Are you finally looking to start your own small business? Starting a business can be an exciting but daunting experience. This is especially true when you hear that only about 3 out of 10 small businesses survive more than 10 years.
But, with the right plan and guidance, you can take your business to the next level and create long-term success. In this guide, we’ll outline some essential tips for taking your small business to new heights.
Research your idea
You will first need to know whether the idea you have in your head is viable. By viable, I mean many things, starting with if there is a market for what you want to offer; that is, if enough people would want to buy it. You also have to see whether it is financially viable, or if what you aim to do can actually result in a profit.
To make sure of all this, you need to conduct thorough research. Look into what similar existing businesses are doing. What are customer expectations from those businesses?
Gather as much information as you can, since this will show you what is already working for other businesses and what can work for you.
Remember, often times you don’t have to guess what the customer wants; the customer is already showing you what they want. They are showing you through what they look for online, what they ask you for, and what they buy from other businesses.
For example, if you want to open a café in your city, you can look into how many cafés already exist in the area as well as their pricing and what products they offer. Visit those stores and see what are the most purchased drinks, at what times do people go more often, or what they tend to order along with their drink. All this will help you better understand what works and what doesn’t and allows you to adapt properly.
Set Clear Goals and Objectives
You have now researched and come up with the best possible idea for your small business. Before you jump into launching it, it’s important to take the time to define your goals and objectives.
Ask yourself what success looks like for your business. What do you need to achieve for you to meet this goal? Setting clear objectives will help you devise a successful plan of action and identify areas that need improvement.
Make sure your goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely). This will help ensure that you are working towards something tangible with a set timeframe and that you can measure your progress.
Furthermore, it can be good to set milestones along the way to track your progress. For example, reaching a certain number of sales in one day or having x new customers sign up for your service.
Having milestones can help you make sure you are staying in course with your objectives. They can also be useful when identifying when it is time to pivot in your strategy to keep growing. Seeing how many milestones you have reached recently is a good indicator of how well things are going.
Create a Comprehensive Business Plan
Before launching your business, create a comprehensive business plan that outlines the goals and objectives you set earlier in detail, as well as the path to reach them.
Make sure to include an executive summary which details the mission of your organization. It should also have a description of market trends and competitive analysis, an overview of the products/services you offer, details about the size and type of customer base you aim to target, quantitative forecasts such as sales projections and financial statements.
Put simply, a good business plan should provide enough information for potential investors to decide whether to invest in or loan money to your small business. The plan should also be as detailed as possible, so that any outside person can thoroughly understand how your business works just by reading it.
In this step, it is also good practice to create guides on how you want your operations to go. These guides will be useful when onboarding your first employees, as they will have somewhere to look through if they need some quick help.
Market Your Business
Once the business plan is complete and your business is ready to start, it’s time to get the word out there. One of the first and most important things to do in this age is to create an online presence. This includes a website and the relevant social media accounts.
Your website should also implement search engine optimization (SEO) to rank better in search results and appear in front of more customers. To achieve this, creating content relevant to the people you are aiming for really helps, be it in a blog or other forms of content.
From there, you can go into paid advertising through Google or Facebook to increase visibility for your business. However, I suggest you first go through organic (not paid) growth methods before attempting paid methods.
If your business has a physical storefront where you’d like customers to go, you should add your business to platforms like Google Maps and Apple Maps, so people can find them. Those platforms allow potential customers to easily find your contact information, and they also show your business to people in the area when listed appropriately.
Take Advantage of Networking Opportunities
Isolating your business from the local community and other industry contacts is a sure way to limit its potential for success. So take advantage of the many networking opportunities that exist!
Attend industry-specific or local events, conferences, trade fairs, conventions, etc. Reach out to potential partners you may come across at these events and let them know what your small business can provide.
Additionally, connecting with other strategic partners such as industry associations, local chamber of commerce events, sponsorship and other means is an effective way to further market your small business in a cost-effective manner.
For example, say you run a photography business, and there is a food event happening nearby. You could go to the event and spread the word out about your food photography experience and packages. This can result in many new leads for your business.
Networking through social media can bring great connections as well. Utilize hashtags related to your industry to make new contacts with potential customers and partners.
Conclusion
There are certainly more things to keep in mind when starting a business. However, I hope you get a better sense of what you need to be aiming for with this guide. Getting these 5 points taken care of will drastically improve your chances of success and set you up for steady and sustained growth. Let me know in the comments if these tips help you and your business. Check out more of my articles for more tips to make your business excel.
