When you're in the early stages of building a stand-out business, there are lots of moving parts and pieces to keep things running smoothly. There are also a lot of things that seem important, but are just distractions.
So where do you need to focus right from the start?
The things that will move the needle the most.
Easier said than done, right? Because those things can look different for each business. But let's look at the most common things you need to be thinking about right from the start to ensure you're on the path to success.
Your brand is the heart and soul of your business, and it's what sets you apart from the crowd. So, take the time to craft a brand that reflects your unique personality and style. Remember, a strong brand will attract the right customers and help you stand out in the marketplace.
A strong brand isn't about flashy websites or spending a lot of dough to "look good". Your brand is your business's identity and how you want to be perceived by the world. It's the story that lives in the hearts of your Raving Fans when you're not actively marketing to them. Take the time to think about how you want your business to come across and create messaging and marketing that reflects that. The stronger your brand is, the better your chances of success.
With a strong brand, your business becomes memorable - even when you're NOT marketing!
Next, seek out good advice. As a creative entrepreneur, you might feel like you can do everything on your own, but the truth is, everyone needs help. Surround yourself with people who have been there and done that, and learn from their experience. Trust me, it'll save you time and energy in the long run.
The right people - including legal experts, consultants, and those who are experts in your specific industry can be invaluable sources of support, encouragement, and insight. And they don't need to be on call 24/7 to be good for you. Expert guidance, that's focused on helping you reach your goals and dreams, will help you have a much higher chance of success and shorten your learning curve..
Building a business can be overwhelming, and you don't have to do it all alone. Seek out mentors, coaches, and experts who can guide you along the way.
When you look at the successes and failures of previous business owners, so much of it comes down to the people they had access to when they started out. In essence, you are in a much better position, with a much higher chance of success, if you are able to get in touch with the right people at the start. Consult legal experts (like Manfred Sternberg & Associates, or other legal consultants) and those who are experts in the needs of your specific industry.
Of course, we can't forget about the moolah! Cash flow is the lifeblood of your business. If you're self-funding everything, that means you carry all the risk and financial burden. That may or may not be a problem for you, but it's important to know what you're really dealing with when it comes to the "money stuff" in your business.
Look for sources of funding that align with your values and goals. Maybe that's crowd sourcing or finding a lender through Kiva. Or maybe it's your own credit card. Been there. Done that! The key is to have a secure source of funding that will give you the financial stability you need to grow and thrive.
Seek funding you can rely on before you think you'll need it. Because often, when you finally need it, you may have a hard time getting it!
Last but certainly not least, you need to build the best damn team ever! If cash flow is the lifeblood, then your team is the backbone of your business. Who you surround yourself with is arguably the most important factor of all. When you have a team you love (that loves you right back), you'll have a much better chance of success.
Take your time to find the right people for your team. Be willing to let people go that don't fit your team culture (and do it FAST!). This includes contractors, part timers, and anyone else supporting you and your business. The people you surround yourself with are crucial to your business's success. That means your advisors AND your team support! Develop a rock-solid recruitment process that helps you find the right people who share your vision and passion. With a strong team, you can tackle anything that comes your way.
So, there you have it - the four things you need at the start of your business: a strong brand, good advice, secure funding, and the best team you can afford. Remember, building a successful business takes time. It can be challenging, requires effort, and dedication, but with these four elements in place, you'll be on your way to creating a thriving business.
When you started your business, it was probably pretty simple to handle everything on your own. You wore all the hats and maybe even wore them most of the time, because it was just you.
As your business expands, things often get more complicated. Now, wearing all the hats means you have no time to have a life! You might find that you're unable to keep up with everything like you once did.
Been there, done that!
Whether you're looking at delegating to other team members or automating a few things to relieve the pressure valve, you're going to need help to advance your company. Here are a few telltale signs that your home business has grown to the point where it needs to be more than just you.
