Let’s be frank. A business isn’t official until trading has begun. Stop thinking about the paperwork and do it, the process isn’t anything to fear and it’s the first true step of making your dream business a reality.
Make sure to do your research, you need to know your market and the competitors within the sector. Have a strong understanding of your projections, and your processes. Study the market and ensure there is demand for another company. Look at the companies you aspire to be like and research how long it took them to get to the position they’re in now and the steps they took to do so. This is exactly what I did with my business We Connect Construction, I found a market that wasn’t saturated, and I felt like I could contribute healthily to the sector.
Stay realistic. No businesses are a success over night, everything takes work. There will be times when you want to give up, there will be times when you struggle to sleep at night, you will wonder why you’re doing this and if you’ve made the right decision, it won’t be easy. Understand the struggles you could go through before starting and prepare yourself mentally for when/if things go wrong. You must stick with it, and you must be confident that everything will turn out ok. This again is something that I stuck with when I started my magazine Design and Build UK, which now has a readership of 200,000 after years of growing an audience.
Have a strong and realistic business plan, I would always suggest seeking help from an accountant or book keeper with this. It’s really useful for your targets and keeping check of where you thought you should be at this point and where you actually are. We tend to be optimistic when we are running a business so you will probably find that your projections are on the generous side. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but don’t expect to be constantly on track with these, just keep going until you reach your goal, pacing is important for a stable business.
If you happen to be in the position where you are able to employ staff, ensure that they are the right choice. They will be the core of your business, and, with the right choice, will ultimately be able to help you succeed. Surround yourself with people who have experience in business. If you don’t know anyone, try joining a business club or using linked in. You could even ask people in your town running small businesses such as a shop keeper. (I got most of my business advice off of a butcher) people in business love to see other people grafting and becoming successful, so they are normally more than happy to help and advise you.
Think about your sales and marketing process in great detail, every business needs sales, know your target audience and the optimal way to reach them, ideally have experience or expertise in the industry you are intending to start your company in. This will help you make contacts and give you an idea of how other people in the industry are getting their sales.
There is a lot of merit in social media, I would recommend doing all you can to improve yours, ask friends and family to help you with your business through exposure. This helps you build brand awareness. Have a social media strategy in place for when you begin your company.
You need to understand that you can’t know and control everything within your company, don’t try to work within the company and on the company at the same time. It’s not possible to do every job yourself, know at what point you will have to take on people to help you out and what role you’ll be getting other people to do for you.
In the past year, I have been working on my new business We Connect Construction. Even though some of my other businesses have been running for a decade now, I still experience the same hardships of trying to make sure my business takes off. Starting up is by far the hardest part of making a successful business, I’m saying that from experience. But if you persevere and believe in your choices, you’re a lot more likely to succeed than fail. It’s always great to see other companies grow into a success, so if you ever need more help on how to develop your company, feel free to contact me at michaela@weconnectconstruction.co.uk . I wish you the best of luck for the future of your business!
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