Modern Tips For Small Business Start-Ups
Modern Tips For Small Business Start-Ups
Understand why you are starting a small business. Starting your own small business is an incredibly rewarding enterprise. You must bear in mind, however, that it can be a very hard road to walk down. You must always remember why you decided to start in business yourself. Whatever your motivation, you must find a way to remember the reason why when things get tough.
What is your point of difference? One of the motivating why factors for starting your own small business or startup may be that you know that you can do it better than other businesses you have worked for. What are you going to do that is different to your competition? What is your main point of difference going to be?
During your research stage you must check out your competition to see if and where there is a gap in the market. It may be a customer service issue, a cost issue, or any issue that you feel is lacking in your field. You must check out the competition. I know that my competition check my business out. It is vital that you do all the proper market research before you invest time and money into your idea. Don’t directly steal from them, though. Keep your integrity at all times; it’s very important.
How are you going to structure your small business? Make sure that you get the structure of your business right. There are pros and cons in every business structure. A company, partnership, or sole trader all have benefits depending on what type of business you want to be. They all have tax implications and liability implications. Ensure that you speak to your business lawyer and accountant to get the best advice depending on your goals now and for the future.
Law, rules, and regulations. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. You can be liable for something that you didn’t even know existed. Make sure you are fully aware of all the laws, legislation, rules and regulations in your chosen area of business. This is true of both the federal level and on the state level. Check websites like ATO, ASIC, and reliable business websites to get all the right information.
If in doubt, and you can afford it, go and see a small business lawyer to ensure that you’ve done all of the due diligence. You should check up on employment law, taxation law, corporations law if you decide to become a company, workplace safety, and health and safety among others.
You are the boss: act like it. You are in charge of your own destiny now. If there are any problems in the business, it is up to you to sort it out. If the matter requires to put in an all-nighter, then you have to do it. You are the boss. You need to lead by example. Don’t expect other people and employees to do something that you are not prepared to do yourself or that you have not done with your eyes closed a thousand times before.
The idea of a passive income when you are in a small business is like a unicorn: it’s a mythical creature that doesn’t really exist. No one is going to love your business like you do. Do not accumulate debt unless your accountant says it’s okay. Don’t worry, your accountant will never say that it’s okay. This is a tough one because it depends entirely on the business and the economy. However, for every success story there are hundreds or thousands of small business people and entrepreneurs who have lost t shirt off their backs to banks and money lenders. If you can build your business without borrowing money or becoming encumbered under debt or a bad lease, then it’s probably better that you do.
Take time off: it is really important. Sometimes you will need to dig deep and do what needs to be done. We have all pulled all-nighters or worked seven days per work. This type of work for most is unsustainable. It is really important that you take some time off and actually be off. There is no point in taking some time off and then having your head at work the whole time. Be present with what you are doing right now and forget about work. It’s not going anywhere. It will be there on Monday when you get back.
Google mindfulness meditation to help you gain the skills needed to find some peace and stillness inside. I’ll put a link below. Surround yourself with great people. It is really important in business to surround yourself with good people. Lose the negative people and gossip spreaders for your business and surround yourself with great people. There are thousands of great, highly profitable small businesses that don’t follow that horrible cut-throat corporate way of doing things. If you treat people properly you will get the best out of them and they are more likely to take some ownership of their role.
Get business advice and ongoing training: If you are not getting better, then you are getting worse. I never really understood what this meant until a few years ago. Basically, all of your competition could be learning new skills, developing existing skills further, and broadening their skill set. If you are not doing the same, then you are dropping behind.
Get more organized: If you are lucky enough to be in a business that uses administration software, then if you can afford it, use it. It is really important that you use more than Outlook or Google email and calendars in your business. Doing the tasks longhand that a can do can take up a lot of time, and you may end up not even doing them.
