicant, we’d recommend going into more detail as you describe what your business will look like, who it will serve, how you’ll market it, and how you’ll make money.

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to find reliable, useful advice from people who know what they’re talking about. Sure, everyone has opinions, but which are the opinions worth listening to? It can be hard to distinguish between people who’ve been there, done that and can share how they handled a situation similar to yours and people who believe they know how they would handle a situation should they ever face it. Big difference.

Fortunately, there are organizations, agencies, and communities you can turn to when you have a “what would you do?” type of question. And you’ll get answers from people who can talk about what they did, and what they’d do now if they faced the same situation.

Here are some of the best we’ve heard of or dealt with:

Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)

This unit of the Small Business Administration—SCORE– provides free business counseling to entrepreneurs and business owners, delivered by retired executives and entrepreneurs who serve as mentors. We’ve heard SCORE can be great at helping you problem-solve when you’re facing a specific challenge or obstacle.

Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

Frequently located on the campuses of community colleges or universities and partially funded by the Small Business Administration, SBDCs also offer free or low-cost advice to aspiring and existing business owners. Face-to-face (or maybe virtual right now) counseling is no-cost, while training is offered at cost, on topics ranging from marketing to business planning to exporting, regulatory compliance, and more. Search to find your local SBDC to learn about the services they provide.

Avvo

This legal advice website allows you to submit a question on the site for free, which an attorney will answer. There are also plenty of useful articles on topics of interest to small business owners, all of which are free to read.

Business Advising

Like SCORE, which pairs you with a mentor, Business Advising matches US small business owners with a volunteer advisor who works with you for free. The nonprofit claims that companies that work with its mentors achieve a 20% increase in revenue, on average, as a result. Although there are no firm rules, the companies that benefit most from the organization’s mentoring typically have been in business for at least a year, have more than one employee, and revenue over $100,000.

StartupNation

This website is chock full of free useful articles offering startups and existing businesses information and guidance designed to help you grow.

Small Business Forum

This old-school bulletin board-style site is a place where you can post questions for other business owners to answer, for free. The group is active and could provide a broader perspective on whatever you’d like help with.

Y Combinator

Y Combinator is a very well-known and respected business accelerator for smaller companies trying to scale quickly. Its YouTube channel, with more than 268,000 subscribers, features instructional videos from a wide variety of entrepreneurial superstars.

Your alma mater

Many colleges and universities—and especially larger ones—have incredible networks that you should definitely tap into. From local meet-and-greets to venture investment funds. MIT’s Castor Ventures, for example, is a venture capital fund to which MIT alums have access as investors. Its sister fund, Alumni Ventures Group, is a potential starting point for MIT alums heading small ventures.

The key with any challenge you may be facing is to zero in on the question you need answered. What piece of information will allow you to progress? Then investigate who is best positioned to answer your question. Some of these organizations may be able to help you.

Shawna Bobst, RN’s Amber Grant application for HEART Mobile CPR is a great example of a business that evolved from side hustle to full-fledged business. There is no question that there is demand at some level for CPR training in her area, however, there were some missing pieces of information that kept Shawna out of the running for an Amber Grant.

To help Shawn improve her odds of winning a grant – Amber Grant or otherwise – the WomensNet advisory board went back through her application to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the information she provided.

Here is the application as submitted:

Tell us about your business or business idea…

I started HEART mobile CPR in 2018 to give everyone the opportunity to learn how to save a life. It started as a small business I was doing on the side a long with my nursing position. I never really thought about it becoming a real business, just something to do. As time went on I started getting calls to come do classes for corporations like Owens Corning, Lennox HVAC, and other corporations and I started to think wow, I may have a good business idea here. With the amazing growth I quickly became an authorized training site through AHA in 2019. I was able to then start training individuals to be trainers. At this time I have 38 amazing women on my team. We are making connections throughout the state of Ohio and making an impact on others lives. I feel like we are family, we have spa days, dinners, and what we call instructor POW WOWs.

At this time I would like to see the business grow in other ways now as well.

For several years I have had connections with human trafficking organizations. I have held fundraisers and collected purses/backpacks filled with much needed items for the woman and children. Seeing these woman overcome as survivors is amazing and I would like to do more. I have been putting things into place to be in a position to offer these woman employment and mentoring on becoming trainers and growing their own business. My goal is to be more than just a company that teaches others how to save lives through CPR but also changing lives for woman.

