5 Steps for Starting Your Own Manufacturing Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Manufacturing Business|5 Steps for Starting Your Own Manufacturing BusinessStarting a new manufacturing business can be a daunting prospect, but if you pull it off, there can be great rewards.

One of the most important things is that you don’t rush into it without being ready, and this means careful planning is needed. These five steps for starting a successful manufacturing business can help you on your way.

1. Planning

You can’t just go into business and hope things will fall into place, because they invariably won’t. Instead, you’ve got to plan your approach in as much detail as possible.

Some of the first things you need to think about are how you’re going to enter the market, where your competitive edge lies, and how you’re going to finance the venture. There are a lot of start-up costs associated with manufacturing, so you may have to come up with some innovative ways of financing your company.

2. Location

Where you locate your factory is going to play a big role in your business’s success.

Logistics play a huge part in manufacturing, and you’re going to want to minimize these costs as much as possible. One of the ways you can do this is by finding a factory in a location with excellent transport links.

Great transport links also make it easier for customers to get to you and your staff to get to and from work.

3. Personnel

When you’re starting a new venture, it’s vital you get the right people in to help you out. This is a critical time for your company, so you want to be able to rely on competent staff to help carry out your vision.

If you hire well and build a good, solid team, you start to breed a culture that will define your business for the years to come, but if you get your hiring wrong, it can lead to bad habits and poor-quality work.

The hiring process is crucial, and you need to be getting the right people in, something that has served this dowel pin manufacturer well.

4. Technology

You can only get the best out of people if you give them the right tools to do their job.

Investing in technology is expensive, but if you’re investing in the right technology, it’s going to make a huge difference to your efficiency and make your company more profitable.

It might mean a big upfront investment, but technology can make all the difference in your manufacturing business’s success.

5. Suppliers

We’re always talking about customers and rightly so: they’re the ones that help pay the bills. That said, suppliers play a big role as well.

If you can start to build good relationships with your suppliers right from the very start, they can stand you in good stead for many years. Your suppliers are one of the very first cogs in the entire manufacturing process, so it’s vital you can rely on them.

Really do your research and due diligence on suppliers and try to cultivate strong relationships.

Older Workers – An Opportunity Created from Danger

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Older Workers|OLDER WORKERS – AN OPPORTUNITY CREATED FROM DANGER.Older workers are facing profound work challenges.

Almost all areas of commerce have been impacted by the health crisis. How we respond will define our business and personal lives for years to come.

Among the groups that will feel a lasting effect will be our older workers.

Most companies, organizations, and governments will come back to life as smaller, leaner entities with a focus on cutting costs to survive. Older workers, typically representing the higher salary ranges, will be under significant scrutiny.

Long held biases like ageism will still be in place when work life recovers, this time with many notions accentuated by misinformation. The reality is that these long-standing, harmful prejudices will find new names and rationales.

With the changing nature of the workplace, older workers may be seen as less technology-savvy, and by inference, less trainable. The health crisis itself has painted a patina of vulnerability on our older workers. Many may be seen by their employers as people who are no longer worth the actuarial risk.

While it is clear that within any population group, there will be specific challenges and issues, what is also clear is that those assumptions don’t fit entire demographics. Older workers possess knowledge and skills that are crucial to organizational success. They have faced significant challenges, developed business solutions, overcome business obstacles.

We as older workers face a choice: Do we accept this situation, or do we build better alternatives?

In fact, this situation is a good opportunity for people in the second half of life to explore entrepreneurship. The need for skilled, resourceful people to solve problems is widespread. You have the knowledge, know-how, and networks to provide unique solutions.

This is not a recommendation to quit your day job. It is a suggestion to reevaluate how you interact with the world of work. It is a proposition which suggests that you create a phased retirement from your current job if possible, using that time to build and develop a small business of your own that you can utilize going forward. If you are going to be let go, you might as well do it on your terms. If that option isn’t available, take steps on your own to build your own enterprise with the time you have available.

You have knowledge, know-how, and networks that are highly valuable to organizations and industries. These attributes combine to create effective solutions.

