This guide outlines the strategies for success when starting your own business, even when starting small. When operating as a small business, there are many challenges you will face. The issue is that the problem is a variety of obstacles you will need to fulfil all the roles any business requires. This means you are sales, and you are also accounts payable, you are the admin department and the workforce all by yourself.
Let’s think about your plan of starting your own business. What’s missing: money to invest? Time? Or is it just a lack of planning? It’s time to break through these barriers and get ideas off the paper. The timing is right for starting your own business: Unitfour announced last year a 20% growth in the number of companies opening, compared to the previous year.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that the competitive scenario is a reason to postpone starting your own business! Our definitive guide brings you the best tips for starting a successful business.
The entrepreneurial spirit
Statistics show that being an entrepreneur and starting your own business is a dream of many people. In addition to opening businesses out of opportunity, the financial recession has intensified the emergence of businesses open out of necessity, led by people who have recently become unemployed or who need to add more income.
The mistake, however, is that many of the companies opened out of necessity are not very innovative and bring in their management professionals who do not have an entrepreneurial spirit . To stand out, it takes organization, willpower and patience! Having a passion for the idea also helps drive the brand to success. The combination of these skills is what we can call an entrepreneurial profile. To measure its potential, the manager must be able to recognize its strengths as well as its limitations.
Leadership skills, ability to motivate, good communication, optimism, decision-making skills and vision of the future are welcome skills when the objective is to start a business from scratch.
Own idea vs franchise
Few people want to deposit all their savings in a risky business, right? Starting a business from scratch involves certain challenges that not every manager feels up to. Success is possible when the entrepreneur has responsibility and dedication, but the risks cannot be ignored.
A safe option for starting your own business for those who want to direct their investments more securely is the franchise market . For those who are not prepared for the risks of establishing their own brand, franchising is the right alternative.
As a franchisee, the entrepreneur enters the market counting on the support of an already known and respected brand. The franchise’s prior reputation helps to avoid investment risks. In addition, well-structured marketing and the improvements offered to the team of employees are among the advantages of this model.
Strategies for starting your own business successfully
This effort of starting your own business can seem quite overwhelming at first, but with a little planning, it can be made a lot easier. Here are our top tips for starting your own business and for a small business to be successful.
Ready. You have chosen to start your venture, whether driven by opportunity or need. Whether you’ve chosen to take your own idea from the paper or bet on the franchise market, the step-by-step steps we’ve taken will help you start your business with excellence. To start with, it is necessary to bet on an important task, but that many newcomers to entrepreneurship still neglect: the business plan.
1. Make the business plan
The business plan is the first step to be taken if you decide to undertake. The process, which may seem complex at first glance, becomes easier when you do a lot of research, read well on the subject, have software or the franchisor itself, if that’s the case. Drawing up a plan means defining where your company aims to reach and which path it will follow to achieve its objectives and goals. The financial planning goes well at this stage, objectively showing how the entrepreneur can detach to each sector.
Thinking that the issue is too complicated, some managers leave it aside. This is a fatal mistake you shouldn’t make! When goals are planned and strategies are defined in advance, the manager avoids losing money when starting your own business.
2. Search for your audience
The company’s business plan is aligned with the knowledge of the target audience that its brand will serve. This helps you choose the best place starting your own business and create marketing strategies consistent with your target (the ideal customer).
In order to know the target audience, the manager cannot go easy on researching! Go into the field with surveys and ask people from that location to answer questions that will help to demystify you. When searching for the ideal customer in starting your own business, the entrepreneur must know their estimated age group, the location in which this audience is concentrated, the average ticket spent by the target and their problems. Your market positioning becomes more solid and efficient.
It may seem strange to talk about “problems” for the consumer, but when he enters a store, he is looking for the product or service capable of solving his lack. It’s important to know what your audience demands.
3. Invest in marketing
Think it’s too early to plan your marketing for starting your own business? Time to rethink this idea! Marketing is not just about promoting your products after the store is already operating. He is also responsible for adding new customers to get to know his business.
The purpose of marketing is also to attract these potential consumers, called prospects. By attracting them to know your products and services, it’s time to work to lead them through the so-called sales funnel.
The pipeline, or funnel, is the path that your company should plan to follow with the consumer, taking him from the first interest in the store to the loyalty of that customer.
4. Bet on the competitive differential
A brand’s competitive edge is what differentiates it from its competitors when starting your own business. The company’s competitive factor involves the notion of value and price. Can you tell them apart?
The price is that objective number, indicated on the label, that shows how much the customer needs to spend for a product or service. The value, on the other hand, is subjective in nature, and depends on the customer’s own perception.
What makes the consumer pay more for a product of a well-known brand, even when faced with a cheaper option and with similar qualities to the first product? The answer is value. Adding value should be the objective of your organization from the beginning. Anyone who wants to start a business from scratch must be willing to invest in its competitive advantages to get ahead in an increasingly fierce market.
The service is a differential that catches the eyes of the consumer! Invest in the qualification of your team of employees, including constant training. Keeping a record of customers also helps with the process.
5. Control the processes
Gathering data and keeping records is useless if the manager does not use this data in his/her role. Be sure to evaluate the performance of your team of employees and measure the success of each applied strategy when starting your own business.
Every process needs to be well managed and evaluated after its performance. To optimize the accuracy of analytics, the entrepreneur who accepts the challenge of starting their business from scratch needs to be supported by technology.
6. Play to your strengths
It’s essential to be aware that although the small business owner has to wear many hats, some will fit better than others. So, it’s crucial to concentrate on what you do best, as that’s what will bring the money in. If you are good at sales, then make sure you get to take the time for you to be doing that. If you are an engineer, then concentrate on the engineering and hire salespeople, if you have the means to do so.
7. Consider an accountant or bookkeeper
I could guess that chances are doing the books, completing accounts, and filing tax returns is not what attracted you to stating your own business unless it’s an accountancy firm that is. Hiring an accountant can free up so much of your time for doing those other things that we mentioned. You can often even save as much as they cost when considering that they may be able to find you ways of saving on tax.
8. Premises
You will need to consider if your business needs premises or not? For some, it’s essential, retail, for example, and others not so much. If you are offering home improvements, it’s unnecessary to have an office or a showroom as you would usually conduct surveys at the customers’ home. You may require somewhere for secure tool storage, but that’s much less expensive than premises you will seldom be working from.
9. Use social media
Promotion is key. No matter how good you are, if no-one has heard of you, then business will be slow. These days a quick way of getting exposure is to have a social media presence. Anyone can set up Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, and be sharing content and advertising in a matter of minutes. It’s an excellent strategy to make your posts as visual as possible, using images and videos to help them stand out from the crowd.
10. The personal touch
Being a small company, the one significant advantage you have is the personal touch. Your customers will get to know you personally, and you should use this. Make customer service a point of excellence, and you will be rewarded by it. Check up on customers to see if they were happy and if anything could have been improved. This strategy can often result in good online reviews on platforms such as Google and Facebook, and we can’t stress enough how good this is for your reputation.
