Starting your own company in 2010
‘Start my own company’. If I had a dollar for the number of times I’ve heard my friends say this over the last few years, I’d be about… $3 richer. Ok, so it’s not the most common kind of new years resolution, but it is a legitimate one nonetheless. So, if you feel you’re sick of the 9-5 and want to be your own boss in 2010, where do you start?
I’m not going to go into the obvious – have a great business idea, make a detailed business plan, get a business bank account etc., as there are plenty of far better resources on the interent already. Instead, I’m going to provide a few pointers to certain aspects of starting your own business which are often overlooked. Whether you are starting a publishing company, starting a theatre company, starting a t shirt company, a software company or even starting a company in Jamaica, the following tips will help to make your 2010 new years resolution into a reality.
1. Optimise your website
Search engine optimisation (or SEO as it is commonly known) has boomed over the last few years and is becoming more and more popular even with less tech-savvy people. Website owners are starting to understand the importance of being ahead of their competitors in the search engines, and if you are starting a business which aims to bring in a large proportion of your revenue via the internet, SEO is an absolute necessity. If you are getting a new website designed, make sure you take into account fundamental SEO practices during the design stage or better still use a design company who specialises in SEO.
2. Get some business cards
Business cards are an essential asset to any profession or businessperson who has face-to-face content with clients or cusomters. Printing business cards gives you the opportunity to have your business contact details to hand wherever you are. Business cards are are traditional but effective way to market your business, and they can be produced in some cases overnight at minimal cost. There are many companies in Australia offering cheap business cards and business card printing services. Tip: Make sure your email hosting is live before printing your business cards – business cards with a Bigpond or a Hotmail email address printed on them are seriously unprofessional.
3. Make sure you are contactable
When you are starting a business, make sure you are available to contact as much as possible. For new businesses, a missed call is often a missed opportunity. It is a good idea to get a business mobile phone in addition to your personal mobile, thus keeping your business mobile available for calls by not being tied up with personal calls. There are a number of PDA mobile phones available on the internet – these types of mobile phones are the best choice as they stacks of features which will help you to run your business.
4. Tell as many people as you know about your business
Word of mouth is one of the best ways to promote your business, as long as you know enough people who are willing to tell even more people. If you’ve got a unique business idea then the buzz will catch on and people will find out about your business in no time. Want to speed the process along a bit? Try email marketing.
5. Set up a swanky new office
A fairly basic tip, but whether you are working from home or from a new office unit, get some office furniture that is going to make you feel comfortable. As with most new business start ups, you are most likely going to be working long hours to get the business off the ground, so take a trip to your favourite furniture store and spend a little bit extra on appealing, comfortable office furniture and those long nights in the office will be a tiny bit easier to bear.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Business New Years Resolutions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