It could be a sign that your home business is growing too big for just you if you find yourself working longer hours than you had planned. This could indicate that you are struggling to meet demand or that you just don't have enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done. For instance, it can be a hint that you need assistance if you are spending more time handling administrative duties or customer service requests than actively operating the business.
Another sign that your firm is expanding and will need more resources is when you have observed a sustained and significant increase in revenue. Having additional help isn't free. You need to be able to financially sustain the help you're trying to hire. Once the income is there, hiring help can let you focus on other areas of running a successful business while also ensuring that all chores are handled effectively.
If you've already got some help, but still find that you are doing too much work that's outside your zone of genius, it may be a sign that you need more assistance. Although many business owners find this to be a challenging transition, it is crucial for the expansion and success of your home business. Hiring a specialist or a service provider like a VA agency like MyVA.Rocks or a marketing firm like Adtaxi could help with this.
The expectations of your company will rise along with the number of customers. It could be time to consider hiring someone else who can help fulfil demand if you discover that there aren't enough hours in the day to meet all of the demands of your customers. You might require someone to manage customer support or to contribute to further product development, for instance.
Finally, it could be time to make an investment in someone who can help manage this part of your organization if you notice that you are lagging behind on new technology and trends. Hiring a specialist in this area could make the difference between staying ahead or falling behind as staying ahead of the competition is vital for the growth of any firm. Hiring a social media expert, for instance, might help your business stay competitive if you find it difficult to keep up with the most recent developments in online marketing.
It could be a good idea to start thinking about employing extra workers to help operate your home business if any of these symptoms sound familiar. For your company to continue to succeed and keep up with demand, you must ensure that you have enough resources available. The most crucial thing is to choose carefully - but CHOOSE before it's too late. Preventative measures taken now can spare your company a lot of trouble in the future. Find someone with the abilities to support the success of your company by doing your homework!
The customer experience is the name given to the customers' perceptions and feelings when they interact with a business. This is the total effect of the interactions that they have gone through, from using the website to speaking to the sales agent and receiving the parcel through the door. It is a broad range of things that constitute the customer experience. If your aim is to broaden your customer base or continue to get more of the same type of customer, then you need to focus on the customer experience. Here are a few ways you can enhance your customer experience and gain more customers.
Your Customer's Needs
You need to start putting yourself in your customer's shoes. Instead of viewing your products and services through your own business lens, you need to start viewing your brand as if you were your customer. Are you connecting with your customer? Do you solve a need in your customer's life? What is your understanding of the problems in your customer's life that your products and services are aimed at solving? Have you looked at your competitors and looked at how they position themselves in relation to these points? If you know what your customer's needs are, then you can start mapping out a customer journey with that as your focus point.
Think Deeply About Your Content
The customer experience relies on the content you produce. Content, like social media posts, are able to give you valuable data about how your custom behaves. It can show you which images and key messages resonate the most. The more you know about how your customer connects with your content, the better you will be able to use it for your specific aims. By analyzing the marketing metrics on your content, you will develop a great understanding of the ROI (return on investment) for each marketing channel with a view to focusing on the ones that work best. The idea is to develop better content on all the channels you actually need.
What Value Do You Offer
You need to focus on the value you offer your customers. It is important to remember that for the majority of customers, as high as two-thirds, the customer experience is more important than the price. So instead of trying to produce as much as possible, you should slow down and develop a better experience. You need to consider creating content that connects with your customer emotionally utilizing the value you are supplying. In a way to connect with them. A good brand has the power to elicit an emotional response in a customer by tapping into their desires. At every step along the way, you need to add value; even consider music for waiting room and the materials you use for your packaging. Everything needs to add value.
Conclusion
The customer experience is a way of seducing the customer into using you more often. You need a multipronged approach to dealing with this. If you focus on the customer's needs and the value you are offering their lives and produce high-quality content which highlights these points, you will produce a much better customer experience.
Scaling a business can be an exciting and challenging process. It involves taking a successful business model and replicating it in new markets or with new products. However, before you begin the process of scaling your business, it's important to make sure you have the right things in place.
