Three steps to succeed when starting a small business

Many small business owners describe their decision to start their own business as challenging, exhilarating and tons of work. If you’d like to reap the benefits of independence and entrepreneurship with as few stumbling blocks as possible, we invite you to consider these three steps to succeed when starting a new business:

Knowledge is power

Small business owners in any industry benefit dramatically from getting and understanding as much data about their business as possible.

Learn to love analysis. Having a firm grasp on the following topics will be key in your success:

• Budgeting – how much cash flow do you need? What is your marketing budget? Have you set aside an emergency fund for those unforeseen (yet inevitable) mishaps?
• Your competition – what are they doing? What can you do better?
• Your target demographic and behaviours – a popular way of determining your most profitable target is to create an “ideal customer” profile. Who is he or she? Where they are? What are their wants and needs? What problem can you solve for them?

Minimise risk

When you’re just starting out, it’s very important to carefully consider all of your decisions – especially the financial ones.

Take inventory of your expenses regularly, and keep an eye out for unnecessary expenditures. Be ruthless in what you cut. This will not only help you to improve your cash flow, but it will get you used to the idea of closely monitoring all of your incoming and outgoing transactions. Be organised and find an online bookkeeping system to help you to record  your daily transactional data.

Another important thing to consider is choosing the right partners for those key activities in your organisation. Accounting services, a Superannuation fund that looks after yourself and your employees, legal advisors among others are vital to help you to save time and give you the peace of mind to focus in growth your business.

Prepare for the long haul

Starting a successful small business doesn’t happen overnight. You might be looking at long days and sleepless nights for the next few years. Make sure that you’re up to the challenge, because consistency is key.

If you want to know more about starting a new small business, and Nationwide Super can support you, contact our team at Nationwide Super today.