Starting a New Business? These 5 Steps Will Show You How
Looking to start a company? Want to be that businessman owning your own piece of market and being self made? There is some work to be done before you can put that Rolex on your wrist and count stacks of dollars. Let’s suggest that you know what the business is about and what you will do with it — you must sort out where it will be, where are you getting your product from, how to market, how to build an online presence and of course, having efficient customer support. Humanizing the business is all the rage today, showing that you are not trying to be “evil inc.”, but care what people buy — honest products made by honest people, under humane circumstances, in a nature sustaining way.
Physical location
Find a good location, which means you will be visible to pedestrians, if you are a shop, or an effective position for accessibility by road if you own a service providing business. Also, the space must be fitting to your business in terms of room, light and conditions for working — you don’t want to overburden your employees with bad lighting, poor ventilation and moldy walls.
Supply of goods (and workers)
Be confident of your merchandise — you must know what you are selling. There is nothing worse than polished up exterior and crap products or services on the inside. Work on it, study your suppliers, find out what experiences other businesses had with them. It will bring some bad reputation to your business and draw customers away from you for good. Find a good supplier, with good credentials, or good hard working people if you provide services. If you have to, hire a HR company to find you some good labor force, so you won’t have more problems down the road.
Marketing
Start a marketing campaign, be it on mass media, through billboards, leaflets or online with forums. Be careful with online marketing — avoid becoming a spam generator, because no one likes to be bombed with “buy this or you will die”messages. You must reach out to your potential customers as well as business partners, because you will need a network of both in order for your business to thrive.
Build your online presence
Start a website with a presentation of what are you doing, how and who are you working with. Presenting your product is just as important as making the product itself, so work hard and don’t save on a good designer for your presentation. Get a good, reliable hosting service, that will not fail you, don’t crash and protect your data. If you sell things, consider an online shop for your products, with a mailing service with notifications if a new product becomes available.
Customer support
You must be there for your clients, you must show them that you are not interested only in their money, but provide them with services before they need them. Make sure to continue to support them after your collaboration ends. You must be prepared that someone, sometimes, will not be satisfied with what you are offering, and must be prepared to come forward and compensate them. It will show that you have good will and care about your image in front your consumers.
Owning and running a business is hard work, it takes a lot from you but it gives back what you give in. It must be done right or the profit will slip through your fingers, rendering you out of business in a matter of months. Many people made the mistake of thinking too highly of their company and arrogantly deciding to choose their customers too early, which ends in a spectacular crash and burn. So, tread lightly, stay hungry, work on your products and services, present them in a proper manner and the results are bound to come your way.
