CRM | smallbizdream blog

Infusionsoft vs. Hubspot vs. Small Business Dream

CRM and sales and marketing automation have been game-changers in the small business sector. Thousands of small businesses use them on a daily basis. But with so many options, how do we choose the best ones and where can we find the perfect balance between versatility and ease of use?

In this article we’re going to take a look at two of the most popular small business software and compare it with Small Business Dream sales and marketing automation.

Comparing Apples to Apples

We’ve chosen Infusionsoft, Hubspot, and Small Business Dream for our side-by-side comparison because they all feature a combination of CRM and sales and marketing automation geared towards small business owners with a basic knowledge about business software.

We’ll be focusing on the 3 key areas, namely user experience (UX), CRM tools, and sales and marketing automation.

User experience – We’ll take a look at the software in terms of how easy it is to navigate with minimal training (ease of use). The more intuitive and agile, the better.
CRM tools – These include contact management, categorization (sorting), lead scoring, and the ability to keep track of conversations and interactions between software users and customers.
Sales and Marketing Automation – Methods used for lead generation and sales conversion such as landing pages, social media outreach, campaign builders, and email autoresponders.

Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft is a popular small business software that’s been around for nearly two decades. It has been re-branded as Keap in 2019. If you’ve never been around CRMs or sales and marketing automation, you can fast-track your learning curve by going through their kickstarter coaching package to make full use of its features and functionalities within a few weeks.

Infusionsoft’s no-frills menu makes it easier to navigate through the CRM and Marketing tools. We always prefer a simple layout with just the essential elements for a more streamlined user experience.

The layout is quite intuitive for an average CRM user. It also has a My Day feature (similar to Small Business Dream’s Action List) which allows users to see all their current tasks at a glance.

Infusionsoft’s CRM tools are pretty straightforward. Users can tag their contacts, assign lead scores which can be tied to specific information about the client or predetermined rules set by the user, and track all customer interactions including completed tasks, notes, recent email history, and so on.

These CRM features are intertwined with its sales and marketing automation. The idea is to make going from one section to the other as seamless as possible. We see this mostly with business software which blends the two into one (including Small Business Dream).

Sales and marketing automation is somewhat more advanced for the average user. But to be fair, Infusionsoft has made considerable effort to simplify the tasks by using graphical, drag-and-drop style menus for its Campaign Builder and email automation.

In the Campaign Builder, for example, email sequences and triggers (called “Goals”) are laid out on a virtual “drawing board” instead of the typical user form or page with text fields. Some find it easier to work with while others prefer just the basic GUI. It depends on which side you lean on. We prefer a more minimalistic approach while retaining all the great features in the Campaign Builder.

Email and Broadcast features are similar to other sales and marketing automation software. Landing pages, on the other hand, are integrated in the Campaign Builder instead of being just a standalone feature.

Lead generation is done via Web Tracking and Lead Sources. With web tracking, users embed Infusionsoft’s tracking code into any of their webpage HTML. The other method involves assigning lead sources to contacts manually (these are contacts you’ve uploaded via CSV file or typed into the system from a business card, etc.)

This is where things begin to look a little complicated for most people and why we think Small Business Dream is far more superior when it comes to lead generation. Users have limited options as most leads would come from Infusionsoft’s own database and the process of assigning lead sources to contacts is quite challenging to wrap our heads around. We’ve designed a more elegant solution which not only simplifies the task, but also target specific clients with almost surgical precision.

Hubspot

Another popular small business software, Hubspot puts a lot of emphasis on inbound marketing. It even has its own Blog section which is not very common for this type of software. However, compared to Infusionsoft, we found Hubspot to be a little bit less intuitive for average users, and therefore require a lot of familiarization of how each individual piece work in a cohesive way.

Upon exploring, we noticed similar features, but Hubspot seems to have moved things a little bit. It’s interesting how some features aren’t grouped the same way as with most typical business software that combines CRM and sales and marketing automation. This could be from the fact that Hubspot is a 3-tiered, modular software where each upgrade unlocks some of its premium features. For instance, in order to use Campaigns, Landing Pages and Automation, you need to upgrade to Professional.

Hubspot allows you to do certain things on how you want data is presented for you. In Contacts, for example, you can instantly filter which contacts to show by clicking Actions on the top right corner or a particular category on the left menu.

