July 12, 2010

The economy has certainly changed the way we think about doing business.  In fact, 78 percent of business owners told us that they have to change the way they do business in 2010.  

I am so inspired by the stories I hear about the incredible growth of businesses driven by resourceful and creative owners.  Or, even better, the stories of how lives are impacted by the ingenuity of business owners who take care of their employees, their communities, and, of course, their customers in unique and special ways.  So while the challenges abound, there are some courageous – and maybe a bit lucky – businesses all over the country!   

Every day business owners are celebrating individual wins: a new product, a new hire, a grand opening, another satisfied customer. They’re looking forward, finding better ways to do business, and succeeding in spite of challenges.  They’re getting more out of their businesses and giving back to their communities.  They are, in a word, “Booming.” 

Booming is our recognition of their individual wins as well as the collective contribution small businesses make to our economy.  As President of American Express OPEN, I have the privilege of meeting many innovative men and women who run Booming businesses.  Their ingenuity and passion are a constant inspiration to me and to all of us at OPEN, driving our desire to provide them with the tools they need.  These business owners are charging ahead and fueling the recovery.  We want to help them succeed.   

One way to do that is to do what we always do…. to share their stories so that other business owners might be inspired by their insights.  In OPEN’s March 2010 Small Business Monitor, 21 percent of small businesses said they were either “riding high” or “smooth sailing.” We want to learn more about them and how others may join their ranks.  Booming businesses not only have an optimistic outlook, they have a roadmap for getting there. 

Here are some strategies we’ve heard from Booming business owners that we hope will help inspire others to Start Booming:

• Tapping into Growth Industries:  A number of business owners seem to be ahead of the curve when it comes to recognizing growth industries, like Kara Goldin, whose naturally flavored Hint Water falls into one of Inc. magazine’s top-ten growth industries (Tea and Healthy Beverages) and is expecting this year to grow 125 percent over last, thanks in part to striking deals with retailers like Whole Foods and Starbucks.   She now has national distribution for her California-based firm.

• Taking Advantage of Government Contracting:  Theresa Daytner, owner of Daytner Construction Group in Maryland, has grown her business by tapping into the more than $500 billion the U.S. government spends each year – 23 percent of which is required to be fulfilled by small businesses. By teaming with other companies, her business was able to secure almost $14 million in federal contracts over the past year. 

• Evolving Their Business: When customers asked for recommendations for cleaning services that his company, Coit Services, didn’t offer, Bob Kearn answered – and listened. He’s recently added two new services – air duct cleaning and stone repair and refinishing – and enjoyed the best year in his San Francisco-based company’s 60-year history. 

• Evolving an Industry: Companies like Diapers.com and BizChair.com have found enormous success by taking existing products and selling them through new channels.  Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara started Diapers.com in 2005 to provide a better, easier way to shop for diapers.  This year, they’re projecting $340 million in revenue. Sean Belnick started BizChair.com by creating an e-commerce site for his father’s office furniture company.  The company has since grown very quickly, appearing on the Inc. 500 list twice and hiring 40 employees in the past 12 to 18 months alone. 

• Find Better, Faster Ways of Doing Business:  Geoff Bartakovics started TastingTable.com, a food and drink e-newsletter, in 2008 and rapidly grew from 50 subscribers to almost 300,000.  He’s expecting to close $3 million in advertising sales this year, and to get paid faster by his advertisers, he tried the AcceptPay electronic invoicing and payment solution.  He found that by billing and collecting online, he's able to get his days to payment down to 15 days instead of 45!  More reliable cash flow allows Geoff to increase payroll.  TastingTable.com now has 20 employees, up from 2 just 18 months ago. 

These are just some examples of small businesses with big ideas.  You can share your stories or ideas with me, too, at susan @ openforum.com.  I’d love to hear how we at American Express OPEN can help.  And, tell us your story so that we may share it on OPEN Forum.  We want to celebrate what’s Booming for you. 

Join the conversation ( 6 )

• Louis Austen 7 months ago

  

  Many small businesses could benefit from project management software, sales and CRM and service support all in one package. Nice article, a "better, faster way of doing business is http://tree.io
  Thanks

• Miguel Ramirez 1 year 4 months and 27 days ago

  

  Excellent list of resource material. I have printed this article and now keep it next to my desk. Thank you www.mymensi.com

• JOHN HUNYADI 1 year 5 months and 16 days ago

  

  I think many businesses will be stronger for having survived this time. Our business like many others was experiencing a decrease in activity. Our local customers are served with an in home consultation, a "shop at home" format, so one strategy we've employed starting last year has been to increase our radius a bit. By deciding to drive just slightly further, we've managed to at least reach similar revenues to that of the last couple of years, rather than going backward. We've also realized that although these areas may be a greater distance away, in fact often have less traffic - an even trade. Focusing some advertising in these same areas has produced more days on which we can visit multiple customers, making the trips more efficient. www.StairRunnerStore.com

• Doug Wilson 1 year 6 months and 24 days ago

  

  These businesses all rely on consumers. Can you provide a "Booming" consumer list? Supply is dandy as long as there is a demand. At some point we'll realize the monetary system experiment didn't work (again). In fact it was never designed to work "for" a society. The system is designed to work for they who control it. For a everyone else it inevitably fails. Enjoy it while you can, you still have a couple of years left....

• Richard Earnes 1 year 6 months and 26 days ago

  

  Thanks for listing these inspiring strategies of booming businesses. For the last on the list --find better, faster ways of doing business—I would like to add that among the faster way of doing business is to get a tool that will automate some of your mundane business tasks like computing the number of billable hours and billing your clients, and creating detailed project reports. Some of these helpful tools are discussed on this reference www.worketc.com/compare.

• Yonsal Ltd 1 year 6 months and 28 days ago

  

  Business can lead you towards the greatest heights of the world e.g Warren Buffet but the condition is well established management. Yonsal Ltd. is helping everyone who wants to own business but facing problems in investment and experience. Fore more details visit www.yonsal.com