Scaling a business requires a significant investment of time and money. Before you begin the process, you need to make sure you have a solid financial foundation. This includes having enough cash on hand to fund the expansion, as well as a clear understanding of your revenue and expenses. This will help you to create a realistic budget for scaling and ensure that you have the resources you need to make it happen.
Before you begin scaling, it's important to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. This includes identifying your target market, understanding the needs of your customers, and determining the unique value proposition of your product or service. Having a clear vision will help you to make strategic decisions and stay focused on your goals as you scale.
Scaling a business requires a strong team that can execute your vision. This includes having a dedicated and experienced management team, as well as a skilled workforce. It's also important to have a clear organizational structure in place that can handle the increased workload and responsibilities that come with scaling.
As you scale, your business will need to be able to handle increased demand. This includes having the right systems and processes in place to manage your inventory, fulfill orders, and handle customer service. It's also important to have a reliable IT infrastructure that can support your growing business. Essentially, this is the backbone of any company if your business is going to operate effectively and efficiently and deliver reliable services. In this case, you may want to consider the idea to optimize your business with NetSuite ERP solutions. This offers your business the chance to offload the IT overhead. You can enhance data security and guarantee uptime with this type of improvement.
Scaling a business often requires forming strategic partnerships with other companies. This can include partnerships with suppliers, distributors, or other businesses that can help you to expand your reach and increase your revenue. Make sure you choose partners that align with your vision and values and have a clear understanding of what each party is expecting from the partnership.
Scaling a business often involves taking on new and unfamiliar challenges. Be prepared to pivot and change direction if something isn't working. Be open to new opportunities and be willing to experiment.
When scaling, you will have to think about marketing in a different way. Your marketing strategy will have to be more targeted and more effective to reach new customers. You might need to consider new channels and different ways of communicating with your target market.
As your business grows, it will become more complex. You will need to be familiar with legal and compliance requirements for your business, and your legal documents should be updated accordingly. You'll need to make sure you are compliant with laws and regulations, and that you have the right insurance in place through somewhere like Tivly to protect your business.
Scaling a business can be a daunting task, but with the right planning and execution, it can be a hugely rewarding experience. By making sure you have the right things in place before you begin, you can increase your chances of success and ensure that your business is well-positioned for growth.
As a business, promotion is essential and that promotion isn’t just confined to the online world and locally. When businesses travel to conferences and events, it’s an opportunity to market the business to a wider market.
Taking full advantage of these occasions is important as a business, whether it’s a new company or it’s existed for decades.
With a new year to tackle as a business, here are some tips to help promote your business on the road at events and conferences.
In order to get your business on the lips of everyone at the conference or event, it’s good to create a buzz. Wherever your stand is placed, it’s all about how you create excitement with your stand. This could be by giving out flyers or being more vocal when it comes to presentations and drawing attention from passersby.
Creating that excitement is something that can do wonders for any business looking to generate customers/clients during these events and conferences.
Any opportunity to promote your brand is going to be useful so make use of this in different ways. From television screens that have a presentation repeated constantly to small vinyl stickers that you can hand out to event guests with your brand on them.
The more noise you can make when it comes to these events the better. It’s certainly useful to make use of any opportunities that you can in order to promote the business further.
Freebies. Who doesn’t love a good freebie? A freebie can go a long way when it comes to convincing someone to buy something from your stand or simply raising awareness of your brand the next time they come across you.
Look at what freebies or samples you can provide to those who are attending the event. A little really does go a long way in converting leads to customers.
To help with garnering interest in your company and for building that all-important client base, consider providing a sign-up form. This is helpful when it comes to collecting data and is the standard for many businesses to use when setting up at a business event or conference.
While paper sign-up forms are easy to do, it might be worth adapting to digital forms to make it easier to process when it comes to collating it all after the event and inputting it into your database.
Most conferences and events nowadays will have their own dedicated feeds on social media. Try to get on these as often as you can and be active with your own social media accounts too. It’s important to show a willingness to support and engage with those who might be attending or watching the event closely from afar.
