I must say, I have learned so much from the current state of the economy more than ever before.  One of this lessons is this - identifying and understanding my priorities and sticking with it regardless.

For a period in my business I put my overhead before paying myself.  So for instance, I would pay all of my staff and then take home whatever was left, if at all. 

Now, I have clearly identified my priorities. I have decided to pay myself first, hence my family first and then with anything left pay or hire additional help.  Frankly I had to go back to the drawing board and re-think, "Why am I in business?".  "Am I in business for my vendors, supplier or contractors or customers only?"  One of my primary reasons for being in business is

1. To fulfill God's heart desires for my life (helping people using business as a platform)

2. To support my family

Here is the moral of this - if you are in business for yourself and you are eager to have employees, my suggestion would be to wait, work and build your business to a point, where:

• You can simply pay yourself a decent amount first along with your monthly business expense essentials

Doing this will help you know how much you have left to spare to bring on more hands. I have found that paying yourself first, fuels your energy, passion and compensates you for your HARDWORK.  It urges you to carry on even when the going gets tough. 

If you are constantly putting yourself last on the payroll, guess what will ultimately happen? You will eventually quit or resign.  Think about it for a second - pick any one of your excellent, hard-working employees/contractors and choose to always pay them last with whatever you have left when everyone is paid or better still refuse to pay them because you have "more important" bills to pay first and watch if they'll stand right by yourside forever.

So why do business owners do this?  Why do we do this to ourselves and think we can get away with this strategy for as long as we think?

I'd love to hear your comments, what changes are you making?

In my last post, I highlighted a lesson learned from Christian Louboutin and his signature red sole shoes.  I would like to discuss the latter briefly - "His signature red sole shoes".

I am sure I do not need to mention that the footwear industry is a "HUGE" industry especially here in the United States where over two billion shoes are sold in one year. 

I've always wondered how business owners in a very competitive industry like the footwear industry survive.  The footwear industry is a fast growing industry with yearly newcomers wanting a piece of the pie. 

Fashion in the United States evolves on a daily basis and is constantly expanding.  Need I remind us of the enormous options available to the average shoe consumer where there are shoes in almost every color under the sun especially options for a young woman like myself.

• The Consumer's Perspective:  "There are so many options."

While there is no need for me "the non-aggressive" shoe consumer to buy shoes on a daily basis, and with a large variety of shoes by MANY designers on the market, the question for me the consumer is this : 1.  "When I am ready to buy, whose shoes do I buy?" 2. "Whose shoes get my attention, regardless of the price?"

• The Shoemaker or Business Owner's Perspective: How do I stand out?
  

With so many shoes on the shelves sitting next to mine at different price points, "How do I stand out?"

Here are my thoughts: The need for you/your product to stand out in your respective industry cannot be overstated.  How are you really helping your potential customer to make that key decision to select you?  What thoughts, steps, ideas are you implementing to ultimately stand out from your competition?

I don't know exactly how Louboutin arrived at his decision or choice for his signature red sole shoes, one thing I do know is this Louboutin made "an innovative and creative decision to stand out" in his very competitive industry.   Even if his choice was an accident or a bleep - the fact is, he made the very best of it.  This innovative decision probably cost him a little extra to lacquer the soles of his shoes in red but it's definitely ringing up his cash register and ultimately Louboutin is making many trips to his bank - What about you?

A couple of days ago, I came across an article written by Cindy Clark on USAToday.com on the demand for the signature red sole shoes designed by Christian Louboutin. 

If you are not familiar with Christian Louboutin and his signature red sole shoes,  I'll help you real quickly.  Two key things to note about Christian Louboutin and his shoes:

1. His shoes retail upwards of $400 to $1500
2. His shoes are very popular with Celebrities hence frequently seen on red carpets

One of the key points I took away from this article is a big lesson perhaps every business owner should consider.  Cindy highlights in her article and I quote - "...But not so much that he'd give them away. Louboutin doesn't play favorites. Unlike designers who send stars courtesy pieces to wear, Louboutin makes everyone pay."

And there goes the haha moment in my mind - so why should a small business owner think of giving away their "heavily invested in" product just so they gain "that big account" or "that big name client".  As I developed and built my business, I learned that I would have successfully made great profits without giving my hard work away. 

Now, please do not confuse giving samples to a "potential" client in order to make the final sale or providing previews and demos to accomplish the same.  I am refering to those days and times we simply rationalize that "Perhaps, if I give this product away, I will eventually gain the client's business".  This may be true sometimes (and I say so cautiously) but it definitely is not a guaranteed formula for ultimate business success. 

Except you are an EXTREMELY disciplined business owner who has a master plan for this "give my product away for free" strategy and it has proven to work for you over and over again (kudos to you by the way), my general observation is this - "If you did it once, you'll keep doing it" and if you are ever really sincere with yourself, you'll find that you really start missing out on your profits.

While I understand that every business isn't the same, I also do know that certain business rules apply to all businesses regardless of the industry:

• That we are all in business to make money - PROFITS - to be specific, and in order to make this profit, money needs to be exchanged for our product/service.

The conclusion: If you are in a constant habit or starting to develop a habit of giving away your products and services for free, perhaps you should reconsider.  So for a moment, imagine you were Christian Louboutin watching any of the red carpets on television, wouldn't you feel great thinking - "Everyone values and respects my product so much they are all willing to pay, regardless of their social status".  What a fantastic business accomplishment - Kudos to Louboutin!