Entrepreneurs have to be more than idea-spouting machines. If you’re running a business, you need to be a leader, too. A boss isn’t just somebody who delegates jobs to people. You also have a job to do. Coming up with innovative ideas is important, but you need to be able to adopt a managerial role, as well. You need to be willing to deal with the logistical side of keeping your company operating effectively. Otherwise, your ideas will remain in your head, rather than becoming real innovative solutions that enter the marketplace. Here’s some entrepreneurial advice to help your business idea become a reality.
If you want your business idea to become a reality, then you need to present it well. Imagine if McDonald’s was a faceless brand that still sold the BigMac but just called it a burger. People would still enjoy the product, but their fast-food restaurant probably wouldn’t stand out from any other burger places in the market. Branding is so important when it comes to pitching an idea. You might be very excited about your product or service, but your company is just one option of many from the perspective of consumers in your target market. If you want your business idea to be successful in the real world, then you need to know how to market it. Working on your office’s image might help. This is the way in which you present yourself to the world. You should tidy up the external appearance of your workplace. You might want to improve your car park and get professionals to help with your concrete needs.
You should focus on your identity, most importantly. How do you want consumers to perceive your business? How are you going to relate to them? You could run your company in an environmentally-friendly way, for starters. This would show the industry that you really value the planet, so you would need to make it a big part of your promotional strategy. Plenty of brands have gained traction in this way. Big companies, such as Andrex and Velvet, promise to plant trees to balance their effect on the environment. Of course, sustainability is only one way to show that your brand cares. You could donate to local charities, too. Give something back to the community if you want people to care about your business and the message for which it stands.
Keep evolving your plan of action.
You should also keep evolving your plan of action if you want to help your business idea become a reality. It’s very important to stick to your company’s plan if you want to ensure that your ideas are effectively brought to life. However, that doesn’t mean your plan should be unchanging. After all, your marketplace will continue to evolve, over time, and that means your target market will also evolve. The needs of consumers are always changing, so your business needs to change, as well. So, do market research to learn more about your audience. Talk to consumers to find out what they want. When you find out their problems, you’ll spot gaps in the market. That’ll help you to come up with new ideas to set yourself apart from your competitors.
You should also get your customers talking if you want to create a successful company. Even if you have an incredible business with creative ideas, you’ll struggle to build a profitable empire if the market doesn’t know that you exist. Focus on your existing clients if you want your company to grow. They can help to spread the word about your brand. You could provide incentives, such as freebies or discounts for every referral. This would encourage your customers to start talking about your business to their friends and family members. In turn, you could gain some new clients.
Technology is one of the best possible ways to grow your small business. Here are a few tips on how you can do that.
Create A Great Website
When you’re starting a business, your first step should be to create an excellent website. The first important point for your site is that it should be easy and intuitive to navigate. A dark grey font against a black background might look chic but if your prospective customers don’t know what exactly you do, it isn’t working! Your contact information should be extremely easy to find so that they can get in touch with you through email or phone, and your mission statement should be front and centre. Your site should echo the ‘feel’ of your company, whether it’s sleek and professional or colourful and chatty.
Using social media is one of the absolute best ways to communicate with your customers. One of the chief problems that people have with technology is that it doesn’t feel completely personal, but using social media can be extremely personal. Use sites like Twitter to create a company voice – remember to be chatty but professional at the same time, and post links to relevant articles that your customers may enjoy. Creating a personality through your social media accounts will make people want to interact with you and form a personal relationship with your company, thereby creating brand loyalty. It’s important to remember that each form of social media can be used for different purposes. Facebook is great to build up communities, Instagram is perfect for any posts that you want to use to display the aesthetic of your product, and Twitter is a way to build up relationships with possible customers and interact with other Twitter accounts. It’s also a great way to answer any customer help inquiries. Just remember to keep it cool and professional at all times!
Using technology is a perfect way to make sure that your systems are as streamlined and efficient as they possibly can be. For instance, you can use technology to track your deliveries and make sure they’re in the correct place – for example, if you work for a beverage company, SmartKeg can help you to track your kegs around the world. You can also use technology to sort out payroll and invoices so that you don’t have to puzzle over the numbers yourself.
Having a paper free office is absolutely ideal in this increasingly more eco-conscious world. If you need to read a document, you can email it to a tablet or an e-reader instead of printing it off. Consider your reasons for using paper – how necessary is it really? What exactly are you using it for? Paper filing systems can take up a huge amount of space. They are physically cumbersome and often take a long time to wade through, whereas archiving your databases online means that they are considerably easier to search through for something specific. Technology can be extremely green as well as efficient.
Adding tech to your small business might feel like a big expense, but in the long run the efficiency and savings will be more than worth it.
The planet is in trouble. Every day you hear stories on the news of melting ice caps, extinct species, deforestation, and even worse. You can’t reverse these disasters yourself, but you can play a big part, especially where your business is concerned. When you operate your company in an environmentally-conscious way, it has positive effects on the world around, but can also lower operating costs. With that in mind, here are five smart ways to grow a green business.