Promoting your business at events and conferences is an absolute must, so make sure you’re doing it properly.
For a small business, marketing can be the difference between success and failure. However, it's not as simple as it once was. You need to be aware of the different options that you have at your disposal today to get the most out of them. In this article, we'll look at some ideas that you can use right now to market your small business effectively.
Having a website is essential for any business, but especially for a small one. You can use your website to advertise your company and generate leads. You can even put up photos of current projects you are working on so potential clients know what you're capable of doing. If you want to get advanced in the realm of marketing, take a look at HubSpot's blog post about how to create an effective landing page for your company's website.
Social media can be an incredible tool if you know how to use it. In addition to being a great way to connect with clients, social media is also a great way to promote your business and create a community around your brand. You could use Facebook groups or even Snapchat stories, depending on what's best for you. If you share the story behind your business and the values that drive it, people will feel connected with what you're doing on both personal and professional levels.
You could also try sharing images of happy customers wearing their clothes or using their products (like an adorable cat in bed reading an eBook), as well as highlighting features of those same products/services. You may also want to share some fun facts about what makes your company unique or behind the scenes sneak peeks, if one thing stands out about the product its durability then mention that! And finally when promoting new items make sure they're easy for people who visit the page; this means featuring links at least once throughout each post so users don't have trouble finding them later down in the comments section after following links back up top first.
Email marketing can be a great way to build a relationship with your customers and get them to buy things from you. You can use email marketing to promote your business, but also to promote specific products that you have for sale as well. There are many different ways that you can use email marketing, so it's important to think about what kind of messages will work best for your business. Marketing is very beneficial and different forms of marketing will be different for different types of companies, you can use the best marketing automation software for it to be more effective.
The key takeaway here is that there are many different ways to market your business. You can use some of these ideas or all of them, but you must do something so that potential customers know about your product or service.
If you want to protect your business and make sure that your workplace is kept safe and secure at all times, the actions you take will matter a lot. If you’re not able to keep your workplace secure at all times, you’re going to eventually regret that, and that’s not what you want. So read on now and find out what you can do to avoid security problems in your workplace.
Have Processes That Are Followed Consistently at the End of Each Day
First of all, you should ensure that there’s a process in place that’s followed each and every day at the end of the day when it’s time to shut the building. There should be someone whose responsibility it is to ensure all of the doors and windows are properly locked at the end of the day. It’s the best starting point for workplace security.
Train Employees on Security Matters
Training your employees on matters surrounding security is important because when a security issue does arise, it’s most likely going to be your employees who are dealing with it on the ground level. So ensure your business has strong training strategies in place that you feel cover all of the most important matters when it comes to security in the workplace and things like that.
Put Strong Cybersecurity Safeguards in Place
These days, when it comes to security, you can’t only focus on the physical security issues that are obviously important but also issues around cybersecurity too. You want to make sure that there are strong safeguards in place that are going to make it possible for you to avoid any attacks or attempted hacks that might come your way. Things like firewalls, VPNs and antivirus software are all key.
Use ID Badges in the Workplace
Having an ID badge protocol in place will make sure that you can tell who should be in the building, who’s authorized to be there and who isn’t. If you see someone without an ID badge in your workplace, that should tell you that something is not right and that said person shouldn't be in the building. So find a way to create a photo badge system that works for your business.
Know Who is On-Site at All Times
It’s also important to know who’s on-site at all times. You need to know who’s visiting and how many people are in the building. This matters from a safety point of view, but it can also help fi a security issue does occur. You can then look back and see if there was anyone in the building at that time that might have been the source of the problem.
As you can see, there are lots of things that you need to think about if you’re going to fully avoid security issues in your workplace. Workplace security is not something that you can afford to overlook when so many threats exist out there, both in terms of physical harm and the damage caused by cyber crimes.
When marketing your business, you need to be careful of which tactics you use. Certain marketing methods could see you facing a lawsuit or heavy fines. Many people adopt these tactics without even realising that they could be deemed illegal. Below are 7 examples of the marketing mistakes you should be avoiding.
