When To Go It Alone
When you’ve struck out on your own and are going solo into entrepreneurship there are a lot of factors to bear in mind. You’ll be your own boss, sure but you’ll also be your own accountant, HR officer and marketing expert.
Can you take this all on? Should you keep costs down and go it alone or is it worth hiring in the experts?
There are times when you’ll certainly need to bring in a contractor or ask for a little extra help and times when you’ll be learning on the job and just going with it.
In this guide we explore some of the key concepts behind running your own business and help you to figure out when to go it alone and when it’s worth budgeting for a little more support.
Website building
If you’re looking to get up and running as soon as possible, then by all means bring in some extra support but in the era of WordPress and other self-build sites, you’ll be able to hit the ground running after just a few days if you have even a little knowledge about website building.
You will need to have a good idea about what looks great and certainly your content has to be spot-on in terms of readability, grammar and spelling but with the ability to edit as you go, you won’t keep your customers waiting long.
Though getting your website up can be relatively easy and low in cost, where you take your site next can be where it gets complicated.
Even if you’re simply using your site to advertise your services, rather than selling physical goods, you’ll still want to know exactly how many people are visiting and engaging with your site. You’ll also want to know which pages are popular and appear to be working well and which are not doing their job. This is where your analytics comes in.
The easiest way to keep track on all these statistics is to pay for software or a company to do this for you but this is where, with a little knowledge, you may be able to pick these skills up for yourself. Check out online courses and surprise yourself at what you can put into practice after a few short sessions.
Set up a sales funnel system
Another option you may consider it setting up a sales funnel system for your business. Having your own website is a great we increases exposure for your business, but if you’re just getting started can be a bit difficult to set up.
What’s a sales funnel system you don’t need to be a graphic designer, website designer, or even know anything about coding. When you use a sales funnel system gives you already made templates and outlines for your site.
This option you can have your own website up and running much faster, and with less set up time involved. Marketing through a sales funnel system in creating lead magnets is one foundation to building a successful business.
There are a variety of different sales funnel systems out there, one you may consider setting up is Clickfunnels. If you’d like to get a free 14-day trial start setting up your basic website click here.
Promote your business with a blog
Another marketing strategy you want to implement when you’re getting your business started is blogging. This is a powerful marketing strategy for several reasons, but one of them is that it is evergreen content.
As a solo entrepreneur, you want to maximize your time as best as possible. Utilizing an evergreen content marketing strategy is one way to do that. Basically this means that you can create content once, and it will continue to work for you on an ongoing basis forever.
I look at writing a blog post like putting a billboard on the side of the highway. Each new post is just another advertisement opportunity for people coming to your site and to learn about your business.
This strategy can also generate highly targeted traffic for your business on autopilot. This is also very important because as a solo entrepreneur you don’t have the luxury of wasting time are people fan art good fit for your business.
If you’d like to learn more about using a blog to grow your business, check out my post on writing the perfect blog post here and download the free PDF guide below.
Marketing
If marketing is your forte, you’ll know how time consuming and complicated it can be. You’ll also know how absolutely worthwhile it is. But when you do carry out market research it must be done well, with no cutting corners.
That’s why this might be one area where you call in the experts. It’s not that you might not be capable of carrying out the work; it’s just the workload that many entrepreneurs and new businesses struggle with.
From figuring out who your target markets are, to digging deep into your customer profiles, marketing really is a skill. No two businesses are alike so finding a marketing agency that ticks all your boxes is vital.
If you are planning on spending money on hiring someone in, whether you’re looking for help with your dispensary SEO or targeting your clients through direct email, make sure you interview around and get an agency you that fully understands your goals and your ways of working.
The alternative, of course, is to take someone in-house. This is often more costly in the long run but with the right person, generating the right leads your own marketing guru may end up paying dividends.
Do your research, weigh up the pros and cons, read around your subject with business experts but don’t go it alone, if you feel out of your depth.
Accountancy
If you have a business that just asks you to send invoices for services, without buying in materials then you’re probably looking at a fairly straightforward tax round up at the end of the financial year.
Similarly, if it’s just you without additional staff you might be able to manage all your accounting tasks solo. After all, there is plenty of software available for the business professional.
But even without the additional complication of suppliers and bought in services, how do you know you’re maximizing all your potential tax breaks? Have you worked out if you can claim tax on your electrical equipment?
Do you qualify for breaks because of your tax status? The only way you’ll find out is with the help of an accountant. So while the basics might be straightforward, finding those additional savings might mean it’s well worth outsourcing your end of year bookkeeping.
You may also want to check out this book on finding the most deductions for your small business. It’s called Lower Your Taxes Big Time, and if you’d like to check out the current price on Amazon click here.
Image courtesy of Pexels
Human Resources
If you’ve been employed by someone else or been through a recruitment process, you might well be able to take on the mantle of HR officer for your company. This works fine when there are one or two additional staff being taken on, but becomes more complicated as you seek to expand your workforce.
Aside from pay and vacation, you’ll also be considering health care, a pension and any other perks you’ll need to contribute to.
As with any of these additional responsibilities, the secret to hiring and firing is great planning. Before you even commit pen to paper and draw up a job offer, make sure you have a strong and clear idea of what the role is going to be.
Although you’ll want someone who ticks the boxes for your core skills, remain open-minded. You should consider applicants from a variety of backgrounds who might bring with them additional skills. An older employee has a lot of advantages, as does anyone who has worked in a public facing role. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box.
As your workforce grows, so will you need to have people who know your company and can help you manage your staffing levels. If you’ve made great hires, you should be able to delegate managerial responsibility as you go.
Plan to succeed, plan to market effectively, to maximize your profits and to get the best from your staff and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
You might also enjoy this book on outsourcing called Clockwork. Pick up a copy here.
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