5 First Steps For Startups To Take
To start off on the right foot when starting up a business, you need to get the first few steps right.
Much has been said about planning and preparation when you are creating your own company, but what then?
Here are the first five steps you should take to startup your business once you have finished your planning phase.
1. Create A Presence
Your startup idea or small business needs to take a form. The difference between an idea for a company and a genuine business is a presence in the world. It can be as simple as a website, a business card, or a promotional pamphlet.
Until your startup creates a presence with an email address, phone number, or physical address, no one can find you or communicate with you. Unlock this door, and opportunity will walk through it.
A small business or startup can get an impressive office address on day one. PhysicalAddress.com is a virtual mailbox service that allows you to use a whole street address, not a P.O. Box, to receive all business mail. You can view scans of any letters your startup receives online, giving you quick access to important documents through their mailbox service.
2. Build A Brand
A name is no longer enough. Even for small businesses and startups, consumers expect an experience and a brand that they can become a part of and interact with. Before you have a product to sell or a service to offer, you can build up a brand through social media and self-promotion to build a base of excited consumers.
A successful brand is a combination of a name, a color scheme, a tagline, and maybe even a character. Your brand can use social media to interact with potential customers, which will generate consumer interest, and you can use it to conduct market research.
By analyzing the data that your social media interactions create and using social posts to conduct polling, for example, you can find out more about the market you are entering and consumer needs and expectations.
3. Have A Support Structure
Building a business is a huge challenge that is going to require a lot of your time as well as money. Early investment in a startup is about more than dollars and cents, it is about minutes and hours. You are going to have to give everything you have to make your company as successful as possible. Without people in your life that you can rely on, you are going to find it difficult to keep pushing on and maintaining your momentum.
The support structure that helps you get through the early days needs to be both personal and professional. Close friends and family can help support you emotionally and psychologically, but you will need mentors in business that can help advise you professionally too. Build a professional support network online through social media contacts and website forums.
Other entrepreneurs are asking the same questions you are and facing the same challenges. Learning from their mistakes, listening to their advice, and having them to rely on when you face professional hurdles will help you to keep moving forward.
4. Develop A Scalable Supply Chain
One of the biggest problems startups and small businesses can face in the early days is a constricted supply chain. Success can lead to some surprising problems. The products you are selling come from suppliers that may not be able to expand their supply to meet your demand. This can be devastating to a small business in its early days, letting its first and potentially most loyal customers down.
When sourcing products and how they will get to you, research the potential for scalability too. For online sales, third-party logistics services can be a handy solution to this supply chain problem. Huge warehouses are capable of storing your products for you and distributing them to your customers, saving you time and money while having the capacity to service your expansion. For brick-and-mortar startups, research your suppliers carefully to ensure they can consistently stock your store.
5. Set Reasonable Goals
The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when planning their business and preparing to trade is setting unreasonable or unfeasible targets. It is important to have goals, especially when it comes to sales numbers and profits, but do not aim too high or ask yourself to perform impossible tasks. By giving your business more reasonable challenges, you also give yourself a chance to feel a sense of achievement.
Concentrate on building sales in the first few months. Profit will increase as you build your customer base, and they steadily increase their levels of spending. Get customer care and service right, and increase sales through upselling and marketing to new consumers. This will help you hit your numbers.
Start off your startup right with the help of these five steps. Any business will have a stronger chance of success by following these tips. It is still going to take a lot of hard work, time, and luck too.
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