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How to Grow Your Ecommerce Startup in Year One

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Ecommerce startup|How to Grow Your Ecommerce Startup in Year OneAs many proud business owners can attest, the growth cycle for ecommerce businesses doesn’t necessarily adhere to older principles related to the growth of physical stores. Indeed, when you’re setting up online, you’re bypassing many of the difficult aspects to scaling that you’d have had to work through with brick-and-mortar stores.

In this article, you’ll learn about your priorities in year one in order to make a sustainable and profitable business that scales effectively into your second year of operations.

Marketing

To scale, you need more people to visit your website, and more people to make purchases to boost your ecommerce business’ profits. It’s really that simple. While there are some other underlying elements to scaling mentioned later in this article, you’re going to need to build out a marketing campaign as a priority in order to draw in traffic, clicks, shares and sales to your site.

You can do this in a number of different ways, depending on your budget and the personnel you have on-side. If you’re a small company, you may prefer to outsource marketing to an experienced digital marketing firm, which will help you build a long-term strategy to increase engagement. Otherwise, look online to uncover some of the fundamentals of digital marketing, enabling you to slowly bend your strategy to fit with the wants and needs of your audience and your target customer.

Operational Efficiency

Many ecommerce startups begin with manual processes, and slowly move into the automated software world as they scale. That’s exactly what you should be looking to do in your first year, so you spend less time managing orders, responding to emails, and doing all those little repetitive jobs that end up consuming most of your waking day.

As a starting point, you should automate orders on your website, and automate emails through to confirm orders, confirm subscriptions, and add individuals to mailing lists. Mailing lists are incredibly important for your data collection, and to offer deals and discounts seasonally, so they’re also best set up in your first year in business. Once you’ve taken a good look at your operations, and made as many of them automated as possible, you’ll be able to deal with scaling far easier.

Deliveries

The only physical part of your ecommerce business is delivering parcels to customers. You want this to be as effective and efficient as you can possibly make it. You’ll know only too well that one of the main market differentiators in the ecommerce world is customer service, and that’s primarily driven through cheap yet swift delivery services. You need to get your parcel to its destination within the shortest-possible timescale.

The problem with distribution is that you can ship your products easily to local distribution centers – but it’s the final mile that’s the kicker, adding costs to your overall logistics operation.

Indeed, last mile delivery costs are one of your greatest overheads, and something you’re going to want to keep low in order for you to succeed in your first year in ecommerce. Be careful when signing contracts that you’re getting what you want to get from your delivery deal, and that you can hold delivery companies responsible for late packages, too.

Funding and Cash Flow

Finally, you need to be cognizant of your funding situation, and how much cash you’ll have in the kitty to support a growing business, before you enact your scaling plan. If you’re unable to meet soaring costs related to providing more for your customers, you’ll miss out on delivery times, you’ll miss payments to clients and subsidiaries, and you’ll endanger the soul of your business just as it shows promising signs of sustained growth. You need capital – some saved for worst-case scenarios – before you scale.

This capital will help you bring in new personnel if you’re swamped with orders to process. It’ll enable you to buy in bulk, reducing your order costs in anticipation of larger order volumes and it’ll enable you to invest in made-to-scale, cloud-based software – the kind that’ll help you to build your audience through automation, and meet the extra demands placed upon the entirety of your operations. With financial security in place, you won’t need to worry about your labor and your investments going to waste as you’ll be prepared for your next great step into ecommerce profits for 2021.

These tips are all designed for ecommerce startups in their first year – those which are ambitious to scale, but a little concerned about how to achieve sustained and sustainable growth into 2021 and beyond.

3 Lowest Cost States to Start an LLC

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | 3 Lowest Cost States to Start an LLC | Incorporation

When you are starting a business, you have to make every dollar count. You may have no idea how much revenue you will bring in at first – and you know you are going to have to work out some kinks before your business becomes more stable. So, it makes sense to try to find the lowest cost state to form your LLC. Of course, there are multiple ways to measure “lowest cost” when it comes to forming a business. Are we talking about which state has the lowest LLC formation fees, or are we talking about which state is the most affordable to do business in?

There are many states that try to make doing business affordable, from Texas to Florida and throughout the country. But there are some that try to go the extra mile, either by making taxes extremely low, licenses and filing fees low, or both. Since you may have your own idea of what “affordable” means, we will examine this question from two angles. First, we can look at which three states are best for overall affordability for business, then we will take a quick look at which three states have the lowest LLC formation fees.

3 Most Affordable States to Form an LLC

1. Wyoming

The state of Wyoming does a lot to make starting a business as easy and attractive as possible. For one thing, it has a 0 percent corporate tax rate and a 0 percent individual income tax rate. That’s right, you don’t have to worry about paying either corporate state tax or individual state income tax. You will still be hit with federal taxes, but Wyoming is easy on businesses as far as taxes go. The effective property tax rate is also extremely low – at .61 percent. When you consider that the average property tax rate in the country is 1.19 percent, the affordability of the Wyoming tax system is readily apparent.

