By Angie Cui
It is always exciting when starting a business, however, it also can be overwhelming and challenging from the bottom of your feet.
To get started, regardless of you’re running an online business or a physical shop, here are four powerful tips that will guide you to overcome the fear and assist you all the way through your business journey.
1. Get Ready and Draft a Business Plan
The first step to being your own boss is to have a plan.Use a bullet journal to write down things you want to do every day. A detailed business plan will help you work out what you need and what to expect. Consider questions like:
- Do you have a professional website? What content should you include?
- Is it a home business or does it require office space? What tools do you require?
- Do you have the necessary licenses, permits and registrations?
- Have you done thorough market research?
Although it may take you time to establish a proper business plan, you will need to decide on the structure of your business and take everything you can think of into consideration. That way, you will have a clear picture on how to operate the business in the near future.
2. Calculate Your Finances
One of the important aspects of running a small business is managing your finances. How much you can afford to start, and how much you will have to earn to cover the investment costs. Can you get a loan? Or are you taking it out from your savings?
On the other hand, having a basic accounting knowledge will be beneficial for business owners to understand simple income, expenditures, taxation, and profit and loss. If you have a complicated issue, it is always worth to see a professional tax accountant.
3. Promote Your Business
Utilizing social media to market the business is an effective way to run the business. I personally highly recommend Pinterest. With more than 200 million users every month, Pinterest is definitely a great place to promote. People seek out various ideas on Pinterest. To schedule your posts, you can use Tailwind, it is easy to use and will boost the traffic on your site within seconds.
Additionally, of course, if you are selling products, you can also use the Facebook marketplace and different buy-swap-sell groups to attract local customers.
Instagram and Twitter, and even local markets can also be fantastic ways to promote your business. Nevertheless, it all depends on the nature of your business.
Email marketing is also a powerful way to promote your business. I used to run a home-based business selling personalized products. I found setting up an email list is a great way to get connected with customers.
4. Build a Local Reputation
Are you going to sell the best quality products or service? Do you have fantastic customer service skills? For small business owners, it is extremely important to get in touch with the neighborhood and local community. Your community is the hub for building relationships and networking with local residents.
You can network with other local small business owners and share different business ideas. Local small businesses can boom local economic growth, as well as open more and more opportunities for your business after building great connections.
After all the hard work you’ve put into your business, you are going to feel amazing to see your business plan come to life. But keep in mind, Rome wasn’t built in one day. All you want is your business to catch potential customers’ attention, so continue to work at it. You are your own boss now, put yourself out there and start selling.