Tell us what you would do with the money if awarded a grant…

If HEART Mobile CPR was to be awarded the money I would be utilizing it to purchase more equipment such as manakins, BVMs, AEDs, face shields, office equipment. This would help to ensure every trainer has the necessary equipment to conduct a successful class. Many things need to be in place to have this to run smoothly not only the equipment but the marketing and websites as well to make the connections needed to get clients. This money would be utilized to change the lives of others in many ways.

Thank you for your time and attention and consideration to award HEART Mobile CPR the Amber Grant.

Our critique

As a nurse, Shawna has a great background for a healthcare-related business. She has the training and connections within the medical community that should help attract clients and she is obviously qualified to provide CPR training services (becoming an authorized trainer in 2019 was also a big win).

She does well explaining her business, her services, and how the business came to be — originating organically due to community need. A customer-driven company is always better than trying to introduce a new product or service that people aren’t sure they want. In this case, there is demand for CPR training, which is a big positive for this application.

What comes through loud and clear in her application is her passion for saving lives. She wants to improve her community and prevent unnecessary deaths by training more people in the use of CPR. It’s a noble cause and she’s obviously committed, all of which is good. We know she’s all in.

She’s also doing a great job of networking and leveraging past successes to attract more potential clients. Her existing client relationships with major corporations gives her immediate credibility that should make attracting new clients easier.

Opportunities for improvement

Although it’s clear what HEART Mobile CPR provides in the way of services, there is no information about how the company makes money. What do customers pay for training services? What kind of expenses does the company have? How are team members paid? What are the profit margins? What is the geographic radius that the company serves? These questions are essential for any grant committee to have answered in order to gauge the viability of the business. That is, is it profitable and is it making enough money to survive and grow? That’s unclear here.

Another area where Shawna could elaborate is on the company’s marketing strategy. How will she connect with organizations that may want to bring in CPR training? There is a website, which is good for businesses searching for CPR training in her area, but what kind of outreach is being done? Is she active on social media, is she using direct mail to area companies, is she pursuing publicity – we don’t know.

The planned support for human trafficking survivors is noble and a terrific idea, but it’s not directly related to providing CPR training, so it wouldn’t be a factor in judging the application. It would be better to use that space to talk about how the business will be operated. Such as whether there are expansion plans for the company and what needs to happen for those to be implemented? For example, will there need to be a certain number of training requests per month or quarter before HEART Mobile decides to set up a site there?

Shawna has the skills and experience to run a thriving business – and she may be already. However, without any financial information at all, it was hard to know whether the company was profitable or struggling. Adding statistics like sales growth from the last couple of years, or projected revenue for 2020, would be a big help to grant evaluators.

Shawn’s got a great start and we hope she reapplies with some more detail.

It’s no surprise that the pandemic, coupled with governmental stay-at-home orders, has dramatically impacted the commercial real estate market. While some organizations are realizing they may have more workspace than they need and are considering downsizing, other companies are strategizing how to negotiate or renegotiate new or existing leases.

According to Andrew Weinberger, founder and CEO of PropertyClub, “It’s a great time for small business owners to rent an office or retail space.” That is, if your business is looking to expand, you may now have an opportunity to lease space you would never have been able to afford previously. “The COVID-19 pandemic has put a tremendous amount of strain on commercial real estate landlords, with vacancy rates rising and prices dropping significantly,” Weinberger observes.

Small Businesses Are in the Driver’s Seat

“The disruption to the supply and demand within the real estate market has created a situation where prospective renters have a great deal of power,” says Nishank Khanna, CMO at Clarify Capital.  “With increased available real estate, small business owners are positioned well to negotiate. Similarly, property owners are more likely to extend some flexibility and work with renters in order to make a sale.”

The key is to first think about what you need space-wise, and what you may need in a year or two. If you anticipate requiring more space, or less, you’ll want to build in flexibility to your lease agreement, so that you’re not stuck paying for space that isn’t supporting your business.

As you begin conversations with brokers and property owners, consider trying some of the following strategies to get the best deal:

Ask for free rent

Rather than asking landlords to drop the per-month lease rate, ask for several months of free rent on the front end of a new lease, recommends Sharon Simmons Cantrell, shareholder and attorney at Simmons and Fletcher, PC.

