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1. Have a solid and well thought out business plan
Planning plays a crucial role in the success of any endeavor. First identify your strengths and weaknesses, what you have to offer your audience, and how you plan to grow your offering. Also, try to prepare mentally and practically for anything that can go wrong and how to deal with it. For example, what happens if you get sick and have to go to the hospital? What if customers pay you one month late? What if a weather disaster hits you? Or does a trusted provider go bankrupt?
2. Prepare for financial challenges
Take the impact on cash flow by saving to cover a month’s expenses or by getting creative with how to reduce your overhead.
You can offer customers a discount if they pay a deposit or the full amount up front, or even an incentive. For example, pay 10% less if you deliver your product or service a week earlier.
Whatever you do, be very careful with debt – this is one of the biggest killers of small business success.
3. Be Moderate -Remember you are a startup.
Resist the temptation to spend money on fancy offices, expensive equipment, and over-the-top marketing. The livelihood of your business depends on what’s in your wallet, so every rand and penny needs to be checked three times. Keep overhead low and manage your cash flow efficiently.
4. Ask for help.
There are many resources available for networking, knowledge sharing and advice. Networking isn’t just for new business opportunities; it can be a wonderful source of support and fresh ideas. Attend events like free master classes, Webinars, etc. Feel free to seek advice from those around you or online forums and community Facebook groups in your area.
5. Have a trusted mentor
It could be a family member, a former boss or colleague, or even a trusted online source or blog. A mentor is an invaluable sounding board: someone who has been where you are; someone with whom you can get regular, non-judgmental checkups. 61.9% of the respondents in our survey did not have mentors; however, those who did say they found mentors had a significantly positive impact on their business. “My mentor pushed me beyond my biggest fears,” said one entrepreneur who participated in our survey. “She is not someone who will take over,” adds Mariam Jakoet Harris of Cooked Inc. “She is someone who will nurture and help him.”
6. Marketing with a reduced budget
Marketing your new business is extremely important, but it doesn’t have to cost the earth. Social media is your friend: creating your business page on Facebook is free and will help your search rank online. So is submitting your website URL to search engines like Google and Bing – it’s completely free.
Also keep an eye out for community Facebook groups – some will require a small advertising fee, while others will allow you to advertise your business on certain days of the week. The bottom line with marketing is to try anything and everything. You won’t know what will work for you until you try it.
7. Take care of number one
Planning plays a crucial role in the success of Entrepreneurship is a way of life – Days 9-5 are over. That does not mean that you have to work in the field yourself. Exercise regularly, eat healthy, and find time to relax or you will end up being less productive. Of the respondents who responded to our survey, 64% said they had to waste precious time with family and friends due to job responsibilities. Working on your time management skills will help you have enough time in your day to spend with your loved ones.
Agreements.
Have you decided if you are going to have contracts with your clients or not?
There are factors to consider.
No written agreements.
This strategy gives you and your client flexibility to move nimbly on directions of the services they may need from you or that you are willing to perform outside the verbal agreement.
Trust is needed for this arrangement to work.
Of course this is just an educated opinion and we would advise speaking with your attorney if you decide to operate without contracts.
Agreements present.
If you decide to go with written agreements,
Make sure they are easy to read and easy for your client not to feel as if they are going to get a lawsuit for the slightest change to your written agreements.
This method of operation gives you a solid written agreement to back you up in the event a client defaults.
The challenge as we said earlier is to get a client to shake hands with you right away since they might have to run your iron-clad agreement through their iron-clad attorneys.
As always, this is just an opinion based on prior experiences and you should consult an attorney to determine what’s best in your business.
Lawyers:
One of the key elements to ensuring you succeed in legal aspect of the equation.
Example. There are federal, state and laws for each country where you might do business, be it whether you sell there or you outsource your projects.
The easiest way to get in trouble is to miss a critical rule of business law, and in an instant your enterprise can be in jeopardy.
We recommend consulting and retaining a corporate attorney to help you stay on the right side of the law.
We also recommend Retaining tax attorneys to guide you through the maze of the ever changing tax laws.
Make your best partners the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of revenue of whichever state(s) your business operates, and your attorneys Follow this advice. Retain attorneys to support your growth and to protect the assets of your company. And rest well knowing your company won’t be sued or fined out of business.
