How To Succeed As A New Business Owner

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |New Business Owner|How To Succeed As A New Business OwnerBeing a new business owner is an exciting time in your life but may also be cause for some uncertainty. There’s a lot to learn and do as you embark on this journey and maneuver your way around as an entrepreneur.

Know that there will be challenges along the way but that if you work hard and keep a positive attitude you’re likely to go far with your business. The upside is that if you love what you’re doing then it might not even feel like work to you. Take one day at a time and remember to always track your progress so you can monitor how you’re performing as you go.

Choose the Right Office Space

One way to succeed as a new business owner is to spend time choosing the right office space. Discover more information around working with a bank vs. mortgage broker at www.mortgageconnection.ca so you can better understand which option is best for you. You want a space that’s convenient for you and your customers and will be a nice and comfortable place to meet with clients.

Find A Mentor

In addition, you can better succeed as a new business owner by finding and working with a mentor. Choose someone who’s been in your shoes before and has built a company from the ground up. Meet with them often to pick their brain and understand more clearly what you can be doing to improve your management style and become a more successful leader and boss.

Focus on Your Customers

It’s very important that customer service always comes first at your workplace if you want to be successful. Get in the habit of focusing on your customers and their needs and wants above all else. Train your staff to respond to questions or concerns in a timely and professional manner as well. The better job you do at this the more positive reviews you’ll receive and more business you’ll bring in.

Expand Your Marketing Efforts

The reality is that there’s a lot of competition out there and consumers are being pulled in many directions at once. Therefore, commit to expanding your marketing efforts and investing in getting your name out to your target audience so you can grow your company. For example:

  • Engage on social media
  • Run online advertising campaigns
  • Buy advertisement space in print
  • Produce commercials
  • Create videos

This will give you a good start and help you to drive more attention to your business.

Take Care of Yourself

Your company will succeed when you’re diligent about taking care of yourself. This way you’ll have more natural energy to carry you through the day and will be able to concentrate and focus in the office better. Make self-care a priority and be good about eating healthy, exercising and getting plenty of rest and sleep. You’ll find you reach your goals at a quicker rate when you attend to these matters and don’t let your own health slip through the cracks.

Need A Little More Oomph? Here’s How You Can Add That Extra Something To Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Growth|Need A Little More Oomph? Here’s How You Can Add That Extra Something To Your BusinessWhen you first come up with your business idea, your mind is completely and utter driven. You might not be at the peak of your motivation and productivity, but the excitement and invigoration have your mind racing at a rate of knots. With all of the potential ahead of you, all you can then think of is the number of different opportunities and avenues that are out there.

When things start to get a little more up and running, that’s when you have even more energy and bite. You actually see your work pay off in terms of output and income, so you and your partners/employees are functioning more than speedily! The motivation that comes from actually seeing results is like no other: not only does it make you feel as though you’ve gotten over the line, but it also makes you want even more. It’s quite an addictive feeling.

But, like with the majority of things in life, your work can go a little stale. The honeymoon period can wear off, and the motivation can drop off a little. It’s frustrating, but it’s completely normal – every single person on the planet drops off at one time or another. You can’t be expected to maintain the same level forever. Even the highest performers in all sectors and fields do it. It’s especially common in environments that have the same kind of work over and over again. Human beings need a little variety in their lives or a bit of extra stimulation. If they aren’t being presented with any, then things can plateau or decline slightly.

When you’re trying to run a successful business, how can you deal with the slight wane? If you’ve never encountered this kind of adversity before, then it might seem like a massive issue. There are things you can do to boost things a little, though. Whether it’s for yourself, your team, or the business as a whole; oomph can be added! If you’re in any way interested in knowing what we’re talking about, then have a little read of the following points. Some of them may jog your memory and give you a few more ideas!

Have Frequent Training Programs

In order to keep things fresh and keep brains constantly developing, you might need to break the monotony a little bit. One of the best ways to do this is by having training days every now and again. This will obviously benefit all of the staff because they’ll pick up new ideas and abilities during and after. If they’re constantly stuck in a mundane environment where they’re not challenged by fresh stimuli, then it’ll be likely that they’ll slow down a little.

The overall mood in the camp will also be boosted as a training day makes everyone feel a little better. They’re no longer stuck in the intense and pressurized working environment. Instead, they’re moved to a new area and given different tasks that are often fused with some kind of entertainment. It’s like being back in school again after all these years – minus the social pressure, and with more of a laid back approach.

Get Some Investment

This sounds like a pretty obvious point because every single business could do with this kind of assistance. Most of the time, in order to make more money, you need to spend more money. Having that extra capital can make such a massive difference to every tangible and intangible aspect of your business. If you can conjure up a wonderful plan and pitch, and convince people out there that what you’re doing is going to work, then you could be in for a huge hike. Angel investors are usually sniffing around for the next best business to invest in. Banks are also there for you to work with.

