Recession Survival Advice for Startups

Many people have turned the threat of redundancy on its head into a real opportunity to go it alone. More and more professionals these days are looking to make it on their own steam. Do it right, and it can be hugely rewarding. Consider how hard you have to work for your employer and how it would be to reap the benefits all to yourself. Most new startups, however, don’t make it through the early years. So if you’re thinking about going down this road, it’s crucial to do things right.

Now I can’t claim to have an exhaustive list to follow. In my view, though, the following tips will take you a long way towards success:

¢ Choose a field you truly love. The path before you is going to throw you a lot of tough challenges. You need to be involved in something where your heart is, or you wont last the distance.

¢ Hire an accountant. My advice is don’t go it alone when it comes to taxes unless you have experience with it – letting an accountant deal with it can really save a lot of hassle. Even if it’s only for the first year or so.

¢ Make use of the internet. The internet is the small businesses’ best friend. And it doesn’t matter if you’re not planning on selling through the web. Never before has there been such a cost effective way of gaining business. Ensure that you get yourself a decent website. I would especially recommend delving into Google Adwords and SEO to gain traffic from search engines.

¢ Learn from your competitiors. Then Do it Better. The wisest thing you can do is take a good long look at who your competitors are and how they do it. They have years of experience on you and you shouldn’t discount that. But go one further and see what they could be doing better. Find yourself a Unique Selling Point, no matter how small. Without this no business can succeed.

¢ Appreciate your staff. If you have a team underneath you, no matter how small, you need to look after them. Youll need them more than ever right now so show them theyre appreciated by treating them now and again, or taking them out on team building days.

¢ Track Return on Investment with your advertising. There are of course a wealth of choices facing you in terms of marketing and advertising. But small businesses are notorious for throwing good money after bad on ineffective advertising techniques purely because they have no idea of how well they’re performing. It is invaluable to find out the advertising source of your custom. This is easier with online marketing, but can be as simple as asking your customers where they heard about you. Come back to this periodically – at least a few times a year, and tweak your strategy.

Hopefully this advice has been useful. Do drop a comment to suggest any other tips you may have! For business tips and corporate cookery events.