Ten Great Tips When Starting Your Business

#1: Specialise

Choose a niche part of your market and concentrate on it. Assess how it works now, what the other players are doing and what their customers value form their services. Then decide out how to service that niche in an even better way than the existing players but avoid trying to do everything they do from day one. Ideas about which businesses work and which don't can be generated by looking at business case studies



#2: Sell

There is no way of avoiding it – you really are going to be forced to learn how to sell and what's more, to love doing it. If you don't want to or can't, the writing is on the wall now and you shouldn't start a business. Sales will drive everything in your business, so get used to selling your business, its services or products and most importantly you as a person.



#3: Become tight

Don’t spend a penny or cent more than you need to. You will find that it’s more straightforward to do this when it's all your own money. However if its the bank's money or an investor's it is best to think of it in the same way. You do not need the swanky office, the PA, the expensive website. Everything you spend should be required to deliver a return. Don't get sucked into expensive advertising but instead get a cheap website and teach yourself SEO.



#4: Avoid fighting every battle

In your first few years its about surviving and building your resources. You don’t have to do everything. Gain your strength and devote time to building your base.



#5: Customers, customers, customers

All you really need to worry about is gaining and keeping customers. With no customers you have no business. Get yourself a basic CRM system, possibly form the 'cloud' and work that database. Review it regularly, make contact with the people on it, follow up their queries, deal with their complaints.



#6: Become an accountant

Well at least get a good accountant and teach yourself basic accounting. There are plenty of self learn courses or night school courses. Find yourself an easy to use accounting package that is straightforward to access and understand. Check your bank account daily and watch the balance like a hawk, carefully timing any major payments.



#7: Go hire

There is not much of you, even if you are superhuman. Your business wil be constrained if it is just down to you so get some more people, write down what the business does and train others to execute it.





#8: Learn

Everything you need to know can be found in a book or on the internet so you need to devote time to learning, reading and absorbing information. Read autobiographies and biographies about successful business people, then move on to technical matters. Search out training courses that specialise on entrepreneurs. The networking from such courses is often as valuable as the teaching itself.



#9: Set your expectations

Success will not happen overnight so don't expect it. In fact expect a hard slog. Success takes time, persistence and of course luck, but above anything it takes time. A lot of people overestimate what can be achieved over a year but underestimate what can be achieved in ten. Think of the journey in smaller steps and make sure you celebrate successes when they occur.



#10: Faith

Self-belief is critical and will get you through. Surround yourself with similarly minded people to avoid becoming lonely.