1. Allow Flexible Work Schedules
The cost of lighting and heating an entire office is huge, which is why many new entrepreneurs try to put it off for as long as possible. Unfortunately, the damage that this space contributes to the planet is also significant. Introducing flexible work policies can remedy this issue. By allowing your team to work from home, even if for only part of the week, you’ll significantly reduce your energy bills. Your team also won’t need to travel to work, which lessens your impact further.
2. Install A Bike Rack
The cars you see commuting to work each morning are one of the biggest contributors to emissions, which cause damage to the ozone layer. If you can’t let your team work from home, then you should at least give them the option to travel to work in a green way by installing a bike rack. This is a relatively small investment, but one that can have positive results for everyone in your business. You can encourage cycling further by offering your team incentives to do so.
3. Switch To Efficient Equipment
Everyone knows that leaving equipment on unnecessarily wastes huge amounts of energy, but few people realize that you can consume more power than you need to even when these tools are in use. To avoid this, you should switch to newer, more efficient devices. Depending on your industry, you might also benefit from investing in condensate return pumps. These expenses will increase costs initially, but you’ll soon make money back in lower energy bills.
4. Sort Through The Trash
Throwing all of your rubbish and junk into a single bin may be convenient for you and your employees, but it isn’t a very ethical decision. After all, many different types of materials can be recycled these days, but, if you put all of your trash in the same place, then it will all go to rubbish dumps. A better choice would be to provide three bins – One for general waste, one of plastic, and another for paper. This ensures that at least some of your waste is disposed of properly.
Initially, ink and paper may not seem particularly large costs, but, over time, they can have a huge impact on your budget, as well as the planet we call home. For this reason, you should try to limit the amount of paper that your business uses. Instead of printing pamphlets and flyers, you can send marketing emails and link to PDFs on your website. You can also store important documents on the cloud, rather than in filing cabinets, and take notes on phones and tablets.
With these smart tips, you can save money and the planet at the same time.
There are many reasons to become a more socially-responsible business person. When you’re successful, you’re in a fortunate position to be able to help drive change and make a difference to others. It’s important to make good links with your community, and being socially responsible can also help you find fulfillment away from your business.
With so many ways to make a difference, it’s never been easier to pledge to become more socially responsible. Take a look at some of the following suggestions and start setting an excellent example for others.
Why become more socially responsible?
While your business could be a great success and your profits high, it isn’t always enough to fulfill and satisfy you. Becoming active in making positive changes in your community, your environment, and can help you experience some of the other benefits of being a successful business owner.
It’s also something that’s important to your staff, your stakeholders and your customers or clients. They want to look up to someone who can lead by example, which is why customers respond well to socially-responsible businesses. Issues such as sustainability, ethics and helping others are hot topics at the moment, so if you’re wondering why your business should care about social responsibility, then you should look into it more.
Tips for becoming a more responsible business person
It’s never too late to change your ways, and even if you weren’t doing anything adverse before, it’s still good to take some positive action and look at ways you and your business can be more socially responsible. Some great suggestions include:
Use your connections
As a successful business owner, you’ll likely have a lot of friends in high places. While this can be great for doing business, it can also be useful for helping others. Perhaps you know somebody who is active in the community who could use your help on projects, or you know someone with the resources and knowledge to help out with some fantastic work you’re doing in the community? Having conversations and sharing ideas is how good work gets started, and you never know what could come from talking to a colleague or fellow business owner.
Building strong business relationships is a key element behind your success as a businessperson, but don’t just think about the value they could offer your business, think about the good work you can do together to make your community a better place.
Be kinder to the environment
We all have a responsibility to help our environment. But as someone in a position of responsibility, you can help to set an example amongst your staff, your peers and others. There are basic steps that every business can take to be more green, through introducing policies and practices that will cut everything from your paper use to how much energy your business uses. If you want to make a bigger difference, make a significant pledge. Set targets for your business to help it achieve certain sustainability targets and you’ll be sure to not only impress fellow businesses, but your customers too. With the world in a more precious position than ever before, it’s time to think long and hard about how your business can help the planet.
Crowdsource some ideas
You could find that your quite far removed from the issues that your employees and stakeholder care about, so why not ask them what you should be doing? Consulting with your employees is a good way to take their thoughts and considerations into account, and could lead to some positive changes for your organization. As them what they feel should be a priority for your business, and whether they have any ideas for increasing social responsibility.
You could also empower your employees to go out there and make a difference. By providing them with the time, the resources and the support for their own projects, you could inspire a lot of positive change and help employees feel that they’re doing their part too.
Support community projects
Giving back to the community is good for your business. Your business is a part of the community, so why wouldn’t you want it to thrive?
You’ll be surprised at the number of ways that your business can give back. From sponsoring local events and sports teams to taking part in different community projects, your time and resources can make a lot of difference to those in need. Becoming a business known for helping people can be an incredible way to bring some light and positivity back into people’s lives, including your own.
