Valuable advice is hard to come by, whether it’s personal or business-related. My grandmother was the first person to give me valuable advice about business, just before I launched my very own. If you’re wondering what that advice was or how exactly my dear ‘ole grandma was even qualified to share it with me, read on…
If you’re thinking of launching a business but have no idea where to start then congrats, you’re officially an entrepreneur! There are a thousand and one things to consider before you even get to start your adventure. First and foremost, you have to be sure you’re doing everything in the most calculated way possible. This way you’ll be able to better ensure that your first few months are (hopefully!) a success.
Read on for several pieces of valuable advice that my beloved grandmother shared with me. Pssst… she graduated at the top of her class from USC’s Marshall School of Business at the age of 47 (in 1981). I’d say she’s qualified to share some valuable advice!
Valuable Advice To Remember
When Launching Your Startup
Make Sure You Have A Clear Vision
One of the first things you need to do is to make sure that you have a clear vision of your business and the purpose it serves. Fortunately, no one expects you to know every single detail of your operation at first. But you do need to be sure you know exactly what your business is going to do and who your target audience is?
I’m not going to lie, pinpointing your target audience can seem almost impossible when you’re just getting started. Yes, you are expected to create customer ‘avatars’ to help you figure out who your very specifically targeted audience is going to be.
Customer avatars are like bios for ‘customers’ who don’t actually exist yet. Think of it this way; we’ve already established that you know what your business does and who it serves before you even open your physical or e-commerce ‘doors’. Just create a bio about who you imagine that person to be!
You know your business better than anyone right? When creating your avatar, just think about the type of person who would love what your product or service is, then it’s all about character development!
Create a Business Plan
Once you know what your business does and who it serves, you should make sure to add that info to your business plan. Of course, you’ll need to go ahead and create a business plan first!
In business, there’s a pretty standard set of information that everyone shares in their official plan. Creating a business plan takes a lot of thought and dedication since this document is going to serve as your guide, at least throughout the first few years of your operation.
Some people will use their plan as a place to map out each of the goals they want to achieve during their first, or third year in business. Others use their business plan to help attract funding from potential investors. No matter how you plan to use your business plan, it’s always a good idea to pour every thought you have in your head now. Besides, you can always edit stuff out later on, if need be. For a guide to putting together a business plan, you can visit this site here.
Outsource Stuff You’re Not the Best At
Even someone who identifies themselves as a “Jack-of-all-trades” has strengths in some things and weaknesses in others. So, if you already know that there are certain tasks in your business that you just can’t do, the option to outsource those tasks would be a great choice.
It would also be the smartest choice! A lot of business owners will try and do things they know they can’t do or do well, themselves. Outsourcing tasks on a global scale has never been easier and more cost-effective than it is today.
Investing in one person or an entire team of people has always been about one’s ability to use their skills. Another great thing about outsourcing is that you can search by task, for example, logo design, and get a list of qualified designers. If you’re looking for IT services, one of the best services to upon would be lylab.net. I heard about them through a personal referral, the best kind! Start asking around… you could end up pleasantly surprised!
Never Stop Trying To Grow Your Business…
You should always be thinking about how you’re going to grow your business. Fortunately, once you make that first sale or land your first few clients, repeating your efforts tends to get easier. To really grow your business though, you need to make looking for new business, part of your daily work routine.
Growing your business means marketing yourself within the specific area or niche that your business falls under. And, of course, there’s no shortage of ways to market yourself these days! As you’re starting out, you may want to leverage as many of these strategies as you can, until you find which ones work best for you.
Get your business’ name out there with these marketing strategies:
- Share the story of your business on social media. How did you come up with the idea for what your business does, how it serves its customers?
- Create a hashtag solely for the purpose of getting your business out there. This is a totally NEW and different hashtag than the main one you’ll have for your business on social media.
- Whether your business is a brick & mortar shop that your customers can physically visit or a website just on e-commerce Use your blog to discuss your work, tackle new topics, and discuss your business.
- Reply to comments on your blog. Some of the people who comment may turn into clients.
- Do some “social mingling” in Facebook Groups or LinkedIn and network with other writers and potential clients.
- Find influencers in your niche and reach out to them. Perhaps you could ask them to help you with a marketing campaign?
- Ask clients to write a testimonial that you can share specifically throughout your marketing efforts, to promote your new business and any potential new clients.
- Attend a Networking event. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to grow your business!
Make Sure To Give Yourself Extra Self-Care
Finally, although it may be tempting to rush ahead with as many different things as you can, it’s important to take things slow. There’s going to be lots of excitement and even more missed sleep during the first few months you’re in business.
So it’s going to be more important than ever to make sure you’re giving yourself even more time for self-care than usual. Some ideas are taking a weekend once a month, to get out of town! Depending on where you are in the world this could mean taking a road trip to visit friends/family in another state, province, or even a nearby country that’s not too hard to visit (hello Europe!).
Another always great idea is a stay-cation at home. Unplug from the Internet, smartphone, TV… only music is allowed. Then book a massage with someone who can come to your house!
So, do you think you know which piece of advice came from my grandmother? If you guessed “all of the above”, then you’re correct! Although the marketing strategies for Growing Your Business came from me… she did not know what a hashtag was but did love a good massage.
Jessica Rose Adams
Here’s my grandma, Sally Jean Adams, at the party honoring her graduation from USC’s Marshall School of Business in 1981. She accomplished a lot with that degree and inspired her first-born grandchild to become an entrepreneur! For that and many other things, I am so appreciative.
RIP grandma, love you always 🙂
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