“Landlords are losing tenants left and right to businesses closing. If they lower the rent, that sets a new baseline for all future rent negotiations on all that empty space they are trying to fill,” Cantrell points out. “Landlords are often more willing to give you free rent for a set period of time and then have a higher per-month rental rate afterward than to give you a lower rental rate and potentially lose money every time they have a lease come up for rent. So don’t be afraid to ask for six months’ free rent versus a rent reduction,” she says.

Move quickly

“Agreeing to speed up the process and sign on immediately, so long as specific term or concession is included in the lease agreement is a smart negotiating tactic,” says Khanna. “This is because some landlords might believe the value of an immediate sale outweighs the profit loss of a negotiated term, when considering the time and effort it takes to pursue prospective tenants.”

Push for a shorter lease term

“Shorter lease terms will allow you to break out of a contract if you need to,” says Rex Freiberger, CEO of Discuss Diets. “If all your workers have to be remote for months, it may sink you financially to keep paying into a lease…being able to break a lease could save you tens of thousands of dollars, if not more.”

Negotiate for reduced late fees

“Most property owners won’t waive them completely, though you may be able to get a longer grace period,” Freiberger says. “What you should focus on is cutting those rates, ideally in half if you can manage it. That way if you have to be behind for any reason, it won’t hurt you any more.”

“Right now there is more room to negotiate when securing rental space,” says Kimberly Porter, CEO of Microcredit Summit. “Make sure you talk with your landlord about options and if paying ahead or early could provide you with even more of a rate drop.”

Rachel Waddell’s Amber Grant application for RAW Designs made clear right up top what the business was all about, but then pivoted, along with the business’s products, into a new product and market during the pandemic. Trying to grow two businesses at a time is even harder than focusing on one, which is one reason RAW didn’t make it into the list of finalists. However, Rachel did a great job of articulating her product and market, which we wanted to highlight.

To help Rachel improve her odds of winning a future grant, the WomensNet advisory board went back through her information to try and show her the strengths and weaknesses of the information she provided.

Here is the application:

Tell us about your business or business idea…

RAW Designs was created in 2013 with a focus on custom made western apparel. Rachel cleaned out an old granary barn at her parents farm and created a sewing workshop. Since then, the business has expanded to make a line of jeans, western shirts, and heavy duty horse back riding equipment including saddle pads and saddle bags.

Our mission is to inspire confidence and grit, and motivate personal development in the equestrian field. Eventually, we would like to see RAW Designs expand to provide a line of Men’s, Women’s, and Children’s western apparel and horse-related items sold in western stores around the US.

In late March 2020, Rachel saw the rising need for homemade masks for healthcare workers locally and across the USA. She started a Facebook group called Minnesota Covid Mask Sewists. The intention was to connect people making masks with those requesting them. She led and advised home sewists on the best patterns and practices for creating the masks. The group has grown to almost 2000 people, a website was created for efficiency, and thousands of masks have been donated to healthcare, elderly facilities, group homes, and individuals. With the change in CDC recommendations, mask demand has risen exponentially. Some essential workers have been required to wear them for work, and large businesses are searching for manufacturers that can meet their demands. Many individuals are also looking to purchase washable masks.

RAW Designs has turned their workshop over completely to mask manufacturing. With high standards, Rachel can only make 250 masks per week alone and is getting burnt out on her fourth week in production. RAW Designs is taking on 2 independent employees this week. They will maintain social distancing in the workshop and sew masks from home. We are hoping to produce at least 500 masks/wk and have put in bids for contract with City of Mpls (500-2500 masks), and Buffalo High School (seniors 500 masks).

Tell us what you would do with the money if awarded a grant…

If RAW Designs is awarded $4000, we will be able to keep 2 employees working part time for approximately 5 weeks at $400/wk for each employee. Not only will we be able to provide thousands of masks to the public, but we are providing jobs. One of our employees works as a substitute teacher and lunch aid in a school that is now closed, and the other employee is a furloughed nurse.

With this boost in business, RAW Designs will also have a steady revenue and can successfully continue production of western wear and horse-related items when mask production decreases.

Our critique

Rachel clearly knows the equestrian market and is capable of producing quality custom clothing and riding gear.

