When you’re running a new business the first year is always the trickiest. By the start of the second year it can feel like you’re drowning, but you don’t have to jump ship. If your business has the potential to succeed there are still some things you can do.
Unfortunately, a few people will have no choice but to pack it in. Others just need to steer things in the right direction and hopefully you’re one of them. Here are a few things you should be looking at to hold you over until the good times arrive.
Focus On The Pareto Principle
Everyone in business has surely heard of the 80/20 rule by now, although it’s not implemented too often. It’s one of the first things you should focus on if you think you’ll struggle to have a successful second year.
Even if it’s been tough to reach the end of your first year in business you’ve still made it. It also means you’ll know where most of the money is coming from. Cut out everything else and focus there for now.
Guerrilla Marketing Tactics
It’s far too easy to spend lots of money on marketing when you’re growing your business. If it’s sitting around you want to spend it fast. You usually don’t know what to do when it’s gone because it’s the only tactic you’ve been using.
When you want to save a huge amount of money every month you have to focus on guerrilla marketing tactics. It means you have to find cheap or free ways to pick up customers, but what you do will depend on your particular business.
Take A Look At Your Insurance
Your building will be insured if you have a dedicated office or workshop. If you have vehicles they’ll be insured too. You could have a lot of different insurance policies you didn’t think about too much last year.
It’s easy to brush boring things like insurance off when you’re in the honeymoon phase of a new business, but it’s time to come back to reality. Call all of them up and try to work out a much better deal.
Follow Standard Operating Procedures
One of the reasons you don’t make enough money at the moment is due to the time you waste every week. It’s okay in the first year, but it shouldn’t be happening once you’ve got processes in place. You’ll definitely have them after 12 months.
If you write standard operating procedures for every task you do on a regular basis it will save so much time, especially if various people are carrying out the work. It won’t take you long to figure out more time equals more money.
Start Using Co-Working Spaces
In the first year it feels amazing to finally have your own office. You’ve made it, which makes you a winner. Then you open up the books and see how much money it’s costing you to keep the office afloat.
Co-working spaces are becoming absolutely huge at the moment, and it’s almost guaranteed you’ll be able to use them unless you run a special kind of business. You can even rent cheap team offices inside them.
You Can Be One Of The Few
Congratulations, you’re still here even if it’s just by the skin of your teeth. Make sure you don’t disappear by ignoring everything we’ve talked about today, because if you dismiss them it might happen.
Lots of businesses fail because the owners don’t actually know how to grow a business properly. If you’re making money there is no reason why you can’t turn your business into a success one day.
from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/twitter-epicninjadaboss/5-tips-for-keeping-businesses-afloat-after-a-very-tricky-first-year/
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