Services of The Answer Company

We provide the path, resources and support that individuals and families need to succeed with and in their ventures.
The five major areas we
specialize in are:

Business Consulting
Career Transition
Going Green
Dealing with Long-term Illness
Senior Citizen Transition

Blueprints have been created for each of these areas to be used as a template for the do-it-yourself people. These are comprehensive to each subject area and require a high level of discipline and commitment.
We also offer Miniprints for those who enjoy a mixture of hands-on and one on one instruction.

You may only need the answer to one or two specific questions. Walkthroughs are available for those situations.
Seminars are offered once every three months on specific topics where group instruction rather than individual teaching is preferred.

For those who only need general information about a particular subject, we offer informational talks with a minimum of five and a maximum of ten participants.
Our objective is answer your questions and open your possibilities.

My Product is Great, Why is my Business Failing? by Bobbie Kite

Three major items serve to dismantle the majority of businesses. Poor people skills, administration and marketing strategies. All three of these items are ideally addressed before you open your doors for business. The truth is that people spend the majority of their time focused out on their products.

The thought here is that is the product is great, then people will buy it. That is simply just not true. If a person is covered in oil, chances are I will not be interested in the soap they are trying to sell me. In a similar manner, if the soap is falling out of a box in the back of their truck or they are telling me about it and don't know when they will have anymore or where it is I probably will not be interested.

How we come across to people, looks, attitude and organization matters. Our preparedness really makes or breaks our success or failure.

Taking the time before starting a business or pausing if you have already started to answer the following questions cannot hurt you.

What is the personality of who is selling your product?
Example: I am not the most polished person, I would be hard pressed to sell my product to someone very interested in high fashion...

What does your interaction with customer look like from their point of view?
Example: I am straight to the point, that may come off as hard to my customers instead of efficient. A smile helps to soften a stern no nonsense approach.

Why does your customer need your service or product? What hurts on your customer?
Example: A person needs a pain pill because their back hurts.
A client needs my help because they are losing precious profits and time

Not having the answers to these questions causes many small businesses to go under before they even had a chance even thought their product may be great.

For more information, please email me at info@theanswercompany.net

© 2008-2009 The Austin Answer Company

Consulting, from the Client’s Perspective by Bobbie Kite

I would be hard-pressed to tell you all the times I have seen people’s face fall when they ask me what I do for a living and I respond, “I’m in consulting.” For months, I tried to elicit a different response from them to no avail. I realized that they were reacting to the same negative connotation attached to the industry that still makes me recoil. So I changed my response when they ask me to, "I own a how-to company."

When someone tells me they are in consulting, I automatically begin to wonder certain things:
1.Do they really have any idea what they are talking about?
2.What do they really do?
3.How do they base their pricing?
4.What of concrete value, if any, do they offer their clients?

These are valid questions. When listening to a consultant I am looking for a connection between their training, knowledge and skills.

Now, let’s talk about the client’s perspective on consulting.
A client sees the consultant as someone who comes from the outside to analyze what they survey and reveal those results.
The client may or may not expect to be observed and evaluated through this process.
It is difficult to justify paying for a service that does not result in tangible goods. This is further complicated by the fact that you are expected to pay for what you “technically” have the ability to see without help. The value of consulting is hard to quantify from this perspective until a return on the service is received.

Few want to pay someone to analyze their actions and point out what they had a hard time identifying themselves. Aside from this previous type of client, there is also the client who seeks to implement advice they have already gathered. This client might view consulting as a necessary evil.

For example, if a motivated and intelligent person has educated themselves with all available resources about a particular tax matter, they are still encouraged to consult an attorney. From this perspective, the consultation is a mere formality. Although this last step must be completed, it is often approached with skepticism and contempt. This client expects a revelation of their mistakes instead of new information.

The first type of client seeks information to be delivered from a consultant with a respectful personality. The second type of client wants a consultant that offers their value in information rather than through personality.

Consulting from the client’s perspective really depends on whether the client wants implementation and/or informational advice. No matter what the client’s motivation, all clients want answers to similar questions such as the ones I posed in this article.

To be a successful consultant, it is important to answer client questions and understand their perspective in relation to your services.

The Answer Company Blueprints were developed with varied client perspectives in mind. We offer alternatives to traditional consulting through the Blueprints which combine training, knowledge and skills. The Blueprints provide a path and resources for whatever your "building" will be. The path is customized to fit within your budget of time and money.

Please feel free to email me for more information or references for this article.
info@theanswercompany.net

Take a look at our website:
www.TheAnswerCompany.net

The Climate of Small Business, 2009 by Bobbie Kite

The Small Business Administration, SBA, writes a letter to the President each year on the state of the small business economy in the US. Here are some highlights from the 2009 report along with some of my thoughts.

The major concerns of small business owners are access to credit, poor sales and inflation. Small business is responsible for 60% to 80% of new job creation and supplies around half of the GDP, in the US. Due to this economic downturn, the GDP has dropped over ten percent in the last year and 60% of the 3.1 million jobs lost last year were from small businesses.

The recession began in December of 2007. When the housing bubble popped and it was discovered that the risks taken on many investments were not fully appreciated, steps were taken to correct this problem. This process lifted the veil of American financial instability.

Most of the jobs lost were in the construction and manufacturing industries. Small businesses that were incorporated stayed steady with employment throughout the year. The owners of these incorporated business needed credit to get through the rough patches of 2008 and the stimulus packages helped fund guaranteed loans of the SBA. In 2009, the SBA received an additional $730 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Recession causes reform. The businesses that have and will continue to make it through these hard times believe they are better because of it. Conventional wisdom says that when unemployment raises so does the rate of entrepreneurship. People don’t have jobs, so they will create them. The report found no real direct correlation between people with no jobs becoming entrepreneurs. What the research revealed instead was that smaller firms, called gazelle firms, with less than 20 employees was were where this net growth of jobs is to be seen. This has been proven true through the last two major recessions. While there is no proven direct correlation between unemployment and entrepreneurship, there is a connection between small business growth and the recovery of the economy.

So, who are the currently self-employed and “gazelles”? While white, older, married males constitute the majority, Hispanic entrepreneurs have doubled since 2000 and have grown to over 10% of the total. Immigrant entrepreneurs share 12%.

So how do we fix this? I say “we,” because the problem is ours. Entrepreneurs hold the key to turning this trend in a positive direction. Texas had nearly 400,000 small employers in 2006, employing near 50% of the private sector of the state.

As we progress through the recession, the businesses that survive will incorporate reform everywhere they can. The immigrant and Hispanic owned businesses will continue to hold steady. Educated baby boomers and innovative new entrepreneurs will fill the hole left by the decline of the construction and manufacturing industries.

The success of small business is paramount to reviving the struggling economy. Out of every 100 people, 7 are trying to start a business at any given time. Much of the money given to the SBA for guaranteed funding is our tax dollars. It is available for us. Those who still have the finances and means available, have the opportunity to succeed.

Give yourself the best chance to succeed with Package 001-Starting a Business. Be apart of the solution and help save the American economy.

Please feel free to email me for more information or references for this article.
info@austinanswers.org