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Jul 29 - 2023
How to Start a Small Business: 20+ Expert Tips & Small Business Ideas
Let’s get down to business! Covering everything from how
to start a small business to how to grow your entrepreneurial idea into a
thriving empire, here 20+ small business tips from the top experts in
the biz.
The small business market is booming. There are countless success stories of early stage startups growing into multi-billion-dollar companies – such as Uber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Airbnb, and many others. But, it’s not just the big guys (or the tech guys). According to the Census Bureau, more than 4.4 million new businesses were created in the US during 2020 — the highest total on record. And in 2021, 440,000 small businesses were created in June alone!
While
many people dream of starting a small business, there’s no doubt that
it can be an incredibly complicated process. There are many tasks to
consider– such as setting up your website and social media presence,
creating branding and products, finding a workplace or shopfront,
building your ecommerce store, organizing sales and marketing
operations, dealing with financing, legal, and so much more! But
starting a small business can also be extremely rewarding – if you go
about it the right way.
If you’re ready to take the leap and get your small business idea off the ground, you’ve come to the right place! Covering everything from how to start a small business to how to grow your entrepreneurial idea into a thriving empire, we’ve rounded up some of the top experts in the biz to give you their small business tips, tricks and advice to put you on the path to success.
Let’s get down to business!
Eytan Bensoussan
Co-founder and CEO of NorthOne
1. Take Risks & Make Mistakes
“When starting a new business, you’ll inevitably make mistakes or take unintentional risks. When this happens, don’t be bogged down with regret or self doubt. Often, these missteps offer great opportunities for improvement, or they might open new doors you wouldn’t otherwise be aware of.
For example, in the early stages of NorthOne, I listened to podcasts
on the startup ecosystem. On one podcast, a host sparked my curiosity,
and I reached out to learn more – unaware this was one of the most
important venture capitalists around – we began corresponding. The big
takeaway here is that you’ll never know if someone might respond to your
email if you don’t take the risk of sending it.
It’s also important to be passionate, never stop reading and learning, and show hunger for what you’re building. Working to be the best in your space will only help your new small business. Learn about small business financial practices as best as you can – poor financial decision making can be costly, and learning from small business financial experts like Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit First, has been instrumental in my entrepreneurial journey.”
2. Hire Passionate Employees
“When hiring for your small business, make sure to hire great candidates who are passionate about what you’re building. Great employees will be instrumental to your business’s success and are worth the search. Employees you can trust, who share your passion, and who have the best interests of your business in mind are the best investment you can make.”
3. Focus on Your Niche & Marketing Tactics
“Focus is the key to a successful business. The sooner you can focus on your niches (who you serve) and your marketing tools and tactics (how you reach your niches) – the better.
You can have more than one niche, but you can’t be everything to everyone. If you try, you’ll do yourself more damage than good. You’ll end up simply being a blur in the eye of your most viable prospects. Instead, determine who you’re most able to serve and then position your business so that, when they find you, they say, ‘This is exactly who we need to help us.’
For your marketing tools and tactics, start simple and use the ones that put you in direct contact with your niches. The most effective tools and tactics are:
- Strategic Networking: Finding your best prospects and meeting them in real time.
- Targeted Outreach: Introducing yourself in a customized way to your ideal clients and not giving up until you get their attention (which may take a while).
- High Quality Content Marketing: Content in any form that speaks to the needs and pain points of your ideal clients.
4. Maintain Consistent Marketing
“One
of the biggest (and easily correctable) mistakes I see is when small
business owners do unfocused, haphazard, stop-start marketing. This
occurs when you make a few random marketing efforts when your client
projects slow down, which by then is too late. The direct result is
‘Feast or Famine Syndrome’ – no work, then lots of work, then no work
again. It’s exhausting, but it doesn’t have to be this way. If you do a
little bit of focused marketing every day, you can easily avoid this and
have a robust pipeline of potential customers at all times.”
5. Listen to the Market
“When I started my business back in 1988, the first thing I did was listen to the market. In other words, instead of asking, ‘Who wants what I have?’ I flipped my perspective and instead asked myself, ‘What do these people need that I can help with?’ That’s the best and most organic way to find your niche and identify your most valuable services. It’s much better than racking your brain to come up with an idea out of thin air. The market will tell you what it needs – and it’s usually much smarter than we are, anyway.”
6. Fill a Market Gap & Grow Your Customer Base
“Ensure your business is fitting a clear need in the market. It’s great to start something you’re passionate about, but passion alone doesn’t bring in sales. What you’re selling should fulfill a need so you can sustain growth.