To see which contacts you need to be contacting with or following up, you need to go to Tasks on the Sales dropdown menu. We found it rather tedious creating all these tasks manually. We prefer a CRM that gives us all current tasks like what we do with Small Business Dream instead of us figuring out whom to follow up or call next.

Categorizing is a little bit different, since users have to create a list first and fill it up manually by going to each individual contact. Another way to do this is with automation (creating an Active List as opposed to a Static List) where contacts who met a certain criteria are added automatically (or removed from it if they no longer meet the criteria).

Lead scoring is also a bit different. Using an Active List, contacts can be moved from one stage to the next via automation. Hubspot uses Lifecycle stage to determine whether a contact is a Subscriber, Lead, Marketing Qualified, etc. and move them to their appropriate lists. We found these to be nothing more than just creative ways of accomplishing pretty much the same tasks with most typical CRMs.

When it comes to sales and marketing automation, the concept is no different from Infusionsoft except that Hubspot named some stuff differently and moved things a little bit. Also, the process is somewhat more complex for the average user.

For instance, if you want to create a Campaign, you’ll have to jump from one spot to the other to get the job done. You need all the assets first (emails, landing pages, social posts, etc.) and then start building your campaign, or, create one first and start working on the different pieces and assigning each of them to the campaign you’ve just created. We think it best to have Marketing and Automation together instead of having them in different silos. The simpler, the better.

Lead generation is also quite a challenge. They offer three ways to get people to their landing page for lead generation, namely email, social, and blog. This diagram sums up Hubspot’s lead generation strategy.

Getting leads via email is somewhat like catch-22. You need to get them to your landing page to capture their email address, but first you need their email address. It only works when they’re already in the system, and landing pages are actually used to nurture your prospects. So the only real options are social media and blog.

There’s really not much when it comes to their social media strategy aside from usual scheduled posts, ads, etc. It used to be great, until everyone that has a pulse started using the same strategy. So unless you take an active role in finding these leads on social networking sites and following up on them on a regular basis, your social media campaign will amount to nothing. We’ve found a way to do hundreds of social media communications by designing a CRM and sales and automation software that puts emphasis on speed, efficiency and effective use of automation.

Blogging is also a part of their lead generation strategy which, unless paired with a good SEO/SEM and social media strategy, isn’t really worth anything. You can write some of the most compelling blog posts but people might not even know they exist. You’ll either have to hire an SEO in order to rank on Google or take it upon yourself to promote your blog content in every possible way.

Small Business Dream

So how does Small Business Dream compare to Infusionsoft and Hubspot? In essence, all three of them are capable of achieving what they’re designed to do, but there is one deciding factor which we think makes Small Business Dream a better choice – speed and efficiency.

We’ve stripped off all the non-essentials and simplified certain tasks so that even first-time users will get a sense of what to do when they get on board. One of the biggest drawbacks with most CRMs is that sales people are overwhelmed with too many features and business owners had a hard time getting their employees to use the system.

It comes pre-loaded with templates and digital assets for many types of businesses. But if you want one that’s already set up for your specific kind of business, you can also avail of our turnkey solution – the Small Business Dream “done-for-you” (DFY) package – where we set up everything for you, ready to use.

One thing you’ll notice when using the system is how all the pieces fit together seamlessly allowing you to approach your tasks in a variety of ways. In this example, you can adjust the follow up date, set the priority, view notes about recent activities, and tweak your message before sending them out – all in one go. Once again, speed and efficiency.

The CRM is the simplest that you can get in a small business software that contains all the vital information about your contact – everything from email and social media subscriptions, recent communications, priority (lead scoring), categorization (tags), next follow up date, and so on.

Another important feature which we found very useful with CRMs is the ability to see all your current tasks in one place. We’ve set the Action List as the default screen when you log in to the system so you know which tasks you need to be doing first before moving on to the next.

Sales and marketing automation is noticeably simpler and easier to deploy compared to the other two we’ve just looked into. In fact, you can just spend an hour or two training your employees and they’ll be able to find their way around much quicker. It also comes with the standard landing page builder (with templates), sales funnel, survey builder, swipe copy, email series, social series, etc.

The Secret of Getting Unlimited Leads

Lead generation is the Achilles heel even amongst popular CRMs sales and marketing automation software. Infusionsoft and Hubspot is our case in point. If it couldn’t generate enough leads for your business, nothing else would matter. This is the concept behind our Small Business Dream CRM and Sales and Marketing Automation suite.

