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Essential Tips For First Time Business Owners

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Essential Tips For First Time Business OwnersRunning a successful business can be one of the most rewarding endeavors an individual can pursue, both financially but also due to the satisfaction it can bring. With that being said, running a business, be that a small start-up, mid-sized enterprise, or a global brand, managing your business is not easy, especially if you’ve never been in that position before.

Many exciting and budding entrepreneurs see their first-time businesses have to fold year after year, all because they may not have been prepared in some way and, due to that, mismanaged the business. If you find yourself in charge of a business for the first time, here are a few vital tips to ensure that you can excel in the role and grow your business too.

Get An Education

One of the best ways to ensure that you’re prepared for all the different responsibilities involved with running a business is to get an education and understanding of everything you’re expected to do. One of the best ways to do this is through a business degree, as this will give you solid foundations in all departments, such as business analytics, finances, team management, and more.

However, this option might not suit everyone, especially those who have too many responsibilities that they can’t give up to get an education. If that’s the case, the next best thing is to learn as much as you can through online learning and tutorials (LinkedIn Learning and Skillshare is fantastic for this). You can also attend seminars, both in-person and online, and read books from industry experts.


Make Sure Your Business Is Efficient

Time means money within business. This means that if you can perform tasks quickly at a good standard, your business will serve more customers and generate more income. One of the best ways to ensure that your business is prepared and efficient is to invest in automation software. With this type of software, you’ll be able to perform certain tasks quickly, giving you more time to work on other things. Automation software can help with financial management, organize calendars, and so much more. Click here to find out some of the best business software you need.

However, with this emphasis on software and digital solutions, you need to make sure that your IT and computer hardware is up to scratch. Furthermore, as you will be utilizing digital platforms, you need to ensure that you are protected and that your hardware and software are well maintained. This can be hard for a new business to do in-house, which is why it’s a good idea to invest in the small business IT support London companies like Computer Being offer.

Listen From Others

It can be easy, as a new business owner, to dismiss the naysayers and doubters. However, it’s actually a good idea to listen to these concerns if they’re coming from people more experienced than yourself. Understanding why people might not support your business proposal can help you tackle the problem head-on and ensure that your business starts with a more solid foundation.

Furthermore, when you hire your first team members, be sure to listen to them, including their advice, concerns, and ideas. These people will likely grow with you and the business, so it’s a good idea to get their insight, as it can be helpful. There’s nothing wrong with being confident in your abilities. However, you should never dismiss and ignore valid criticism and concerns.

With these tips, you should be more comfortable with the prospect of owning a business and should be in a better position to be successful within it. However, these tips are not the be-all and end-all, and it’s a good habit to continue learning and developing as a business leader, as this will drive you forward and be more successful.

The Future Of Your Business Is Now

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | The Future Of Your Business Is Now

One of the hardest things any business owner is faced with is the task of keeping their business up to date with all the latest technologies. This doesn’t mean you need to have office chairs that have in-built keyboards and fridges integrated into the armrests or anything. But it does mean you need to be abreast of what technology will help your business boom. It may be that your business isn’t interested in having the latest tablet that has all the design features a graphic artist could possibly want because you own a bakery, or an old school sweetie shop. But there is still software that will make your life easier, and your customer’s experience better.

As such, we have compiled a list of tech that will bring your company up to speed with what is on offer. We will bring your business into the 21st Century.

Accepting Payment

Cash is pretty much a thing of the past. Barely anyone carries cash anymore and certainly not Millenials. It’s all about the card these days. Everyone puts everything on cards. May be it is to do with ease, maybe they don’t see it as departing with cash in the same way handing over notes. Whatever the case, your business needs a credit card reader. In addition to this, it’s all about contactless payments too. The tap and go. The ease of it all. Something that has seen a rise in payments through people smartphones.

Slick Websites

No business can hope to succeed without a slick website. A website is the first impression people will get from your business, whatever that is, because once they hear your name that’s the first thing they’ll do. They’ll check out your website. They may even just stumble across it. As such, you need something that is going to be representative of your brand and provide them with all the information they could possibly want from you. It doesn’t matter if you are a plumber, copywriter, IT support company or into digital learning; a website is your best chance at being found and hired.

Blogging

A website is good, but without a decent SEO strategy you may not get discovered. That’s where blogging comes in. Blogging is the most effective way of improving your hopes of getting found on search engines. The best way to do this is to add links to your other blog posts as well as external sources, while always considering what keywords search engines may pick up on. Another great tactic is to link your blog to your social media pages as well, so that every time you post, your social media gets updated too. This will also improve your chances of being shared online, thus bringing in more viewers. The most epic thing that could happen on this front is for something of yours to go viral. How incredible would it be to wake up one day and see that 100,000 people ha liked a blog post that links back to your website and thus your business. Amazing.

