#8 Essential Lessons For Starting A Business Where an impressive name can help you reach the hearts of maximum people, a wrong name can create a number of hurdles for building your brand
By Sunil Paul
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Starting a business is not a five-finger exercise; instead, it will be burdensome to deal with the myriad issues unless you are prepared for them. Adhering to the law while setting up a business, financing, choosing the area of service, marketing, staffing and the list goes on. And the startups are more likely to get overwhelmed with this list. So, just having an idea for the business is not enough, even the minute issues can turn the things wrong. You need to have in-depth knowledge about the industry you are going to setup your business in and must have a proper plan in hands.
To help you out, here we are mentioning the key lessons for starting a business that will ensure getting the things done as expected.
- Give your business a unique and impressive name
Your business's name can have a great impact on your success. Where an impressive name can help you reach the hearts of maximum people, a wrong name can create a number of hurdles for building your brand. So, choose a name that would reflect your products and services to the best. Come up with a few business names and then discuss them with your business partner, investors and employees to decide which will be the best for your business.
- Don't underestimate the difficulty of financing
Raising finances is one of the biggest difficulties startups face. It is not only difficult to find and convince the investors to invest in your company but a lot of time is consumed by the process. So, understand these difficulties and remain prepared for them in advance. Start approaching the investors as soon as you are sure about your decision for setting up a business.
- Have a great business website
Having an appealing, unique and business-focussed website is much crucial in this era of the internet; you cannot imagine success without that. So, have an interactive business website that would infatuate the visitors at the first glance and would let them know about your products and services. It should be simple but interactive so that the viewers will love to scroll down all the pages and make a purchase.
The main things that you should focus on for your website are- fast loading, responsive design, high-quality and well-organized content, easy navigation, user engagement and ".com" domain.
- Keep record of your finances and budgets
Running out of cash is the problem many startups face. The reason behind this is they don't keep a proper record of their expenses and have minimal understanding of the financial statements. In order to adjust your funds and avoid your expenses going out of the budget, you need to create a monthly budget. Also, you must review it on regular basis to ensure that your expenses are in the budget.
Along with that, you must have a proper understanding of the financial statements as it would let you answer the questions asked by your investors.
- Keep your investors informed of your business updates
As mentioned above, finding investors and raising funds is a major challenge for the startups. So, you must make efforts to develop good relations and retain the investors you are working with. Let us make you know that keeping your investors informed about your business updates is a great effort to make them realize they are a part of your business. You can send them the updates every month but there is no need to go into details.
Furthermore, there will be the cases when you would need additional finances from your investors. Rather than surprising them with your needs, provide them regular updates so that they can also get prepared for that.
- Implement effective marketing strategies
Marketing is the only way you can reach out the people and expand your business. And when it comes to marketing then you must focus on both- online and offline marketing. Know your target audience and implement your marketing strategies accordingly. Try to attract them, engage with them and educate them if you are looking for a great success. Here are the things that you should focus on:
- Getting your business website SEO optimized
- Using social media platforms to reach out the target audience
- Focusing on the creation of good quality content for content marketing
- Issuing press releases for the significant events
- Building a network with the likely people and expanding it
- Let freelancers reduce your staff's expenses
If you are getting it hard to manage the expenses of your employees and want to reduce them, especially at the early stage, then you can seek the services from the freelancers. It would not only let reduce the employee related expenses but you will also get the required quality of work. There are a number of websites where you can reach out the freelancers.
- Hire an experienced business lawyer
There are a lot of legal issues for which you would need the help of a business lawyer, like choosing your business structures, adhering to the industry laws, preparing the tax documents, security, employment laws and more. So, rather than letting the things go wrong and affect your business, hire an experienced attorney in the early stage. He will not only help you with the different legal issues but will also guide you towards the growth of your business.
In last, we would like to say that you would face a lot of challenges while establishing your new business. Rather than ignoring the possibilities, try to understand the challenges that can come your way and be prepared for them. Don't ignore the negative aspects as things can go wrong, anytime. Understand the big challenges and develop right strategies in advance to overcome those challenges without letting them make any negative impact on your business.