Demonstrating that she’s already producing products, has a functioning workspace, sewers, and the needed equipment is a big accomplishment. And zeroing in on the western side of equestrian gear – versus other types, such as dressage or hunter/jumper, for example – is also smart. It’s easier to identify potential clients when you’re clear about who you’re serving.

Opportunities for improvement

Although there is plenty of useful information in the application, there were two main issues that stood in the way of winning this past month: 1) There was little detail regarding the market for Western wear and demand for the custom products and 2) Although grabbing a piece of the mask market while it is hot is a smart way to generate some quick cash, it also diverts attention away from the core products. The question is, how long will demand for masks remain high and at what point will Rachel shift her focus back to her core product?

First, when applying for grant funds, it’s critical that all applicants prove that there is demand for the products or services being offered. That is, have you identified customers who are willing to pay you money for what you’re selling? And is what they’re willing to pay enough for you to make a profit? Price yourself too low and you’ll be out of business quickly and price yourself too high and you may not have enough customers to keep your business operating.

There is no information in this application about the size of the market, who the target audience is (men? women? children?), what Western apparel typically sells for and how custom clothing compares, who competitors are, and how the products will be marketed and sold (online? at horse shows? through retailers?). These are important facts and figures that you should research and present as proof that the grant will help you meet demand for your products or services, whatever they are.

Information about where raw materials are coming from and what kind of labor will be used to sew everything would also be useful in this instance, mainly to show that the entrepreneur knows they need to be addressed.

Second, although many U.S. manufacturers did stop producing their core products and switched to make essential items like masks and hand sanitizer at the start of the pandemic, in this case, it doesn’t sound like that’s the plan for RAW Designs long-term. Eventually, the business would convert back to sewing custom Western wear, though it’s not clear when. It seems like the plan is fluid in that it provides for filling the short-term demand for masks. Although we understand the rationale, we would have like to have seen a singular focus on the long-term product.

If the business were able to continue sewing Western jeans and shirts in addition to masks, this diversion to pursuing mask-making contracts might be less of an issue. The masks would become a supplementary source of revenue that would support the business and its sewers, which would be terrific. But since it’s unclear what the long-term plan is, it’s hard to justify a grant.

Rachel is clearly a skilled apparel designer and it’s very likely she is well-connected in her industry. Those are big advantages and, in some cases, they can mean the difference between success and failure. However, developing a long-term growth plan and offering details regarding finances and marketing would go a long way in this particular application.

Congratulations! You saved, borrowed, and/or successfully landed an investment from others to get your business up-and-running. You’re officially an entrepreneur.

And now you’re wondering how to make the best use of the funds at your disposal, to grow your company and set it up for long-term success. There are a million different ways you could spend it, some based on your industry and product or service offering, but what are the best ways to leverage it and, in contrast, how can you avoid wasting it?

Several seasoned entrepreneurs and investors offered the following advice:

Marketing that drives sales

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what that involves, but Laura Bell, founder of The Point Consultancy, which offers short-term access to expert consultants, said, “Invest in targeted messaging, relevant content, and a solid lead funnel to sell your product.” Glossy photos and brand videos aren’t going to do that and aren’t worth the expense, she says. Every dollar invested in marketing should ideally generate at least $1 in sales.

Jacob Rosenberg, founder and CEO of Tajima Direct, which provides direct-to-consumer polarized lens replacements, said, “only spend on demand creation and finding product market fit,” rather than “trying to find demand.” Some of the cost-effective ways of testing demand include asking for Beta test users or offering product pre-orders, he said. “By experimenting and starting your spend on the demand side, you can get a much better sense of how much to spend on the inventory, infrastructure, and other supply expenses.”

In-house tech

According to Bell, “If your startup relies on technology, which most do, in-housing the tech from Day One has always been proven to be more successful, in my experience. Finding a team [that is] fully dedicated and work collaboratively as a team, rather than outsourcing to a company that has other priorities may be more expensive, but pays off in the long run.”

Expertise

It’s hard to balance hiring qualified pros with high salaries versus more junior employees who lack the experience or know-how. You need good, experienced people but sometimes you can’t afford them, explained Bell. A potential solution is hiring talented consultants. “Using well-chosen consultants with experience in the field, who can help you onboard the team [you need] when you’re ready, will help bridge the gap.”