Business Owners: Are You Guilty Of Negligence?…

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If you’ve recently started a business, I’m sure you’re quickly discovering just how much goes into making it a success. Your big idea is just the start of it. From there, you need to think about your HR, marketing, IT infrastructure and a whole host of other factors. With so much going on, it’s essential to make sure you don’t neglect anything important. Here are some things that you simply can’t afford to neglect…

Office Data Backup

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship | Business Owners: Are You Guilty Of Negligence?...
Photo courtesy of Torkild Retvedt via flickr

Office data backup is something that you’ll hopefully never have to use, but you’ll be glad you have it if and when the need arises. Backing up your office data is a great insurance policy against the unexpected. Files can be wiped from your servers, sabotaged by a disgruntled employee, or some kind of freak disaster could damage the servers beyond repair. By regularly backing up all your company’s important data, you’ll be able to get the company up and running again soon afterwards. Despite the massive importance of backing up, a lot of small businesses manage to overlook it completely. If you haven’t already, take a look at your options and set up a dependable system for backing up your files.

The Employee Handbook

Neglecting this part of your business is usually a side-effect of rapid growth. In the early days of your business, when there’s only you and a few employees, any kind of solid HR policies aren’t really that necessary. However, when your business starts to grow and develop as an organization, you’ll need to take on a lot more staff. This means you’re going to need some solid rules in place. A good employee handbook will introduce new recruits to the company’s core values, mission and culture, will tell them what’s expected of them, but most importantly, it will tell them what’s permissible and what’s not. By taking the time to draft an employee handbook, you’ll protect yourself from all kinds of costly litigation and disputes. Whether you do it all on your own steam or reach out to an employment law firm like Ellis Whittam, an employee handbook is an absolute must. Just a few printed words can make all the difference to your company’s future!

A Good CRM

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship | Business Owners: Are You Guilty Of Negligence?...

CRMs, short for customer relationship management platforms, are great tools for managing your company’s interactions with both current and prospective customers. With one of these in place, your company will enjoy better workflow, will be able to automate various tasks, increase the number of sales leads you’re getting and generally increase productivity. Although these auxiliary programs were once considered a luxury, an increasing number of firms are using them, and they’re quickly becoming something of an essential resource for any modern business. Despite what you may have been led to believe, CRMs aren’t exclusive to big businesses anymore, and the packages on the market are getting more and more cost-effective all the time.

As you move forward with your business, make sure you’re not neglecting any of these and holding your firm back from what it can achieve!

Facts About LLCs All Business Owners Should Know

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A Limited Liability Company or an LLC is a company structure that borrows some features from Corporations and others from Partnerships.

Similar to Corporations, LLCs provide you with a huge advantage in the form of limited liability protection. On the other hand, LLCs have a flow-through taxation structure, just like it is in Partnerships.

In a nutshell, LLCs can be considered hybrids.

If you are someone who is looking to form their own LLC, take a step back. First, consider the pros and cons of LLCs carefully.
What Are the Advantages of LLCs?

Let’s first check out the advantages of forming LLCs:

  • Forming LLCs is easy and also relatively inexpensive.
  • Because of the limited liability feature of LLCs, none of the members is liable to pay the debts of the LLC personally.
  • The members of the LLC can decide how they want the profits to be distributed.
  • You don’t need to maintain formal records of resolutions or meetings for LLCs.
  • LLCs do not have a double taxation system.

What Are the Disadvantages of LLCs?

While LLCs do offer a lot of advantages for small business owners, they do also have their own drawbacks.

Here are some of the disadvantages of LLCs:

  • Federal, as well as state-level filings, are required for all LLCs.
  • You need to pay state filing fees for the year when you form the company, and every year consequently.
  • An LLC isn’t the best structure for companies with investors who want to make their companies public.

Now that you have a balanced perspective on LLCs, you can make an informed decision. If you are still interested in forming your own LLC, here is what you need to do.

Steps to Form Your Own LLC

The first step to form your LLC is to apply for your LLC EIN (Employer Identification Number). Once you get it, you need to file Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State.

That’s not all.

In addition to this, you are also required to make an operating agreement for your LLC. This agreement should outline the financial as well as functional frameworks for your LLC.

It should also clearly define responsibilities and profit distribution between members. Although creating an operating agreement isn’t a requirement in all states, it is recommended that you make one.

Want to know more about forming LLCs? Check out the infographic below by GovDocFiling.

The Essentials Facts of LLCs You Need to Know as a Small Business Owner

Image Courtesy: GovDocFiling

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Brett ShapiroBrett Shapiro is a co-owner of GovDocFiling. He had an entrepreneurial spirit since he was young. He started GovDocFiling, a simple resource center that takes care of the mundane, yet critical, formation documentation for any new business entity.