7. Invest in Marketing
“One of the biggest
pitfalls is believing that marketing is an expense. While it’s true that
small businesses often have to cut corners and work with limited
resources, having a sound marketing strategy can be the difference
between success and failure. For example, investing early in branding,
content marketing, and email marketing will give your new business a
much-needed boost and set the foundation for sales to come in the door
month after month. This goes hand-in-hand with not fully understanding
who your target audience is. If you misinterpret who you’re selling to,
you’ll waste time and money trying to acquire customers from a dry
well.”
8. Focus on Your Employees & Create a Purpose-Driven Culture
“Invest early in building a purpose-driven culture. Southwest Airlines did it from day one, and it became their ultimate competitive advantage. A great culture starts by identifying your bigger purpose, creating your core values, then hiring the right people who align with those values. Be intentional about investing in your culture, and it will be the difference between starting a business and growing one successfully.
Another mistake to avoid is not focusing on the needs of your employees. As a business owner, you have to wear a ton of hats, and it’s easy to forget that your employees are your greatest asset. They’re your brand’s biggest advocates, and you need them to feel fulfilled in their job and to ensure that their needs are being met.”
9. Develop a Business Plan & Limit Your Expenses
“Creating a small business means developing a business plan. This can help business owners to steer the direction of their future work and hold themselves accountable. But, don’t go too in-depth during the early stages of developing your business concepts or ideas – it’s always better to start with a simple business plan and grow it as needed.
Focus on essential factors, such as target market and customers, unique selling points, prices, competitor analysis, and the work needed to turn your business concept into a reality. Later on, when the business progresses and your idea moves closer to actual operations, you can expand the plan and start focusing on mission statements, estimates, etc.
When you start new operations, it’s easy to want the absolute best for your business – flashy new laptops, a swanky office, and highly-skilled teams or employees to edge out your competitors. But, this kind of front-loading often leads to unnecessary purchases that can result in your small business failing within the first few years. So, make sure to avoid any superfluous expenses, especially when you’ve just launched. Stick to only the expenses and essentials you need to run your day-to-day operations.”
10. Be Open to New Opportunities
“Since I started my business more than a decade ago, I’ve learnt that to stay relevant and achieve long-term success, it’s crucial to be open to new opportunities and never stop learning. The old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” applies here – just because you open a business doesn’t mean you’re going to immediately start making money.
The key is to be open to new ideas and different approaches. Stay updated with the latest trends, adjust your plans whenever you need to, keep an eye on your competitors, and constantly nurture your target customers.”
11. Do Your Research & Identify Your Skill Sets
“When starting a small business, research and think through the details. First, pick a customer you want to serve. Then, identify a problem you’ve observed with this audience. Ask what they perceive to be the problem, use your expertise to diagnose the real problem, provide a solution and create an offer to solve it. Also remember that running a business is a different skill from doing that thing you love. Just because you’re a great cook, doesn’t mean you can run a profitable restaurant. These are two different skill sets.”
12. Utilize Your Strengths & Clarify Your Business Objective
“Too many business owners treat marketing like a slot machine – they pick a marketing idea, throw money and time into it, pull the handle and get nothing. Instead of this random wishful marketing, choose a marketing strategy based on your strengths. Direct marketing is ideal for the charismatic natural salesperson, content marketing is great for folks who like to teach, and advertising is the best strategy for those focused on serving customers.
Only you can develop your business model and marketing strategy. Only you can create the sales process and funnel that’s going to deliver your ideal customer. That doesn’t mean that you must implement it – it means that you need to decide who your ideal customer is, what their problem is and how you’re going to communicate the solution. If you’re not clear on these things, the people you hire to implement your marketing won’t be able to do their best work. Read, find, follow and connect with experts to learn as much as you can. Consultants and experts can help you through this process, but don’t jump into implementation without understanding what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.”
13. Take it One Step at a Time
“Don’t worry about competitors. Don’t worry about trying to get press and a big bang launch. When just starting off, just focus all efforts on getting your first ten paying customers. Talk as much as possible with business prospects, people who have the problem you’re solving, and get them to pay for your solution. Once you have ten paying customers, you can focus on getting to a hundred, a thousand, or more.”
14. Enjoy the Ride
“Building a business is an adventure. There’s a limitless number of things you’ve never done before that you’ll need to figure out. Don’t worry about it ahead of time, just enjoy the ride and personal growth that comes with it. Value your time, and think of it in terms of real dollars. This helps with figuring out where your time is best spent versus outsourcing it.”
Conclusion
The points above highlights some of the possibles ways to start a business and we have highlight 14 experts tips and small business idea.
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