By Ashley Preen

February 7, 2017

5 Top Tips to Starting a Successful Small Business

Tip 1 – Ask a Professional for Advice

Starting your new business takes hard work and complete commitment. So it is advisable to get as much professional advice as possible before starting out on your new venture. The following professional advisors should be consulted. A Chartered Accountant will provide you with support and advice as to the running your small business effectively from a financial point of view. A solicitor can advise you on legal paper work with regards to office leases, business partnerships and business structures to minimize future disputes. A business mentor or business owner who is in your sector that you trust is a source of great independent business advice. A banking customer adviser is also able to provide you with the best banking solution for your business as well as means of finance.

Tip 2 – Do your homework

Once you start running your business you will not have much time to do extensive research so it should be done as soon as possible. You should research industry specific reports and figures as well as consumer reports. A lot of information and figures can be gleamed from these which can be used to make accurate predictions especially when writing up your business plans.

Tip 3 – Do the ground work first

A business idea needs a solid business plan if it is to succeed and if you are to gain the finance you need to get it off the ground. To achieve this, you should define your idea and research your market and competitors thoroughly. After this initial stage, improve your idea further to make sure that it is viable and could make a profit in the long-run. The final stage, is testing your idea in the marketplace to discover how customers really view the product/service that you would be offering. By testing the ‘waters’ you will be in a much better position to make an informed decision about how your business should be structured and how you should meet the needs of your customers.

Tip 4 – Set SMART goals

By setting goals even before you start running your business will help you gauge how far you have come in the future. These SMART goals are ‘Smart’ because they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound e.g. increase sales by 15% by engaging 50 new customers in 3 months from Jan-Mar. Always check that your goal is realistic and achievable. It must also have a time scale at end of which a check must be made against sales figures to see if you have achieved your goal. If you have achieved your goal then keep on going by setting new goals. If you have not then put some measures in place to tackle the difficulties you face.

Tip 5 – Do not Procrastinate

Achieving your goals can only be realized if you actually take a ‘leap of faith’ and start your business. So do not procrastinate and put the above-mentioned tips into practice. Once armed with the necessary information all you have to do is get the ball rolling and start your business.