Every year in the USA, more than 500,000 new businesses open their doors and seek to make a success of themselves in a competitive world.
These new projects run a full gamut from the simplest eCommerce business to the most ambitious, disruptive concept which, in time, will become the new Uber or Microsoft.
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What each of these businesses has in common is that they all start from the same place – a person, or a group of people, with an idea and the intention of making that idea a reality.
If you yourself are seeking a start in business, whether it’s turning a long-time dream into reality or simply to boost your bank balance in your spare time, then it’s important to make sure you’re following the right steps from the beginning.
So let’s have a look at three of the most important rules you can follow to make your business successful.
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1 – Make sure you’re offering something people need
20% of new businesses fail in their first year, and in no small number of those cases, the main problem that led to this failure has something to do with a lack of research. It’s very easy to offer a service that you think you would be good at, or that you would enjoy, but the most secure businesses all realize one thing: People are more likely to pay for something they need than something they would like.
In practice, this means that if you can offer a service such as cleaning or gardening, you’ve got more chance of being among the 80% – and you can always offer additional, more “fun” services once you’re established.
2 – Be visible to potential customers
A lot of focus in business these days is on customer retention, and there’s no doubt that’s an important consideration once you’re up and running. However, at this stage, your focus needs to be on having enough customers to retain, which means aiming for visibility. As a minimum, your business needs to have a website because, let’s face it, when you’re looking for a product or service, you look online. Build social media accounts, too, as these allow you to interact with customers dynamically and develop a brand identity.
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3 – Always make it easy for customers to choose you
One of the most important things any business can offer a customer is convenience. Even the most cash-rich individuals in your potential market are, these days, increasingly likely to be time-poor. As a result, they are overwhelmingly looking for services that minimize the amount of leg-work they need to do.
If you want to snag those customers, then make the process easy for them: display prices prominently on your site, use the likes of Total Merchant Services so you can take online payments, and allow them to contact you with one click if they have any questions. Don’t make them do the running: if you do, they’ll run to your competitors.
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The world of business is a complicated space, and in truth most of the lessons that make you successful will be picked up as you go along. However, as long as you stick to the above tips in the early days, you’ll stand the best possible chance of making sure you’re one of the thousands of success stories that launch every year!