We’ve created a 360° solution for all kinds of businesses from health, restaurants, auto, real estate, etc. to help them get more customers in a number of ways.

These include:

LinkedIn marketing using SBD sales and marketing automation
SBD Virtual Business Card Button App
SBD Business Finder and Joint Venture Mobile App and Business Directory
Mobile Sales and Marketing Automation App

LinkedIn + Small Business Dream

Our LinkedIn strategy is designed to get thousands of qualified leads using highly targeted searches and SBD automation. We’ve written an entire blog article on this LinkedIn strategy that helped our clients grow and build successful businesses.

This involves:

Creating a professional-looking Linked profile
Connecting with clients using Small Business Dream; and
Following-up after establishing that connection

Now you might think, “Okay, so I’ll just make thousands of connection requests,” and start clicking the ‘Connect’ button for hours. It turns out this method is not only ineffective; it’s the easiest way people wind up in “LinkedIn jail.” We’ve developed a LinkedIn strategy which allows small businesses to get thousands of qualified leads with the power of Small Business Dream.

To learn more about our proven technique, you can download a FREE copy of our book, “LinkedIn 5-step System: Generate 10 fresh qualified leads in 10 minutes for your small business, where we reveal everything from setting up an all-star LinkedIn profile to turning your connections into brand advocates. Note: LinkedIn profile update is included in our done-for-you (DFY) version of Small Business Dream.

Need Help Finding the Right CRM?

Why not spend some time with us? Schedule a FREE 45-minute business consultation with us and we’ll reach out to you in every way we can to help you with your real estate business.

Take a look at our 5-step Rapid Sales Growth Blueprint where we lay out every possible means to rapidly grow your business, whether it’s through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email series, sales funnels, landing pages or business directories.

Want to stay mobile? Get our SBD Sales and Marketing Automation App for your mobile and keep tabs on your business everywhere you go.

How Alexa Can Integrate With A CRM for Your Small Business

Amazon is making headlines in the business world (again) just a year after Alexa for Business was launched in November 2017. Echo’s lineup of smart speakers proved a commercial success with tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices sold and over 50,000 skills (and counting) developed for Alexa by a growing community of users and developers across the globe.

Forward-looking companies have already seen the potential of deploying Alexa for Business particularly in customer service, productivity, and workflow. Companies like Air Canada, Telus Corp, Manulife, and TD Bank are working with Amazon in building company-specific skills for Alexa to create a seamless experience for workers and customers alike.

Alexa Skills in a Nutshell

Skills are essentially apps designed to work on Alexa to fulfill specific tasks. Amazon made it open for partners and third-party app developers to build skills which can either be used exclusively by the company who made them (private skills) or publish the skills for everyone to use (public skills) after being certified by Amazon.

Skill engagement has grown by 75% in 2017 and continues to grow by 50% year over year. This is key to Amazon’s success, outperforming tech giants Google, and Apple in terms of smart speaker sales during the 3rd Quarter of 2018.

Building a Smarter Workplace

Amazon goes beyond consumer electronics for smart homes to voice-activated workspaces for small businesses by adding a layer on top of Alexa’s basic features. Small businesses can do a lot more by configuring Echo devices to work with room profiles, calendars, conferencing systems and by creating custom skills to fulfill specific tasks.

Here are some examples of use cases of Alexa being used in the workplace.

Hands-free Conferencing

Conde Nast and Propel Insurance were among the first to use Alexa for Business to schedule and conduct meetings with co-workers. Alexa helps eliminate cumbersome steps when looking up for available rooms, scheduling meetings, and so on.

For instance, you may ask Alexa to schedule a meeting and it will pick a date for you, or have Alexa pull out your company calendar and choose one yourself. Join meetings on the fly by simply talking to Alexa to patch you through – no dialing in or typing passwords.

Owners of small businesses also like the fact that Alexa supports third party conferencing apps like Skype for Business, Cisco, WebEx, and Zoom, making it much easier to transition from screens and keypads to voice-activated systems (or have both at the same time).

Smart Offices

Wouldn’t it be great to have an AI who could tell your way around, pull out specific information for you, or ask maintenance to fix things around the office? Valence and General Electric were able to accomplish this feat by building Alexa skills and configuring Echo devices in a certain way.

