A business might not technically be your child, but calling it your “baby” is perfectly understandable. My name is Naomi Burgess and I’m going to give you some insight into raising your business.
Assessment
First of all, you obviously should be in control of your business to the fullest extent. Therefore, you need to carefully assess what you’re capable of and how much time you can realistically dedicate to running a company. A good support system is essential, even if you feel like you’re capable of managing your time really well. Surround yourself with the people who can support you. The expression “lonely at the top” doesn’t, and shouldn’t, be applicable in case of a new business owner. If you’re working alone, without a partner, you should evaluate carefully whether you can function alone long-term. If you can, I’d like to stress again that a support system would be invaluable to you, especially if you don’t have a partner.
Self-Learning
In addition to your personal support system, you should also take advantage of the support offered online. There are many bloggers out there, including myself, that publish posts about starting a business, running a business, managing your time, forming client relationships and many other useful information. Most of that advice is available online for free. However, you should be fully committed to running your business as well as you can and while the free advice might work in the short-term, there might come a time when you would need to be prepared to pay for it. A business course is a great solution, but I understand that it might not be for everyone. If, for some reason, you’re unable to regularly attend classes or study online, I would suggest going to industry conferences and local events for small businesses in your area. They might sometimes be pricey, but they’re a great way to absorb all the tips and tricks used by the people around you. Just remember – what works for others might not always work for you, so proceed with caution when following the advice.
Caution should also be exercised when you choose the partners that you’re going to work with – they can include your suppliers, agents and distributors, and even your team members and potential business partners. Always do your due diligence and ensure that they’re someone that you would want to work with both in the short and the long term. Use the technology available to you – it’s truly helpful.
Technology isn’t everything
Technology can also be helpful to you in many other ways. For instance, many transactions today are carried out via contactless electronic payments, and you would do well to make sure that yours are secure and reliable. Technology has also made it easier to instantly respond to customers’ queries (email is just the tip of the iceberg – get a Twitter and/or Facebook). However, you shouldn’t forget that technology today can’t do your thinking for you, not yet. Use it to save time, but don’t rely too much on auto-responses and impersonal messages – customers can always tell. Technology merely allows you more time for creative thinking and for coming up with great solutions.
Be Innovative
Not only these solutions you have the time to come up with, thanks to technology, have to be great, but they also have to be innovative. “Hot”, “the next big thing” – make those descriptions apply to you. I’m sure your idea that serves as the cornerstone of your new company was amazing, but it’s not enough. People today want new things, bigger and better things, and if you don’t deliver, they’ll find someone who does. Besides, if you come up with a fabulous idea and don’t realise it as soon as possible, chances are your competitor will have the same idea and realises it, and you’ll end up disappointed.
Welcome New Ideas
I should warn you that these creative solutions that I’m sure you’re going to amazingly realise, might be a deviation from your set business plan. That’s absolutely fine – in fact, in today’s business world, you should expect some changes you might not have originally planned for. As long as you stay in control of your company by implementing sufficient control measures, you should be able to handle any changes that come your way. These changes can include, for example, an early product line launch, or a late one that would mean saving on short-term costs, a supplier whose tariffs stretch your budget slightly but whose products are of a very high quality, and other things of the kind. These changes are essential if you want to keep up with your target market’s expectations.
Make Connections
But how do you stay on top and keep launching products that your target audience snaps off the shelves (or the site) right away? Answer – you ask your audience what they want. Not directly, of course – nobody likes those annoying sellers that do cold calls. Find a way to relate to your audience, to respond to their needs and to engage with it. For example, if you’re in business of selling organic hair products online, you can retweet articles on the best organic remedies for damaged hair, posted by potential clients (hairdressers etc.) If you prefer to work on a more personal level than social media, you can participate in local fairs and exhibitions related to organic products, although you’re ought to remember that 99{71f0b96d7fb9125465257c4beabfd4b54654a6dcc01d6b761d78baf7e14996ab} of your potential client base is using social media, so you should be too. Your possibilities for engaging with your audience are endless – you just need to discover them. And once you do, your audience will start to recognise your brand, recommend it to others and sooner or later, you’ll have your own network.
I would never say that launching a business is an easy job – it is certainly a challenge, and running a new business presents new challenges every day. But, as cliché as it sounds, the most important thing you can do is stay true to yourself. Make your business into what YOU want it to be, implement YOUR own vision – just try to accept that sometimes it might surprise you.
