It’s no surprise that in the past decade, entrepreneurship has become a more popular career choice. The number of entrepreneurs per 1,000 people is on the rise and according to Forbes, there are now 27 million small businesses in America alone. One of the most common misconceptions about entrepreneurship is that it’s easy—or something anyone can do with little training or experience. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, for every successful entrepreneur, there are many more who have failed miserably because they didn’t know what they were doing or lacked an understanding of business fundamentals such as market research and sales projections.
In order to succeed as an entrepreneur, you need to understand how to identify your strengths so that you can use them appropriately. It’s important to have a clear vision, defined goals, and other aspects of your business planned out; like financials, marketing & client acquisition, growth plan, S.W.O.T Analysis, the hiring processes, and protection of your assets, just to name a few. Without a clear vision of how your business functions and what experience your business is providing your customers, you’re aiming for failure.
You may find yourself with a clear vision and plan, but without a focused mindset or without having proper organization methods in place. You may find yourself struggling or failing when it’s not necessary. It’s important to have a calendar, physical or virtual to keep track of important dates, a CRM or a document/notebook to keep track of your leads and clients, accounting software or book keeping a spreadsheet to track income, expenses, and ROI, or an outlined plan that you intend to execute for growth. Your finances can without a doubt, make or break your business. With your growth, it’s important to accrue capital, to prepare for growth, mistakes, or additional expenses. In addition, your growing business may have a lot of cash flow, incoming and outgoing transactions that make the books hard to keep track of. It’s important to know your expenses and profits, as it may seem great at first, invoices are getting paid, but after reviewing your expenses, you may come to find out you’re actually losing money each month!
Without a clear marketing strategy, understanding your clients’ journey, and efficient marketing execution, you may never be able to grow your business. With a very organized business that has a clear vision, you can produce a great product or service. But if no one can find you or your business, none of that matters. It’s important to include marketing in your budget, and connect with the appropriate people or businesses to aid you in your marketing efforts. It’s important to delegate some of the work to other team members or businesses. You can’t and don’t have to do everything yourself. In addition, you have to make sure you utilize the right people or companies for the task at hand. You may burn out your employees, or waste money by hiring an employee or a company that isn’t qualified to assist you and your business.
Most new business owners and entrepreneurs underestimate the time it takes to start seeing results in their business. Too often business owners expect to be set for life after their first few clients. Growing a business can take a lot of capital, and it’s important to plan financially to not only see a return but invest your profits back into your business.
For a successful business, it is imperative to focus on your company’s vision. The clearer you are about what you want and the more time you dedicate to staying organized and delegating tasks appropriately, the better off your business will be in terms of productivity and efficiency. If there are other areas where you feel like things have slipped through the cracks or could use some improvement, don’t wait around! No one has all of this figured out perfectly–don’t let perfectionism prevent growth from happening. Take action today by making sure these changes are reflected in your marketing plan so that customers know who they’re buying from.
It’s important to stay focused on your goals and work with a business coach or consultant who can help you create an action plan. Your life will be easier if you delegate tasks that other people are qualified for – this way they’re not overworking themselves while you sit back in the driver seat. Finally, don’t expect overnight success when it comes to starting your own business venture; most entrepreneurs take years before seeing any kind of return on their investment. If none of these points resonate with you- then fear not! We have plenty more free marketing advice waiting just around the corner. Give us a shout anytime we want to chat about how we can help make sure your company is set up for success from day one!
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Business Growth Strategist, Clarity Expert, Retired Stockbroker, Speaker, Pitch Judge, VC, Stock Investor, Board Member, Owner of Bold Vision, Co-Founder of Investing Education Academy (IEA), Start-up Consultant, member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.