What’s really interesting is how these companies came up with these ideas. Normally, they’ll have everything printed out on inch-thick corporate manuals/inventories or have them posted in their company website and people will have to search through them for answers.

But what if they can simply ask and have just the information they want from a voice-activated smart device like Amazon Echo? Using cutting-edge technology in conversational AI and voice recognition, businesses are able to build company-specific skills for Alexa, anything from answering specific questions, providing technical guidance, to sending out requests in a more natural way which is through spoken language.

Voice-enabled CRM

One of the best use cases of voice AI (which also feels more natural to use) is being able to interact with CRMs by speaking to it. Although there are some kind of voice-enabled CRM in the past, it’s nothing close compared to what Alexa for Business has been able to achieve.

Small businesses can now create their own custom skill or API for Alexa to interact with existing CRMs like Small Businesses Dream using their own voice. This can save them a lot of time looking up through each list or typing in new leads. So instead of switching back and forth making calls, typing customer information, inquiring about their leads and prospects, and taking notes on their last call, sales people can stay on their smart speakers and have Alexa and Small Business Dream do the rest of the job.

Stonehenge NYC is a perfect example of how a private real estate company was able to deploy Alexa for Business to create a seamless experience for their employees and rental customers by linking Alexa with their database and CRM service. They have over a hundred skills for Alexa and are continuously building more skills as they go.

Choosing the Right CRM for Alexa

Alexa’s extensibility makes it an ideal choice for a lot of third-party software solutions like Small Business Dream. It has been successfully deployed to work with some CRMs with a little help from the CRM providers, app developers, and Amazon.

Small Business Dream allows first time users to experiment with its email autoresponder, sales funnel, survey setup, landing page editor, and analytics. It’s especially important for small startups who need sales and marketing automation they can easily work on without spending too much on trainings and onboarding new employees. Small Business Dream will guide you through the whole process one step at a time, or you may reach them for consultations and mentoring on the best practices of using sales and marketing automation for your business.

Learn more on how you can successfully build your small business at SmallBizDream.com and start using our suite of tools to increase your sales and profitability like never before.

How To Use CRMs For The Changing Auto Body Industry

The body shop industry has been adapting to the changing times driven by the recent growth in the electric car market, and the push towards “greener”, safer transportation around the world. For example, electric car sales has nearly doubled in Canada with close to 35,000 units sold by the end of September. European countries have also seen an uptrend in hybrids last year.

With so much going on in the auto industry, shop owners are scrambling to stay current with their customers. Let’s look at some of the factors that will change the way we do business in the auto body industry and how a customer relationship management software can help better serve your customers.

“Green” Cars Are on the Rise

Green cars are becoming more popular over the years, and we might see an influx of buyers and customers in the not-so-distant future. Technology is starting to mature on these high-tech vehicles with significant improvement in speed, acceleration, range, and power efficiency compared to their predecessors.

Hybrids and fully-electric cars have come a long way, and now we have Plug-in Electric vehicles (PEV) like Tesla Model 3 leading the charge (no pun intended). Major companies like Toyota, Ford, and BMW are also digging in to get their share in this emerging market. We could see more adoption in the near future as competition grows and PEVs diversify to meet various needs (Think Nissan Leaf hatchback, Jaguar I-PACE SUV, and Rivian R1T pickup truck)

Its Impact on the Auto Body Industry

Working with hybrids and electric cars is in many ways different from conventional methods. Body shops will have to work with aluminum more often which requires specialized training and a separate facility for aluminum collision repairs. Same applies to gas-driven cars by Ford and GM which are also using much lighter aluminum over conventional steel to increase MPG.

Body shops will also need an entirely different skill set for dealing with electrical components like the induction motor, inverter, battery pack, electronic sensors, etc., as well as OEM certification when servicing these parts. The question is, would it be worth putting the extra time and money? Note: electric vehicles also requires maintenance despite having less moving parts.

The Solution: Be Quick to Adapt to Customer’s Needs

Regardless of how big or small your business is, your ability to quickly adapt and stay current with your customers is the key to surviving a fast-changing environment. Here’s what you can do to help prepare your auto body shop business.

Research the market. Check the stats in your area. Do you have a large enough market to justify the cost of upgrade, or are they pretty much a niche market as of this time? Looking at the charts, we can see, for example, how electric vehicle sales in Ontario grew by 209 percent last year, followed by British Columbia and Quebec at 151 and 131 percent, respectively.

