5 Tips For Starting Your Small Business

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Starting a small business can be exciting and intimidating. You get to be your own boss, leave an impact on the community, and begin to create a legacy for yourself. Still, where do you start? It can seem overwhelming, which is why it’s important to understand every step and potential tip along the way as best as possible.

Figure Out Your Startup Costs

The first thing that you need to do is understand your startup costs. This will let you know how large of a business loan or investment you may need to get off the ground. It will also let you know how much money you need to make to succeed as a small business. This can be more difficult than it sounds, as there is a cost to everything that you do. For instance, the average VoIP costs between $20 and $30 a month. This is just one of the many things that you have to consider but might overlook when finding these startup costs, so make sure to be thorough.

Keep It Simple to Start

One thing that a lot of people get caught up in when running their small business is that they try to do too much too soon. In turn, this either stretches them so thin that they can’t do any of those things well enough, or it’s too costly initially. Those high costs can’t be recuperated fast enough, and you put yourself in a difficult financial hole that you can’t get out from under. So, start small. If you want to operate a toy shop, start by opening a good toy shop, and then go back to grow it in unique ways after you’re already established. This way you find the most success possible and you don’t stretch yourself too thin.

Get the Right Insurance

Just like with your car or home, you will need insurance for work. This is important for a number of reasons, including in case of damage and robbery. However, oftentimes you will also need insurance to cover the cost of workplace injury claims. OSHA had more than 20,000 slip and falls in California for 2015 at work alone. Any one of those could be costly for your small business to deal with. However, with the right insurance in place, that burden will be taken off your shoulders. So, be prepared. Find the right insurance for your business before it’s too late.

Be Your Own Biggest Advocate

You can’t be nervous to tell people about your business. You probably won’t have much money to market yourself early on, so get out there and tell people about your business as often as possible. Always be pitching it to people and make them want to be customers. Use your personal social media as a form of advertisement. That way the word gets out on your business as soon as possible and people will be able to come in and help you grow.

Think About All the Details of Your Business

Before you start your small business, you need to be completely planned. For instance, if you were running an industrial laundry, you’d need to know that the average industrial laundry produces 30 million gallons of wastewater annually. So, how much is this water going to cost you? Where is it coming from? How do you dispose of it? These are all questions you’ll need to answer about this detail before you so much as open for your first day.

Most people think of small businesses as the backbone of a community. People want to see them succeed. That’s why it’s important to do everything you can to position yourself for success.

 

Devin is a writer and an avid reader. When she isn’t lost in a book or writing, she’s busy in the kitchen trying to perfect her slow cooker recipes. You can find her poetry published in The Adirondack Review and Cartridge Lit.