Starting a Business? Here's the Checklist You Need

 

Starting a business can be complicated. You have to decide what form of legal organization works for your situation, secure funding, perform market research, and depending on your industry, familiarize yourself with all the relevant laws and regulations. 

 

At AdviCoach of Southeast Michigan, we generally work with small business owners in Michigan who are two or more years into their business lifecycle, but commonly hear from business owners who regret not laying a more solid foundation for their business.

Over the years, we’ve noticed some trouble spots in the first critical months. While it can be easy to get bogged down in the details of opening your small business in Michigan, you can’t lose sight of the important questions: why are you starting a business or this business? What value will your business bring to the market? How do you expect your business to change and grow through the years?

Here’s what most business owners wish they spent more time on when starting their Michigan business!

Everything Is So Uncertain: How Do I Find The Way Forward?

One of the first things a business owner will do is fill out a worksheet on the Top 5 Business Dangers. By taking time to reflect on their business and identifying its top challenges, we start a conversation about what needs to change. Ultimately, this helps us understand what is and is not working and compared to the owner’s desire, find the best way forward that fits their particular situation.

The Top 5 Business Dangers Worksheet is a valuable tool that helps business owners begin to sort through their own situation, available as a free download here!

The very personal nature of small business ownership can be a source of stress during economic hardship. You need a business coach that understands this and uses personalized solutions that meet you where you are.

Need some direction? Keep reading at my website!

Increasing Sales in Uncertain Times

During difficult economic times like COVID-19, it can be hard to break into new markets. One of the best things to do now is to better serve your existing customers. Think about what’s working and what isn’t!

These should be your first priorities:

• Review your sales process. Are your sales what they should or need to be (as compared to your goal for sales) - what is working well and what is not working? What is your sales process and approach that is reliable and drives predictable results? If you win only 10% of the time, getting that number to 20% is a small but meaningful improvement!
• Lead generation and know your numbers. How effective is your lead generation and lead follow-up? What is your lead management system and how well is it helping you with leads, lead management and conversions through your selling process? If you don’t know your numbers are you flying blind, and how will you adjust if you are off course?
• Know your customers. Know what their favorite services or products are and be aware of their wellbeing during this time. Ask yourself how you can better serve them, and how you can help then during the COVID-19 pandemic or as they prepare to build their business as the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
• Build referral relationships. The best referrals come from satisfied customers. Focus on doing everything you can for your current customers and showing them that you care. And don’t be afraid to ask for referrals! It doesn’t have to be a sales pitch—just ask them to share their good experiences with your business and send a friend or two your way!
• Reward loyal customers. This will look different for every business, but the customers that stick by you should recognized! Consider offering discounts for frequent retail customers, or a tasteful gift basket in B2B relationships. Find what makes sense for you!

Increasing sales isn’t easy or simple, but these should provide a good starting point for any business. For more information, keep reading here!

The Foundation of Your Business

At its most basic, profit is having more income than expenses. All businesses are fundamentally trying to have revenues exceed expenses. It sounds so simple, but once we start looking at profit in real-world situations, things can get more complicated.

For family business, profit isn’t just a number – it means we can fund the direct and indirect expenses of the business and have some left to go into the owner’s pocket. It directly affects the lifestyle of the family. Profit vs. no profit can be the difference between on-time mortgage payments, college education, or family vacations – or not being able to adequately meet family obligations.

Greater profit can be achieved by either increasing revenues (gross profits) or cutting expenses. Expenses can only be cut so far, so how do we increase revenues and therefore impact our cash flow?

There are two basic ways: marketing and sales.

By breaking down revenue drivers into these two general categories, it allows us to think more strategically. Instead of asking the general question, “how do I increase cash flow?”, we can now think more specifically about marketing and sales goals.

If you want to know more about the importance of cash flow for your business, read more on my website!