A secret sauce to a thriving business

Top 5 Recommendations to a Small Business Owner

tarting your own business is a significant step in one's life. I understand how difficult it is to take those first steps, and in my experience, I have seen several small business owners quit quickly, stating "it doesn't happen or it's not working."

But the truth is that nothing in life comes easy. Do you recall the first time you left your child to school? It was quite difficult, but you are now doing fantastically well.

Similarly, the secret to success for any business owner is to remain focused on your mission and to continually believe that things are improving. Every mistake you make will teach you something, so don't be afraid of make them.

Here are the top five recommendations for a small-business owner to smoothen their journey to success.

WEBSITES

In my journey of coaching and mentoring thousands of students and helping them start their own small business and become financially independent. One question which comes in almost every batch is , should I make a website ?

Creating a website is definitely a nice but idea. However In my opinion it should be done at appropriate time. If you're just getting started and thinking about whether you should invest in high-end websites to generate more leads or sales, you might not be taking a great decision.

I know many of successful brands would say, that’s not right, but here is why I believe so.

Making a website is a substantial investment that does not stop there. Even if you try and go for a basic version of a website you will have to work on many things simultaneously. You must buy a web domain, pay for hosting, and may be obliged to pay for site development if you lack the essential expertise. Every website would then needs traffic to create sales.

Further It takes a lot of work to keep a website going once you've built it. Like SEO, running advertisements, and keeping it up to date with Google algorithms etc. Creating a site might be a onetime investment, however running a site is a recurring expense.

Imagine you have a beautiful looking website in place and no one knows about it or maybe handful people who are your personal references and few organic customers know about it. How does that help. Let’s simply this a bit more.

You are an amazing artist. You live in X house in a Y town, how would people know where do you live unless & what do you do, until you advertise yourself. Likewise in order for people to know you exist, you will have to constantly promote yourself and this will need investment. I am not against building website. But I suggest don't put your initial investment money into creating a website. At-least not right away.

So how does one build a brand and create visibility?

E-commerce platforms in my opinion can be your best buddies at this stage. There are number of e-commerce websites who have created a space where you can list your products / services. Commonly every e-commerce site would have some ideology or relevance to what products can be listed with them. A little research can help you understand which one suits you the best. These platforms market and promote their site, which means the heavy marketing / advertisement cost is born by the platform/ website owners. And you have to simply pay some commission for whatever products you have sold using their site. Isn’t it great?

Example: amazon.in, flipkart.com, meesho.com etc

For better understanding here is a reference.

You are selling handmade candles and listed your products on meesho.com. Now you are not liable for promotion of meesho.com rather they are spending on the promotion of their website, which automatically gives visibility to your products, gets you new customers and sales. You also get the advantage of showcasing your products to their existing customer database.

Now I am sure you must be thinking what’s stored for these websites here?

Well some of the things can be:

- They are not making any physical product

- They get a range of products to sell at one place, hence more buying options for customers

- They charge commission or fee on each sale or listing fee from the vendors/suppliers /you in this case

They are helping you to advertise your products to the right customers and sell and expand. In a saturated market, having an e-commerce site will undoubtedly provide you with a competitive edge. Ecommerce sites can result in more revenue, a better multi-channel experience, and a more distinct digital business identity.

So, make best of these platforms.

SOCIAL MEDIA

As life became busy, during and post COVID people have become even more distant from physical world. Over 80% of consumers stated that social media has a considerable impact on their purchasing decisions. Social media marketing has become an important source of marketing intelligence for a massive audience. Through social networking, workers can directly reply to customers who have questions, problems, or comments regarding the company's product. It also gives a great opportunity to the business owners to display their products/services to large volume of audience. Create stories and make them more impactful and relatable to people. No wonder people are crazy about Instagram reels , ticktok videos , Youtube etc . So if you think you can do without being active on social media , you might want to rethink.

While there are many social media platforms available , the most commonly used are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TickTock, Pinetrest ,Linkedin etc and the best part about them is they are FREE platforms to join . They changed the way businesses may influence customer behaviour, from providing tailored content that encourages engagement to exhibiting your portfolio on social media. Your social media marketing plan will be more effective if it is more targeted. The action plan below can assist you in getting started with an SMM strategy.

● Find out more about your target customer.

● Conduct a competitor analysis of your rivals.

● Make a content delivery calendar.

● Be consistent

Some of the tools listed below can help you make your SMM content

● Canva – Is a wonderful application which can be used on phone and laptop both . Canva helps you to designs everything you might need for your business / social media content. Be it creatives, posters, videos, invoices, presentations, stickers , labels, visiting cards etc. It has thousands of preloaded templates which makes your life even more easy. Simply choose what you like and edit. Buying a Canva.pro can rock your life with more options and editing tools and templates.

● Inshot – Is another app to edit your pictures and videos. However, it is restricted to your phone and does not have huge range like the earlier one.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Consider some of your favourite brands. Is there something about them that entices you to return for more? Of course, it's the customer experience. Your customer service can become the distinguishing feature between different buying options available. If done effectively, you will see a rise in positive brand recognition, visibility, and sales.

Let me illustrate this with an example:

Famous football coach Paul Brown was flying on JetBlue when he jokingly tweeted that he couldn't get his Starbucks coffee before departing. JetBlue acted quickly after reading the message, and airport customer service representatives sent a Starbucks to his seat on the plane. Brown was overjoyed and praised JetBlue on Twitter.

This is absolutely one of those fantastic customer instances from which other businesses can learn.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

According to a survey, 62 per cent of business owners experience depression at least weekly, and 54 per cent report that stress interferes with their ability to concentrate at work. Business owners are so focused on their staff that they neglect to look after themselves. Because most business owners assume responsibility for both their own and their employees' welfare, they are more likely to suffer from stress, have a poor work-life balance, and feel anxious. In the midst of all of this, they forget that they are the employees' driving force, and they must also look after their own health. You could, however, make tiny modifications and live a healthier lifestyle.

● Set and stick to work-life balance boundaries.

● Every day, exercise in a way that you enjoy.

● Maintain a journal.

● Spend some time with your closest friends and family.

● Look for constructive ways to cope with stress.

● Meditate

TIME-EFFICIENCY

Your dream could be anything from becoming a CEO to starting a business. Everyone craves progress in some form or another. As your company grows, you must make better use of your time. Use technology and automation to assist you with this.

There are numerous resources available to assist you in this area. Look at your business and where the gaps are to determine where you should spend your money.

● Hotjar can help you better understand your web traffic and how it engages with it.

● Mypipeline for marketing automation and personalization.

● Calendly for booking meetings and preventing back and forth.

● TogglPlan keeps track of progress and responds quickly and readily to modifications.

FINAL THOUGHTS

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of operation, followed by 45 per cent in the first five years and 65 per cent in the first decade. Only 25% of newly created businesses survive for 15 years or longer.

In the end, it all comes down to your mindset. If you are one of those people who do half-hearted work, do not put forth sufficient effort, do not want to spend anything, are unable to take necessary risks, or are indecisive, you must modify your mentality and strive to be the person you want to be every day.

If you want to start a small business, paying close attention to these top recommendations is a great place to start.

Top 5 Recommendations to a Small Business Owner