Using images without permission
When using images from third-party sources within your marketing, it’s important to always ask the owner of these images for permission. Images are protected by copyright law - if the owner has not stated that anyone can use their images, you must get permission first, otherwise you could get sued for copyright infringement. Many photographers and artists charge people to use their images, however royalty-free photos and images do exist. These can be worth using if you’re a small business on a tight budget or simply looking for images for blog posts. Make sure that you also credit images when you use them - even if they are royalty-free.
Copying another company’s logo
It’s also important that your logo is original. While it’s okay to take inspiration from competitors’ logos, you should be careful of making your logo look too similar - if this competitor stumbles across your logo, they’re likely to sue. This is particularly the case if the logo you’ve copied is trademarked. With so many companies out there, it is possible to accidentally come up with a near identical logo, in which case you may be able to defend yourself. However, if it’s obvious that you’re aware of the competitor, then you likely won’t be able to get out of the lawsuit.
Stealing written content from other websites
Did you know that written content on other websites is also protected by copyright? Nabbing a few sentences from a competitor’s website could see you facing legal action if the competitor finds out. While you can take inspiration from other websites, it’s important to try to make all written content original. No copying and pasting! Hiring copywriters could be a solution if you don’t have the time to write your own original written content.
Badmouthing your competitors
You should also be careful what you say about competitors in your marketing. Making your competitors look bad could be viewed as defamation. This is a sueable offence and could cost you a lot of money. It’s for this reason that you rarely ever see brands attacking each other (and if they do, it’s usually only ever done humorously or indirectly). In fact, it’s often best not to mention your competitors at all.
Adding recipients unwillingly to your mailing list
When building a mailing list, it’s important that your subscribers willingly sign up. Adding random people to your mailing list is classed as spamming - which is illegal in many countries around the world. Even if you’re certain a customer would value being on your mailing list, you must encourage them to join of their own accord. Make sure that you also provide a link in all your emails that allows people to easily unsubscribe at any time if they no longer want to be on your mailing list.
Posting fake reviews
Creating a fake account and writing a positive review of your company (or a negative review of a competitor) can be tempting. However, it’s actually illegal in many countries if you get caught. Instead, you should always try to acquire reviews naturally. You can of course ask customers to leave reviews. However, it must be the customer who is writing and publishing the review - you cannot write a review on their behalf.
Using false claims in your advertising
Lying in business is generally never a good idea. It’s particularly important to not deceive people with your marketing strategies. False advertising is illegal and some companies have faced huge fines for it. What are some examples of false advertising? Using incorrect stats or studies to back up claims is one common example. Claiming that a service is a certain price and then charging a different figure is another example of false advertising. And there’s also the common false claim that a product can do something that it can’t do (such as claiming a toy is waterproof, when it isn’t). To avoid all these forms of false advertising, it’s important that you only use information about your product that you know is accurate. If you’re unsure of a fact, research it first. Make sure that any studies also come from trusted sources.
Are you interested in expanding your business? If so, then it’s important to take the right path. One of the problems that you can run into here is causing your business to be inefficient. This can happen if you grow your company too quickly. The good news is that there are some simple steps that you can take to ensure a successful expansion. Here are some of the key choices we recommend you explore.
Research
First, you should think about completing the right amount of research when you expand. If you’re exploring a process like a business expansion, one of your main goals should always be to mitigate risk as much as possible. There are lots of ways to do this, but one of the easiest steps is going to be finding out as much information as you can about your target audience and your respected industry. For instance, if you are exploring expanding a business in the food services industry, you need to check whether companies are currently seeing high levels of demand. This data is readily available.
Budget
Something else to consider before you expand your business is how much money you have to do such a thing. Without much of a budget, you won’t be able to do as much as you have planned. Work out your company's incomings and outgoings to see how much you have leftover to put toward your expansion. Expansions are not cheap, however, when they are done well you will see an amazing return.
