Q: I am planning on opening my first business in the fall. Do you have any words of wisdom to share?

Elena

A: Let me share a story: I have a friend named Robin who studied dance for years and dreamed of opening up her own shop, selling ballet shoes, leotards, that sort of thing. Though she knew little about business, that didn’t deter her, and after raising some money, she finally became an entrepreneur.

At first, Robin stumbled, and had a very difficult time getting customers in the door. Then one day, she noticed that the large consumer electronics store down the street seemed to have a sidewalk sale every other month or so. Robin thought that if it worked for them, it might work for her too.

So she began to plan a huge parking lot sale of her own. She bought extra inventory, advertised via flyers in dance studios and in the newspaper, and prayed. On the day of her sale, the sun was shining and the turnout was better than expected. She tried it again the next month, tweaking her advertising strategy just a bit, and the results were even better. After her initial success, when the weather was right, Robin held a 2-day sidewalk sale every month.

Robin stumbled upon an important business lesson. It’s what I call “finding a successful recipe.” Here’s how it works: When a chef wants to create a dish, he uses a tried and true recipe, one that works every time to create the same result. The same is true for a baker. If he wants to create a loaf of bread, he uses a reliable recipe to create the dough.

Well, if you want to make more business dough (sorry - no one said you wouldn’t get a bad pun or two along with some good advice here!) then you too need a good recipe, a business recipe. In fact, all successful businesses have a recipe that they can rely upon to bring in money consistently:

• Google started out as a search engine before realizing it could seed (seemingly) the entire Net with its small ads. That’s a great recipe.
  
  
• Starbucks was simply a groovy coffeehouse before learning that it could sell not just coffee, but music as well, thereby creating a new recipe.
  
  
• Nordstrom’s recipe for success is great customer service and an amazing return policy. That creates loyal customers.

Creating your own successful recipe is a three-step process

1. Brainstorming. Sit down and write down every kooky idea that comes into your head about possible successful formulas that might work for your business. It could be an ad that you run in your local newspaper. Maybe it would be a direct mail campaign. It could be a sale, or an outlet at a local flea market. Who knows? There are countless ways that you can distinguish your business and create a successful recipe.
   
   Once you have some ideas, eliminate the bad ones, and then get some feedback. Speak with people whose judgment you trust, and talk to other entrepreneurs you know who are successful. Come up with your top two or three ideas.
   
   
2. Testing: Once you have a list of potential goldmines (which is what a good business recipe is – something you can mine again and again), try them out. Yes, it would be great if they all worked, but the idea here is to discover your very best option, the one plan that can be repeated over and over again to bring in customers and money. Figuring that out is a great moment in the life of any business because it means that you will be able to be a long-term success.
   
   
3. Repeat. You must make sure that you will be able to duplicate this success time and again, with measurable, predictable results. And once you have done that, you will have created a reliable, steady source of income that you can always count on. Doesn’t that sound nice?

If the good news about being an entrepreneur is that you are on your own, the bad news is that you don’t get a paycheck every two weeks. A good recipe can eliminate that negative.

Today’s tip: I recently read that customers don’t really want money back guarantees. What they want is for the product or service to be right. Something to consider.