When starting your own business, it can sometimes feel as if the odds are stacked against you. It is important to stay proactive if you want to get anywhere with your business, whether you are selling a product, offering a service or providing some other level assistance to your client base. Taking a step back, when starting a business, is not what you want to do in order to get anywhere. You need to tackle things head on. One major ‘goal’ you should hope to achieve is to solidify the nature and the value of your business in the eyes of your investors and your intended clientele.
So what can be done to make sure that they know you mean business and you mean to create a successful business from the get go? Read on for our 5 top tips on showing your investors your stance on getting your business off the ground.
1. Business Cards
You’re chatting with a mutual acquaintance when she suddenly happens to mention that she is in need of a service very similar to that which you provide with your new business. At this point, what do you do? Do you give her your number, your email address or have her write down the URL of your company website? Or do you hand her a small, helpful business card complete with your logo and all the relevant information on there in one place?
Business cards are a great way of getting word out about your business and they make handy cue cards for when you are out and about. There are a number of companies online who provide 100 business cards or more for a discounted price and you can use a pre-set design and background or create your own. Be creative, you want your business to stand out!
2. Metal Nameplates
In your office or base of operations, it is important that visitors are aware of where to go and who to address. Having inscribed metal nameplates with the names and professions of your colleagues will really help when setting up client meetings and in making a good impression. This is obviously more common in certain business sectors, such as with Doctors and Dentists practices, however, having a set of metal nameplates depicting who works with you in your office is a great way of showing people that you are invested in making the business work.
3. A Trademark
Do you have a company logo or image that represents your business as a whole? Do you have a certain phrase, a killer phrase not thought of by anyone else before and you want to use it in your tagline? Checking through trademarks and copyrights is a good way of making sure that you can market that term for use in your industry. If you purchase the trademark or copyright of a certain particular image or phrase, this also means that you hold sole ownership of that phrase or image, which prevents any of your competitors from using it.
Smart examples of a copyright is a brand name, a funny business pun or a logo that accurately represents your business in a clear and creative way. However, it is important that you will not be able to copyright certain well-known phrases (Such as “good as gold”) or single words. There needs to be a line drawn somewhere with copyrighted materials!
4. Established Health and Safety Procedures
You might have a small office of just a few employees, or you are starting off big with a larger branch. Either way, once you have gotten your employees, you now need to have the relevant health and safety measures put in place. This is to cover your own assets and to assure the safety of your employees should anything go wrong. Relevant and established health and safety procedures mark a precedent in case anything happens and should always be put in place in order to ensure workplace efficiency and security. If you don’t have proper health and safety procedures, in the event of an accident or injury, you could be facing a hefty lawsuit, so be careful.
5. An Accountant
You might feel that you have the skills and the know-how to be able to properly manage your accounts on top of sorting everything else out. Stop right now. Put the book down. A professional accountant will often provide more than simple bookkeeping services. If you choose the right accountant, they should have experienced assisting similar clients with businesses that share the same theme as yours. In addition to managing finances, they may be able to provide an insight into the market you might have not otherwise seen.
They can also offer professional advice, money saving techniques and investment advice where necessary, and they take a load of stress off of you as the business owner. As a way of reducing the stress and workload for you, an accountant is highly recommended and often well worth the money.
At the end of the day, the success of a business is dependent on two main things; the demand for your product or service in the current market and your willingness and drive to make your business work. Unfortunately, we do not have very much power over the first aspect of business success, but the second one is all you. If you are not willing to put the effort, the man hours or the money into making absolutely certain that your business survives and becomes a success, chances are it won’t make it very far off the ground.
Running your own successful business is a stressful process and it will take a lot of work to keep it going initially. You need to have that drive to succeed. Good luck!
Article provided by Mike James, an independent content writer working together with Sussex based label manufacturer Southern United, who were consulted over this post.