It's not enough to spend heaps of time, money and resources into getting buyers for your goods and services and then leaving those clients/customers to their own devices.

If you want to work less, have more time and make more money one very important aspect you have to take care of on an ongoing basis is nurturing those people who are prepared to spend their money with you.

You cannot afford to take their money, sell goods or perform services and then hope they will call you when they need too.

The Hairdresser A couple of weeks ago I visited my hairdresser for my regular appointment. Now I have been loyally going to this hairdresser for at least 2 years, approximately every six weeks.

On this particular occasion there were a couple of clients having their hair coloured and owner and another assistant were fawning over three kittens which had kindly been supplied by local vet. Apparently vet was looking for a good home for kittens and John,the owner and another staff member were going to take them home. The kittens were staying afternoon at salon for benefit of their new owners (my hairdresser and his assistant).

So here we were in an upmarket salon, with three kittens running around and staff paying more attention to them than clients.

The second incident that occurred happened after I had my hair washed. I was left sitting in a chair waiting whilst John who is my hairdresser casually took his time looking at another client's holiday photos. That wasted at least 5 minutes. (Some people may not be bothered about having their time wasted, but unfortunately for John, I wasn't one of them).

When he finally comes over, instead of asking me how am I going, or commenting about condition of my hair, he proceeds to tell me all details about his life (as he usually does) and is so focussed on himself he was oblivious to fact that without people like me (a paying client), he wouldn't be in business.

There are many complications to being a small business owner but none so pressing as need for health, dental and life insurance. Many small business owners obtain coverage through employment of their spouse. However, there are just as many small business owners who are not married, whose spouse is also self employed or not offered benefits through their employer.

Another option for a small business owner is to partner with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). PEO’s, also known as employee leasing companies, handle human resources functions of companies of any size but they focus primarily on small and medium sized businesses. Some of human resources functions handled by a typical PEO are:

* Payroll * Direct Deposit * Worker’s Compensation Insurance * Health Insurance * Dental Insurance * Life Insurance * Retirement Plans * Tax Deposits and Reporting * Regulatory Compliance