We have all seen how the world has changed over the last year. It’s been particularly difficult for business owners and those who were just about to embark on their entrepreneurship journey.
If you fall into either category and you’re excited about the months ahead and the fact that life is slowly returning to normal, the following are some things to keep in mind while starting a business in 2021.
Make Sure to Stay Safe
If the last year has taught us anything it’s that we need to maintain our health as a priority. If you are starting a business this year, you need to make sure that message is right in there with the aims and objectives of the company. Regardless of the size of the enterprise you are embarking on, make sure you have social distancing, the ability to wear masks, sanitizer stations and all the checks in place to keep your employees, colleagues, business partners and customers safe and secure. People have been very quick to call out businesses that aren’t being aware of restrictions, locally and from country to country, so be aware of how you are being viewed by not doing those things.
Be Financially Aware
Businesses that solely depend on in-person customers and performing artists have been hit hardest as venues all over the world closed their doors indefinitely. Make sure you are aware of the financial hits you can take should life get rocky, as we all know it can in your first year, and be aware of the tools available to help should you run into issues. Being aware of things like the ability to sell your life insurance for a cash payment might really help, especially since a calculator for selling your policy helps determine if you qualify to sell your policy and what the value may be. Then you can apply that money to your work in a pinch.
Conduct Market Research
This is usually the most obvious thing for all new business startups but the question of is there a niche to fill here is an important one because if someone else is already doing what you want to do, you then need to innovate and come up with either an alternative or a better model for working. Before Deliveroo there were all sorts of delivery services that were available online but they came up with their own app and got all sorts of big-name restaurant chains and supermarkets to come on board, which raised their profile significantly. A little bit of research goes a long way when trying to beat the competition.
Set Clear Goals
Remember when you were at school and you had to set SMART objectives for your work? If not here is the crash course: SMART objectives are, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timebound. If you want to make sure that you are on-track to achieving what you want to with your latest venture you are going to need to make sure you have a metric to measure against and this simple and easy-to-use framework will give you a rough sketch on how to keep track of your aims and objectives.
