Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. The majority of businesses fail, and if you’ve never start one, there may be things that don’t know to look out for. What are they? The following contributed post is entitled, The Things You Won’t Have Thought About With Your Business.
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Starting a business from scratch can often be a difficult thing to do. You work hard on your ideas, it becomes a labour of love as you put in all of the hours to make it a success. It can often be a goal and an achievement to actually start your business and to become a success. It can give you the flexibility of working and home life that you may have wanted when working in a standard nine to five job. But, have you through of everything when it comes to your business? There will always be improvements to make, avenues you can explore and things you can do. Here are some suggestions for the new year.
Is your website protected?
You may have spent a lot of time building your website, showcasing your information on social media and doing all you can to build your business from nothing, but is it protected? Your website could be the only thing you have as a method of doing business, and so protecting it from the likes of hackers or opportunists should be a high priority. This is when looking into network security management could be advantageous to you and your business. Enabling you to feel assured that your website and the information is guarded. Also things like passwords shouldn’t be changed regularly to keep things secure.
Is it time to expand?
Sometimes you can be guilty of just sailing on by, but this could be a mistake for your business. Is it time to expand? Have you thought about some of the ways you can do it? You could be missing a revenue opportunity simply by not taking the plunge to add to your product or service range. Expansion could also mean moving from working in your home to a business location. Which could potentially open up more opportunities to you as a business.
Are you taking customer service seriously?
A business needs customers, there is no hiding from that. But do you take care of the customers that you have? Is customer service a priority for your business? If it isn’t it should be. If a customer has a great experience with a business, they are more likely to use them again or tell people about it. If they don’t get good service you may not see them again. It is that simple. Look at ways that you can enhance your customer service. It could be keeping regular contact with them or just offering loyalty discounts for repeat purchases our referrals.
Are you the local hero for your business?
Finally, are you the local hero for your business? Most people are wanting to support small and local businesses these days and the truth is, you may not even have competition. This is something that should be a focus for all businesses in the new year. Getting involved in local events, sponsoring and getting a name for themselves in the local vicinity. It could present to you a whole new customer base that you may not have had before.
Let’s hope these tips have you moving your business forward in the new year.
