1. IDENTIFY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS BEFORE GETTING STARTED
Before you start a business, take care to collect hot prospects who say they want to become the first customers of your business. Collect a good quantity of them even if it means making a waiting list and place them in an autoresponder in order to communicate super quickly with them. However, be careful. Unless the contract is already signed, don’t take their word for it 100%. Many may change their minds along the way. Until the money is in your bank account, there is nothing to say that it actually will be.
2. LOOK FOR A GOOD ACCOUNTANT
One of the black spots of a new entrepreneur is finances. You have to make sure you do your bookkeeping, your tax returns, etc. Ideally, you can find a good accountant in your field of activity. He can then help you a lot more by giving you valuable tips. How to bill, stock up, market conditions, and he might even refer you to potential clients and reveal secrets you didn’t even think of. For example, did you know that the creation of a website can be reimbursed at 100% during the tax return? If you weren’t aware, talk to your accountant!
3. DO NETWORKING ACTIVITIES
The worst thing an entrepreneur can do is isolate himself and be alone in his corner. You have to surround yourself with as many people as possible. Let as many people as possible know you. This is the best way to get word of mouth, promote your business and therefore find your first customers.
4. HELP YOUR COMPETITORS
Don’t think that your competitors are the dark side of the force and should be avoided at all costs. They can be of great help to you. For example, they can share their experiences, give you advice and even take out mandates with you! Which could greatly help your cash flow.
5. ATTEND A HELP CENTER DEDICATED TO START-UP COMPANIES
If you are in Quebec, consider seeing a Local Development Center (CLD). They are mandated by the government to help you set up your business for free under the best possible conditions. For example, they can help you write your business plan, do your market research, your financial forecasts, invite you to networking activities, training, etc. And all this, for free
6. HAVE SAVINGS
Do not go into business without having a penny in your pocket. The first few months or years will be extremely difficult and there is a very good chance that you will do several months without having any income. It is therefore important to have a treasure aside to be able to hold out during difficult periods and especially to be able to invest in promotion in order to acquire your first customers.
7. ASK YOURSELF THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
The life of an entrepreneur is far from rosy. It is often very difficult. So, before starting your business, remember to ask yourself the right questions to prepare yourself as well as possible and be sure that you have made the right decisions.
8. BE PRESENT EVERYWHERE
One of the keys to success is having a lot of traffic to your business. For that, it is necessary to create a presence in all possible strategic places. Website, social networks, press releases, directories, search engine, adwords ads, YouTube and others, etc. However, be careful. Each new space that you will create will have to be continually updated so as not to give a false image of your business, to give the impression that you are no longer in activity and thus lose great business opportunities. Managing each virtual or real space takes a considerable amount of time. We must therefore analyze the pros and cons to ensure that it is really relevant.
9. INVEST IN MARKETING
Advertise all the time, all the time, all the time! When finances are bad, cut where you can, but increase your marketing budget! Promoting your business is vital. If you don’t have enough new customers and you decrease your marketing budget, you will decrease your chances of getting new customers. On the contrary, you have to invest more in promotion in order to acquire new customers to relaunch your business.
10. LOOK FOR PARTNERS
Ask yourself which industry sector is complementary to yours and vice versa. For example, if you do conferences, event agencies, press relations officers, audiovisual management could very well partner with you. You can bring them visibility and new customers and them too. In addition, you will pool your network of contacts, which will be extremely beneficial for your businesses.