Starting your own small business is more popular than ever before, as many people want the freedom and flexibility that being self-employed offers. While many people work from their own home, or even rent a shop or other business premises, having a van means that you have a few different options for starting a small business. Here are five businesses that you can easily start if you already own a van:
Continue reading “Got a Van? Here Are Some Business Ideas!”
Setting up businesses isn’t just something that high-flying entrepreneurs do. It’s also something that regular mums can do right now, from the comfort of their homes. Whether you have the funds to start the business or need help from a business financing company like fundbox, there are ways to get things off the ground.
The reason for this is simple: setting up a business has never been easier as this page shows. The hurdles you have to jump through today are significantly lower than what they were in the past, thanks to changes in technology, better formation services, and improved regulations.
Let’s take a look at some of them now.
Continue reading “Setting Up Your Own Business Has Never Been Easier. Here’s Why “
Are you running your own business? If so, then you must keep in mind the importance of the connection between you and your audience. Without the right connection, you are going to struggle to gain the benefits that you hoped for. You might find that sales numbers are low and audience growth is far less than you imagined. So, let’s look at how to create greater connections.
Continue reading “Learn How To Open More Connections With Your Audience”
Since the start of the pandemic there has been a significant rise in the amount of people who have started their own small business. Many people have identified a gap in the market and have chosen to fill it with their own business offering. However, just because you have an idea for a small business doesn’t necessarily mean you have all of the skills needed to run it. With this in mind, we’ve identified five key skills that most small business owners could benefit from learning.
While you may have the best idea in the world for a new product or service, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have the skills to sell that to make a profit. There are lots of sales training courses out there which are relatively inexpensive, but will give you the skills that you need to ensure that your business is profitable for many years to come.
When it comes to marketing, there is absolutely no doubt that social media is one of the main ways that people market their small businesses. However, there’s a lot more to social media marketing than just setting up pages for your business. Identifying your ideal client will help you to tailor the content you post and your tone when posting it, to ensure you hit the spot with your target market.
If you need to hire staff to assist with your new business, you’re going to need the skills to delegate work, deal with any workplace problems and generally be a good manager to your team. This doesn’t come naturally to everybody so attending some seminars which offer management skills training could help you to become the manager that you know you could be.
Generally speaking, it’s a good idea for most people to have at least some basic first-aid skills so that you can be on hand to help, if anyone in your vicinity needs you. If you plan to have the type of business where you have customers in a shop or a team working around you it’s even more important to have first aid skills, so that should any workplace incidents happen, you will be able to administer care ahead of emergency services arriving.
When you start a new business, one of the things that you will realise is the outlay to hire an accountant to handle your books can be costly. For most businesses, however, this can be quite straightforward providing you keep a good record of all of your income and outgoings, as well as wages and expenses. A basic bookkeeping course can help you to keep your companies accounts up-to-date so that when the time comes for your yearly tax return you’ll be well prepared to do this without the help of an expensive accountant.
Photo by Tim Douglas from Pexels
Some of you may know that aside from blogging and copywriting, I occasionaly do some marketing work too, and back in July I shared some ways that you can market your small business. With over 400,000 new companies launching during lockdown, it seemed like a good time to share some tips and now, with Christmas approaching (SORRY for mentioning the ‘C’ word in October!) I thought I’d give you some more targeted tips for helping your business to have a prosperous Christmas:
Something that I’d advise many small businesses to invest in is some bespoke Christmas displays. This is especially important if you have a physical shopfront, and although you may be worried about the cost, it’s something that you’ll be able to use year after year. Having a professional display will really elevate your Christmas promotions and will look So much more inviting that just have strands of tinsel strewn about!
If you’re the type of business that holds address information for your clients, there’s nothing quite like a Christmas card to spread some festive cheer (and tell them about your latest offers!). There are many approaches, from online services which will send them automatically to actually handwriting cards, which is time-consuming but gives a truly personal effect. You could even just send an e-card via email, if that’s easier.
We all know how important custom packaging is for your brand. Packaging is the only thing that reaches 100% of your customers and is the first step in creating a memorable unboxing experience. Unique Christmas packaging for your products over Christmas adds a touch of luxury and class and, if coupled with a Christmas edition product, can really help create a sense of ‘exclusivity’ around your product.
By reaching out to those less fortunate than you, you can also create awareness of your own brand at the same time. There are loads of different ways you can support charities, and it should be something you consider doing year-round, rather than just at Christmas. You could inform customers that all proceeds made from a certain range of products goes to charity, or even host a charity event like a coffee morning or brunch and encourage customers to donate with you. Just make sure you send invites beforehand!
Depending on your audience, you may find that your followers on social media are your most engaged customers and your best brand ambassadors. Why not thank them by having offers exclusive to social media platforms? Although digital coupons and coupon codes work best with online stores, brick-and-mortar businesses can still offer print-at-home coupons that are promoted exclusively on social media. An alternative for online businesses is to create a landing page with unique offers, and again only promote this on social media.
