The Basics - Starting A Business

You've got an idea - but where to from here?

As a branding and website design company, we have seen a lot of businesses start from scratch, and can give a unique view on what works and what doesn't.

If you're reading this blog post, you're likely to be sitting on a gem of an idea that you'd like to turn into a fully fledged, income earning business. In some ways that initial idea can be both the easiest and hardest part of the journey - with something like 20% of all businesses failing within the first 2 years of launch. Below we've laid out a few basic lessons we've learnt through both our own, and our client's, experiences.

• Fail fast - this may seem like a fairly negative outlook to have when starting a business, but adopting this approach could save you alot of wasted investment if the business does fail. We will always recommend that clients look to start their venture with an "MVP" (Minimum Viable Product) version of whatever they are doing. For example, if you want to run an e-commerce store, that may involve starting the site with a limited number of products that you know have a broad market appeal. You can always add to your offering in the future, so it's important to test your business concept for the lowest investment possible and then expand from that point. If you find that you aren't making sales, then it's much easier to pull the pin on something you haven't sunk huge costs into.
• Plan early - again, this may seem obvious, but getting your processes in place early will keep things tidy as your business grows. Think about the processes that will make life easier for you. How are you going to record your finances? Should you sign up to Xero or MYOB from day one so you have easy to track financial documents. Do you need a POS or booking system? Does the software you've chosen suit you longer term as you expand? If you can try to think about where you want the business to be in 2, 3, 4 years down the track, then you'll start to make better decisions when it comes to your systems and structures from day one.
• Look professional - these days, particularly online, a one man band can look as professional as a 100 man organisation. It doesn't take a huge investment up front to look professional to your customers and clients. Getting your own domain and email account, a clean new logo, and a modern website can all be achieved for a couple of thousand of dollars.
• Know your target market - we see alot of businesses who know what they want to sell, but not who they want to sell to. Our very first step with any client is to ask them what their ideal customer looks like. Are you targeting local? Will the customer fall into a certain age demographic? The more you know about your customer, the more you can shape your offerings and advertising to that ideal customer and create a successful starting point for your business.
• Find your network of trusted professionals - when you are starting out and have limited resources, there can be a real tendency to try to everything yourself. You'll probably make your own spreadsheet of sales, maybe throw together a logo in photoshop, and run all your own advertising campaigns. For some people, this cost cutting exercise can work, but ultimately, if you aren't a specialist in any particular field, you end up with a lower quality result that's ended up taking twice as long. Any time you aren't focussed on your area of expertise in the business, can be wasted time, so give serious thought to bringing in expert help early. A good accountant or book keeper, a friendly online specialist or local business coach may cost you up front, but in the long run could lead to huge savings and more opportunity for you to focus on sales. 
• Take on feedback - hearing negative feedback from a customer, client, supplier or friend can be really tough when you are starting out. You'll have a vision and want to stick to it, but outside input can be incredibly valuable. No matter how small the advice, take it onboard, think about it, and never dismiss anything. Just as an example, on of our clients suggested our yearly invoices should come with more warning and a personal note. Within a week we'd made that adjustment, and it gave us a great opportunity to start a dialogue with clients each year that we never would have had if it hadn't been for that one bit of client feedback. The most grumpy and negative review can hold a nugget of improvement for you in those first few years.
• Good things take (some) time - while our first suggestion is to 'fail fast', it's also important to recognise that year one is definitely going to be hard going. Once you've got the first sale or client in the door, you have validated your business concept, but for the first year you will definitely be grinding. You'll have long days and weeks, where it seems like all you think about is the business, and often the sales won't reflect the energy you are putting in. On the website side of things, it can take 3-4 months for your website to register in any meaningful way in search results. Things won't happen overnight, but if you are seeing good progress and growth from month to month in that first year, take heart from that.

Starting a business is a daunting and exciting journey. For most, there will be alot of hard work and toil that goes into the early years, but if you do push through and grow your business, the long term rewards and sense of satisfaction are huge. Hopefully the above gets you on the right track in terms of a thought process and if you are in the early stages of getting started, don't hesitate to contact us for a no obligations chat. We're more than happy to talk you through specific experiences we've had with other clients in your industry, and can provide you with helpful insights that may save you a buck in the long run. We love it when our clients succeed, and there is nothing better than being there from day one.