Few things are as exciting as launching and running a successful business. However, getting off to a strong start is essential for building long-term, sustainable success. The following practices will help ensure your business is built upon a solid foundation. In this article I will cover the important 4 key factors needed to run a business with sustainable foundations.
- ASK FOR HELP
- FOCUS ON PROFITABILITY
- BOOKKEEPING
- TIME MANAGEMENT
Ask for Help
Running a business on your own entails taking on a number of roles, and successful business owners know that it’s important to ask for help when needed. Although you can take on certain tasks when you’re first getting started, make a plan for outsourcing tasks certain tasks in the future. Good ones to start thinking about outsourcing include getting an accountant for managing your finances and a virtual assistant to help manage other day-to-day business tasks.
Also consider working with a business coach or mentor. Whilst it might seem expensive an investment in business coaching should help you get to where you want to go more quickly than you can alone.
Too often, business owners try to spend as little money as possible. However, time is limited, and outsourcing allows you to focus on the more critical elements of your business such as finding and serving your clients instead of spending your time on busy work.
Focus on Profitability
Although large, tech-centred start-ups are able to raise seemingly endless funds before proving an ability to make a profit, few small businesses have that luxury. A common mistake for new business owners is to undercut their competitors too much on price. This leads to a failure to develop a sustainable pricing model.
Do some research on your competitors pricing strategies. Make sure to charge close to market value. It is essential to ensure your pricing is enough to cover your expenses. In some cases, offering a discount can help you reach out to new customers, but doing so too frequently may place your business in the red.
Furthermore, offering frequent discounts means potential and current clients may be tempted to simply wait for you to offer a discount before making a purchase. If you offer a great product or service, you deserve to charge a fair price for it, so don’t sell your business short.
Bookkeeping
In the early days of your business, your bookkeeping will likely be fairly simple, as your clients and customers will be limited. As your business grows, however, it becomes easy to feel overwhelmed if you don’t have an effective and cohesive bookkeeping system, potentially making it difficult to know how well your business is succeeding. In addition, poor bookkeeping may leave you scrambling when dealing with taxes. And small mistakes made when filing and paying your taxes can prove to be difficult and expensive to rectify. Before launching, make sure you know what’s needed to stay in compliance with various regulations.
As with other tasks, it’s often best to bring aboard an expert to help you get off to a strong start. Also note that online bookkeeping tools such as Xero and Quickbooks provide comprehensive capabilities. Don’t procrastinate; it’s easy to get dangerously behind the curve.
Time Management
There’s one thing many business owners quickly find they don’t have enough of: Time. Spending your time effectively is at the core of making your business a success. In my experience one of the biggest time wasters for new small business owners is procrastination.
Time management tools can be wonderful for ensuring you are prioritising your most important tasks first. A simple To Do list can help you stay on the straight and narrow. In addition, digital time management tools let you stay up to date as long as you have your smartphone with you. Track your daily activities and locate ones where you’re spending too much time so you can outsource or delegate to others.
It can be hard to juggle all the hats you need to wear when you first start running a business, you can read more about this topic and get more helpful tips in this article ‘How many hats are you wearing?’
If you’re starting to find running your business overwhelming then I would recommend you join my Business Confidence Club. Here you will get the support and training you need to sort out your business for just over £1 per day.
Suzanne