However, Baron Christopher, a turnaround and growth strategy consultant with RedBaron Consulting LLC, is an advocate of finding and retaining skilled team members from the start. “Rewarding highly experienced and innovative executives with bonuses or commissions and other incentives is always money well invested,” he said, “as long as the company culture is healthy enough to keep amazing people on board long-term. Highly compensated rock stars who defect to a healthier workplace or competitor prematurely actually cost you double or more,” Christopher cautioned.

Legal counsel

“While you cannot afford unnecessary services, almost all startup entrepreneurs require legal advice,” said Matt Scott, owner of Termite Survey termite elimination service. “Whether it’s fundamental corporate documents or understanding liability problems, pay for good advice from the start so that the big bills of legal settlements are not stuck later on.”

And investments to avoid? Our entrepreneurs and experts cautioned against the following:

Large fixed costs

“The startup environment is a fragile one, and especially when you’re still proving out your offering, there’s a chance you may need to pivot – many of the big companies we see today went through significant pivots in their early life that got them here,” said Abir Syed, CPA and a former VP of finance at a well-funded startup who now runs UpCounting, a marketing firm for accountants. “Large fixed costs can suddenly become onerous if things change, so it can be worth it to pay a little bit more to retain flexibility,” Syed said.

Fancy offices

Sure, you need workspace, but does it need to be outside of your home? If it does, look for the shortest-term lease on the smallest space that will work for you today. That will give you the flexibility to move if you suddenly need more space; you won’t be stuck in a long-term lease that hampers your growth.

Grandiose corporate parties or trips

Scott said that spending big money on fun trips “is not a sign of success – it is a sign of waste.”

Serial entrepreneur Nishank Khanna, CMO at Clarify Capital sums it up well when he advised, “Responsibly and thoughtfully using capital is imperative for an early stage startup, because poor money choices early on can cause irreparable damage and undermine the success and sustainability of the company long-term.”

Business owners who stay on top of trends have the chance to pounce on new opportunities that emerge, rather than missing out and having to play catch-up. This is true whether we’re talking about toy retailers trying to guess what the hottest new plaything will be this holiday season, publicists trying to gauge whether the newest social media platform will actually catch on, or simply staying current regarding pending legislation that could upend your company.

Being aware of what people are talking and thinking about can give you a significant advantage that helps inform important business decisions.

While many trendspotting platforms charge a fee for access, there are a few free sites that are worth browsing. Although they may not have the analytics the pricey ones do, they can still tip you off to trending topics, products, and services.

Trend Hunter

For help in spotting up-and-coming products, consumer preferences, and ideas, you’ll probably want to start with Trend Hunter. This website relies on individual trendspotters, futurists, and artificial intelligence to identify what people around the world are talking about, interested in, exploring, and buying from innovative companies.

Trend Hunter breaks down what’s trending by month and by categories, such as fashion, design, ads, and the bizarre, to name a few.

You can quickly scan ranked lists of insights, ideas, topics, culture, places, events, people, products, and brands for a glimpse into what’s caught the interest of people around the globe.

Exploding Topics

Exploding Topics provides weekly email reports, on Tuesday, regarding terms and phrases that have exponentially increased in search frequency. That is, keywords that have suddenly caught on.

In a typical week, you’ll see everything from product names to website URLs, technology breakthroughs, and trending topics. For example, recent phrases that consumers were suddenly searching for en masse included everesting, dermaplaning, daily harvest, wave, and air purifying plants.

Savvy entrepreneurs use these reports to stay ahead of trends, to stock retail stores with products everyone is looking for, to develop new product and service offerings in response to increasing demand, to explore new technology integration, as well as to know when to reduce inventory when product demand falls off.

What’s Trending

Unlike Exploding Topics, What’s Trending is more a pop culture report regarding what’s happening on social media. For that reason, it can help entrepreneurs spot topics that are sparking interest.

For example, a recent What’s Trending home page featured reports of a baseball player who tested positive for COVID-19, celebrity news, TikTok trends gone awry, and other similar band and celebrity sightings.

You can skim videos that have gone viral, as well as social media posts catching attention. Because of its celebrity focus, What’s Trending could be a good starting point for a news lead that ties into a blog post you want to write, or maybe the inspiration for a news item you want to highlight on your website.

Product Hunt

Entrepreneurs and business owners on the lookout for a hot new product will want to pay attention to Product Hunt, which features new products in development and allows users to ask the developers questions.