You know where the problems are most acute in industries and communities you are passionate about. You don’t need the levels of supervision typical of most workers. You have worked on solving problems your entire career. In many cases, you have experience working remotely, while delivering solutions.

Creating a business entity and support infrastructure can be done for a few hundred dollars for most people. Doing so sooner than later will give you the chance to experiment with your new business platform and hone your value proposition.

A direction I recommend is to begin reaching out and networking with other entrepreneurs and small businesses. No individual has all the answers. Effective solutions emerge from curated teams. You can build these teams of like-minded entrepreneurs to take on specific projects together. As these are completed, you can recreate new teams to meet new challenges. The more people in your network, the more opportunities there are for good, meaningful, valuable work to come your way. Nurture your networks. Grow your new small business.

As older workers, we have a choice. We can accept that we are stuck with working around misguided employment assumptions, or we can create smarter, newer options that serve your own purposes and goals.

Creating your own small business is not a prescription for quick riches or fast results. It is an approach to life that highlights your own passions and puts in place effective tools and policies to help that effort – and the communities and industries we love – succeed.

Start Small. Start smart. Start right now. It’s not hard. It’s just new.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Rick TerrienRick Terrien is the author of Ageless Startup: Start a Business at Any Age. He has been awarded Fast Company Magazine’s Fast 50 Award, representing the 50 most innovative companies in the world. He was also awarded the United States Small Business New Product of the Year Award, as well as AARP’s Purpose Prize.
For more information please visit www.ageless-startup.com.

How To Start A Successful Business In A Niche Market

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A lot of businesses now are within a niche area. There are plenty of ways to be successful still. The industry of plumbing for example, is a highly skilled area that will take you some additional steps before you can really see the business flourish. This is because it is a skilled job, as many niche industries are, such as building, architecture, medical equipment manufacturing, car manufacturing and they require a lot of hands on work.

Here are the first fundamental steps for starting in a niche market:

  1. Know your niche.
  2. Get training and experience – this includes knowing about plumbing as well as business and also the implications of hiring staff and their wages, insurance.
  3. Take care of the legalities with the necessary insurance needed and all the important information relating to your businesses’ tax.
  4. Make a business plan and look at what you would like to achieve in the first year or two of business.
  5. Have a unique logo and create a business website to help drive sales – you should look at good web design to ensure that your business is being advertised in the right way.
  6. Generate leads and be a good salesperson.
  7. Have a license – this may vary from state to state, but often you’ll find that being a trade qualified plumber isn’t enough to obtain your licence. You may also need to prove you are capable in business, whether that is exams or additional skill sets that you can prove on paper and in practice.

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | How To Start A Successful Business In A Niche Market

Look At What You Need

If you are looking at the world of plumbing for example, you are going to need to look at a big supply of tools and equipment. With wholesale plumbing supplies, you can be sure that your business is well equipped to deal with all types of plumbing situations and that you can do your job well with good quality supplies. You want to ensure that you have reliable equipment and tools that will serve you well. You want to keep your customers happy with being able to carry out the work effectively and efficiently without any problems. This will keep your customers coming back time after time. This depends on how well you do the job, your expertise and the staff that you employ.

Another important thing to remember is that when you are working as a business, you will need a team of people behind you, so employing the right people is vital. You need friendly and reliable team members who will be qualified for the job and be able to prove their skills as well as offering a personable attitude to customers. Without this, your business is dead in the water. You must be able to look at the positives of business too, because you will need a lot of focus and determination. Look at the competition. What companies are you currently competing with before you start your business? What are they doing differently to you and how can you outsmart them and do better?

Starting any business is an exciting prospect but there are some additional things to consider in the plumbing industry. Start small, know your craft and see the benefits.

5 Top Tips to Prepare for Your Retail Store Renovation

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Retail Store Renovation|5 Top Tips to Prepare for Your Retail Store RenovationRenovating your retail space can be key to attracting new customers to your brand, preparing for the future of commerce, and ensuring that your brand is able to remain as competitive as possible. However, before you take the major step towards remodeling your beloved retail space, here are some top tips to help you prepare and ensure that your renovations will run smoothly.

