Three tips for your startup business

If you are just starting out with your business, you are likely to have a head swimming with ideas to try, pitfalls to avoid and lists that you are working your way through. You are working hard every hour of every day, so in order to help steer you in the right direction, today we are sharing our three tips for your startup business. 

Deliver every single time

When you are a startup business you cannot afford to let people down, you must ensure that you deliver every single time. Indeed this is a rule for all businesses, however long they have been running, but for a startup it is absolutely vital.

As your business establishes itself, you are likely to have a fairly small customer base. Which means that mistakes are magnified. For example if you have just ten customers and you have failed three of them, that’s nearly a third of your customers that will leave you disgruntled, unwilling to return and unlikely to speak positively about you. Three in a sea of a thousand is a shame, three in just ten is damaging.

As such, you must take every opportunity to impress potential, new and returning customers. Make sure that it is easy for customers to buy from you and offer them a service that they will want to rave about. 

Be specific

You need to play to your own niche and look closely at what everyone else is doing in your industry. We are not suggesting that you mirror your closest competitors, but it makes a lot of sense to at least understand them. 

What is it that they are doing that you can adapt? What are they doing that you know you can deliver to a better standard? What are they doing where you can see there is an opportunity to offer something completely different? Looking within your own field can often be a springboard to more ideas.

You also need to look into what works best for your distinct business needs, whether it be through integrating satellite billing or buying a vinyl cutter, invest where your own business needs dictate that you should be spending your time and money. 

Review and revisit regularly

When you start your business you will have a background story. There will be a reason that you are starting up and there will be a clear vision that you have formed for your business. You will want it to deliver certain things, for you and your customers, and you will attach relevant values to it. Next you will add goals, targets and milestones to aim for. Then before you know it, you are doing it, you are in business. 

This is where we suggest that you make the time to review and revisit those original hopes, dreams and goals regularly. 

You need to always bring things back to the beginning, to the core of your business, to make them mean something to you. Yes, your business can take shape and evolve, but keep hold of what you were originally intending to achieve and let that be your guide as you progress.

You will also want to measure your progress, so review how far you have come regularly, as it will help to motivate you on those challenging days and spur you onwards.