In the vast, competitive world of business, the humble startup company has a lot to contend with. Half of UK startups fail within the first five years due to competition, lack of financial support from banks or even limited confidence from within the business itself. Here, we will take a look at your business from a startup perspective and examine the key features to make sure your company has what it takes to thrive in the first key years.
Location, Location, Location
The base from where you run your business can make all the difference. Is it in a centralised location? Is it near to your custom? Even those that are working at setting up themselves out of their own home, a serviced office space can help give yourself a professional veneer that can’t be achieved by working out of your kitchen.
Are You Marketing Yourself Right?
So many businesses are pushing the same type of product, how can you even compete with all of the others? By making sure what you say is different from the rest. Talk about your business via the correct channels using simple language to communicate yourself. What can you learn by what others have done in the past, right and wrong? Checking out the competition can help you create a strategy to stand out from the rest.
Do You Have The Right People Around You?
Whether you are trying to establish relationships in the workplace, or are working on increasing your client base, the people make the business, and the business makes the people. Making sure the right people for the job is an essential component of making sure the business gets off to a great start. By the same token, are your clients the right ones for your business? Will they communicate your brand the way you would like it to be? If not, do you really need their custom?
Do You Know Your Product?
It’s amazing that those people wanting to market a product don’t know the fundamentals about it. It’s like trying to market a soap when you don’t even wash. So, go back to the drawing board and establish your product’s basics, and make sure you understand it inside and out. They say you should stick to what you know, that’s why Bill Gates works in computers instead of a gym.
Trust Your Instincts
During your time in establishing your business, people will tell you how it should be done. These people only have one blueprint to follow, their own. By all means, take advice from those that have been there, but if you have a feeling in your gut that the “advice” you’re receiving does not suit your business ethos, don’t feel that that is the definitive way just because that person runs a successful company.
Overall, I hope this hasn’t deterred you from taking a dive into your dream business, but in order to get a business up and running and keep it thriving takes will, dedication and sheer bloody-mindedness. But above all, it takes belief. Belief in yourself, belief in your workforce and belief in your product.