What to Read & Write to Keep a Small Business Afloat

     While interviewing Timothy about his daily activities as a small business owner, it became apparent that there is a lot of reading and writing that goes into running a business. In my last post I didn't get much into the subject, because I felt like it deserved its own post.
    
      I realized before hand that, yes, you have to communicate through clients/customers through email, but I did not know how frequently used it is. Email is one of the most important ways that Timothy communicates with clients, because it is quick and easy to get your point across if it is something that does not warrant a report. These emails are always short and to the point and informal. Now, informal to Timothy means that he doesn't have to make graphs and analyze a a stocks performance because that is all saved for when he is writing a report. Though they may not have these aspects, his emails are professionally written with proper grammar and spelling and formatted in a more scholarly format. This is because he still wants to create a professional appearance to his clients. I think that it is important to always keep a professional presence.

     Even though my future business will not have such a conservative and formal environment as Timothy's investment consultant firm, I think that it is still crucial to keep a tone of professionalism in communication with my customers because email will be my primary way of speaking with my customers. If you need more information on how to go about creating a more professional tone in your emails, here are ten tips on how to write a professional email. I always try to keep them in mind while composing my emails.

 
      Timothy also mentioned that an important daily task for him was to read the Wall Street Journal. The wall street journal is a business and financial news subscription journal used to learn about what in the economy today. Timothy recommends that anyone in business reads the journal. It has articles for any business subject: marketing, accounting, finance, management, ect. I plan to subscribe to it soon because I think it will be beneficial when I start up my business to keep up with current events that will be relevant to me.

     Timothy mentioned numerous other specific readings and writings that he does. Just to name a few: reports, stock portfolios, and clients profiles. Many things were specific to his consulting business and not very relevant to me, but what I got away from talking with him was that keeping up with current events and market trends is very beneficial to knowing how you want to run your business. It sets up a path for you to know how to direct your business to succeed.