Products are listed vertically on the home page and you can choose to view them in rank order of popularity or newness. You can also take a look at Upcoming Products and companies that are hiring.

No matter how you approach it, being able to predict what everyone will soon be talking about or buying does have advantages. Armed with new information about what’s going viral, or what new technology is making possible, you can make smart decisions about how to run your company. That might mean adjusting the products you currently have in development, considering adding new job functions to your org chart, or gathering new ideas for future blog posts.

However you tap into the information available at these trend-focused services, you’re bound to end up better informed.

Heather Powers’ and Sadie Galvin’s Amber Grant application for Earth Soul Alchemy, their natural healing venture, had a lot of good information, but was lacking some specifics that the WomensNet committee could have benefited from seeing. 

To help Heather and Sadie further refine their application and marketing message, the WomensNet advisory board went back through the grant information to try and show them the strengths and weaknesses of the information they provided. Our goal is to help them become a serious contender for this and other grant programs.

Here is the application:

Earth Soul Alchemy LLC

Tell us about your business or business idea:

My motivation for my business Earth Soul Alchemy LLC began with a dream to facilitate healing and offer spiritual counseling for people who deal with chronic pain. It was also to give people another avenue to help them live and deal with their pain that was natural and without addictive pharmaceuticals.

My husband has neuropathy and lives in chronic pain. He continues to work full time at a local factory. I wanted to help him with his pain, so I started working with essential oils and creating blends to help with his pain management.

After researching alternative healing methods, I attained my Reiki Mastership. This further enhanced my connection to my intuitive healing abilities. These talents helped me to create the perfect oil blends for the client’s situation. It also gave me the ability to see what someone needs to reach their own soul alchemy.

I started to offer metaphysical and spiritual products in addition to the healing services I provided and found this alchemy works quite well.

Once I started that journey, I met an amazing group of people who connected me with my business partner, Sadie. She is the alchemist behind our natural bath and body care line. She is also a massage therapist and currently in the process of earning her herbalist degree. Our partnership has allowed me time to focus on the service-oriented part of our business.

Our goals for the future:

♣ Obtain a brick and mortar location where we can offer various spiritual services.

♣ Broaden our product line to include hard to find items such as rare books, specialty herbs, statuary and other items.

♣ Offer monthly classes on various metaphysical and spiritual topics

♣ Spiritual Counseling and Mentorship

♣ Be a safe space for those in the local spiritual community to network and connect with other like-minded individuals.

Our motto is “Where Spirit Meets Alchemy.”

We believe that one’s soul helps facilitate the connection between body, mind, and spirit. This connection ultimately leads to Soul Alchemy. It also creates an atmosphere that will allow a grounding connection to the Earth.

One of our strengths is our ability to connect to people on a soul level and help bridge the gap between spirit and body.

We are blessed with an empathic ability to see what areas in the body and spirit need work and what areas need be utilized to help facilitate their healing journey.

We are fortunate to have an intuitive sense of purpose and passion to help build this business from the ground up.

One of our weaknesses is not having a brick or mortar to help combine our services and products to give the help we feel is needed in our community.

Another weakness is networking and getting our name out there. We are working on broadening our service area and points of contact right now. Also, gaining financial resources to attain more schooling and certification in the fields we want to pursue.

Tell us what you would do with the money if awarded a grant…

We would love to receive this grant so we can continue to provide the resources needed for those who want and need to attain transformation of their body, mind, and soul.

We would use the money from the grant to help with certifications, inventory, and networking/marketing. Any excess monies would be used towards attaining our goal of a brick and mortar.

Our critique

Heather and Sadie started off strong by explaining what triggered the business idea – that Heather’s husband has neuropathy, which was likely a primary driver for early pain reduction efforts.

The fact that the two women are business partners with complementary skills is also a big plus. Knowing that the company is not solely dependent on one individual’s expertise and efforts significantly increases the company’s odds of long-term success, which makes it a more desirable grant recipient; organizations want to give money to businesses that are clearly capable of applying them to generate more growth.

The company’s plan to expand to sell a wider variety of tangible products and offer classes is also a good idea and a sign that they’re thinking more broadly about how to grow.

Opportunities for improvement

While there is a lot of good and useful information presented here, there is also a lot of extraneous details that don’t really contribute to explaining the business opportunity. Questions such as, who is your target market, what is their primary reason for buying from you, who is your competition, and what kind of growth have you see thus far, really should be answered here. Are sales growing month-over-month or year-over-year? Some financial details would help. 