Given these numbers, there’s a fair chance of customer demand for maintenance and collision repairs in hybrids and electric vehicles (EV). However, this may not be the case in countries on the other side of the world, where people might actually buy good old gas-driven cars to take advantage of price cuts as demand for oil starts to dwindle. Either way, always be ready to take action when opportunity presents itself.

Invest in technology. Whether you’re dealing with older vehicles or high-tech EVs, it is worth investing in technologies that will help increase efficiency and productivity for your business. You can either choose to upgrade your auto body shop to serve a broader range of customers or increase throughputs by adding more bays and introducing IR curing systems. You can also improve other aspects of your business such as keeping track of your customers’ job order, in which case, you’re going to need a CRM to help you stay on-schedule.

Let people know you’re in business. After spending considerable amount of time and resources upgrading and improving your services, people need a way to know about it. Small Business Dream suite of tools helps business owners by offering a cost-effective way to reach out potential customers in multiple channels using automation (email autoresponders), semi-automation (email templates and phone script), social media marketing, and other useful features such as client acquisition (landing page and sales funnel), A/B testing, survey builder, and so on.

Stay in touch with your customers. Your current customers are an important source of information to help push your business forward. Throw out a survey from time to time to get into your customers’ head. Are they keen to have an electric vehicle in the future? If so, which model and make are they most interested in? Would they prefer to have both types (legacy and EV) for specific purposes? You can get a lot of useful feedback by just using Small Business Dream’s survey builder. Or, you can have them sign up to your auto body shop newsletter to keep them updated with your latest upgrades and services so they never miss out on anything and keep your business top-of-mind.

Learn more on how you can successfully build your auto body shop business at SmallBizDream.com and start using our suite of tools to increase your sales and profitability like never before.

How Small Businesses Can Take Advantage of Boxing Day Sales

Sales and discounts are everywhere this time of the year as businesses gear up for the shopping spree. For many small businesses, this could be their chance at getting more customers, boosting sales, and reigniting old customers. Customers who missed out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday would certainly be scrambling for Boxing Day sales, so take the time prepping up for the holiday frenzy.

Gear up for the Occasion

As a small business owner, this could be your chance to reengage customers who haven’t bought from you in a long time. What better chance than to entice them back with a nice juicy Boxing Day Sale?

Try to be competitive with your pricing. Finding the sweet spot is a fine balancing act which requires some knowledge in marketing and managing your cash flow. However, since every store in the city will be dropping prices as much as 25 to 50 percent, you might want to consider a sale if nothing more than to stay competitive with your competition. Think of price cuts (also known as “loss leader”) as part of your marketing expenses.

Freeing up your store from old inventory and putting them on sale is also a good way to beat the competition. Make sure they’re still in good condition, though, to avoid hurting your reputation.

Maximize Customer Engagement: Online and Offline Sales

Small businesses don’t usually end up having “blockbuster deals” like you see in big chain stores because they can’t beat them on price so don’t even try to compete with them. Instead, the more successful small businesses have their own signature product, speciality goods, or service not found at any other place.

You might have the perfect several items sitting on your store for some time. A Boxing Day sale is the perfect time to mark them down to attract sales volume.

Having an e-commerce site or a Facebook Page for your business can also help maximize customer engagement if done correctly. Alternatively, you can set an email autoresponder to notify your customers a day ahead when they subscribe to your newsletter. Small Business Dream suite of tools can vastly improve shopping experience by engaging with customers on multiple channels such as phone, SMS, social media, email, landing page, sales funnel, and so on, whichever method they prefer.

Follow up on Your New Customers on Boxing Day

Aside from being a great way to maintain customer loyalty, one of the great things about the holiday season is the amount of information you’ll get from new customers. You’ll need a tool such as CRM to collect customer information (online or in-store visits and purchases), manage your customer database, and maintain customers’ interest through customer communication (email autoresponders and newsletters subscriptions) long after the shopping frenzy is over.

Shoppers are in the holiday spirit so they are more likely to sign up for newsletters to be notified for the latest deals to make sure they never miss out on anything. They want to know which products will be on sale and when. CRM makes this all possible for you, at little or no expense to your business.

