Starting a business today becomes extremely common. With over half a billion entrepreneurs operating their ventures, the explanation for such a rapid rise is simple – people are getting tired of bosses and want to manage themselves on their own. Yet, while starting a business might be relatively simple, as even teenagers do it regularly, maintaining it is much harder. Only about half of all startups make it to their fifth year, and only around 30% make it through their tenth anniversary. Some of the ingredients of a successful business that makes it past the mentioned marks and further are its mobility and constant advancement and growth. So, let’s discuss how you can keep your venture in shape and ensure that it always stays dynamic.
It’s All About Moving Somewhere
There are lots of sayings and proverbs about going further and not stopping, yet, their main idea is that whenever you stop, you inevitably start moving backward. That’s exactly what you can say about the business today. When you start, there’s no turning point and you simply can’t just stop developing. You should constantly revise your core idea and values, expand the team, expand geographically, and so on. Here are just a few ideas for you to think about to keep your business fit and dynamic.
1. Work with an idea. As you start, consider doing your business for the sake of an idea bigger than just making money, like building a sustainable community or even just delivering the tastiest coffee in their lives to people. Ensure this mission is stuck deeply in your head. This will keep you running even when you start to make a really big buck.
2. Keep an eye on your cash flow. While money should not be the main idea of you doing business, if you’re not planning to start a non-profit organization, making enough cash will be vital for you. Hire an accountant or manage your finances yourself, in either case, it should be done professionally.
3. Expand your online presence. Create a website and at least one social media page where you’ll post and update your customers regularly. It’s a low-cost solution, yet, it works very well.
4. Internationalize. Especially if you’re seriously considering or already done the online expansion. Browse through the web to choose a professional translation service and translate all your digital content. This way, the internationalization will go smoothly, and you won’t need to physically open a business in another country just yet.
5. Develop a strong marketing campaign. Marketing is not all about the advertisement, it’s about making people see you. You don’t have to do anything crazy really but make sure people know about your and, most importantly, your mission. Participate in charitable events and support other businesses like yours. That’ll certainly do it.
6. Localize. as you move forward internationally with your online presence and awesome marketing campaign, you have to make sure it’s relatable to your target audience. That’s what localization does essentially. Yet, you should consider hiring a foreign language transcription expert for such a job. Professional business translation services will certainly know how your message can be communicated in their country most efficiently.
7. Efficient logistics. The infrastructure of your business is, perhaps, one of the most important things you can think about. Make sure the routes are built the way to get your supplies delivered in the shortest and safest amount of time and hire only the trusted logistic agencies.
8. Keep an eye on formalities. Taxes, documents, employment regulations, and many other things that might cause you serious trouble if left unattended, should be controlled at all times. Again, you can hire someone to do this for you, yet, you should still control this person as such matters are absolutely serious and no errors are tolerated.
9. Outsource. We’ve been talking a lot about working with professionals while attending to your business growth and development needs, yet, we didn’t mention that the best way to hire staff for such needs is to hire freelancers. While they might not always be reliable, in most cases, they do their job well, don’t charge much, and you don’t have to pay the salary on the regular basis.
10. Listen to your customers. Nobody can suggest better improvements than them. Whatever review your customer provides, make sure to listen to it carefully, and consider it thoroughly. Maybe, the new groundbreaking idea is just around the corner, yet, you might not see it just because you’re not paying enough attention.
Movement Is the Key of Life
Only by going somewhere and understanding where you’re going, you can keep yourself alive. Just imagine the following situation. You’ve done very well with all the documents and you’ve even got your first customers and made a couple of thousands of dollars. But you don’t think about attracting more customers, expanding your team, or going abroad. There might not be more customers to serve or sell to. Or there might be too many customers for your small team to handle. Without a clear understanding that your business needs to get bigger with time, something will eventually go wrong. So, think about where you’re going and make sure that it’s the forward direction.
BIO:
Henry McDowell’s blogs started as small educational tips for students and those who seek work. Fast forward a few years in the future, and Henry is one of the most respectable authors and educators in business, travel, education, and modern lifestyle. With his passion for constantly learning and sharing his experience with others, Henry can proudly say that he does good things.
