How to Grow Your Own Small Business

Starting a business and growing from the ground up is one of the most rewarding things you can do. According to a new study, nearly 68 percent of the individuals with an ultra-high net worth ($30 million +) were self-made millionaires.

Not only can starting your own business be rewarding in terms of the money it can generate, but it can also bring you purpose and a feeling of meaning to go to work each day.

If you are considering building a startup, keep reading this guide to learn how to grow your small business from the ground up in any industry.

Engage Consumers

Rule number one when it comes to growing a successful business is to engage consumers and listen to what they want from you and the company.

One way of successfully engaging customers is by creating relevant content and publishing it to interact with potential consumers. The content should be relevant to the business and provide value for the readers to take away. Through building content and consistently providing value to consumers, you can create a community of followers that believe in you and your business.

If you are having a hard time grasping what the consumer really wants from you, try running a survey and ask customers to provide feedback.

Boost Your Social Presence

A significant part of growing your own business is networking and connecting with potential customers. One of the best places to do this is social media.

With over 70 percent of all American adults on social media, it presents a massive opportunity for small business owners to get their name out there and grow their brand. Here are a few tips to get you started with social media marketing:

Answer customers questions
Provide valuable content
Pick a brand voice
Share visual content
Run surveys & contests
Provide contact information

Boosting your social media presence can help you connect with consumers and build a community of followers. Once you build up your community, you have a loyal group of followers that can help promote your brand and get the name of your business out there by word of mouth.

Another way you can build up a network of followers around your brand is through community outreach and events. By attending local events, you can reach out to local consumers and tell them about the products/ services you offer. Then, to get them to try your product, consider offering a sample and answering any questions they may have about it.

Hire the Right Talent

The employees you hire should be your company’s number one fanbase. They are going to be the people spreading the word about the business and representing the brand. Therefore, if you decide to hire employees, it’s essential to create a job description that outlines the position’s primary responsibilities to attract the right talent.

Using social networks to spread the word that you are hiring can be a great way of connecting with like-minded people who can help you scale and grow your business.

To save time and money on the hiring process, you can opt to outsource some of your critical positions, such as IT. Using managed IT services can give you access to expert knowledge and help prevent any network downtime that can be costly to your business.

Understand the Competition

When you are just starting your small business, it’s critical to know the competition and where you fit in the market. The better you understand the competition, the more you can focus on your place in the market and grow your business.

One way of analyzing the competition and determining where you fit is called a SWOT Analysis. It involves analyzing your company’s:

Strengths – What your business does really well. This is what makes your small business unique and gives you an edge over the competition.
Weaknesses – What you need to work on as a business. This is what your competition may have the edge over you.
Opportunities – What areas of the market can be exploited. This will include anything you can take advantage of to better position yourself in the market.
Threats – What can prevent your business from growing. This will include anything that can potentially negatively impact your business.

By using this strategy, you can gain a better understanding of what you should be focusing on within your business and what to avoid. In addition, this technique allows companies to zero in on its advantages and uncovers areas that they need to work on or develop.

Analyze & Adjust

To steer your company in a position to become a successful business and maintain it, you will need to track certain business metrics. These metrics will give you the ability to track how well your business is doing by logging actual data rather than estimating.

Revenue – The amount of money your business is taking in.
Expenses – The amount of money spent producing.
Sales Growth – How much your sales are growing/ decreasing.
Customer Retention – The number of repeat customers.
Net Income – The amount of money the business takes in after paying out expenses.
Employee Turnover – How often employees leave the company.
Profit Margin – How much the company’s income exceeds its expenses.
Website Traffic – The number of visitors that navigate to your website.

Tracking these few metrics can show you how well your startup is performing. When you follow the numbers over time, it can show you changes in performance, indicating if your business is either improving or not. Finally, using the information, you can determine what changes need to be made in the business.

Should you be focusing more on reducing costs?
Is the company making enough money?
Are customers finding your website?
Are they returning to purchase more?

These are a few questions to ask yourself when analyzing the information and making decisions about the company’s future.

Building a Startup: Getting Started

Growing a small business is all about making connections with consumers and building lasting relationships with them. Starting a business is not an easy task, but you can grow and sustain your business with the right resources and network. Plan ahead and never stop adapting to change to prevent falling behind the competition.

If you’re thinking about building a startup, check out the rest of our blog to learn additional tips and information to help you get started.