The sales tax rate in Wyoming is also quite low at 4 percent. That means your customers will not be as likely to experience sticker shock when they buy products from you since the sales tax they see will not be too high.

2. Nevada

Nevada is another one of the most popular states to form an LLC because it offers multiple tax advantages to businesses that make the state home. Just like Wyoming, Nevada has a 0 percent corporate tax rate and a 0 percent individual income tax rate. Your business won’t have to pay corporate state taxes and you won’t have to pay state income taxes. Again, you will still face federal taxes, but every little bit helps. The effective property tax rate in Nevada is also extremely low at .77 percent.

The sales tax rate in Nevada is higher than Wyoming at 6.85 percent.

3. South Dakota

South Dakota also strives to set itself apart as a business haven by making its taxes quite low. You will find a 0 percent corporate tax rate and a 0 percent individual income tax rate in the state and an effective property tax rate of 1.32 percent. So, it can be more expensive to own property – like your brick and mortar store – in South Dakota than Wyoming or Nevada – but if you don’t own property in the state then the property taxes are less of a concern for your business.

The sales tax rate in South Dakota is 4.50 percent.

Cheapest LLC Formation Fees

If you are just looking for states with the lowest fees for forming an LLC, you should consider the following locations:

  • Arizona. You only have to pay $50 to file your LLC formation documents in Arizona. Even better, there is no annual fee and no report due each year.
  • Missouri. The fee for filing in Missouri is higher than some other states at $105, but you don’t have to pay an annual fee each year nor do you have to file a report. That makes Missouri quite low to form an LLC in over the long-term.
  • New Mexico. The fee for filing an LLC in New Mexico is only $50 and there is no annual fee and no report due. That makes New Mexico just as affordable as Arizona.
  • Kentucky. The state of Kentucky has the lowest filing fee of any state in the country. They only charge $40 for you to file. However, they do expect you to pay $15 every year to keep your LLC official with the state.

Where Should You File Your LLC?

When you start looking more closely at your options for forming an LLC, you realize that there are plenty of different states that offer attractive deals. Some are extremely affordable to do business in and others make it very cheap to file your LLC. So, what should your main priority be?

The answer is, “It depends.” Deciding where to form your LLC is a personal decision that needs to be made based on what is most important to you. For absolute convenience, there is probably nothing better than forming your LLC in your home state. That’s because it is often simpler to handle paperwork and deal with government entities when you can go down the street to do so. But if you want to save money on filing fees or gain tax advantages, you may want to consider forming an LLC in a state that offers you the most of what you want for your business.

3 Essentials For Your Start-Up

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Every day there are hundreds of new start-ups getting ready to launch. It has never been a more perfect time to test your ideas than now.

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship | 3 Essentials For Your Start-Up | Start-up

Entrepreneurship, owning a small business, or even going freelancing, is exciting and has never been more possible than it is now. There are a few key things that you should have in place before you launch a start-up, or at the very least, consider the implications for your business.

There is almost nothing that you can’t have as a service right now, from cloud solutions to fax from email. All of these things will make running your business easier and more manageable.

You can set almost anything up from the comfort of your own home, or if you prefer the local coffee shop. You don’t even necessarily need more than a few hundred dollars or less. Here are some essentials that you should consider.

Team

While you might be starting a business entirely by yourself, or simply freelancing, you still are going to need a team. It is important to note that this team could be a list of incredible tools to help you do your job better.

Or it could be things like a virtual assistant, managed IT, or other friend answers that have skills that you don’t. This will allow you to take on much bigger jobs earlier on. Are you likely to know a few people who fit the bill, so have a chat earlier on and see if they would be prepared to get involved with projects that much their skill sets.

Project Management

You are going to be in charge of all of the projects. Until that is, you reach such a point where you need a project manager to help you stay on track. Luckily there are plenty of online project management tools that can help you manage a team of freelancers, schedules, timekeeping, and even invoicing. Some of them provide much of the services for free.

You’ll need to decide what really suits what you’re doing. When it comes to taking things like meetings, you can do this via Skype and FaceTime. Many of these tools are free or offer a free limited option,  which means there is no excuse for ducking a meeting.

Online

The very basic of letting people contact you, see your portfolio, learn more about you will be your online presence. The first thing you want to do is claim a domain name. Try to use something easy to remember, relates to your business, can also be used on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites.

You can typically purchase a domain name from the same place as you intend to have your website hosted. You may decide you do not need a full website package because you can build a website yourself. This is entirely possible with some of the easy-to-use drag-and-drop options or the 1-Click installs from WordPress.

Try to ensure that when you purchase hosting and domain name, you also have email inboxes, support, and access to your Cpanel.

Having all of the basics like these, your tools, your website, and some people in mind that you can work with will mean that you are more likely to start off on the right foot. Laying good business foundations will keep your business stronger through shaky times. Entrepreneurship, freelancing, and small business ownership is exciting but deserves planning and time.

How To Build A Reputable Contractor Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship | How To Build A Reputable Contractor Business

Working in the construction industry is a competitive landscape but can also be a rewarding career. It’s up to you to win over new clients and build a book of customers who will use and recommend your services.

