When an entrepreneur opens up a new business there’s undoubtedly a lot of excitement and anticipation. But quickly that excitement can wane when they begin to learn that without a proper business background and plan growth can become dependent upon how fast one can handle the seemingly unending number of issues that crop up in a working day.
In order to make a business thrive key factors such as location and referrals often help, however a quick education in business processes, marketing, and networking will be what ultimately fuels success.
Become a Jack of All Trades
When you own your own business you quickly realize you are responsible for everything. You will rapidly understand that you are in uncharted territory because for the first time you ARE….the business.
You are no longer just a professional—you are now an entrepreneur. And, with that title comes a long list of responsibilities such as staff, clients, location issues, financial issues, schedule issues, IT issues, and so much more.
This means first, before all else, you need to understand how to handle it all with innovative ways to manage your time, resources, and finances. You also have to develop knowledge in areas related to the day to day and long term aspects of the operation of your business ranging from IT to marketing and sales and beyond.
Become Very Aware of Other Businesses in the Area
Perhaps for the first time in your career, you have to be cognoscente of competitors and what they are doing in their operation, marketing, and sales.
The fact that your rivals have already built their businesses and thereby their loyal customer bases can pose a unique business challenge to you. While you want a slice of their customer pie, you can also learn a lot from what they have experienced along the way. Having a friendly competitor relationship with these businesses can be a wise way to go.
Do your research to understand exactly who your competitors are and what makes their business unique. By studying their operations you will be able to define your own target clientele. Also, by studying their operations you will be in a great position to understand exactly how to differentiate your business’ benefits.
Build a business plan for your business
Create a plan that delineates how every aspect of your business will run…all of it. Operations, financial, staffing, equipment, maintenance, marketing, branding, legal/insurance/accounting all need to be specifically thought out and written out so you know exactly what to do in any situation. Problems or situations can popup in a flash and if you are not prepared for them you will be in a continual state of putting out fires rather than actually running your business. Plan now. Be ready.
Allocate a marketing budget — HINT: It’s going to be a lot more than you’ll think.
Before creating your marketing budget, ask yourself theses questions; What is your business all about? What message do you want potential customers to get? What kind of business do you want to actually run? How do you want to be perceived in the marketplace and when compared to your competitors. You need to have these questions answered prior to doing any form of marketing in order to know what you want to say in ads, on a website, in social media, on signage, and more. This exercise in defining who you are, what you are actually selling, why you are different, and the benefits you provide is essential for any entrepreneur.
Understand who you are selling TO and what message do you want to convey TO THEM in language THEY will relate to regarding why they should trust you and buy from you. You might have great ideas, but you need to objectively decide if they are good ideas to attract the customers you need to grow your business.
A marketing campaign can include everything from logo design, professional pictures, creation/design of a new website and social media pages, printed materials, various advertising in a variety of mediums, signage, events, etc.
Expenditures can get out of hand quickly so when doing your business plan take the time to research the many different types of companies you need to handle all of this marketing work. Set benchmarks you can use to make strategic adjustments to your plan in future years
Be patient with yourself. As a new business owner you want to build a successful business in as little time as possible. But with few exceptions, impatience can destroy your startup efforts because you will be charging into the dark without a flashlight or a map. By taking the time to have a well thought out plan you can become “an instant” business person because you will be making constant strides toward achieving your goals.