by Lewis Robinson
Starting a business during these hard economic times might have been difficult, but it isn’t entirely impossible. However, if you are to launch and gain traction with your startup successfully, you will need more than a fancy business plan; you will need actionable ideas on how to handle important aspects of your business such as production, marketing, and distribution.
Here are seven practical tips on how to jumpstart your startup:
1. Have your business funding figured out.
You need to be clear on the source of the all-important starting capital for your business. Do you have an amount reserved to bootstrap the new business or will you rely on financing institutions like banks or venture capitalists? If you plan on approaching banks and investors for funding, you first have to work on your presentation skills as you will need to convince either on why they should invest in you.
2. Partner with like-minded individuals.
The significance of having a like-minded business partner can’t be overlooked. They not only help you fund the startup through investment but are also instrumental in cutting down its operational costs. Given that you all are differently abled; you can now cut on the number of employees needed to actualize the startup by handling different roles within the business. Additionally, partners not only help polish your idea of an ideal business but also inject fresh complementing concepts that contribute to strengthening it.
3. Establish a strong online presence.
In this era of alternative media and digital marketing, you will need a well-crafted and active online presence if your brand is to have a significant impact on the market. The need for the online presence is even dire if your business targets millennials and baby boomers that now stand immune to the traditional forms of marketing. You, therefore, need to invest a significant amount of time tracing their favorite online hangout joints and laying out targeted marketing techniques to reach them.
4. Start by localizing your brand.
Any branding professional with a background in sales training will inform you that before nationalizing your brand try and conquer your local market. This not only provides you with an almost steady floor of expansionary income but also forms an excellent background for reviews your national clientele can reference to in future.
5. Manage your finances professionally.
Do you know why more than half of startups fail during their second year? Experts attribute this to mismanagement of funds. After launching, you are likely to have a boom that mostly dies off after a few months. It is, therefore, imperative that you concentrate on plowing back the initial profits into the business by investing in new strategies that appeal to a new crop of clientele once the current one starts wearing off.
6. Build a rebound clientele by focusing on quality and value.
As a startup, you probably don’t have your hands full on orders, and your product demand list isn’t exactly up to your doorstep. Therefore, when not pitching to potential clientele, consider working on your brand and improving on product quality. Give customers value for their money and expect a stream of referrals.
7. Always work on cost-cutting ideas.
Does your new business need an office space or can you comfortably run it from home? Do you need permanent employee positions or can you split and run most administrative duties amongst your partners? Better still, how about investing the inexpensive virtual assistants to handle different administrative roles? In most cases, you will realize that you don’t need big office spaces to launch your business. Just delegate the must-have administrative posts of the new business to virtual assistants.
A successful jump start for a new business starts with figuring out the most crucial aspects of the startup and addressing them individually. These include coming up with a viable funding plan and localizing your brand as well as building a repeat client base by striving to provide quality products.
Lewis Robinson is a business consultant specializing in social media marketing, CRM, and sales. He’s begun multiple corporations and currently freelances as a writer and business consultant.
