How to get your own business up and running

Whether you’ve lost your job during the pandemic or you just fancy a new career and the opportunity to be your own boss, there are lots of advantages to setting up your own business. Those first few steps into being a business owner can be very daunting. Here are some ways to make the beginning of your journey slightly easier:

Decide where you’re going to sell

First things first, you need to decide the best place to sell your products or services. If you’re selling a service, like a hairdresser or a nail manicurist, you’ll probably need to find your own premises. If you’re working in a trade, like an electrician or a plumber, you might just need a reliable van and somewhere to keep your spare parts.

If you want a cheap way to reach a global audience, consider settingup a website so you can sell to people online. Whilst it might sound daunting, modern technology means you don’t need to be a computer wizard to run your own website. You will also save on the rent and other utilities associated with a traditional store.

Find customers

Once you’ve decided the best place to sell your goods or services, it’s time to attract customers. There are many different ways you can attract people to your new business. You could try the old-fashioned way of taking out an advert in the local newspaper or even handing out flyers around your local area. You could take a more modern approach and purchase advertising on news websites or social media sites.

If you really want to give yourself the best chance of gaining customers fast, the best way is often to enlist the help of a marketing data company. For a small fee, you can purchase the details of customers who are likely to want your product or service. Once you’ve got these details, you can then target those likely potential customers with personalised emails, letters or even give them a call to explain how you think you could help them. Make sure you choose a company that can provide you with reliable data. For example, the website leadlists.com.au has over 18 million contacts across Australia. For each one of these entries, they’ve analysed products and services they’ve previously shown an interest in to find those who are most likely to use your business. All the data is checked every six months to make sure the information is up to data and usable.

Hold onto those customers

Once you’ve sold your product you might think that’s the end of the story but that is far from the case. It’s important that you make sure the product is up to scratch and delivered correctly so the customer doesn’t want their money back. It’s also important that this part of the process is conducted well to encourage repeat business from your customer. Once the transaction is complete, use the details they’ve submitted to keep in touch and let them know about the latest deals to persuade them to buy from you again.