Setting Up A New Business: How To Increase Your Chances Of Success

 


If you’re looking to set up a new business, you may have come across some rather sobering statistics. It’s no secret that most new companies fail, but there are plenty that beat the odds and survive. If you’re preparing to launch a new venture, here are some steps you can take to increase your chances of success. 


Picture credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-draw-a-light-bulb-in-white-board-3758105/


Research the market

A lack of demand for products and services is one of the most common reasons for new business failures. Before you invest time, money and effort into a new business, carry out extensive research. Analyse the market, find out who your competitors will be and define your ideal buyer. Look at sales figures and keep an eye out for emerging consumer trends and signs of growth. If the market is saturated or demand is falling, it’s best to think twice about trying to buck trends. Ideally, you want to tap into trends that are set to spiral and look for gaps you can fill. 


Focus on customer service

When customers choose brands, they’re not just looking at the quality and price of services and products. They are also searching for the best value for money and they want to enjoy a positive experience. Prioritise customer service from day one. Treat every client like a VIP, add personal touches to make customers feel special and provide support. If you have consumers or business clients wanting to place an order with you, but they have questions, and they can’t get hold of an adviser or find answers on your website, you could lose out. Look into adding features to your site like live chat, and make sure you reply to emails, web enquiries and social media messages and comments promptly. Live chat is brilliant because it enables you to interact with customers and clients and provide instant responses. To learn more about business chat software, click here. If you run a business that depends on face to face contact, for example, you have a retail store, a restaurant or a hotel, it’s wise to consider offering staff training to maintain high standards of customer service and create the right first impression. 


Spread the word

If you’ve got a fabulous new product or you’ve recently set up a brand new local business, you want to start accepting orders and booking jobs as soon as possible. Draw up a marketing strategy to spread the word and let customers know that you are open for business. Design and implement campaigns that target your ideal buyer and choose marketing techniques that will reach them and appeal to them. If you’re selling trendy clothes aimed at 16-35-year-olds, for example, social media marketing and SEO can help you drive web traffic and create a buzz around your products. If you’re offering dog walking, roofing or mobile hairdressing services, it’s a good idea to combine traditional and digital marketing methods. Flyering and local press adverts are a great way to generate leads, and you can also attract attention online using social media and local SEO. Over 85% of smartphone users will either visit or contact a business within 24 hours of completing an online search. 


Image from https://www.pexels.com/photo/cheerful-young-woman-screaming-into-megaphone-3761509/




Launching a successful business is a challenge, but it can be done. Follow these steps to shorten the odds and put your brand name on the map. 

Structure Yourself: How To Organise A Freelance Career



Everybody knows the importance of getting organised, and whether you are looking to start your own business or you are trying to start to some sort of freelance life, it's vital to get organised.
And this can be quite a shock to the system, especially when you are used to working a 9 to 5 career.
But if you are looking to get yourself into a freelance way of life or you've got no choice right now, what does it really take to get organised in the most effective sense?
Organise your documents
There will be times when you need to get hired help or you need to send documents straight away.
One of the biggest mistakes many freelancers make is that they type up everything from scratch. It's important to get into the habit of working smart rather than working hard.
When it comes to various documents, whether they are legal or professionally oriented, there are resources like https://www.templafy.com/document-automation-software/ to take advantage of.
Organising your documents is all about ensuring these things are easy to access, especially when you need to get on with the task at hand.
When it comes to admin it's important to remember that, as frustrating as this can be, this is what will underpin your entire organisational prowess.
Find a system to manage your time
It sounds incredibly obvious but you need something in place to make sure that you are able to stick to some sort of structure.
Time management is vital for any freelancer and on https://copywritercollective.com/5-reasons-why-time-management-is-important-for-a-freelancer/ there are some great reasons to understand.
But if you don't have a structure in place or a system to manage your time, you will soon realise the errors of your ways.
It doesn't necessarily have to be for the benefit of your working day but it could be a working method to ensure that you're not spending 12 to 14 hours a day on these tasks.
Resources like the Pomodoro method or getting an understanding of Parkinson’s law can provide you with some clarity in managing your time effectively.
And with Parkinson’s law, where the idea is that the work we do subconsciously fits the task, we can use this to our advantage by slowly tightening the deadlines.
Setting aside personal time
We can focus on getting ourselves organised for the benefit of the work but when we neglect our downtime this has a negative effect on our abilities to be productive, not to mention the fact that it can have an adverse impact on the people that live with us.
We have to set aside personal time so we are are not stretching ourselves too thinly. Once you schedule something like downtime way in advance you will maintain productivity and it means that you won't be rushing around to try and fit in a break when it's all proving too much.
Breaks and downtime should be a key part of your schedule.


We all know the importance of being organised but we don't know how crucial it is until we are relying on ourselves. For those people that work full-time jobs, the structure is usually there for them.
When we make the move to doing everything themselves, this is when we've got to truly get to grips with everything.
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)