Despite the time you choose to start your business, you can be sure that it will take you a lot of time, effort, and creativity to make it survive the first two years. You’ll need a strong work ethic and willpower to pull through the days where nothing will go your way, and you’ll endure losses, poor sales, and the occasional negative comment on the Internet. However, all these struggles are a gateway into a future of prosperity, and so much success that other entrepreneurs will come to you for inspiration and advice. If starting your business is one of your New Year resolutions, then you’ve come to the right place for insights, tips, and tricks to help you pull through those first few tough months, and convert your idea into a remarkable business.
Think long-term.
When it comes to building a business, you should think of the Roman Colosseum, which is over 1 900 years old. Specialists say that the material used to build the ancient wonder is way stronger than the concrete used today to build the tall high-rises we have. Until this day, millions visit Italy to marvel at the architectural glory.
What’s its secret, you may ask? It’s the fact that the Romans went all out and sought valuable marble and other materials from all around the world as they designed their Colosseum to last for decades to come. The same should apply to building a business regardless of your budget. Avoid looking at your business as a way to make a couple of hundred dollars per month, and look at it in the long term. Build your business using the best materials available, and of course, on the best values. If you’re planning to build a brick-and-mortar establishment, using cheap materials and improper building techniques will save you a few millions in the short term, but will later cost you everything when it all comes tumbling down. Choose the right contractors and partners such as Craftsmen Ind to build, brand, and customize your business. Honesty is a key component in a successful business, as what’s done in the dark will come to light, bringing your brand and image down with it. Aim to create and offer high-quality products, as your potential clientele will be more than glad to appreciate its value and pay for it.
Select a profitable and right niche.
Being too broad with your business is often catastrophic as you have no idea who exactly your target clientele is, or what they will expect from your business. Without knowing what your target clientele is, you won’t know how to engage them, what product quality they want, their financial position, or any other valuable information. Again, being too specific will narrow out a large group of customers that would have benefitted from your product. For instance, if you happen to love Halloween and put up a store for costumes and decorations for that specific holiday, you won’t have clients on any other days apart from those leading to Halloween. Having a costume shop for birthday parties, weddings, bachelor and bachelorette parties, Christmas, Easter, and other seasonal and popular events will have customers coming in every single day.
Another essential tip is selecting a niche that’s trending and offers an opportunity to remarket to your clients for longer periods. For instance, you may start a specialty store for maternity wear, but a woman can only be pregnant for nine months. After that, she won’t need the outfits. Choose, instead, to have a niche that’s popular all year-round. A tool like Google Trends can be especially helpful. Choose a niche that has hundreds of thousands of searches a year, such as fitness, interior decor, and beauty. Short-term niches like bridal wear or maternity clothing can tie up stock for years, and won’t help you build a lasting or helpful mailing list.
Solve a critical problem.
One valuable business tip for aspiring entrepreneurs in 2020 is to start a business that solves a significant problem. In 2020, a large number of businesses that will make it past the two-year barrier will be those that solve an urgent, burning problem. The economy isn’t as great as it was in the yesteryears, and people won’t spend their money on anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. You shouldn’t have to think way too complex, like curing a disease, but how about providing a low-cost entertainment solution for bored and broke campus students stuck at school? If you’re not a biochemist, curing a disease is impractical, as you may not know the dynamics and budget that goes into obtaining permits for clinical trials, or even what the disease is all about, to begin with. By having a simple burning problem to solve, you’ll be well-aware of the problem, so that you can craft an effective marketing and branding solution. You’ll also be able to showcase your new product or service as the perfect way to make the weekends go by faster for students.
Prioritize customers’ needs.
To avoid frustrating your customers, always ensure that the need for which they gave their hard-earned money for is met adequately. Failure to meet your clients’ needs will cause frustration, which will eventually bring that negative comment on a popular review website. The best way to manage customer relations is to empathize with the customer and recognize their pain, rather than take the negative comment personally. By empathizing with them and hearing them out, you’ll come up with a better remedy to the problem, and avoid the loss of that particular client and all the friends they would have recommended. Also, you’ll be in a better place to reply to the negative comment professionally and reassuringly. This way, the comment will be in your business’ favor, rather than if you just ignored it and left it there to damage your image.
Start small.
This tip is almost like the one urging you to choose a niche only that it encourages you to start with a narrower focus instead. You may have chosen fitness as your niche, but don’t start by going all out and offering shakes, water bottles, training shoes and wear, weights, smoothies, and all other things fitness. Even Amazon started as a book store and slowly expanded into other items, which can explain its success today. Starting small is always the better way to go. By offering water bottles and gym clothes first, you’ll gain a small but loyal audience, which you can rely on for repeat purchases and easier marketing. As later, you can expand and offer more complex fitness materials such as dumbbells and training benches. The revenue from the previous business should help you expand, and you’ll have time to assess if there exists a market for the products you intend to add to your line.
Employee morale
Many business moguls today will tell you that having happy employees is vital for the health of your business. A happy team is a productive team, and some experts have even declared that your employees are more important than your clients. Long-lasting employee morale is extremely vital, and acting like a boss, like any other new and excited business owner, can be detrimental. Constantly criticizing them for their efforts and not going your way will leave your staff unhappy, demotivated, and feeling undervalued. It also goes without saying that you need to pay your staff on time and as per industry standards. Otherwise, they will spend their days crafting the perfect escape plan, instead of working to reach your business goals. Ironically, you don’t have to increase their pay to help them feel valued and appreciated, as a great working environment has so much more than money attached to it. Openness, communication, and opportunities for growth are great ways to keep your employees glad to come in every morning.
Start a business you can identify with.
Your product or service should be a personality and qualification fit, as no one can run your business better than you. Your business should match your exact skills and background, as well as your personality. You can’t start an electrical engineering business if you’re a biology major, or start a beauty store if you’re more conservative and prefer to avoid the vanity that accompanies makeup. You can’t contribute to the business’ running effectively if you have no idea what the business is about or what your employees do, or are averse to the exact thing your business is about. By being a perfect fit with your business, you can craft a proper vision and mission, and make a significant impact on society with your unique, expert ideas. Besides, 2020’s clients are sophisticated and highly perceptive, and will quickly avoid a business whose owner isn’t genuinely committed to its running.