Work With A Digital Marketing Group

In this day and age, if you want to be able to make as much money as possible, you need to be able to have that smart online touch. It’s obviously not a mandatory part of your venture, but it can be the difference between a prosperous year and an average one. Marketing agencies have always been around, but in the past decade or so, digital marketing firms, like Thunderhawk SEO, have been popping up all over the world.

Whether you need some help with search engine optimization, or you need a group to help you expand your reach online, these particular companies will be able to show you the way and guide you through everything. Having that experience and know-how behind you can really boost business and revitalize your approach to certain areas.

Do Something About The Environment

Changing around the workplace can really stimulate the employees. If they are underperforming at any time, then playing with the office, warehouse, or factory might help a little. Your workplace and the stations within it will probably get a little messy or unorganized at some point. Perhaps getting everyone to spend a little while sorting things out could help. Obviously, you’ll want everything to be kept clean as nobody likes working in a murky area.

In terms of large and significant changes, you could revamp and redo the entire workplace. A refreshing feel around could get the staff to put their thinking caps back on. What about the idea of moving completely? If that’s plausible and feasible, then perhaps it’s something you could seriously consider.

Purchase Better Equipment And Software

Manual work is obviously a wonderful part of life, but it’s not without its flaws. Human error is absolutely inevitable; it happens all of the time; it will happen millions of times in the future. In order to work speedier and with fewer errors, you might want to think about using technology! There are so many programs and pieces of software that can help us work more efficiently.

If you’re working in a warehouse or factory environment with lots of different pieces of equipment, then improving on what you already have would make such a massive difference to the overall output.

Working With Distributors And The Balance Of Power

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Distributors|Working With Distributors And The Balance Of PowerRetail businesses have to continuously adapt to the changing market. How they distribute their products has to be subject to the means they have in the current climate. Drop shipping is something you may want to consider to lower your delivery and storage costs. But then again you’re putting your product in the hands of another company once it leaves the manufacturing facility. Other methods like wholesale retail such as Amazon, eBay and Google Shopping are all methods you must look into for your own business. Small businesses want to make it easy for themselves when it comes to logistics. Most of the budget has already gone onto design, testing and manufacturing. So how you distribute your products and sell them, is something you will most likely want to simplify. Usually, in order to simplify this process it will have to be taken out of your own hands. A balance power conundrum then occurs when you work closely with distributors.

Maintain your marketing plan

Distributors might have their own marketing department and use them to sell your product. This is an absolutely no-go as you need to maintain your own marketing campaign. Losing creative control is never something you should sacrifice because you want customers to perceive your product in a certain way. For example, if you are selling your safety razor product and have designed it to be beginner friendly, your distributor should present it as such. If you give away your marketing control over your own product, the distributor might display the razor as a product for the advanced shaver. This shifts your demographic and the dynamic of your customer relations.

Most of the time however, distributors won’t do this and instead, want to know what your marketing plan is. You’re still not out of the woods yet because even though the distributor has a policy of the partner having their own marketing plan, they still have their own policies of what is acceptable. If their terms and conditions for marketing plans don’t meet your own, you’ll need to consider a different distributor or change your plan slightly for that particular distributor. The key is, you maintain full control.

Integrity of worth

The main issue working with some distributors is, they will often try to undercut other distributors. This is quite evident in the smaller distributors that are more than happy to sell products at a price which they far exceed in terms of quality. If you are the victim of this, swift action needs to be taken. When your product is being sold at a cheap price when it’s worth so much more, your integrity takes a hit. Your business and product looks cheap, tacky and not very prestigious. This is a nightmare for those that want to build up their brand to be known for it’s high-quality.

You need a strong MAP policy which can be protected and overseen by a company that offers protection and therefore growth of your brand. The benefits are that you end the surprise for your internet sales channel, grow your sales with actionable sales intelligence and have your minimum advertised price and resale policy enforced via automation. When you set a minimum price for your product, any distributors you’re working with must abide by it.

Protecting your name

Wholesale retailers will create performance reports just like any other business. However if you don’t want your name featured in the reports you must agree to this before your agree on the partnership of sales. You might not want your name to be visible in the report because you may wish to not have your name associated with the retailer if they have a bad public relations incident. For example, if the distributor was found guilty of selling counterfeit products that either ripped off money from consumers or perhaps even hurt them, you don’t want your name featured anywhere near them in the press. Professional circles and businesses won’t take you seriously. Therefore you should always retain the right to protect your name featured in any of their sales and growth reports.

Working with distributors as a small retail business is part and parcel of your early years. Most small businesses spend most of their budget on the creation of products and are happy to save a lot of money by outsourcing their sales channels. However you must never lose the marketing control of your products so the narrative and demographics of your business are kept intact. You should also make sure your products are not being sold outside the boundaries of your MAP policy.

Why Your Business Needs to Collaborate

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Growing Your Business|Why Your Business Needs to CollaborateRunning a small business is challenging, exciting, hard work, demanding, all-consuming and ultimately if you do it well, exceptionally rewarding. But, finding ways to grow and improve that business is tough. One thing that you might consider is collaborating with other companies, either in your field or your local area. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why you should.

