Owning a business is a wonderful challenge – but it’s exactly that, a challenge. If you’re like me and didn’t study business management at college, you might have just found yourself operating a business without much prior experience. While there’s nothing wrong with that, chances are you’re doing some things instinctively that might be holding you back. If you want to improve your business, improve sales and revenue, here are three tips for improving your business.
1. Get Help
It can be tempting to do everything by yourself, after all if you do it yourself then you don’t have to pay anyone and don’t have to worry about relying on anyone else. But the simple truth is if you try to do everything yourself, you’ll be instantly limiting how much growth your business can have. At some point, you’re going to want to bring on at least one other person to help you so you can focus on growth and move from being an employee of your business to a business owner. The type of help you’ll need will depend on your industry, your skill set, and how much time your business is taking up. I have outsourced a lot of aspects of my business and first focused on the ones that were the most time intensive without bringing much in terms in returns. Things like email management, blog posting, social media scheduling etc can easily be done by an assistant remotely. I think it’s important to put a dollar value on your time and to decide when it’s worth paying someone else, like a Social media coach, to do tasks that are weighing you down.
2. Be Consistent
If you work in the online world, it’s much easier to be less consistent than a real store would have to be. If you sell bags and shoes on an Etsy store, for example, it’s important to make sure you have a consistent range of products so that your buyers will always see new things they can purchase. Be consistent with your online presence as this is a great way to promote your products and services. If you work as a sole trader, such as freelance writing, then you will probably need to consistently hunt for new clients. You might have a period where you are really busy and stop pitching, only to find work slows down and you’re a bit stressed about income. I suggest being consistent is the best way to ensure that your business is constantly ticking over and growing. Whether you’re selling mats or working as a coach, consistency is important across the business board.
3. Have a Clear Goal
Do you know what your one-year goal is for your business? Where do you want to see yourself in five years? Without clear goals, you can’t know where you’re headed or how much time and effort you’ll need to get there. Having clear goals ensures that you’re focused on where you want to go and you can then spend your time breaking these goals into smaller, achievable steps that you can work towards each day. This can be a really fun activity to do with a friend, so I suggest setting up a date to sit down and brainstorm what your work and personal goals are for the next five years.
It can be challenging to improve things with your business, but these three tips should get you on the right track.
