Insanely Clever Marketing

Ready. Set. Go. Startups are remarkably complex things that a lot of people don’t take seriously. For some, the idea of starting a small business is easy. How hard can it be?

You just come up with an idea, get some money, and then everything falls into place. You’ll be surprised at how many people are delusional and think a business can be started overnight.

There’s a lot of preparation involved, and many things that can block your path to success.

Consequently, there are many entrepreneurs with ready-set-go startup ideas that sound good but never quite hit it off. They open for business, and within a few months, they realise problems are occurring and the company isn’t going to make it.

 

 

This is incredibly frustrating and highly upsetting at the same time. It’s like an athlete spending years training for the Olympics, only to run into the first hurdle during their race and finish last.

All that effort, all those sacrifices, gone before they even get a chance to show what they’re worth.

 

Ready, Set, Go!

When you’ve gone through the effort of making a business idea into reality, it can be even more damaging when you fall at the first hurdle.

There are loads of financial complications that can happen, and it could ruin your life. Keeping that in mind, it’s hugely important, you learn how to avoid this catastrophe. This brings us onto the main topic today as I will provide some advice and tips on how to ensure your business doesn’t fail after a few months.

You may be shocked to see how simple some of these tips are, but they’ll all help you out.

 

Explore Multiple Finance Options

The financial side of a business is usually where most issues occur. Right off the bat, you have the huge conundrum of financing a business. Unbeknownst to some, there are multiple finance options out there for entrepreneurs.

The mistake a lot of people make is they go for the ‘classic’ option of getting a business loan. By no means is this a bad choice, but it all depends on the type of business loan you get. You see, there are two options:

 

• Secured: You get a loan but have capital secured against it such as your family home or business.

 

• Unsecured: You get a loan without anything secured against it.

 

People often opt for the first option as they can get more money, but this can lead to complications. With a secured loan, you’re under pressure to pay it off quickly or your assets can be seised.

Plus, you’re tempted to apply for the highest amount because it’s there for you to go for. This makes the loan harder to pay, and you often end up in debt for a long time, which means your business is losing money.

But, if you visit unsecuredfinanceaustralia.com.au you can see that unsecured loans don’t force you to provide any capital, and they tend to be more short-term. This means you don’t have the financial burden on your shoulders for too long, which can ease pressure and help your business get out of debt quickly.

 

 

Then, you have other finance options such as angel investors or crowdfunding. In truth, these are probably the best options at your disposal.

An investor can give you as much money you need for a stake in your company. The problem is, it can be hard to find investors. But, you never know if you don’t try. The same goes for crowdfunding, it can be hard to find lots of people interested in your business and willing to donate money.

But, if you do, you can finance your business without giving away any shares or be in debt.

 

My point is, make sure you consider all the options available to you instead of jumping onboard with a dodgy secured business loan.

Secure the best financing possible, and your business will be in a much better position with less to worry about on the financial side.

Debt won’t be a big issue, and you can stop owing money and start making it.

 

Be Flexible With Your Start Date

I find that eagerness and impatience are an entrepreneur’s worst enemy. It’s natural to want to get your business out there as quick as possible. Sitting around doing research and spending ages finalising things can be so frustrating.

After a while, you just want to set a date and say yes, this is when we’re opening, this is when our business officially begins operating.

 

The problem with this is it puts time constraints on your startup. You begin rushing and doing things quickly to try and reach that date with everything completed. This is never a good idea as the moment you rush, things can quickly get missed or done to a low standard.

Instead, smart entrepreneurs will be flexible with their start date until everything is sorted out. Even if this means you buy an office or retail space and it’s a good year until you open.

It doesn’t matter, it makes sense to open when everything is sorted rather than rushing and forgetting things.

 

There are two key things you need to have absolutely sorted before you consider opening:

Market Research

This is the stage where you research the market and figure everything out about your business. You look at the consumers you’re targeting, the competition you’re up against, and pretty much everything you can think of.

Don’t open your doors and start operating until you know exactly:

 

• Who your target market is

• How you’ll reach your target market

• Who your main competitors are

• What they’re doing to reach their customers

• What they’re doing that’s not working

• How you’ll differentiate yourself from the competition

• What price you’ll sell your product/service

• What types of ideas/brand values speak to your target market

• How you’ll present your brand

• What strategies you’ll have for building your brand image

 

Until everything is checked off that list, you shouldn’t start your business. This requires endless research until you have clear answers for every question.

Budget

We’ve already spoken about financing your startup, but your budget is also very important. It’s something you need to figure out before you open your doors to the public.

In the beginning, you will take your startup money and work out all the overhead costs. This includes things like:

 

• Employee costs

• Cost of product/service

• Premises costs

 

There are other things to consider, but these are the big ones that will take out a huge chunk of your budget.

You need to work on figuring out how to balance all the costs so you can afford to pay for them all, while also factoring in the money you may bring into your business.

Your budget needs to be checked and rechecked before you start your company. Too many small business owners just wing it and don’t have a proper budget sorted out.

As a result, they fail. If you go to infoentrepreneurs.org, you will find all kinds of resources to help with budget planning and all that good stuff.

 

 

So, ensure you absolutely have these two things under control before you even think about setting a vague date for your grand opening.

 

Make A Big Deal Out Of It

This kind of merges into the point I made about research. In particular, how you’ll reach your target market. You have to make sure you reach your target market from the word go.

The best way to do this is to make a huge deal out of your business in the lead-up to when it opens. Let’s use your own experiences as an example here. How many times have you walked down your local high street or walked through town and seen a new shop or business?

You see it, do a double take, and wonder how long its been there for. This happens to me all the time, and it’s an example of companies not making a big deal out of their grand opening and just silently starting their business.

 

 

How are you going to generate hype and get people through your doors like that? It’s even worse when you don’t have proper premises, and you operate online or have an office that your target market rarely sees.

How will people know your business is starting if you don’t make a big deal out of it?

 

Ensure you put together a key marketing strategy to promote your company in the build-up to your proper launch.

If you visit entrepreneur.com, you will see some good articles with advice on building hype around your business. Hype gets people excited, and means you can almost build a customer base before you’ve even launched.

This way, you hit the ground running and don’t have a few awkward weeks or months where no money comes in, and you struggle to find customers.

 

There may only be three main points here, but there’s still a lot to take in. Try and remember all of this advice, bookmark this page and keep coming back to it as it can help you get your startup off on the right foot.

You can sail over that first hurdle, build momentum, and finish the race with a gold medal around your neck.