After you have started up your business and a year or so passes you might begin to feel as though the hard part is only just beginning
There’s nothing that sounds as tough as starting up your own company, but after a year or so you might begin to feel as though the hard part is only just beginning. Here are some tips to help you through that one-year itch that happens after you have started up your own company…
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Maintain Your Relationships With Your Clients
When you start your own business, a lot of your time is spent looking for new clients and trying to get new business. One of the most important things to remember is that you need to maintain your relationships with these people as soon as they become your clients – you can’t neglect them in the never-ending quest to bring more business in. A lot of contracts will last a year, so you need to make sure that you maintain your good relationships with all your clients to ensure they renew their contacts for another year once the first one is up. It’s important to always keep hustling for new business, but maintaining the links that you always have is just as crucial. Don’t take any clients and business relationships for granted.
Use Social Media
If you don’t have much of a social media presence, you need to start creating one, as you’ll only go so far without a Twitter account, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on. Not all of us are great at using technology, and if that’s the case with you then it’s a good idea to hire social media experts to help you out. Not only will they be able to help you figure out how exactly to use systems like Tweetdeck to communicate with your clients and with the general public but they’ll also help you put a social media strategy in place that will help you advertise your company. Remember that you shouldn’t use your company twitter account like a personal one – keep it polite, breezy and professional at all times.
Keep Researching
No matter how successful your company is, you should never use your success as an excuse to stop learning and researching. If other people have seen that your company is doing well, then chances are they’ll set up rival companies to challenge it – and they’ll have looked closely at your company, figured out any imperfections that you might have, and thought of ways to fill those gaps in order to tempt your clients away from you. Make sure that you keep looking at other companies that are in similar fields to you – you’re never going to have enough time to relax and to assume that you’re ahead of the game. Business will always be competitive, so you need to be aware of that and keep an eye on whatever else is out there.
Lead Your Field
No matter what field you’re in, you need to make sure that you keep learning. Go to workshops on how best to communicate and how to be a good boss, and make sure that you stay aware of new techniques in your field. For instance, if you’re selling supplies then make sure that you’re aware of any new products that have come out lately, and remember that if you’re working with technology, things will move incredibly quickly and you need to have a very comprehensive knowledge of what’s up and coming in your area.
Watch Your Accounts
It’s incredibly important to make sure that you always keep an eye on your finances. If money isn’t your strong point, hire an accountant. There’s nothing that will affect your company worse than insolvency or having to pay a big tax bill that you didn’t anticipate, so getting people on board who understand these issues is very important for your future success.
Don’t Stop Working
Remember that you aren’t out of the woods yet – always keep persisting. Even if you’re starting to feel comfortable and make a good profit, you need to make sure that you keep working, drumming up new business, networking, communicating with your current clients and your staff – it’s never time to relax and sleep on your business. In the future, if you’re a big success, you can start delegating some of that stress to other people on your team, but it’s important that in the early days you take on as much of the responsibility as you can.
Know Which Risks To Take
Finally, it’s important to take risks on your start up business, but it isn’t good to take stupid risks. Make sure that you don’t go into too much debt, that you always have a roof over your head, and that if you have a family, your business folding won’t affect them too negatively. Small risks are a good idea, but it’s important to evaluate big risks to see if they’re worth taking.
