For many small business owners, the hardest part of starting a business is simply getting started. While we are still learning and growing, we want to share the most important tips we heard from other small business owners as we were getting started. We appreciated these tips and hope they can help other small business owners too.
1 - By far, the best advice we heard early in our journey: INVEST IN YOURSELF. When you are early in the start-up process it is natural to want to cut corners to save money. It is easy to talk yourself out of spending money when you are not making money! However, as you start out, it is actually critical to take yourself seriously and invest in yourself. If you don’t think your business is worthy of investing in, how can you expect clients to do it? Think about what image you want to portray to your potential clients. Investing in the right areas will make a huge difference for how your brand is perceived. It will also make a difference in how you perceive yourself, which goes a long way in how you present yourself. Our advice is this – don’t spend recklessly but think about what investments will make a big impact for your business. Some examples:
Well-designed logo
High quality website with professional photographs
Software and/or apps for productivity
Business tools to help manage your business
Social media strategy
Proper working space or home office
Reliable hardware
Continuing education
A few nice pieces in your wardrobe for client meetings!
2 - PLAN AHEAD. As a small business with limited resources, we find that the easiest way for us to ensure that we accomplish our tasks is to make the time to plan ahead. While it does take some discipline to make the time to plot out our activities in advance, the planning doesn’t take very long and the time it saves us is definitely worth it. For example, we typically have our social media posts planned a month ahead of time. We use a simple calendar and decide what days we will post and what kind of content the post will include. We always leave room for changes or spontaneity, but we at least have a road map of our intentions. We love how much time this very simple tip saves us and how organized we feel.
3 - And finally, this sounds cliché, but BE PATIENT. Being an entrepreneur is hard. Some days are harder than others, and often self-doubt can exacerbate how hard it feels. However, there is a reason you decided to start your own business. Whether you are pursuing a passion, giving yourself more flexibility to spend time with your family or yourself, or if you have financial goals in mind, it’s important to remember the WHY behind your business and keep working hard to make your business succeed. Accept that you might have some bad days, and that you might get really, really sick of coffee shops, but find a way to stay motivated and don’t give up!
We would love to hear what your small business tips are! Please share below in the comments section.
