It’s great to have a strong passion for something in your life. If yours is about a certain idea or product that you want to set up a business around, then you can enjoy your life doing something you genuinely love. However, starting a business whether big or small requires a lot more than just passion and love. You have to make important decisions, do the legwork, arrange money, and a lot more. That said, if you are really committed and dedicated, then you can make your dream a reality.
If you are prepared to embark on a journey that you can truly call your own, following some of the best tips on starting a small business that can be of great help:
1. Create a business plan
One of the most important things you need to do when starting a small business is to create a comprehensive plan. It doesn’t need to include the specifics of your marketing strategies, cost analysis, financial targets, etc. but it should at least address the “bulk” of your company. For instance, the following are some of the points it should cover at least in brief:
- Business description
- Funding arrangements
- Financial projections
- Sales and marketing strategies
- Staff requirements
2. Invest your own money as much as possible
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of safeguarding their personal savings by covering all the initial business costs through personal loans or business loans. However, the problem with this approach is that if the business doesn’t start to generate profit soon, it can lead to huge debt accumulation. This is considering the fact that most new businesses take months or even years before becoming cashflow-positive.
It’s highly recommended that you use your own money as much as possible. Besides, it’s not that difficult to start a business on a budget. So, you can just start small and once you start making some money, you can raise funds from investors easily or just start putting some portion of the revenue back into the business.
3. Identify your market
Having a good product is important for every business. However, you can’t sell it unless you know exactly who is it for. In other words, you must have a clear idea of your target demographic. Only when you can create appropriate marketing campaigns, branding, etc.
Understanding your target customers also helps in the pricing of the products and to improve the lead-to-customer conversion rate for sales.
4. Hire the right people
Smart entrepreneurs understand that the employees are more important than clients. So, it’s really important that when you form your “dream team”, then you look past their academic qualifications and work experience.
There is always much more to a person than what their resume tells you. Since this is your new business, you want to start off on the right foot. You also need the people you can count on with your eyes closed. And for that, you really need to get to know your candidates and engage with them on a deeper level.
So, some of the questions that you can ask include:
- What’s your primary goal of joining our organization?
- What makes you think you fit the role we are offering?
- What was your experience with the previous organization like?
- What do you know about our company/brand?
You can use a company like ZipRecruiter to make the process of finding great employees easier.
5. Look at your competitors and find ways to set yourself apart
Launching a business is never easy. However, accomplishing that alone won’t guarantee success in the long term. You also need to make your products/services better than your rivals. For this, you can research your competitions and note what they are doing right and what can be improved. Learn from their mistakes so that you don’t repeat them yourself. Your goal should be to avoid becoming another generic company in the industry that gets lost in the crown before it even gets a chance to reach its true potential.
6. Design a brand that can resonate with your audience
This is the era of branding which is way more powerful and significant than marketing. This is because marketing is required on a continuous basis to push sales, but branding can create an unshakable impact on your customers which can last for years. It also helps in building trust and admiration for your products in your customers.
There are many important aspects of branding that you need to keep in mind such as creating a professional website, designing a company logo, creating business cards and other branded materials, however, it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg companies like Tailor Brands and others like them making the process affordable for the little guy.
Apart from branding materials if you want your brand to succeed it should be aspirational and not inspirational, which is something many new businesses get wrong.
7. Don’t dwell on mistakes
“If you went back and fixed all the mistakes you’ve made, you’d erase yourself.” -Louis C. K.
You can’t expect to do everything right, especially when it’s your first business. In fact, mistakes with finances, staff management, compliance and regulations, etc. are more common than you think. Almost every entrepreneur makes their share of errors.
However, the difference between a successful entrepreneur and a failed one is that the former simply takes note of the issue and moves on, careful not to repeat it again.
8. Take risks, dream big
Have you heard the adage “fortune favors the bold”? It holds a huge significance, especially for the entrepreneurs. Just take a look at some of the biggest companies of all time- Apple, Spanx, Whole Foods, etc.
They all have a story of a risky idea/investment that paid off big as we know today. So, there is something to learn here- if you want to achieve success, then you can’t expect it by following the footsteps of others.
You must take risks and make decisions that no one has ever taken before. Only then you can lead the path of true innovation and leadership, and nurture qualities that can take your business to new heights.
