Getting your start-up business off the ground is an exciting time – but it can be a stressful one, too. There is so much to consider and so many factors you need to take into account that things can easily start to feel a little overwhelming.
Let us help by breaking down the process into five simple steps to follow when opening your start-up venture.
Table of Contents
Create a Website
So, by this stage, your market research is done and dusted, your business plan is pristine, you’ve opened a business bank account, and you’ve secured the funding you need to get the show on the road. Great!
The next step is to build a website or pay to get one built for you. Your website is the portal via which many (if not all) of your potential customers will first encounter your business, so it’s vital that it is professional, functional, easily navigable, and is a first-class reflection of your enterprise and its overarching ethics.
There are a plethora of affordable website builders available that will allow you to create a fully customized, professional site – many also feature eCommerce tools so that you can easily transact sales online.
Make the Most of Project Management Software
Incorporating high-quality project management software into your businesses’ structure and processes could be one of the best things that you do during the start-up phase. This tool is a powerful ally in getting your systems organized, cross-business, and up-leveling everything from communication to the efficacy of the sales pipeline. Getting it in place early means that you’ll hit the ground running and won’t need to overhaul your processes further down the line to introduce this software into your enterprise.
Have a look here for the best project management software to organize your team and to see a range of the options available, including the prices you can expect to pay for each type of package. As well as promoting better team workflow, the right project management software will also enable you to effectively plan and manage every element of a project from start to finish by, for example, keeping track of tasks, budget, and identifying log-jams in the process.
Sort Out Your Accounting Processes
Getting a quality system in place for your businesses’ financial and accounting affairs is vital. This will not only enable processes to run more smoothly, but it will also mean that your company will stay on the right side of compliance, and you’ll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you’re not going to be hit with an unexpected tax bill or fine.
Depending on the nature of your business and your preferences, you may choose to incorporate accountancy software into your company, to create accountancy roles in your business structure, or to outsource this side of things to a professional accountant.
Create Marketing Magic
Now that you’ve got your website set up and the systems in place, your business will need to thrive and grow; it’s time to think about marketing. You have several options here, depending on your budget.
Using social media platforms is an effective and cost-effective way to promote your business and drive traffic to your website. To best achieve this, keep these platforms updated regularly with fresh content, information, and promotions. You could also use pay-per-click ads, which are a great way to precision target your advertising, and tend to produce impressive results for the cost you’ll pay for them.
You may find that a content campaign is a good method to market your business or that you’d also like to go down the traditional route of tv, radio, or newspaper advertising to get your message across. The important thing with all of these approaches is to ensure that their results are measurable so that you can quickly see which types of campaigns have worked for your business and which have not been so successful.
Get Ready to Grow!
This may seem premature, but having a plan in place regarding how you will handle the growth and development of your business as it leaves the start-up phase is important to ensure that you both maximize the potential for an increase in sales and avoid overly rapid growth that could put your businesses’ finances under too much strain,
If the next stage of your business plan is to open in a physical retail outlet, then begin exploring in good time the grants or funding that may be available that could assist you with this or identifying the best mortgage rate you could expect to be offered on business premises. When you’re choosing suppliers, whether that’s for your comms or your office furniture, always keep scalability in mind: do these vendors have the capacity to grow and adapt to the changing needs of your business?
While, of course, contingency planning is crucial, just as important is its opposite number, growth planning! So take the opportunity to congratulate yourself on getting your start-up to fly, and then take some time to map out and plan for its future trajectory.