10 Top Tips For Starting Your Own Business At Home

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | 10 Top Tips For Starting Your Own Business At Home

If you’re thinking of starting your own business at home but you don’t know where to begin then don’t worry, you have definitely come to the right place. Whether you’re starting a business as a result of COVID-19 or you’ve had a business idea in mind for years, you need to be sure you’re doing all you can to make your first year a success. Whilst it may be overwhelming at first, there are lots of tips and tricks you can pick up to ensure you’re doing your best. From determining your target audience to creating a routine that you easily can work to each day, the more you’re doing to help your business succeed the better. With that in mind, here are 10 top tips for starting your own business at home:

Consider What Your Business Is Going To Do And How You’re Going To Make Money

One of the first things you need to do when it comes to starting your own business is to think about what your business is going to be doing and how you’re going to be making a profit from it. Although it may seem obvious, people often forget about this stage of their business plan.

If you’re unsure, the best thing to do is write down all of the products and services you’re thinking of offering, focussing on the value each of them will bring to the customer. Once you have done that, you will be able to think about a price point. If it helps, you may want to consider looking at your competitors and what they’re doing. When it comes to doing your first competitor analysis, you may want to do a little bit of research first.

Write A Detailed Description Of Your Target Audience

In order to create a business that is going to succeed, you need to think about who your target audience is. Whilst it may take some time, you need to ask yourself as many different questions as you can in order to create the perfect customer avatar.

Questions you may want to consider asking yourself include:

  • How old are they
  • Are they male or female?
  • Where do they live?
  • What do they do for a living?
  • What do they like to watch on TV?
  • Where do they like to shop?
  • Do they have any children?
  • What hobbies do they have?
  • What social media platforms do they use the most?
  • How often do they get paid?
  • What are their pain points?

Once you have asked as many different questions as you possibly can, you will be able to create an image of what your ideal customer should look like. This will make it much easier to market your product in the future.

Create A Comfortable Space For You To Work That Is Free Of Distractions

Working from home is incredibly difficult as you associate your home with being able to relax. Whilst you’re allowed to relax in your own home, you also need to ensure you have a specific space that is dedicated to working. Whether that’s a home office or a desk in your living room, knowing that you have a comfortable space that is free of distractions will help keep you motivated when you’re struggling to concentrate. For tips and tricks when it comes to creating a working space that motivates you, you can visit this site here.

Make Sure You’re Working To A Routine

Similar to the point above, you need to ensure you’re sticking to a working routine. Whether that means starting at the same time every day or ensuring you have an hour-long lunch break, you’re going to find you get much more done if you have a routine.

Do As Much Research As You Can When It Comes To Running A Business

If you have never run your own business before, you need to be sure you’re doing as much research as you possibly can in advance. From following successful entrepreneurs on social media to reading as much information as possible, the more you know about running your own business the better. If you’re struggling, you may want to consider taking a course to help improve your knowledge.

Set Up An Email And Caller System To Deal With Enquiries

Although you may not get many enquiries, to begin with, you need to ensure you have a way in which people can contact you if they’re interested in your products or services. The best way to do this, of course, is to give them ways to email or call you.

When it comes to setting up a phone number, you may want to consider using an auto dialer at first. This means that you will be able to continue using your personal number whilst you make outbound calls. This makes you seem like a much bigger business, which certainly helps when it comes to professionalism. For more information, you can visit Call Cowboy here.

Put As Much As You Can Into Your Marketing Efforts To Begin With

One of the best things you can do for your new business is to ensure you’re putting as much as you can into your marketing efforts for the first few months. If you’re starting a business where no one knows your name, you need to do as much as you can to increase your brand visibility. A great way to do this is to use paid ads on social media. Not only will this help build a customer base, but it will also help when it comes to growing your social media following.

Consider Outsourcing To Professionals For Certain Roles Within Your Business

One of the best ways to ensure you’re able to focus on the important aspects of running your business is to outsource work to professionals. Whether that means you’re outsourcing a role that you have no experience of or you’re simply freeing up your time to work on business development, bringing external people into your business is something you should look to do as soon as you possibly can. Although it can be expensive, they will more than pay for themselves when you’re able to grow your business exponentially.

Here are a number of different jobs you can outsource if you need to:

  • Your monthly or yearly accounts and tax return
  • The management of your social media channels
  • Content writing for your blog and your website
  • Public relations to help your business be seen
  • Virtual assistance to help with the running of your business

Although it can be hard to let go of certain aspects of your business, outsourcing is a great opportunity for business owners. For more benefits to outsourcing as an entrepreneur, you can visit this site here.

Set Yourself Goals And Targets That Are SMART

Setting yourself goals is another great way to ensure your first year is a success as it gives you something to work towards. When setting these goals, you need to ensure that they’re SMART. This means setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based.

Make Sure You Have A Back-Up Plan In Place

Finally, you always need to be sure you have a backup plan in place. After all, you never know what could happen.

Although it can be hard to set up your own business, the tips and tricks above will help you have the best possible start. What will you be doing first? Do you think we missed anything off of the list? Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.