Working on a startup can be exhausting and around 50% of startups fail in the first five years.
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Here are ten tips that can help you survive and prosper if your business is fairly new.
1. Plan a Loyal Customer Base
How certain are you about your existing customer base? It is very important to answer that question in order to be successful. Until and unless your product or service does not have a strong customer base, it is utterly useless to be launched and introduced. Even if your product or service targets some specific niche, make sure there is a target customer base that exists and can grow over time.
2. Plan Ahead
Having remarkable planning skills is a prerequisite when you are starting a business. Sometimes we think we have planned enough but we really haven’t. A certain type of business plan suits a certain kind of business set up. So it is important to know which plan suits yours. Draw up a plan for at least five years down the line and make your mind up about basic things. For example, whether or not you want your startup to be international. Having a solid business plan is something that both theory and research support.
3. Keep a Track of Your Cash!
For smaller businesses that are in their nascent stage, it is absolutely essential to stash money and have capital available. Make sure you make the best use of every penny that you invest in the business and save as much as you can. This means that you keep the money in the backdrop and run operations with minimal amount. However, you also need to make sure that this conservative approach to money doesn’t become a functional problem in your everyday operations.
4. Always Remain Transparent
Transparency is linked to loyalty. It is a core value necessary to build an exceptional business. Make sure anyone and everyone involved in your company is aware of the situation the business operates in. Starting from purchases, to selling basics to devising pricing strategies, make sure everything is clear.
5. Communicate Well!
Communication is the key to successful business operations (period). Successful entrepreneurs and leaders normally know the art of good communication — hence they are successful. They maintain a great impression and break even sad news with a great deal of casualness usually in an unemotional tone.
6. Be Honest With Your Team
In order to establish a successful business in the long term, the top management of a startup must be honest with its team. They should be honest when assessing competition and seek employee recommendations when devising strategies for the business.
There is no way a company can succeed without being honest with its workforce. If you think this is something that you lack on a personal level, make sure you hire somebody who can cover for you!
7. Do Not Expect Too Much
You realize you have the basics covered; be that as it may, that expectation must be tempered with a touch of authenticity. Holding low expectations does not imply that you shouldn’t ‘plan for progress.’ Progression demands genuine effort and overcoming formidable obstacles during the course. When you reach the top from humble beginnings you become disillusioned. So be clever and keep your expectations as low as you possibly can.
8. Know Your Clients
Every business receives a specific group of clients. A business person, therefore, should focus on that respective group exclusively and keep the market alive. Chances are that your business will win massive popularity as well as revenue. Even some slight progress can urge you to stretch your business out to the important prospective clients. But if this procedure does not turn out the way you had wanted it to be, it’s not a reason to be despondent. Simply change your methodology, and learn from your mistakes.
9. Get a Bigger Company on Board
Perhaps an organization that provides similar services as yours can act as a stepping stone to help your startup grow. For instance, if your company sells an exercise bicycle, a shop that sells a similar product can join forces with you to maximize the profit. This may not appear very lucrative in the beginning, but with the passage of time one begins to view its countless benefits.
10. Have Motivated Employees
As a startup, it is rather unlikely that you will have a lot of employees. Nevertheless, it is important to keep the existing employees happy and content. This can be done through various ways. Maybe consider using a system like the Performance Appraisal System or even something as basic as an honorary mention! Make sure your people are motivated because motivated employees allow an organization to achieve higher levels of output!
Featured image source: Freepik
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