Starting a business is a great way to live the life you want to live. It gives you the flexibility and the freedom to work the hours you want, earn the money you want to make, and possibly allows you to strike the better balance between work and home life. But let’s be honest here, it is never going to be the easy option. Running a business takes time, patience and dedication, and so there are things you might be doing or avoiding altogether that could be detrimental to your business success. I thought I would share with you what some of them are.
Not having a decent website
So much is done online these days, isn’t it? You only have to consider your own actions to see what you do each day to notice that you spend a good chunk of your time looking online and using websites. So your own business website needs to stand out from the crowd. It needs to be good enough to entice people in, be informative enough without being overbearing, and be responsive enough for people not to feel bored in waiting. Creating the right website can be paramount to your business success, so ensure you spend time necessary in creating the right website for your business.
Forgetting the whole brand message
Do you have a brand message that you want to portray? Perhaps the whole look is paramount to your business future, and so you want to ensure that you get things right. Then this is why the brand message is important, and you need to spend the time curating it and ensuring that the logo, the colours, the message is right for you and your business.
Not being visible online
It is all well and good having a great website and a decent brand, but it is not voidable online, then who is going to see it? Of course, being visible is not literal, you may type your website address in or name in to Google and up it comes. But if someone was searching a more generic search term where your website would be ideal, if they did that, would they get your website? Possibly not unless you have investing time and effort into search engine optimisation. Thankfully, you can find out more about sea and how an agency can help by going online and making some enquiries.
Making a mess of your social media strategy
Social media is also an important aspect of your business, and so you may want to take the time to ensure that you do all you can to move that along. So not having the right strategy in place in terms of what you post, when you post and how you do it could mean that you are missing a trick in terms of advertising. Spend time considering what you should be sharing.
Do you have a future goal?
What does the future hold for your business? Have you ever considered that for a moment? It is all well and good focusing on the here and now and taking it each day, but you also need a plan for the future. You need to think about where your business is heading. Do you want to expand the range? Do you want to make sure that you can sell your business in the future or add to it in some way? Knowing what your goal is can help you during the day to day as well.
Avoiding the issue with cash flow
Cash flow is another issue that small businesses can fail at if they don’t keep an eye on it. It has much to do with trade to trade dealings when you have to wait for invoices to be paid. But you also need to ensure that these things are in line with forecasts and projections that your business makes.
Losing the passion and motivation
Finally, running a business is not easy. If it was, wouldn’t everyone be doing it? You need to ensure that the business you have is something that you feel passionate and knowledgeable about. This can then help you to stay motivated especially during the tough times, in which I am sure, there will be many. There is always so much to think about, so outsourcing can really help you stay on track. Allowing you to keep up with the passion as you can focus your time and energy where it matters the most.
I hope that these tips help you to avoid some of the common business failings.
