Being able to launch your own small business is one of the best things that you can do to take control of your career future. There are a lot of things that you need to make the most of when it comes to improving this, and you need to know some of the best ways of being able to launch your own small business, and what you can do to make this better for you.
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Humility. It’s a word that new startups take seriously. Confidence is essential, but you don’t want to be cocky or arrogant. The latter, especially, is a nail in the coffin for startups. Get ahead of yourself and you’ll assume success is guaranteed.
In this industry, there is no such thing as a sure thing.
Often, entrepreneurs double down because it seems like the smart option. After all, being humble isn’t going to harm your chances of succeeding. If anything, it will increase them, right?
While not jumping the shark is vital, you must play to win to hit your targets. Below are the reasons why.
You Will Craft A Plan
A plan - a short, concise summary of how you believe you will bring a product or service to the market that customers will love. On the face of it, this written document doesn’t seem like much other than a file on your laptop or a piece of paper. However, looks are deceiving. A business plan dramatically improves your chances of succeeding as it gives you a sense of direction and negates distractions. Plus, there is always a level of accountability when you can see the goals and refer back to them.
Launching a startup without a plan is a bad move.
You, Will, Take The Correct Risks
You can’t play the game and win without taking risks. The ability to gamble is what sets the top players out of the good and mediocre ones. As well as spotting the opportunities, world-class operators understand the need to act quickly. Jeff Bezos has a 75% rule where he makes decisions based on three-quarters of the data.
On the flip side, you shouldn’t randomly shoot from the hip. The trick is to take the right risks, and a plan helps you do this by showing you the company’s strengths, weaknesses, and threats.
Improved Performance Is A Must
It’s easy to see why boosting performance isn’t a big deal for humble businesses. They don’t think they will perform, so they don’t see the point. Although this can save you money, a resource that you must have to keep the debtors off your back, it’s also short-sighted. What happens if an ad goes viral and website traffic skyrockets? Without a VPS server that scales bandwidth, the platform will crash and downtime could bring the company to its knees.
And this is only one example. Enhancing the performance of business practices is only a plus as it means you’re taking the experience to the next level.
Success Involves Reflection
Successful leaders don’t rest on their laurels. Once they have a platform, they try to build on it to become even bigger and better. Modesty only gets you so far because it doesn’t encourage you to reflect on the past and use the experiences to create a more advanced process. The incredible thing about a plan is that you can revise and update it at any time.
Planning to succeed is more than a winning mindset. It’s also understanding your failings and working to make them stronger.
If you want to enter the entrepreneurial world, but haven’t decided what to do, how about parking lots? Launching a parking lot business could be the best thing you do this year, given the growing number of cars that need places to park. For the biz to be a success, though, you’ll want to consider a few things.
Yes, you’ll need a parking lot. Location is crucial here; pick a lot that has steady traffic, so you’re sure the spaces will fill up regularly. Also, check how easy (or not) it is to drive in and out of the lot.
Ideally, you want to own a parking lot that is easily accessible and in a busy area of the city. Once you find one you like, look at its cost and whether you’d have to change anything construction-wise about it as changes can be pricey.
Congratulations on finding the premises! Next up, secure the property. Unfortunately, parking lots can be a target for vehicle break-ins. Protect your customers as best as possible with effective LEpro LED parking lot lights.
The bright illumination is sure to deter those who have crime on their minds. It will also deter strangers from dumping trash into your bins if you have any on the property. Along with lighting the lot itself, also ensure stairwells are lit up, if applicable.
Additional security options are hiring guards to patrol the area, as well as live monitoring. A security gate is also something to consider.
Never forget insurance for the site! Get full general liability coverage, as well as premises liability, in case any customer gets injured on site. This consideration is part of smart business planning.
While you might think that’ll never happen, the reality is that you just never know what is in the future, and it’s not wise to risk your assets. If they were to sue your company and you don’t have insurance, that could be a one-way ticket to bankruptcy.
