Best business tips no matter where you are in your career...
- Learn from your customers and make customer support your priority - They say the golden rule is “the customer is always right”, building strong customer relationships can make the difference and take your brand further. Never underestimate the power of “word of mouth”.
- Know your target audience - If you don’t know who you are trying to reach you cannot expect to grab their attention or build their trust. Take the time to get to know your target audience, how old are they? What is their lifestyle like? What are their interests? What are they doing in their free time and on weekends? The more you know the easier you will find it is to form a connection and target the right clientele for you brand.
- Be time-efficient; this one is especially important for our business owners out there. In the beginning you will find yourself trying to wear many hats, yes you’re the CEO but you’re also responsible for digital marketing, logistics, accounts, administration and the list goes on. Make sure you are setting yourself enough time to complete all necessary tasks and if and where you can - delegate!
- Find a work/life balance - it can be so easy to let business take over your life especially when you are putting in 100% to reach success. Allow yourself to clock off and spend time doing the things you love, not only will you feel a lot better within yourself but you may find that stepping away from work for a minute gives you a fresh new perspective.
- Learn to be flexible; Unfortunately it is impossible to make a plan for all your business’ “what-ifs”, whilst it’s important to be organised and ready for whatever may come up it is also important to try not sweat the small stuff and to go with what life throws at you.
- Be passionate in everything you do - “When you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life.” Fall in love with your job and all the work that goes into it, sending emails might not be your favourite way to pass the time but all tasks lead into the bigger picture and ultimately your success.
- Data analytics are your friend - Data analytics is the new age of tracking your performance results. Make sure you track these in detail - who are you connecting with? Who aren’t you connecting with? What has shown success and what hasn’t? Work with your analytics to boost your brand’s impact on consumers.
- Set goals - Your goal was to start your own business, you’ve now accomplished this - whats next? Set realistic goals and set them often! Goal setting helps trigger new behaviours and habits, it is an important tool to guide focus and sustain momentum and it makes YOU feel good! You can’t improve if you are not managing and measuring your success.
(Pic cred: Jess Hunt)