Tips for Getting Your Business Up-and-Running, No Matter the Industry

1. Solidify Your Product or Service and Your Marketing Strategy

Although the thoughts of running your own business can be an exciting concept, getting started without the proper planning will often results in failure for many small businesses. The most important part about getting your business started is developing a business plan and marketing strategy that will help you identify important aspects of your business such as:

• What your product or service is
• What the market looks like and how you can compete
• What your branding will look like
• How you will advertise your products or services
• Why people will choose you over your competitors (and what your ideal customer will look like)
• How you will scale your business over the first year or longer

Making sure that you have a strategic plan that will allow you to hit your business goals in a measurable way is necessary if you want to keep your business up-and-running once you launch. Make sure to focus on some of the points above as you are crafting your business and marketing strategies. Additionally, try to keep your plan as realistic as possible and avoid overly-ambitious goals.

2. Begin Learning More About What It Takes to Get Set Up

Depending upon the size of your business, set up may be relatively easy or quite complicated. For example, if you are a business owner who wants to create a website where you can write blog posts, you are going to be dealing with a different setup process than a general contractor who will have to receive certain licenses in order to do work. When you are just starting to turn your business into an actual plan, you will want to:

• Create a website where potential clients and potential customers can learn more about you. (If you are not tech-savvy, it can be a great idea to hire a contractor website design specialist who can take care of your graphic design needs to develop a company website that is fast, attractive, and easy-to-use. This will play a major role in how well your business performs online. You will also want to learn more about important online marketing tactics like SEO (on-page and off-page SEO), how to understand Google analytics, and how to advertise your business online.
• Look into the legal aspects of running your business, such as registering your business with your state, registering your business name and logo (if applicable), and bringing on employees, just to name a few.
• Figuring out the costs of running your business. Expenses like leasing an office space, paying for tools or subscriptions, and paying employees will all require your business to have money coming in. Make sure that you have enough to get started before you decide to launch.

Getting through all of this planning can be daunting, but it is key to helping your business thrive down the road.

3. Look for Tools That Will Help You Manage Your Business Successfully

Doing business well means being organized and productive. While there are a number of processes we can set up on our own, there are also plenty of tools that you can get for free or pay for in order to make running your business easier. Some great ideas to help you get started include:

• An OKRs system that will help you guide your business in the right direction. An objectives and key results (OKR) system will allow you to meet your individual objectives, help you share your goal setting system with the rest of your team members, and make it easier for everyone within your entire organization to work in sync towards a common goal. If you have yet to establish an OKR framework, it can be a great idea to start now.
• Communication tools like Slack that can help you get in contact with your team quickly and easily.
• Cloud-based storage spaces like Dropbox and Google Drive where you can share and store important files.
• Accounting software like QuickBooks to help you oversee your finances.

These are just a few suggestions that can be a great place for you to start if you’re looking to ensure that business operations run smoothly.

Once you have a solid plan for moving forward and you have everything prepared, you are ready to launch! Use the three tips above to figure out everything you will need to get your business started so that you can hit the ground running.