As a young business owner, it’s hard to forget where you’re at and think about where you are headed. As a successful business owner, it’s easy to forget where you started and to be amazed at how far you’ve come. Luke Diserio, owner of American Muscle Docks and Fabrication, talked with Jim Matuga, host of The Positively West Virginia Podcast, about his advice to young and old business owners and his input on developing a small business plan.
American Muscle Docks and Fabrication builds aesthetically pleasing dock systems and dock hardware for commercial and residential applications. They strive to utilize innovative manufacturing techniques to give their customers a unique and superior product for a lower price.
Don’t forget where you came from.
For more experienced business owners who may be on their third or fourth business, it can be hard to remember where you started. It’s easy to forget the early days of worry and uncertainness.
However, at The Positively West Virginia Podcast, we believe this is essential.
Advice for young business owners:
Note down where you started and where you want to go. This will help you keep the bigger picture in mind. It will help keep you on track. It will help you when you’re feeling down if things aren’t going right “right now.” Then, when you become a successful business owner, you can remember where you started and celebrate how far you’ve come.
Track your progress.
Track the progress that you’re making. If you are a business to consumer business, track how much you are selling.
Not only will this help you celebrate the success you are having (as mentioned above), but it can help keep you on track to the bigger picture.
Keeping track of how much you are selling, who you are selling to and which service or product (if you provide many) is doing the best can help you with your marketing efforts.
Be patient.
Be patient. It’s a simple sentence, only two words, three syllables. But it’s the hardest thing to do.
As a young business owner, who has no experience, it can be hard to work slowly and to grow the business, but it has to be done.
“You have to be patient,” Diserio advised. “Be patient, keep your big picture goal in mind, and chip away until you’ve reached it.”
In the beginning, you will make mistakes (as any long-term business owner knows), and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
If you make mistakes, learn from them, and if you say you’re going to do something, do it.
“I always try to never forget the small details.I always try and follow through until the end on everything we do,” Diserio said.
American Muscle Docs and Fabrication – Wellsburg, WV
With that being said, sometimes as a business owner, things happen. It could be employees quitting, a shipment wasn’t sent out or maybe a customer is unhappy. You have to be able to make quick decisions.
“I think you just have to have the understanding that you have to make quick decisions and move on your feet and always be prepared for what-if,” Diserio said.
Diserio was a guest on The Positively West Virginia Podcast. Listen to the full podcast here.
PWV QUICK BITS | SMALL BUSINESS PLAN
- RECOMMENDED BOOK: Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
- PIECE OF ADVICE: “You have to be patient.” Diserio advices to keep the big picture and the main goal in mind and continually chip away.
- PERSON DISERIO WOULD LIKE TO MEET: Jim Justice