There’s no doubt we’re currently living through a vibrant era for small businesses. Boutique software as a service (SaaS) companies can forge lucrative relationships with large corporations. Even mom and pop stores can build omnichannel retail spaces with access to a global marketplace. As an entrepreneur, you also have great knowledge and resources at your disposal.
Yet, for all these benefits of our contemporary digital age, starting your enterprise isn’t necessarily easy. Without the right preparation, commitment, and tools you may still find your burgeoning company struggling to get by. Indeed, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), only around half of all new businesses make it to the 5-year mark. As such, you must take steps to make a solid start.
We’ll run through a few of the primary areas you should be focusing on.
Start Learning
You may have expert knowledge in a specialist area. But this doesn’t always mean you know how to transform your ideas into a successful small enterprise. Even when you get started, there are aspects to understand before you’re able to achieve significant growth. Committing to some education can be an important step in preparing a positive start for your business.
Formal education can be an option before or during your preparatory process. Taking a master of business administration (MBA) course can help you to explore corporate principles that are essential for a smooth start. You’ll have opportunities to learn about the step-by-step processes you should take in the lead-up to your opening. This includes the methods to perform market research and take care of your legal and regulatory responsibilities. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a good forum to make educational contacts. Alongside your course tutors, you’re likely to find mentors and other entrepreneurs who can give you insights into starting a business.
A master’s degree can be a lengthy undertaking — but, as valuable as it can be, it isn’t the only approach. You should commit to gaining some independent business knowledge as well. You need to understand what the risks of creating your startup might be, such as technological risks like cybersecurity or even the risks of starting a business with members of your family. Family businesses pose unique risks such as communication issues if members get into non-business arguments that spill over into work. You will have to consider if these risks will be too great to your startup to go into business with certain family members.
Keep Organized
We live at a time in which technological tools for organization are widely available for most tasks. There is a range of cloud-based project management platforms on the market. These can help you and any staff you have to keep all the planning and daily tasks of your business visible at all times. These are often compatible with communication and storage tools. It can also be wise to adopt digital documentation practices to both reduce the amount of paperwork and streamline processing. This can allow you to track and store your invoices and also make sure contracts are signed securely. Your focus here is also on clear naming and storage protocols so documents can be accessed easily when needed.
While some organizational procedures are practical for starting a business, others are a matter of legislation. You are required by federal and state regulations to maintain certain types of documentation. This will include financial issues, like employee pension details. It could also involve supporting documentation to back up any marketing claims should the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) require it. Working with experts in this area — usually accountants and lawyers — can be a solid step to making sure you have everything organized and accessible when needed.
Build Your Profile
Our digital landscape offers a significant amount of accessibility for new entrepreneurs. This gives you some great assets as a small business owner. However, it’s worth bearing in mind these opportunities are open to a lot of other entrepreneurs, too. It’s a vibrant global marketplace out there, but this means you have a lot of competition in whatever industry you’re joining. This means you need to start building your profile as part of your preparations.
Don’t treat marketing as something you need to handle after you’ve opened. You will usually find your approach will be far more practical if you immediately start arranging the tools you need. Spending too much too soon is one of the key mistakes new business owners make, so keep your costs low here. Build your own website, create some simple brand assets, and do some keyword research for search engine optimization (SEO). Start creating content that your audience will find both informative and entertaining.
Once you have the tools in place, work to create some buzz. Create a countdown to get the public interested and engage with you on the day you open. Interact with consumers and followers, and focus on the quality of these relationships. This helps to make sure not only they engage with your launch but keep doing so in the years beyond. Be sure to create a forum for review sharing; customers want to know what experiences others have had with your brand and share their own. Automate this feature so you aren’t spending hours auditing and posting these reviews to your website. This is yet another means of connecting with your customers.
Conclusion
It’s an exciting time to start a new small business. To be successful, though, it is important to put investment and effort into your business education and building your skills. Implementing organizational tools and techniques can stop your operations from drifting into chaos along the way. Remember, an early approach to marketing may build momentum to help your company to thrive. These kinds of preparation can take your burgeoning small enterprise to greater heights.
