Top 3 things every new business owner needs to know, from my experience.
Recently a dear friend of mine and former co-worker started her own small business. I was taken aback when she so kindly messaged me and said “I need your advice. What are the top things I should know about starting my business?”
I was shocked because I never in a million years would’ve thought that someone would be coming to me asking for business advice. I did not grow up in an entrepreneurial home, and I did not grow up with a “business” mindset. I had to teach myself and learn from others along the way.
So it is with great privilege that I write to you today, the top three things I learned about starting a new business. I hope you find great value in this and learn from my mistakes along the way!
Tip #1: You HAVE to know your numbers. If you’re anything like the old me, you’re probably rolling your eyes right now. I did not know my numbers in the very beginning, nor did I even care about knowing them. I hated everything about it because it was extremely overwhelming and I didn’t even know where to start. But let me make myself clear. You can not have a successful business without knowing your numbers. Trust me on this one, I learned the hard way. Once I realized how pertinent this was to being a successful entrepreneur, I began to FLOURISH. I can’t believe I even let myself go that long without even caring about the numbers! When I see new entrepreneurs who don’t know their numbers, I seriously want to shake them!! Are you lost or confused about what numbers you even need to know? Then google it! Google is your friend! I may even write another post about it later on, they’re that important!
Tip #2: Don’t waste money on paid advertising in the very beginning. When you are a new small business, you want to keep your profit margins as high as possible. Do not get yourself into a bunch of debt by running ads and then trying to pay it all off. In the beginning, focus on cold emailing, organic outreach, influencer relationships, brand partnerships, pop-ups, networking events, join facebook groups, do giveaways, etc etc. There are so many different ways to get your name out there without dabbling into paid advertising. Don’t get me wrong, it’s extremely important, just not yet!
Tip #3: Before you invest a lot of time, energy, and money into creating a new product/service, ask your audience if they even want it to begin with! You will learn that your time is extremely valuable, so always get the opinion of your audience first! Here is a perfect example: My sister owns an eyelash company called Mclaine Cosmetics. She was looking to stock up on new inventory and she was showing me some things that she had in mind. I simply told her to put up some posts on social and get the opinions from her audience before making any decisions. Why, you may ask? Because what she likes and what her audience actually wants could be two totally different things! By purchasing inventory without asking her audience if they even want it first, she would be risking a lot of time, money, and being stuck with an insane amount of inventory! Even if you don’t sell a physical product, the point to this story can be applied to any kind of business!
So there you have it, my big top three! Stay tuned for more! Know someone who would benefit from reading this post? Send it to them! We could all benefit from helping one another learn a thing or two.