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5 Top Tips for New Business Owners

We work with a lot of new business owners or entrepreneurs who are newer to business and because we have been in business for quite a while now (nearly 11 years at the time of writing this post), we get asked a lot of questions and for advice, not just on websites and membership site but on setting up and running a business in general. So here are some of our tips:

1.     Get an accountant right from the start.

Taxes, legalities around setting up a business, financial processes are all things you really want to get right, right from the start. If you set yourself up correctly from the beginning, then things will run more smoothly and will save you a lot of questions and potential headaches down the line. They will probably also suggest things to make your life easier that you would never have thought of or known about.

2.     Focus on what you are good at.

It’s very tempting when you start out in business to try and do everything yourself, but this isn’t always the best idea. If you are trying to create your own branding or web design, it probably isn’t going to look as professional as it should to positively reflect your business. Also, it will probably take you much longer than it really should and you could have been spending that time earning money!

3.     Understand your ideal client and where to find them.

To be really effective in business you need to understand who you want to work with or for, what it is that they need from you and where you should be marketing to attract them. This sounds simple but not enough people really consider this. A lot of people go into business with an idea they think is great, they haven’t really thought about who would part with money for this idea and how to get the idea out there. There seems to be this view from a lot of entrepreneurs that if you come up with an idea, set up a Facebook page or group, invite all your friends to like it or join it, then sales will come. That’s not really the case, so getting some guidance around identifying your ideal client and marketing is a very good idea.

4.     Invest in yourself and your new business.

You may be starting to realise that you don’t know everything you need to. So be prepared to spend some time and money on some training and also on experts to take on some work for you. We’ve all heard the term you have to spend money to make money but it really is true. The most successful business owners and entrepreneurs haven’t been scared to part with some cash because they are determined to work on their business to ensure that they make that money back and much more. Mindset is really key when it comes to this side of business and it may be that you need to invest some time into working on that too.

5.     Network and collaborate.

Reaching out to others is absolutely key if you are a business owner. You should network in circles where your ideal clients hang out so that people get to know you. You should network with other business owners because they get it and it’s nice to mix with like minded people. Also, when someone mentions to them they need someone who does what you do, then because they know how important support and word of mouth are in business, they will mention you.

Also, network with people who do what you do. Don’t see them as your competition. You can learn from those who have been around longer, they may even pass work your way when they are too busy to take a job on or ask you to collaborate with them on it. Collaboration is an amazing way of getting yourself out there to more people. Perhaps there is an opportunity to collaborate with other businesses that complement yours, to put a package of products or services together, or maybe an event. This can be a fantastic way to increase your brand awareness.

We practice what we preach

These are some overarching top tips for new business owners and can be applied to business across many sectors. We also really do practice what we preach. We got an accountant straight away. We get others involved when we want to do something that falls outside of our area of expertise. We have spent a lot of time working on our ideal client over the years and we continue to tweak and change it from time to time depending on the different offers that we put out there.

We used to hate spending money, especially in the early days when it really felt like it ate into our small income but now we barely clock it and having this change in mindset has really seen our business grow. We love networking and collaborating. We really are friends with other web designers in our area, we love getting to know other business owners and we love to collaborate, from guest blogging to running joint events.

Our own collaboration for new business owners

We are actually working on a collaboration at the moment, the idea for which came from the same starting point as this blog post, all those new business owners asking us for advice. We aren’t qualified to give advice and guidance on all areas of business and we thought if there is a need for all of these questions to be answered, we would put on an event where people could get all the answers in one place. So, we have collaborated with seven other business owners to create this event: Your New Business Roadmap – An action focused online training event for female business owners. We will be running it in May and you can find out more information here.

We will also be running weekly Clubhouse rooms on Wednesday afternoons with our amazing collaborators, giving some fab tips. So make sure you are following us on Clubhouse (@judewharton and @cdwharton) and come and join us.

New business owners Clubhouse room every Wednesday 1.30pm
Start Smart Clubhouse Room every Wednesday at 1.30pm for new business owners.

Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash

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