It’s Easy

Business is hard. Growing your business is tough. Coming up with new ideas all of the time and dealing with admin is hard work, and finding new ways to market your business can seem impossible. It can also be terribly complicated. Use contract management and collaboration can be easy. Which means it’s always worthwhile.

To Reach a New Audience

When you collaborate, whoever it is with, their audience, or at least part of it, become your audience. You’ll reach more people without having to do any extra work.

Collaboration Increases Trust

As a new business, it’s hard to gain trust, but crucial that you do if you want to grow. Collaborate with a more experienced and well-respected partner, and the world will start to trust your business too.

Collaboration Can Lead to Inspiration

Do you ever get a creative block? When you feel stuck and as though you can’t move forward or come up with a new idea to push your business forward. We’ve all been there at some point. Collaborate with other business people and creatives, and they will inspire you. They’ll show you new ways to do things and to think, and you could come out of it buzzing with new ideas.

To Grow Your Network

Networking is so vital for small businesses. It gives you a chance to make meaningful connections, for both now and in the future. It gives you access to knowledge and sources of information. It helps you to grow your business and gives you a chance to learn. Networking can also help you to build a helpful support network of people that understand you. Collaborating with other companies in your field, and local companies is a fantastic way to add people to your network.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Growing Your Business|Why Your Business Needs to CollaborateMoney-Saving

Often, when we collaborate with other businesses, we split costs. Your marketing bill, staff costs and other expenses might not be too much higher, but the costs to your business might be halved. Doubling your budget for the task in hand. Collaborating can also mean that you get free access to an expert and skilled workers. It’s a great way to save money.

Power in Numbers

Have you heard the saying “two heads are better than one”, while it’s not always true, and some of us work much better on our own, when it comes to collaboration in business, it can be. As a small business owner, you might spend your time trying to be an expert on everything, and it doesn’t always work. There might be issues In your business that you just can’t find a solution to, or problems that you can’t seem to overcome. Collaborate with another business, an influencer, or even a freelancer, and you’ll have fresh eyes, and another head to help you, even if it’s just short term.

Why A Redesign Could Be The Next Option For Your Business Website

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Why A Redesign Could Be The Next Option For Your Business Website
 
Maintaining a website can be challenging, but could it be time for a complete refresh? Whether you are noticing a slow loading speed or outdated content, this can all harm your Google ranking and negatively affect any marketing efforts that you may already have in place. In this article, we will be looking into whether or not your website needs a redesign.

Lack Of Mobile Optimisation

One of the main reasons that your website may need a redesign is through the lack of Mobile optimisation. Due to Google’s implementation of Mobile-First Indexing it is crucial to the SEO efforts that you have a website that is optimised for mobile. Whether this is on a separate URL or under the same URL, this needs to be seamless as this can dramatically affect your ranking on Google.

Without a website that is mobile optimised, you are less likely to rank on page one of Google or even outrank your competitors, therefore, it is crucial that your business has one. If you are using a web development agency to help you rebuild a website, it may be worth developing a mobile version of your website during the design process.

In Need Of Updated User Experience

Another reason for a website redesign could be the need for updated user experience. If your website looks outdated or is running slowly, it may be time for a well-needed refresh. Whether this is a complete rebrand or just altering the content on your landing page, this can all help to introduce an updated user experience. This is beneficial from an SEO perspective as this will help to reduce the bounce rate and give users the information that they need within just a few seconds.

A number of recent studies have shown that users will click off of your website if it takes longer than 5 seconds to load, therefore it is important to address this issue as a top priority to improve the bounce rate.

Not Generating The Leads You Need

A redesign is also the perfect way to ensure that you are generating the leads that you need as a business. Whether this is due to bounce rate or lack of user experience, this can all contribute to the loss of potential leads as you will not be ranking on page one of Google. By redesigning your site, you can then begin to work on optimising content and coding to rank higher in Google. Keyword mapping, content gap and site audits can all then be conducted to further optimise the site and increase overall ranking.

Though it will take time to index the new site and crawl up the search results, a new site will lay the perfect foundation for the increase in traffic that you may well be receiving. Additionally, implementing chatbots and contact us forms can help to generate the leads needed to achieve smart goals. This is key to the success of a business as you can then begin to implement an effective inbound marketing strategy to close sales.

Outdated Design

The final reason your site could be due to a redesign is because of the overall look of the landing page. If the colour theme and font clash or the overall design have not aged well, this can lead many to click off. This could be a problem when looking at customer acquisition rates as this could jeopardise the chances of successful conversions.

By updating the design and even the layout, you can then create a customer experience that encourages them to spend a longer amount of time on your site. This is great for SEO as Google will then see these levels of engagement and rank you higher.

Whether you are looking to completely redesign your site in the near future, or you are considering a refresh of the content on your site, this can all help to boost ranking and benefit you in the long term.