As a contractor, your reputation matters and the word will spread quickly about whether or not you know how to do your job. It’s up to you to impress clients and produce quality work, so know there will be a lot of pressure on your shoulders on any given day. Use the following advice to help you build a reputable and successful contractor business, so your company is around for years to come.

Present Ideas & Solutions

As the contractor, it’s your job to come to client meetings prepared to share your knowledge and expertise. Offer up ideas and solutions that your customers will find useful and will help them to achieve their project goals. For example, incorporate the advancements in technology such as https://www.sgspecialties.com/products/contractor-solutions/expansion-joints to help protect and prevent the buildings you create from experiencing any fire or earthquake damages. These are solutions that your customers may not be aware of, and that will help you to construct a better building.

Collect Testimonials

You need to have a solid reputation if you’re going to make it long-term in the construction business. Therefore, collect testimonials from your customers so that others can see the benefits of working with you. People who are interested in hiring you will want to hear what you’re like to work with from other clients and not necessarily from you. The better reviews you have, the more likely it is that you’ll begin to receive more work orders. Use these testimonials as a marketing tool to show potential customers that you’re the best person for the job.

Be Responsive

Although you’re in the business of building and constructing, you’re also in the business of working with people. Your clients should be your number one priority, and you should do whatever’s in your power to keep them happy if you want to succeed. Improve your reputation by being personable and friendly in your interactions and responsive to questions or inquiries that arise. Disappearing for days at a time or not being available to address concerns will make you look bad, and your reputation may take a hit for your actions.

Perfect Your Skill

Another way to build a reputable contractor business is to let your work speak for itself. Perfect your skill by learning from others and your mistakes. Use your free time to practice in areas that are giving you trouble or to take a class and advance your education. You’re going to want to make sure you know what you’re doing and can produce results worth talking about for your customers. If you’re continuously committing errors or not delivering on your promise, then you risk people going elsewhere for these types of services. Be organized and avoid cutting corners or having hidden fees if you want to build an excellent reputation for yourself and your business.

5 Ways to Convert Your Garage Into a Home Office

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | 5 Ways to Convert Your Garage Into a Home Office

If you work from home or if run your own business, a garage conversion could be a great way to add a home office to your property, saving yourself the added expenses of rent or overhead.

Garages are enclosed spaces where cars or other items are stored, so they can be ideally repurposed for other uses. And because you are not actually building from scratch, you may not need to apply for planning permission, but you should confirm with your local council to be safe.

Below are some important tips to keep in mind when creating a home office out of your garage.

1. Clear the space

To create your dream office, clean and remove everything you currently have in the garage.

Find new storage options for bicycles, garden tools, car accessories, and Christmas decorations, or store them carefully in boxes that you can discreetly store elsewhere.

You should also thoroughly clean the garage before you do anything else. Make sure that there are no cobwebs or car lubricants left when setting up your new office space.

Part of clearing the space may include clearing land. You may be surprised at how much room you have in your backyard when you use a Forestry Mulching service. You may even find that you have the space to install an outbuilding for your office space. 

2. Be creative with lighting

When you change your garage space into a home office, you should be as creative as possible. Consider your garage a blank canvas to repurpose it as best as possible.

Garages are typically have the worst lighting, so make sure that your new home office is well lit.

I strongly recommend buying inexpensive lighting fixtures if your garage is not exposed to direct sunlight during business hours.

A creative way to add light into your office is to paint it with bright colours and/or use creative bright patterns. This alone gives the office a colourful and uplifting mood.

3. Make it comfortable and secure

As you are repurposing your garage into a home office, remember to make it as comfortable and as secure as possible. This means making it less susceptible to outside weather conditions. For example, you may want to replace the existing garage door with a modern insulated garage door, so that your office remains warm and cosy during cold months.

As an added advantage, a modern insulated garage door will provide extra security for your tools and equipment when you are not at the office. On the plus side, this type of door will be a strong deterrent to thieves.

Finally, you should also invest in a good heater and fan to be comfortable during all seasons.

4. Design your new space

Even though one of the reasons for repurposing a garage into a home office is to reduce the cost of overhead and rent, you still want your new office to be a great space to work in, and to reflect your personal taste.

Of course, you can simply invest in an ergonomic chair and desk, but why not take the opportunity to design a really nice home office?

Personalise your new workspace with a workstation, relaxation sofa, and an entertainment system. You can also add some practical details such as rugs, framed pictures, and throw pillows.

5. Setup and work

Make sure you have reliable and effective technologies that will make it easy to do your work.

Many households now have wireless networks, but often the wireless signal is weak or absent. To solve this problem, buy additional routers or wireless signal amplifiers to boost the network environment in your new home office.

If necessary, invest in higher-quality data storage, processing and printing technologies.

Furthermore, wire everything to keep cables clean and to have minimal interference.

Finally, converting your garage into a home office is both doable and easy. Try the tips in the article and see if you can put your garage to good use.