Top 10 Tips To Running Your Own Business
The Idea
Put a lot of energy into your business idea
Things to think about
Is my business a new start up
Have I bought the goodwill of an existing business
How am I going to turn it from an idea to a real working business
What type of business is it.
How am I to market the business
Do I have the necessary skills to make it work
Do I need the help of others
Do I need premises or can I work from home
How saturated is my market, how can I stand out from the crowd
Low cost price/versus high volume
High cost price/versus low volume
Services/Product mix
Costings of the service/product
Your USP
Unique Selling Point
Why should a potential customer buy from you?
Put together a plan detailing your USP and start promoting this from day one. This can change over a period of time as your business develops.
Think about your branding at this stage. You want to be familiar make it stand out.
Put together a business plan
I spend a lot of time mentioning putting together a business plan. It will focus the mind and highlight any potential issues you make have to face and overcome. The financials and the competition being the main parts of the plan. Spend a lot of time on these and you will have a well thought out plan ahead for you to work to.
Soletrader, Partnership or Limited
Tax relief available for Limited, but increased paperwork. Decide your status at the beginning of the life of the business. It can change at a later stage as it needs to.
The Cashflow
In the early days you will find yourself paying out and not seeing the instant reward for a period of time. Put this together with open eyes. The Sales income may be slow to start off with.
Put together a simple cashflow and complete with actuals month on month, and always roll it ahead. You can see instantly where your surplus/deficit cashflow is.
Goal Setting or KPI’s
Set yourself some goals to achieve in year 1, 2 and 3.
Sales targets
Gross margin
Net profit
Sales enquiries/website traffic
Segmentation i.e. sales types split up by category versus margin from each type
Whatever you decide to choose, keep this in both numerical format and graphical format and compare month on month, year on year. You can see instantly that you either are going the right way, or need to take action to get back on track.
The Competition
Always stay one step ahead of the competition
Review key words on the web
Price testing of the market
USP
Value for money
Unique product/service
Find out what the competition are doing and stay up to date. Look at both the smaller companies (they tend to grow) and the larger companies. (they may have a bigger marketing budget) you can learn from them. They were small once.
Your Customer
Know your market inside out. This needs to be specific, not too general.
The demographics. Is your business local or can it be national or international.
Age group, gender
Financial budget of the customer you are targeting
Seasonality
By knowing your customer you can sell to them better.
Get a website
Not all businesses need a website but most need a web presence of some kind. Look into your competition if they have a website then you need one too.
There are many low cost examples to start off with, and as you get bigger this can be something you can develop over time.
Accountant
Keep your accounts in good order and you will always know where you are financially. It is key to know you’re making a profit and staying that way.
Taking action if your finances need a pick me up.
Use your Accountant as someone who you can telephone from time to time to discuss your strategy. It should be a two way street.
It’s not just about preparing tax returns and accounts, this should be part of your strategy.
This blog is intended for information purposes only and is only advice from past experience, you may have other suggestions of your own. It is not intended to be used to make all of your business decisions but as a guide only.
