If you have always dreamed of starting your own business then 2024 might be your big break. If you have zero experience of starting or running a business then you may worry about becoming another statistic. It is well known that around 90% of businesses will fail to make it through the first five years of trading. If you don’t want this to be you then take a look at the article below to find out more. 

Have A Plan

One thing you need to do when it comes to starting your very own business is have a plan. This should be completed before you do anything else related to running a business. Your plan should consist of your ideas and how you are going to make them a reality. It should also include any market research that you are going to carry out in order to find out if your product or service is saleable. You need to know your target audience and what you can do, if anything, to improve your product. 

Know Your Budget

Another thing that you need to do in relation to your new business venture is work out how much Money you have available. This is money that you use to open, run, and keep your business afloat for the first year or so. It takes a little while to get profits coming in, so while you wait you don’t want to run out of funds. You need enough funding to cover employees, location, supplies, and wages. Failing to have enough could result in you closing down prematurely. 

If you don’t have enough money to get everything you need then you may need to apply for a business loan. This will give you all the money you need to cover everything while you wait for a steady stream of income. You need to be confident that you can pay this money back, if you are concerned about monthly incomes then maybe go back to the drawing board. 

Hire The Right People

When you run your own business you need to decide if you need a team of employees. There are certain businesses that may not need any employees to help run it. However, if you are looking to build a wonderful team of employees then there are certain things you need to do. If you get this step wrong then it could have a huge impact on your business, you may end up with a high employee churn rate. This is where employees come and go within quick succession and you have to take time out to hire new individuals. 

If you are not feeling confident enough to go through the hiring process alone then you could use the services of a recruitment agency. They will know who the right people will be for your team and hopefully there won’t be a churn issue. 

If you are setting up a business in 2024 then you need to decide if you are going to work from home or in an office block. This is an important decision to make as since Covid-19 a lot of businesses have realised they can work from home. If you are relying on customers to shop with your company then you need to be easy to find. Alternatively, if you are based online then you will need to ensure your marketing is up to standards. Check out your competition and see what they are doing to survive and keep their business afloat. You will also need to decide if you are going to rent your business space or buy it. 

Suppliers

You will need to decide where you are going to get your supplies from. This is an important step in any business as there can be many different prices offered. If you are looking for stationery to use within your company then you can buy paper in bulk for a much better price. Remember, you don’t have to get all your supplies from the same company. If you shop around or barter then you are far more likely to save yourself some money. The money you save can go towards other areas within your business. 

Tech

Something to think about when you run your own company is the tech you are using. You don’t want to be using old, out-dated tech as this will slow your business right down. The issue you then run into is that you aren’t making as much money as you could be. Switching to newer, faster Technology ensures you are running at the optimum speeds and bringing in the most money. You may be tempted to get second hand equipment for your office and employees, don’t be fooled by the lower prices. Shop around for the best prices or even bulk orders to kit everyone out with the latest tech.

Website

Your business website needs to be user-friendly so that each of your customers can use it. If it takes them too long to navigate around your site then they may take their business elsewhere. In an ideal world, your customers and clients should be no more than three clicks away from the page or product they are looking for. If you have never designed a website from scratch then it might help to work with a website design company who will do all the leg work for you. Something that you should always add to your website is a chat bot, this will give customers the answers to any questions they have immediately. 

Customer Service 

Finally, if you want to set up a successful business then you need to be on top of your customer service. There are many companies that have a dedicated customer services team that focuses solely on providing answers to customer and clients queries. In doing so, you can ensure that your customers are not waiting 24 hours for a reply. When it comes to hiring a customer service team, you should aim to hire people who have been in the role before. It can be a shock to the system if you don’t have experience with complaints. However, you should also understand that everyone starts somewhere and must be given a chance. 

Originally Published on https://www.breakfastleadership.com/

Michael Levitt Chief Burnout Officer

Michael D. Levitt is the founder & Chief Burnout Officer of The Breakfast Leadership Network, a San Diego and Toronto-based burnout consulting firm. He is a Keynote speaker on The Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting and Burnout. He is the host of the Breakfast Leadership show, a Certified NLP and CBT Therapist, a Fortune 500 consultant, and author of his latest book BURNOUT PROOF.