Keep the customers satisfied, and they will recommend other people to your business.

My name is Charlene McNeil. I own Holiday One-Hour Dry Cleaners in East Whittier, California. I've been in business for 34 years.

I would say - number one - enjoy what you're doing. Appreciate your customers. Our customers are number one to us, and we let them know it. Whenever you have problems with customers, their problem is your problem. Don't get defensive; work with them. The solution is going to benefit both of you.

I would say the number one mistake is not finding out what type of marketing works best. If you can do that by talking to other people in the business, you can learn by their mistakes. I found that the best way for us to promote our business is through existing customers. Keep the customers satisfied, and they will recommend other people to your business. Plus, we run in-house promotions to get more business from our existing customers, and we have found that to work very well.

Being in business today is much more complicated than it was even 10-15 years ago, particularly with our business because we use solvents. We're very heavily regulated because of environmental concerns. This makes it much more difficult and a much larger responsibility being in this particular type of business than it was in the past.

Another thing is with employees--because we're a small shop, I have only 5-6 employees. I really stress that we're a team. I'm not the chief and they're not all the little Indians. We are a team; we work together; we're equals. I want to hear what they have to say as far as better ways of doing things. Their suggestions are important because they are in direct contact with my customers. I want them to be happy in order that they project their happiness to their customers.

In conclusion, I would say anyone who is interested in opening up his or her own business should carefully conduct research first. Find out exactly what is involved and be sure it is an activity you will enjoy.