Your Entrepreneurial To-Do List  – Ways to Make Sure Your Business is a Success

Let’s say you have started your own business; now comes the hard part, keeping the company going. Aspiring entrepreneurs need to learn as much as possible about everything and anything that has to do with business to really achieve. And there is a to-do list! Of course, this to-do list won’t make your business the most successful out there; that is up to you! But it can help you along the way. 

Step 1: Get a Mentor

A business mentor can help you develop a stronger and more sustainable business. Mentored businesses and organisations report many benefits, including increases in turnover, productivity and employee numbers resulting from working with a mentor. By mentor matching, you can find a mentor to help you with your business and your niche. By providing an impartial view, mentors encourage you to look at your business or organisation with a fresh perspective and a confidential sounding board. The mentor’s role is to support, develop, stimulate and challenge. This could be a very effective tool to help you to achieve your objectives. 

Step 2: Know The Numbers, Yours and Competitors

Numbers are a great and motivating force in your business. They are the language of business, so you need to become fluent in them. In addition, you need to familiarise yourself with several different formulas and key benchmarks if you want your business to be successful. So what are some important numbers you need to learn and know?

Knowing the size of your targeted marketer, the number of companies currently competing in that space, the type of revenues they are generating, and the profit marks they are now running. This helps you assess your business and keeps you on your toes. 

Also, remember that expenses are usually 30 to 35% more than expected in any sort of set-up, and revenues are always less than planned. So, do not panic and adjust accordingly and be prepared to alter your plans if the numbers do not add up. 

Competition breeds the best results. So to be successful, you can’t be afraid to study and learn from your competitors. After all, they may be doing something right that you can implement in your business to make more money.

Step 3: Work More Jobs

Would you open a clothes shop without having to work in one yourself? It is a good idea to work in the type of business that you are hoping to develop. 

Think of it this way, you could bring more experience to this particular expertise, where the person you worked for went wrong or went right, what business models worked! But, on the other hand, who are customers and yourself going to trust, someone who has only worked one job in the industry or someone who has worked twenty? Business at its core, it’s a numbers game and the more you can make the numbers work in your favour, the better your chances at success, so that means covering all of your bases! 

Step 4: Learn the Rules

If you do not know the rules or the objective of a game, you cannot play it. So when developing your business further, you need to learn all of the legal aspects of business, such as local tax codes, licencing requirements and jurisdictions. This is also important for home-based businesses. For example, there may be rules against operating companies out of a home or have special requirements and tests to sell accounting, legal or financial services. 

Step 5: Keep Detailed Records

Accounting records are all of the documentation and books preparing financial statements or records relevant to audits and financial reviews. They include a description of assets and liabilities, monetary transactions, ledgers, journals and any supporting documents such as checks and invoices. So it is obvious that these are very important! 

All successful businesses keep detailed records; by doing so, you are also keeping your businesses in check legally. You also know where the company stands financially and what potential challenges you will be facing. Just knowing this gives you time to create strategies to overcome those challenges. 

Step 6: Learn Systems

Systems are the key to creating better and more profitable businesses. This can take the form of a script for answering phones to overall sales, marketing processes, and phone systems, IT and internet configurations. Learning systems can help you work smarter, not harder!

It is important to systemise fundamental processes, and they are vital and key to success!