Things to know before you launch your business

Doing a successful business is the dream for most of us. If you have been planning your business for a while and are finally ready to start, there are still a few things that you need to consider.

Admin.

With any business, there is a lot of admin. If you have launched a small business and have others on your team, you’ll need to take care of a lot of admin.

Admin

Payroll, hiring and firing, emails, customer questions and complaints, and your finances.

Most of the time, it is better to outsource almost all of these tasks or have someone on the team dedicated to taking care of the business admin.

As a solo business, you still have the same options – but you will have less paperwork usually.

One of the critical things about admin is that it takes up a lot of time and isn’t usually making money.

Online community.

Your online community can be your most significant source of support — and revenue. Not only that, but it is likely where you will find most of your projects or the audience who would typically be interested in your products.

Community

Maintaining an engaging set of online profiles is time-consuming, and you have a few options.

You can choose to handle this yourself and have dedicated time to respond to communications and post new content each day.

Or you might consider hiring a freelancer or a company to handle your social media and online community management.

It is a cost to your business, but the benefits of a considerable reach and plenty of visibility outweigh the costs.

Be mindful that your content should adhere to the tone of voice and branding guidelines of your business. You might also consider a content specialist who can also handle social management.

Business shares.

When you register your business, you will get the option to issue shares straight away, but you can also do this later if you think there is no need now or more members will be joining you in the future.

If there are new parties joining the business, you are going to need to know how to transfer and issue company shares. Shares can be gifted to friends and family members or issued to financial or business partners.

Before you launch or register your business, decide how those shares will look and why they will be given.

Savings.

There will be highs and lows in the business, and certainly in the first few years. While most companies can launch on a shoestring budget, keeping it running might be different. If you need to buy stock to sell on your site, but it doesn’t sell as fast as you’d hope, that is money spent with no return (yet).

Try to have enough savings to keep your business running for at least six months — or be prepared to apply for finance. Looking for low-cost start-up ideas? Read this: 10 cool business ideas (low investment).

Mistakes.

If running a business isn’t something you have done before, you will make some mistakes.

Some will be minor, and others might not be. What is important is that you learn from these mistakes and continue to build your business.

Launching a business is one of the most exciting things, but there will be decisions and considerations each step of the way. All you need to do is aim at your plans and continue the work.

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