Tip 1: Clearly define your business proposition.
Be sure that you are absolutely clear about your business idea. You need to know, before you start, precisely what your business will do and what your products and/or services it will provide.
It is generally best to base your business on something you really understand, so that you know you have the knowledge, skills and expertise to be able to do the work and meet your customers’ expectations. If you decide on one thing that you do really well, then you can give it all your concentration and you have a much greater chance of making a success of it.
Tip 2: Research and develop your market.
Spend time finding out who is most likely to buy the products and services you are offering. You need to know who they are, where they are and what they want from you. Without this information you will find it much more difficult to make sales and get orders. The most successful new businesses always, always, always do the research before they start.
Tip 3: Plan your finances and manage your money.
Too many new businesses make the mistake of thinking that if they can find enough money to get the business started, then everything will be all right after that. However, sustaining and growing a new business requires very careful money management to ensure there are sufficient funds available – at the right time- to meet the costs of running the business.
Careful financial planning is essential, both before the business starts and as an ongoing process all the way through the start-up, development and growth processes. Good planning does not necessarily mean that everything will go according to plan all time, or that everything will always be financially wonderful, but it can help the business avoid some of the more common mistakes and major financial pitfalls.
Tip 4: Don’t be in too much of a hurry for success.
Building a successful business, with solid foundations, takes time. It takes time to build up your sales, it takes time to build up your business skills and experience and it takes time to build up the necessary financial, operational and human resources to be able to cope with success.
Too much success, too quickly, can be, and has been a real disaster for many new businesses.
Tip 5: Concentrate on selling.
If your business is to survive, it is absolutely essential that you consistently build your sales. In the early stages of starting and running your business, you should constantly be looking at how you spend your time and money and asking yourself the question ‘Is this helping me make sales and generate income?’ If the answer is ‘no’, then it’s probably not worth spending either the time or the money.
It’s very easy to convince yourself that you need to spend money on offices, equipment, advertising, a website etc. etc. In many cases, however, these are just expensive, unnecessary niceties that do not generate income. Keep your money in the bank and invest your time in selling.
Also, do not underestimate how long it takes to make a sale. Whatever type of business you’re running, you must allow for the fact that it takes time to find your customers, make the sale … and then get paid.
Tip 6: An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance!
No matter how well you do your job, it is likely to be your image that will have one of the greatest effects on your business. If you project the wrong image, particularly to your market, your customers and your key suppliers, then the chances are that you will constantly struggle to develop your business.
Always remember that people will buy into their perception of you and your business (irrespective, usually, of the reality).
Tip 7: Always monitor your profitability.
Businesses that do not make sufficient profit do not survive. It is profit that pays your wages, pays the costs of the business and repays loans and overdrafts (if you have them). It is profit that gets re-invested in the business to help you grow and develop.
Too often, businesses look only at turnover and fail to monitor their profitability. Keeping a close eye on your profitability will help you review and adjust your prices and control your costs. If you are not making sufficient profit there is a very good chance that you will need to either raise your prices or lower your costs (or even do both).
Tip 8: Pay your taxes!
Don’t ever think that because yours is a new business you either won’t have any taxes to pay, or that you won’t have to pay any tax that is due. Also, saying that you didn’t know or understand about taxation won’t get you out of having to pay them.
If you’re wise, you’ll ensure that 25-30% of your profits are set aside to pay your tax when it becomes due. Also, if you are registered for VAT, it is wise to put away in a separate bank account the VAT charged on your sales, so that it always available when you have to send in your VAT return and payment.
Failure to pay your taxes will cost you money, time and stress – all of which can be detrimental to the success of your business.
Tip 9: Get the best people for your business.
The greatest asset in any business is its people – as long as they are the right people. Your business will often be judged on, and remembered for, the quality of its people – even more than the quality of its products our services. Never forget that people do business with people – and they do more business with people they like.
Tip 10: Seek out good advice.
You are going to be really busy working in your business and you’ll be very focused on the things that you have to do on a day-to-day basis. Seek advice and support from experienced business professionals who will be able to take an objective view of your business and help you steer your business in the right direction. Also, take advantage of the training, support and networking opportunities available through Colbea.
One other thing…. If people are going to give you good advice, then listen and act on it! You’ll often find that the most successful people are those that listen more and talk less!
