Savvy Articles

Business Start-ups for Savvy Singles
 

Starting a new business is many things. It is exciting, daunting, scary, expensive, fraught with danger, and potentially one of the most satisfying things you can do if it all goes well. Over the next few months I have been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to write some articles which will hopefully be of benefit to many of you.

I would like to make this a two-way street, so in future editions I will devote some of the article to answering the questions that you send in. I will answer them in order of volume received. You will if preferred, remain anonymous (initials only)

Please note that the information given will be of a general nature, and will never seek to replace the advice you will need from accountants, solicitors, taxation officials, ASIC, bankers, planners and the like. I will try to give you enough information for you to realise that you may need assistance, and to put you on the correct path to asking the correct questions of the correct people.

Business start-ups for singles, couples or groups all have similar issues and have several major dangers. I will touch only briefly on these in these articles. If something hits a nerve, give it some research. There are volumes written about each of these areas, and many areas which I have only glossed over here or not included at all.

Six Dangers for Start-Ups :

1. Marketing to anyone, no focus. Find your own special market. Do not market to everyone, find the market that you can look after. Brand yourself as the one for them. Identify them, approach them, you are the best for them, and remember the Take 5 rule
2. No plan, no clear direction. Have a one page plan, and keep it on your desk to use as your guide. If you don’t have a business plan, get one. There are many examples and templates for plans that you can use. If you have a plan and don’t use it, find it and start using it. Summarise your plan into point form on one page.
3. Marketing is scary, worry about rejection, stay at home. The Take 5 rule for marketing. Remember that your new market does not know you, be gentle. Assume 5 touches when approaching your market and plan for this. Don’t be disheartened when you promote and get little result. Work out your 5 steps to getting the sale. It takes time and patience to succeed.
4. No idea what is working, not measuring, not learning. Measure as a habit. Have targets and establish a routine of measuring them. Your results should be checked at least monthly. Measure your marketing, your sales, your delivery, what your customers think of you, your follow up and of course the dollars. Learn what gives you the results and what doesn’t.
5. No time discipline. Be time aware. Create a pattern that works for you. Set you daily start and finish times and stick to them. This will make you productive. Focus on time chunks, say 1 or 2 hours for any task and stick to this. Be careful of email time, force it to a set time slot each day.
6. Isolated, “I don’t need help”. Do not do it alone. There is a vast pool of help out there for you. Take advantage of it. Join network groups, ask for help from support groups, government agencies or others in business. You will learn and succeed much faster.

If possible, get as much of this set up done before you try to fly alone.

Written by Alan Jones
Active Assist
0421 175 849
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Savvy Single articles are provided by the authors to Savvy Singles Pty Ltd for the use of their members. Copyright to all our articles belong to the author and permission must be obtained from them to reproduce any of these articles. Savvy Singles Pty Ltd takes no responsibility for the content and advice of any of these articles.