You should also collect new customer information even before Boxing Day starts by using CRM to conduct customer surveys or newsletter subscriptions via social media. Small Business Dream puts all the information from your Survey Page or Sales Funnel straight to your customer database, segment your customers right off the bat and send them on to your email autoresponders.

You can do it the old way and let Small Business Dream take it from there. Have your in-store customers fill up a short survey or ask for their business card and quickly add them to your database using Small Business Dream’s Card Scan feature, or you can do it yourself on your spare time.

Conclusion

Take this opportunity to grow your business and get noticed this holiday season. Use technology and your creative flair to your advantage, but most importantly to bring joy and satisfaction to your valued customers. So go ahead and make this Boxing Day an unforgettable shopping experience!

Learn more on how you can successfully build your small business through sales and marketing automation. Visit SmallBizDream.com and start using our suite of tools to increase your sales and profitability like never before.

What Small Business Can Do In a Depressed Market

The Economy is extremely volatile at the moment and if it becomes a bear market, it can have severe consequences for a lot of small businesses. For some, it meant cutting back on expenses, downsizing, or even bankruptcy. However, during these times businesses can give real value to their customers and stand out from their competition. Your ability to adapt, shift priorities, and look for opportunities during a downturn can help you stay afloat and gain a decisive edge above the competition.

We’ll be focusing on three main areas considered to be the most vital during this phase.

Customers

Customers tend to be more price-sensitive during tough times. Buying habits change, as well as their priorities. But despite all that, you need to keep a steady flow of income for your company. Getting enough customers to keep the ball rolling should be high on the list of your priorities. There are at least 3 ways you can achieve this:

Cross-sell/up-sell
Be more competitive
Focus on Customer Service

Although it seems counterintuitive, cross-selling or up-selling when most people are trying to stay on budget actually works. In retail business, this could mean offering bundled items, a discount, or selling them in bulk. Services like salons may offer one or more complementary services at a slightly lower price than if customers were to avail of them on separate occasions. Customers will take every opportunity to get the most out of their dollar whether it’s through discounts or storing up for the rainy days.

Staying in touch with your customers is a lot easier these days because of sales and marketing automation and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Small Business Dream helps business owners acquire new customers and maintain customer loyalty through email autoresponders, survey forms, inside sales tools for salespeople (Action List, phone script, notes, etc.), landing page templates, and sales funnel.

Cash Flow

Maintaining a positive cash flow can be tough for businesses during recessions. People tend to be more conservative with their finances, and businesses might have a hard time finding more capital to run their businesses. This often results in drastic measures like downsizing and outsourcing certain tasks, while others may try reducing their workload through automation. Check your cash flow and see if your business spending gives the best possible output.

Identify important areas in your business. If you are to strip down your business to its core, which ones would likely stay and keep you in business all throughout? Is there any task that hasn’t been automated, and is taking up too much time to accomplish? How effective is your marketing, and does it justify the cost? In many cases, business owners find themselves spending too much on things that don’t have significant impact on their bottom line. You could be hiring more people when you could have just spent a fraction of the cost using sales and marketing automation. We want our business to be as lean as possible and still be able to maximize our gains.

Reallocate your resources as needed. Technology has come a long way towards improving our efficiency from customer acquisition to maintaining good customer relationship. In fact, some businesses are already moving towards inside sales using CRM because it allows them to save up on gas, meetups, business trips, and other related expenses doing outside sales. This strategy greatly reduces business costs and helps them stay cash flow-positive when most businesses are barely making it.

Opportunities

When the economy is bad, most people turn to cash. Savvy investors and business owners use this opportunity to acquire more assets and properties as many of these will go on sale during recession. This is where businesses with enough cash stored away can benefit the most. If you are able to stay cash flow-positive, this can be your chance to grow your business significantly.

Foreclosures and auctions are pretty common during economic downturns. Take some time looking for opportunities to buy assets properties on the cheap which include real estate, office equipment, vehicles, goods, and raw materials. Some of these normally cost a fortune, but you might be able to acquire them for your business at significantly reduced prices. Market downturns allow you to grow your own business by picking up the pieces from what is left of other people’s businesses.

Final thoughts

You can succeed with any small business regardless of the present economic conditions so long as you have the mindset, skills, and the right tools to get the job done. You can always achieve more by working smarter, not harder. Use technology to speed up and automate your tasks, and be prepared to step up your business when opportunities present themselves.