Finally, determine what you will ask customers to pay to rent spaces, both for monthly and annual rates. Also, will there be hourly and day rates available?
Another consideration is whether to increase rates for evenings and on weekends. Some but not all lot owners do so.
If you’re looking for a new venture, a parking lot business could be right for you. If you’re not sure if it’s a good fit personally, why not try working for a short time as an attendant to learn more about the way the business works?
If you’re still interested, then begin the entrepreneurial journey by doing your homework to find a suitable premise. Be sure to have insurance, as earlier discussed.
Remember to advertise the lot to businesses close by, as well. Let them know you’re open and even offer a special rate for the first month to those who work in the neighborhood as a way to attract attention.
Determine reasonable pricing for customers and secure the lot properly. We are wishing you all the best with this fantastic opportunity!
It’s arguable that trust is the single biggest factor in whether your business is successful. Think about it, would you trust a business that you knew virtually nothing about, whose reputation was shady and who kept the important stuff secret with your money? Probably not, right? So you can’t expect customers to come flocking to your new business if you don’t do anything to build up trust.
The good news is there are lots of relatively simple things any entrepreneur business owner can build a trusting relationship with prospective customers. Here are a few of the simplest and most important:
Register Your Company
It should be a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many entrepreneurs launch their business before they’ve dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s. Sure, you might be raring to get started with your latest money-making idea, but you do need to get all of the legalities in place and using a company like Your Company Formations to officially register your business is a good place to start. That way, prospects who are looking for assurance that you are legit can easily find it by looking at your company up at an official source. You’ll have to do it eventually anyway, so do it at the beginning.
Be Honest
It would be near impossible for you to build trust with customers and clients if you lied to them. Honesty is the foundation of trust and that is why you need to build honesty into everything you do. If, for example, you know that you can’t realistically offer 1-day shipping, be upfront about that or if you know that it’ll take 2 weeks to turnaround a project. Don’t be tempted to say you can do it in one just to persuade a client to buy.
Sure, you might get a few more customers upfront, but when you can't deliver, they won’t come back and they’ll tell other people about your unreliability/lies and word will spread that you can’t be trusted. Obviously, things do go wrong sometimes and you may occasionally be unable to deliver, but as long as you’re honest from the start, upfront about any issues and able to compensate appropriately, you should be fine. In business, honesty really is the best policy.
Leverage Social Proof
Social proof in the form of reviews and testimonials is an excellent way to build trust in your niche. People like to feel confident in their buying choices, and if they can see that lots of other people have used your products/services and had a decent experience, they will be far more likely to become a customer themselves. That’s why you should offer any incentives you can to get customers to leave you a review.
However, you should bear in mind the above point about honesty and avoid buying fake reviews because not only is it dishonest, but it’s far easier to spot than you might think. Not only that, but you should also let unflattering reviews stand -you can add your piece rebutting any remarks you think are unfair but don’t delete them. When all customers can see is row after row of 5-star reviews, they are going to trust your business less, not more.
Create a Solid ‘About Us’ Page
One of the things customers initially do to scope out a new business is to check out the ‘About Us’ page on its website. If it’s a well-written page filled with lots of solid facts and information about you, your business and what you do, including any incorporation details, an address and telephone number, they are far more likely to trust in you. Sadly, many businesses use this page as another ad for them, filled with lots of sales copy, and this can be very off-putting. Build trust by really putting yourself out there.
Be Visible
Not only to build trust but to build interest in your brand is to be visible. Post content about yourself and your efforts to launch the business day to day, including lots of videos and pictures, on social media and people will be able to see for themselves that you’re genuine with everything that you do.
Make trust the foundation upon which you build your business from day one and you will not have to struggle nearly as hard as others in your niche to build up a strong, loyal and happy customer base. It really is that simple.
FemFounder is a one-stop shop for creative entrepreneurs and small business owners who need PR, Instagram, Pinterest, and email list building help.