Much of the focus of the application is on the business owners and what they want to do and could be capable of, rather than what the market has indicated it needs. Flipping the perspective to talk about what clients have said they want could be a better way of proving there is a need for these products and services.

It sounds like attracting a solid clientele is one of their goals, but there is no specific marketing plan for doing this. Breaking down how the grant money could be invested in marketing activities could be helpful. For example, to advertise, set up a blog, partner with healthcare practices, pursue local publicity, or other promotional activities. More specifics are needed.

The business’ main focus right now seems to be on identifying a brick and mortar location in which to operate. However, depending on the cost, it might make more sense to hold classes in various (free) places around the community, or to set up pop-up retail locations close to customers, versus being locked into one building.

The owners clearly have the expertise to run a natural healing business. They are committed and passionate about it, which is great. Grant committees love to see that. However, they also want to see that there is a clear plan for growing the business based on established demand. That’s where we would suggest Heather and her business partner Sadie focus first.

It’s often hard to know what to write in grant applications. You may wonder what the people reading your application want to hear about your business or your future plans.

What can you tell them that will help them see how successful your business could be with their financial support, you may ask yourself?

And yet, if you take a look at the questions grant applications ask, you’ll start to see some similarities regarding what information you should share about your business. That is, the questions posed in grant applications give you a clue regarding what the awards committee is most interested in.

What Grant Programs Ask Applicants

For example, here are just a few grant programs and some of the questions they pose to applicants:

The NAV Small Business grant program, which is accepting applications through September 1, 2020 for a grant of $10,000 and another of $5,000, wants you to tell the committee:

• What your business does
• A challenge the business has overcome
• A challenge you continue to struggle with
• How the grant funds could help you overcome your challenge
• Details regarding how you’d use the prize money

The Halstead Grant for jewelry designers, which awards a $7,500 cash grant to a metal jewelry designer (this year’s application is due by August 1, 2020), has a downloadable application which asks, among other things:

• What your budget for spending the $7,500 grant would look like. 
• What sales and distribution channels will you use?
• Who is your direct competition?
• When do you expect to break even?

Among government grants, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) recommends that grant applicants:

• Offer innovative solutions to an unmet clinical need
• Provide solutions that have significant commercial potential
• Leverage the expertise of the company owner/founder
• Seek funding that, essentially, moves the company’s products or services forward
• Are aligned with NIA’s research priorities

Whether or not you have any interest in a scientific grant from the NIA or other government programs, or if you’re pursuing a grant from a private nonprofit or corporate organization, you can probably start to see overlap, or similarities, across the different applications. 

That’s what you should focus on.

What You Should Tell Grant Committees

Just among these three programs, it’s clear they want to know:

• What kind of business you run. That is, what do you sell, how, and to whom? What problem does it solve for your customers?
• Is your company currently profitable – are you making money? If not, what will it take for you to be profitable? What’s holding you back?
• How will winning the grant make a difference in your business? What will that money enable you to do that you can’t do right now, such as buy equipment, create a website, expand your inventory?
• How will you use the money? They want specifics. Break it down. Account for every dollar.

Some grant applications will have other questions unrelated to your business, such as about who you are, your personal struggles, and maybe how you’re giving back to your community. You’ll certainly want to answer those as best you can, and just keep in mind that they want to hear how you’ll be successful if you win the grant. 

Make it clear how the grant will turn things around for you, or make great success possible for you.

Choosing What to Include, What to Leave Out

Sometimes grant applications will have limits on how long your answer can be, such as “no more than 500 words.” If so, make sure you use as many of those words as you can. Offer detailed responses. Don’t expect readers to be able to fill in the blanks if you tell them, for example, “I plan to increase sales by 25%.” Explain how.

Some grants don’t limit you length-wise, which means you can offer more specifics regarding why there is demand for your product or service, why your product or service is better than what’s currently available, and how you’re going to grow your company. 

After all, grant programs want to encourage and support business owners who have figured out what they need to be successful and are just lacking some money. If you keep that in the back of your mind as you’re filling out grant applications, you’ll help committee members get a clearer picture of how much good that money can do in your business. That’s the key to being seriously considered in many programs.