Recruitment
Next, you should think about recruitment. Regardless of your business model, an expansion will always involve recruiting more people into your team. This could be a whole group of people now on the payroll. Or, it might mean finding the right freelancers and outsourcing agents. Regardless of what type of recruitment model you are driving forward with, you need to have the best people for the job. If you don’t choose wisely, then it is going to weaken your brand, even as it continues to grow and this is the last thing that you want. Particularly, if you’re taking on the risk of an expansion.
Consider Your Goals
Finally, you should make sure that you are considering your goals when expanding your business. If you don’t have any goals in place, then you will find your expansion largely directionless. Of course, you can’t just set any goals. You need to think about what you want to achieve on the market and how you plan to achieve it. This means that your goals must be smart. Think about things that have a set time frame, can be measured, and match the wider objectives of your business. In other words, a goal can’t simply be that you want to grow your audience. You should think about a set figure and when you want to achieve this goal.
We hope you found this article helpful and that it gave you lots of tips on how it’s possible to expand your business.
It is arguable that creativity is the one thing that will help you to be a successful entrepreneur above all others. After all, if you want to be successful in business then you need to be able to generate lots of new and interesting ideas and lots of new and interesting ways of implementing those ideas in what is likely to be a saturated market. Creativity will help you with that.
Some of us are naturally very creative, and we have no problem whatsoever tapping into our creative side when we need to come up with new ideas or new ways of doing things, while some of us struggle to tap into the creative wellspring at all.
If you are one of the people who struggle to get your creative juices flowing, but you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, here are a few things you can do to unlock your entrepreneurial creativity whenever you need to:
1. Unplug the electronics
Our laptops, tablets, and phones may have revolutionized our lives and made it a lot easier to do everything from accounting to communicating but when it comes to getting our creative juices flowing, they are not always the best option.
Studies have shown that we are often more creative when working with paper and pen than when we are working on a digital device. Not only that, but when you don’t have access to the Internet and its billions of distractions, you are more likely to get your gray matter working too. So, switch off and start brainstorming, you might be surprised at how well you do.
2. Meditate
Whether you are trying to come up with a new cleanroom design that will boost efficiency and efficacy for your manufacturing company or you are simply trying to come up with a new and exciting logo for your brand, taking some time out to meditate is highly likely to help you unlock your entrepreneurial creativity and get the job done.
How does meditation help? By helping you clear the clutter of thoughts that are not serving you or your business, and opening up your mind to a world of possibilities. Most people think meditation is just good for getting rid of executive stress, and although it can be very helpful for that, it has also been shown to boost the creative parts of our brains too, so learning meditation is likely to be a smart move for any serious entrepreneur.
3. Take up an artistic hobby
Even if your busies is in an area like financial services which does not have much of a creative element to it on the surface, one thing that can really help you to unlock your creativity and come up with new ways of running your company is taking up an artistic hobby where you have to use your hands to create something new. From painting and drawing to knitting and crochet, anything that engages your visual perception, and forces you to work with your hands will help you to be more innovative by releasing your creativity and making you think in a much more creative way than you have ever done before. It, like meditation, is also great for relieving your executive stress too.
4. Find a creative mentor
Finding a creative mentor, or even simply reading more about other entrepreneurs and the unique ideas they have come up with, will help to make you more creative too. You will start to notice their processes and the unique ways they look at the world and it will start to rub off on you. You will find yourself thinking about that math problem in terms of the golden ratio or you will start looking at your logo from the perspective of an artist and it will open up a new world of creativity to you which will undoubtedly benefit your business going forward.
5. Question everything
If you want to think more creatively, then you need to start questioning things more often. From the way your production line packages your products to the way you design your website, every decision needs to be evaluated from as many angles as possible. By doing this, you will automatically start to generate more ideas and tweaks and you will be able to ensure that your choices are always well thought out and as creative as possible.
The more creative you are, the more likely you are to survive in business, so you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by trying out some of the techniques above.