Starting a new business, although tricky, is not as hard as it sounds and by making an important checklist of the things you need to do, your enterprise should be kicking off the ground in no time.
There is no substitute for good planning and execution when it comes to starting a business making sure that you have everything covered from licensing to hiring staff. We mention some vital steps that you might find helpful in starting and growing a business.
Identify an Idea, Validate and Make a Business Plan
Perhaps the hardest part of starting a business is to find an idea or proposition that is attractive, doable and has a good return. You can build on this idea by brainstorming, performing mini-market researches or gathering primary information from target or potential clientele. Once your idea is validated, it is time to make a business plan to execute it. The plan should include detailed activities and milestones for your product or services. There are also several important components that you might want to include such as marketing, IT and administrative support.
Business Marketing
A marketing plan is essential if you are to generate sales or sell your business idea. There are many marketing tools you can employ that will increase its return on investment (ROI) and outsourcing various business tasks can save you money and provide more time for the company. For example, visibility is vital in the success of an enterprise. You must get the word out there and sell your idea whether it is a product or a service you are marketing.
Blogging is a great start as it will introduce your business to clients. Posts by B2B companies increase lead generation by as much as 67% according to Hubspot and search engines also index a site faster if there is a steady stream of updated content increasing chances of success. Another way is to use social media sites and run campaigns. You might want to start a Facebook or Twitter page dedicated to your product. Social media sites have a wide reach with 1.96 billion users in 2017 in the US and by 2018, this figure will rise to 2.5 billion according to Statista.
IT Support
Technology is very much a part of any business these days. With an average of 100 billion searches on Google alone each day, a website for your business is indispensable. Make sure that you have a compelling site that is easy to navigate and useful. IT support is essential to keep it running seamlessly from data management to customer support. Moreover, technical support when there are glitches (data breach or viruses) in your system is essential. Security is also crucial in your business systems.
Virtual Personal Assistants
Another important part of your business that must run smoothly is the administrative function. From logistics to human resources, these tasks do take a lot of time. What you can do is to subcontract these functions to a service provider. The benefits of having a personal assistant, for example, are enormous. Hiring virtual assistants improves your operations taking admin chores off your shoulders and improving your productivity and that of the company’s.
Monitor Performance
Ensuring that targets and plans are met accordingly is an important aspect of business control. Monitoring business performance can help identify issues, delays in execution and output quality so that you can correct them as needed.
Designing a checklist that covers the planning, execution and outsourcing phases is an important strategy when starting a business.The chances of success improves immensely when resources are used wisely, tasks are delegated for greater efficiency and a built-in monitoring component is implemented.
Article by Jane Sandwood
Jane Sandwood is a professional freelance writer and editor with over 10 years’ experience working across a variety of different fields. She decided to move into freelancing to take advantage of the flexibility and work-life balance it offers. When Jane isn’t writing, she is busy spending time with her family. She also enjoys music, reading and travelling whenever she can.
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