1.Strip the Store of its Original Fixtures

In order to create an innovative and completely reworked retail space, the best action that you can take is to start with a completely blank slate. You will then be able to recreate your ideal store. To enable you to do this, you will have to strip the store of its original fixtures. This may include removing displays, storage facilities, and even walls that are obstructing your floor plan. This will help you see the space that you have to work with and will allow your contractors to more easily work within your building.

2. Hire a Junk Disposal Team

However, completely stripping your store of its original fixtures is a messy business, and you may find that, before long, you have a large amount of waste furniture and fittings that you are not planning to carry over to your new shop. To prevent your waste from obstructing your decorating plans, and to ensure that your customers can return to a clear and attractive retail store once your project is complete, you should hire a junk removal team. They will enable you to have an empty space in no time at all and save you the hassle of finding ways to dispose of the waste yourself.

3. Create a Schedule and Timeline

It is not possible to keep retail stores closed for extended periods of time without it having an impact on your finances, possibly even on your ability to keep afloat. With this in mind, you should create a schedule and timeline for these renovations to ensure that your project is constantly moving forward and to check that your relaunch can happen when it is expected. This will also give you a clear idea for when you come to plan your relaunch. You should also plan ways to keep your business financially viable during the refit, such as doing business online or using your excess cash or a business loan to support your business while it is shut.

4. Develop Your Vision as a Team

One of the most exciting parts of a retail remodel is the fact that you will have the chance to create your dream retail space. However, rather than developing this vision on your own, you should work with your team to create a suitable retail store. This vision can include your displays, fixtures, and your floor plan. Your team will know the shop as well as you do, and you should combine your ideas to create the best vision possible.

5. Plan Your Relaunch

Lastly, once your renovations have been put in motion, it is time to plan your relaunch. To enable you to make a profit on your refit before long, and to once more grab the attention of your customers, you should plan an exciting brand relaunch that can get people interested in your brand. This may include a press release or a large opening party or event.

The Nitty-Gritty Aspects To Consider When Starting A Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Starting a Business|The Nitty-Gritty Aspects To Consider When Starting A BusinessThe world is business is simple and complicated in almost equal measure. The idea is fairly straightforward, and once you understand the fundamentals, you can be off and on your way to something special. The complicated parts are the initial understanding of those basics and having the drive to continue working hard in order to achieve what you can.

We all have different parts of life that we’re good at and that we’re comfortable with. The majority of us tend to enjoy the more colourful and creative sections of any project. With that said, the majority of us will then tend to struggle with the more tedious aspects. Those annoying nitty-gritty parts can bore us to death, but they do need to be done in order to get things up and running. If you don’t know what these kinds of things are, then here are a few examples for you – hopefully, they give you an idea of the other side of the grind:

Where/How Are You Going To Stump Up The Capital?

In order to make money in this game, you need to invariably spend it first. If you have no money to begin your venture, then you’re going to struggle to get everything moving. Saving up for a while is the easiest way to stump up the money, of course, but you could look for investment via start-up loans and angel investors, too. You could also take the bootstrapping approach if you feel as though you can organically make something out of precious little.

Do You Understand All The Necessary Formalities

As we mentioned before, there are many little nuggets of info that need to be sorted out and submitted before you can even begin your business. You also need to confirm things personally for the likes of tax reasons. Right now, you may not have much of an idea of what these formalities are, but a quick internet search will point you towards registration, data laws, and health & safety aspects.

What Insurance Do You Need?

Every business should have insurance if it wants to be a successful one. You never know what issue(s) might be around the corner, so having that financial safety net could (and probably would) prevent you from disaster. You do, however, need to make sure your business policy offers the proper coverage, so scanning through a bunch of different policies is imperative.

How Much Will You Spend On Marketing?

Marketing will always be important in terms of selling a product or offering a service. The amount you spend on it needs to be taken into account, though. Are you going to work with an agency, for instance, or will you build up hours of screen time yourself? This kind of thing matters as you’ll want the best possible return on investment regarding such a significant aspect of a business.