You have decided to do it! You have a great product or service and you want to be your own boss. You are starting a business.
Here are 5 things you must do to be successful.
- Cash management. You can make a profit and still go out of business for lack of cash. Plan ahead. What inventory will you need to buy? How much do you need to have on hand? How will you collect payment from customers? How long will it take to pay you? Have a loan payment? Will the things you need (like gas) go up and down? Can you handle it when they go up? These are all things you need to be aware of, things you need to understand, and know how you will handle them. If an important customer pays late, you should be able to continue doing business. If your fuel costs twice as much, you have to handle the increase.
- Keep planning. Once you have a plan, don’t put it away and forget it. Check it out, see if it’s working. Check it. If you were planning to get paid in 45 days and your customers are delaying 60 days, make adjustments to make sure you have enough cash to cover your costs or, if necessary, establish a line of credit. Follow-up is part of planning, and planning should be a long-term effort. The economy changes. Markets change. Prices go up and down. Following up on a regular basis will set you up for success even when you’re working in a changing business world.
- Understand your margins. This is what creates your bottom line. Did you cut such a low price to get a great job that it really isn’t profitable? It’s one of your services or product lines that drags down your bottom line. Sometimes eliminating losers makes you a winner. You can bring less, but earn more if you focus on your successes. For example, a small local fast food restaurant may find its location next to a high school prosperous, but its location in another part of town does not always break even. It’s time for a menu change, or a move.
- Be an online listener. It’s a wired and wireless world, and what your customers have to say about you can help you succeed or reduce your sales. Google alerts are free and a good tool to hear what people are saying about you on social media or review sites. Are they excited about how good you are or are they complaining about your lack of service? If you can, respond to any complaint and try to correct it.
- Be safe. You have a lot to lose: your financial records, personal information about your customers and employees, your future plans, wouldn’t your competitors love to know? Secure your Internet network. Set rules for employees to take their work home on an unsecured laptop or tablet. Make sure all your confidential documents are kept safe and shredded when you are done with them. Remember, data remains on a hard drive unless you destroy it. If you disclose confidential information, the result can be drastic enough to close your doors.
Plan to Succeed! Take care of your margins. Know if your business plan needs to be reviewed. Consider hiring an on-site shredding company. They will give you lockable containers so that confidential documents are safe even when placed in the “trash”. They will destroy these documents, and the hard drives of the computers you no longer use, right before your eyes. Protecting information is protecting your business!