Reading Time: 4 minutes Starting A Small Business: How To Boost The Chances Of Success
This is a collaborative post by Ellie Jo with tips on starting a small business.
There is no set way of doing things in life. If you’re not hurting anyone and causing a stir, then you can do whatever you want. We have the opportunity to get a lot of stuff done. The old saying goes something like ‘if you can believe it; you can achieve it’, and that statement is completely true. Whatever we’re doing with our lives, we can always add a little more and increase the quality.
Let’s say you wanted to fill your free time with something a lot more productive. You’ve got your job that pays the bills, but right now you’re spending your free time sitting around scrolling through social media, or doing other unproductive things. You can literally start up a small business at this time and start making more money, you know?
Does it sound interesting? Of course, it does – everyone would want to make a few extra bucks. It’s just a case of putting in the extra effort in terms of learning, and then actually doing it. The good thing is that anyone can conjure up an idea and turn into something that makes money. Anyone. If you’re in any way interested, then perhaps you should read on as we go into how you can create a healthy little biz.
Starting A Small Business: How You’re Going To Boost The Chances Of Success
Do Something You Know And Love
One of the biggest ways to increase the chances of success in terms of business is by doing something that you’ve always cared about. You might be attracted to get rich quick schemes because they are quite enticing. You might also be attracted to business ideas that have proven successful to people close to you – you’ve seen them flourish; how hard can it be? Well, if you jump into something that you don’t care about or haven’t the faintest idea about, then it’ll take years to learn. If you already know about a certain topic and are completely in love with it, then it’ll come easy.
Raise A Little Money
You could bootstrap, but that’s super hard. We’re not suggesting that you should never give that a go, but if you have the opportunity to speed things up with some investment, then you should opt for that. In most scenarios, you get out what you put in, so investment tends to beat other options.
Obviously, you can dip into your savings instead of leaving them there and beginning with little resources. You can also look for loans to get you started: perhaps a startup loan from a bank or a quick loan. If you know anyone close to you that might be interested, then perhaps they might be keen on throwing some money in and taking a percentage of the project.
Get To Grips With Social Media
In this day and age, social media is king. If it’s not ruling the roost at the moment, then it’s right there at the top in so many departments. Digital marketing is massive nowadays, and social media is probably the best way to get your name out there with limited resources. You’ve probably got a social media account already, but it’s a little different when you approach it with a more professional head. Get learning, and completely knock that side out of the park!
There are plenty of ways you can use social media to market your brand, including:
- Use a banner maker to create eye-catching digital banners for your advertising.
- Work with influencers to boost your online presence.
- Create interactive content including surveys and contests.
- Use live streaming to share knowledge with your audience and build rapport.
- Social commerce can help you to boost conversions and streamline the shopping experience.
Above all, when you’re starting your own business it’s important to get customer feedback. You can use customer insights to make your products and services better.
Work With An E-commerce Consultant
If you’re serious about growing your business it’s a great idea to work with an ecommerce consultant. An ecommerce consultant can help you to create an effective ecommerce strategy to grow your business. The professions can offer support with ecommerce, SEO, social marketing, and lots more. When you’re starting out it’s a good idea to get some help. Granted, you might know a little bit about marketing, but it can be difficult to create your own strategy from scratch.
Invest in Effective Communication Tools
Effective business communication is undeniably one of the most crucial aspects of any business’s success. Whether it’s communication between you and your suppliers or amongst your employees, you need to get everything right when setting up your business’s communication channels.
One way to do this is by hiring a reputable communications company to help manage your business’s internal and external communication processes as you focus on other core business processes. Besides the usual modes of communication that costs you a lot of money, aim for the lesser expensive options like a virtual mailbox.
Work Your Butt Off!
A half-hearted attitude will not suffice in this game. You need to show this stuff a lot of attention and work hard. There is no substitute for an amazing work ethic. Every aspect of this project should be handled perfectly. Don’t take shortcuts.
Rachel is an Austin blogger, educator, mom, wife, young breast cancer survivor writing about health, saving money, and living a happy life in Austin, Texas.
Rachel has written for HuffPost and Hometalk and has been featured on KXAN, Studio 512, Fox 7 Austin, and CBS Austin.