If you fail to plan, you plan to fail as the saying goes. The fact you’re reading this means you aren’t in the former category. Hundreds of small businesses attempt to get off the ground every year, but the failure to follow crucial steps like the ones below makes starting successfully that much harder.
- Financial assistance
How are you going to fund production, publicity, general running costs, and other overheads? There’s a variety of grants from the government you can access if you’re eligible. Another option is finance through the bank.
Australian Government Business Grants
This is the time when you sit down with your accountant or financial planner and set up a budget and financial goals. You might go over it or by some conservative measures, stay under it. Having expert help in implementing finances during the planning stages is non-negotiable.
- Business plan
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. These are some of the areas you will go over when you download a free business plan template from www.business.gov.au. Having a business plan in place is a good look to lenders and potential business partners.
- Register EVERYTHING
Your business name, website, the products you sell. Label everything. Opportunists never hesitate to ‘borrow’ or outright steal names and business models. The worst case scenario is them ripping off your services, giving your business a bad name.
- Good real estate
A lot of businesses in the 21st century have online stores, but their bricks-and-mortar shops don’t stop selling. When you grow large enough to need a physical shopfront, make sure you do your homework and shop around. Good real estate is about location, the length of the lease and how the landlord manages the property. Overhead costs like rent and utilities must be included in your budget.
- Building a presence
There are a couple of ways to go about digital marketing. You can either do it yourself or get professional help.
Lots of retail businesses, besides having their own website, have several social media pages. They can sell products, hold competitions, and engage effectively with customers this way. Customers can leave reviews and shop. But the double-edged sword is instant judgement from new visitors based on the reviews left before.
- Network
It’s habit for businesses to compete with each other but what about actually working together? Reach out to business owners and ask for advice on how to approach your chosen industry, get customers, and build a presence. People actually like mentoring and helping others, so you might be surprised about their willingness to show you the ropes
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