There have been many studies that show that encouraging employees to volunteer creates a happier workplace. Why not start a regular volunteering scheme that will allow your employees to help out with a project or group during their working hours? Some regular engagement with the community and helping others can help your business become a friendly face to others, while also transforming your work environment for the better.
Help political education
Low voter turnout is a recurring problem in the world of politics. While you might not have strong political leanings or even wish to share your political views publicly, there are still ways you can help with political education and improve awareness in your community. You could donate time and resources to groups who dedicate their time to political education, providing a more valuable resource than you thought could be possible.
You could also use your position to help others understand how politics affects them. From sharing ideas and education with fellow business owners to exploring the use of Christianity in politics with your church group, there are different ways you can use your influence for good. Don’t focus on supporting a political party or politician, as this could polarize your staff and your clients, and instead – focus on supporting politics and the need to be engaged in the decision-making process.
Reassess your business’ values
Does your business have values? Having some core values can be a good way to reinforce what you and your business stand for and what you want to be achieved. Setting business values gives you and your employees something to guide you in your work. Reassessing your values can signify a new era for your business and lead to some exciting new things. Involve your colleagues and employees in this work – it could be an amazing opportunity for them to feel a part of the business’ work.
Share your wisdom
Business owners inspire many people, particularly those who dream of being entrepreneurs or being a success in their field. Sharing your wisdom could help you inspire a whole new generation of people to go out there and achieve their dreams.
On a smaller scale, while not visit some high schools to talk about your career, or be a speaker at a local event? You could also look at internships and other opportunities that could help others succeed by following your influence. Remember that social media and the internet can be great platforms for connecting with others, so why not offer advice to the masses and keep inspiring new generations of success stories?
Become a mentor
Mentoring is another way you can help others along the path to success. There are many benefits of becoming a mentor, and you could find it a rewarding experience. Do you wish you’d had someone to guide you and offer valuable career advice when you were starting out? Why not be that person for someone else?
Becoming a mentor will also mean that you keep in touch with what’s going on in the world. Mentoring can be a two-way learning experience and provide you with new insights you might not have considered before. It doesn’t have to be a large commitment, but it could make a big difference to someone who’s feeling lost or unsure about their career and path in life.
Be more charitable
Business can make a big difference to their communities by being more charitable. You can start with the basics by offering charitable benefits as an option for your employees, or you could pledge to donate a certain amount of your profits to charity.
Being a part of fundraising activities also help your business to do good for others. Your power and networks can make it easier to encourage others to get involved, so pick a good cause that needs help rather than just jumping on a popular or well-known effort. Being a charitable organization puts your business in a positive light, and it can help you feel good about what you and your business is doing to help others.
Making a difference as a business owner is something you can do every day. From adopting new policies to being more active in the community, you’ll be surprised at the effect that just one person can have. Not everything in business is about profit and loss, so make sure you use your influence for good and drive some positive change.
When was the last time your business did some good for others? Is it time to embrace some charitable giving? By giving back, your business can help others while raising your own profile – and what better time to do it than during the summer?
Getting out and about to help your community during the summer months can boost employee morale and ensures everyone gets their vitamin D. With business usually quieter during the summer period, it can be a nice change of pace to get out and help others.
Need some inspiration? Here are four projects that will help your business give back this summer.
1. Clean it up
Clean up initiatives are an easy way your business can do some good for others. If you live near a beach or a local park, taking the whole office down to help clean things up can be a good way for you to all get some fresh air while doing good in the community. Even just an hour can make a difference to your local area, so pick up those trash bags and help clean things up.
2. Donate to your local green spaces
Many communities have parks and green spaces that are in desperate need of being tidied up and improved. It doesn’t cost a lot to donate, and you could help by building community gardens, donating park supplies and more to make your local green spaces shine. Many of these projects are funded and run by people in the community, so they need every penny they can get to make a difference.
3. Sponsor a prom
It’s prom season, and many high schools will be getting ready to host their own special evenings. For many schools and students, prom can be a struggle due to a lack of resources to make it a night to remember. Sponsoring a prom is a great idea to help your local high school has the prom it deserves and is an excellent way to build links with the community. Corporate sponsorship has many benefits for businesses, making a difference to both the local school and your company too.
4. Set a fundraising challenge
Want to help your business raise a lot of money for a good cause? Why not set a fundraising challenge at your company? The challenge could be completed in teams or on an individual basis to help employees raise as much money as possible. From fun runs to bake sales, there are plenty of options you can try. These sorts of fundraising challenges are great for both small and large businesses, providing a way for remote teams to stay connected, as well as helping employees to de-stress by engaging in other activities in the office.
What can your business do to help others this summer? From getting outside and volunteering, to raising funds and awareness for good causes, there is a lot your company can do to make a difference. Start now and by fall, your business could have a huge impact on your local community.
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