Starting a business?

Starting a small business is hard work any environment. This is even harder with a tough
economy.

Before the economy dropped starting a business was too much of a gamble, people preferred job security. But in todays time becoming an entrepreneur is not only safe but a more manageable prospect, it is now a way to get what you want professionally.

Here are 10 simple, effective steps to get started on your business today.

1. Write down your vision.

A lot of people today use vision boards. This help set the mind for the starting point and ultimately the end result. What do you want to do with your business? Where do you want to be in a years time?

2. Research your market.
This is vital to understand the market and what the market needs. Look at competitors and see what you can offer that they do not. What will make your idea or business unique? Why would they buy or choose your service opposed to the next, look at suppliers and delivery methods, cost saving is always important to any start up business.

3. Create something you can sell.

If you can’t solve a problem for your market, you aren’t going to make any sales large enough to sustain a business. It’s that simple! Ensure whatever your business is offering, it solves a problem, because you can market and sell the solution to that problem for a viable business.

4. Get a website.

Now that you have figured out your market and product offering, you will need a website. It does not matter if you are retail or online business, both need a website no matter what.

5. Outline your automation.

Build it on paper ahead of time. Depending on the size of your budget and needs, investigate the sales and marketing automation standard for small businesses. Contract, invoicing, and thank you note are examples of these.

6. Set up a sales funnel.

These plug and play into email service providers and payment processing vendors can be a nice option for small businesses just starting out until they’re ready to scale to bigger platforms.

7. Set up an email opt-in. 

Once you have your email service, you’ll want to ensure there are plenty of places for people to opt-in to your email list on your website, on your landing pages from your sales funnel and anywhere else where it is appropriate.

8. Start a Facebook page.

Facebook is a great, free tool for spreading brand awareness and linking to your landing pages and website.

9. Create valuable, shareable content.

You can post your content on your website, and post to your own Facebook page. However, if you want the word to really spread, make sure each post is sharable and interesting enough for people to want to read and re-direct your posts.

10. Refine, tweak and improve as you go.

You’ll never be done but follow the previous nine steps and you should be on your way to establishing your business and your plan of action.