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Why a Business Coach Is Every Entrepreneur’s Best Friend

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Business Coach|Why a Business Coach Is Every Entrepreneur’s Best FriendThere are certainly a lot of attractive selling points to starting your own business, including increased freedom, personal fulfillment, and an escape from the traditional nine to five career. However, venturing out on your own also carries its fair share of risk. As a result, there are a few key things you need to know before you start a business. Sometimes, getting all of this information can be tricky and time-consuming. You may find yourself bouncing between websites, reading multiple business books, or attending multiple conferences.

Luckily, there’s a simpler way to gather all the knowledge you need: hiring a business coach. Business coaches help entrepreneurs and business owners clarify the vision of their companies. They aid in setting goals and creating strategies for reaching these objectives. Hiring a business coach is an excellent way to streamline your knowledge acquisition process, among other key benefits. A business coach is every entrepreneur’s best friend when they are preparing to start their business. Here’s why you need to hire a business coach today.

Increased Accountability

When you’re in the early stages of your entrepreneurial journey, it can be tough to hold yourself accountable. Since it’s just you, you might be a little too lenient with yourself if you don’t get certain things done on time.

When you pay to work with a business coach, you want to ensure you get your money’s worth. You also don’t want to feel guilty when your business coach checks in on your progress only to find you haven’t implemented any of the strategies you decided on together. In these two ways, a business coach can be an outstanding accountability tool.

Impartial Third-Party

When you’ve dedicated so much time, effort, and potentially money to your business idea, your perspective can get a little blurred. Similarly, because your business proposal is your passion personified, you’re likely going to be a bit biased and view it favorably – even if there are areas for improvement.

A business coach, on the other hand, is a completely neutral, impartial party. They can take an honest and critical look at your venture and complete a type of SWOT analysis, identifying its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. They can then use their unique position to provide some constructive feedback on how you can strengthen your business idea.

Helping You Stay On the Right Track

Building a business from the ground up is a huge challenge. You need all the guidance and resources you can get to help you steer the path and stay on the right track. A business coach can provide exactly that.

While it’s easy to get distracted or overwhelmed by entrepreneurial opportunities, a business coach can help you stay focused and streamlined in your approach. They can consistently remind you of your company’s vision, its mission, its goals, and its strategies for achieving them. With these helpful reminders, staying on track will be easier than ever.

The future of your business is now. With the help of a seasoned business coach, you can get one step closer to making your business vision a reality. Reclaim control over your future by hiring an experienced business coach to back you and guide you through every step of your entrepreneurial journey.

How to Start Your Own Online Business

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Start your own online business|Find out How You Can Start an Online BusinessStarting an online business has many advantages. You can work from any location, it requires very little capital, and it provides you access to a wide range of customers. Most people fail to realize that it requires just as much strategic planning as setting up a brick and mortar office.

So, if you want to learn how to start an online business, these are the best steps to follow.

1.The Right Work Model

The best online business to start will go nowhere without the right company model. Like most people, you probably want to indulge in something you are passionate about, but passion might not pay your bills. So, what do you do?

Before you settle for a job idea, familiarize yourself with Ramit Sethi’s Demand Matrix. It will help you choose a business model that is in demand and scalable.

2. Choosing Your Business Idea

There are numerous online business opportunities in the market today. The good news is, you don’t have to do something completely new; you can freelance using the skills you already have. Otherwise, you should make up a list of company ideas that best suit your talents.

What comes easy to you? In what ways do your friends often seem to rely on you most? Can you turn that skill into a profit? If yes, then you can jump to the next step.

3. Get Validation

Before you start an online business, make sure your chosen idea is validated. Do you have a website? Set up a landing page where you can promote your brand. Do you have competitors? Look through their customer reviews to get an understanding of your potential client’s interests. If you still feel unsatisfied, create your survey and send it to prospective users.

Their honest opinion will give you positive or negative validation. Use the feedback to determine whether the idea is worth the investment or to devise a solution for the current gaps in the market.

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Start your own online business|Find out How You Can Start an Online Business4. Create Your Plan

Once your idea is validated, the next step to take is an online business plan. It is crucial because it will determine where you get the funding you need and the amount you require. It also serves as the backbone for your work foundation.

Draft a simple work plan. Then conduct a SWOT analysis. Use the information from the business survey you received earlier to define your competitors, price models, market type, and distribution methods.

Then analyze the cost of your venture and determine the appropriate methods to fund your idea. By the time you are doing the final review, you should have a solid business strategy.

5. Develop a Website

Setting up an online business will not work if you do not have a website unless you are on social media. This is the perfect online representation of your products, services, and brand.

A good website with Google Analytics will help you generate customer traffic and analyze your job performance. The process of creating a site might be a challenge, as well. You have to decide on a unique and memorable domain name, choose the perfect host, and figure out the design that will best work for you.

If all this is too much to handle, you can enroll a web developer instead of doing it yourself. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and has excellent image quality.

6. Legalize the Business

Start an online business only if you can make it legal. Read the online business regulations on the SBA. Once you decide the legal structure you want your business to adapt, register the brand.
Don’t forget to do thorough research on your tax obligations. If you have a shopping cart, configure it so that it can collect your sales taxes automatically.

Online Business Ideas

Sometimes, getting a business idea might be difficult. Those listed below are already making money for many online entrepreneurs. One might be just right for you.

  • Online Gaming Business: Have you played the Double Triple Chance online? Was it addictive? That’s how you know that the online gaming business is making money. To start one, first, prepare yourself for legal issues. Then, consider whether you want to locate your company in offshore countries or not, based on your government jurisdiction. Choose the right gaming software, marketing strategy, and set your budget. Make sure that your games are worth playing.
  • Affiliate Marketing: If you already have a website, affiliate marketing will be an easy transition for you. All you require to do is to pick a product niche for your business and a partner like Amazon or CJ Affiliate that sells that product. Use the traffic on your site to market the service and provide the CTA for customers. You will receive a commission from every successful order.
  • Drop Shipping: Like affiliate marketing, you only need a website and marketing/advertisement capital to start a drop shipping company. Pick a product niche and partner with platforms like Amazon and Etsy. Once a customer purchases the product you are selling, buy it from the manufacturer at a lower cost and sent it to the customer through your drop shipper for free.
  • App Developing: Are you a coder with a great new app idea? Then becoming an app developer should be a no brainer. Start working on it, and once it is done, sell it to customers directly through social media and advertisements or to a more prominent company for an instant payday. If you do not know how to code, you can enlist a certified software developer to collaborate with your genius.

Conclusion

There are many other online business ideas that you can go for. Freelancing is especially a cost-free way to earn money online. If you have the experience, you can become an online business manager and help manage other companies.

The bottom line: don’t work on the model, idea, validation, website, and then forget to maintain the business. Management is just as crucial as any other aspect.

Have you started an online business? Let us know what your experience was like in the beginning.


About the Author

Thomas Glare is a passionate freelance content writer, always striving to inspire others and bring insight into the endless possibilities of the modern times we are currently living. He also spent a lot of time collaborating with some prestigious online casinos, thus being No. 1 expert in matters of gambling. He continues to improve his knowledge and is the co-designer of casinos online, Novomatic Games Representative.

Identifying Your Weaknesses As A Business

StrategyDriven Business Performance Assessment Program (BPAP) Article |Business Weaknesses|Identifying Your Weaknesses As A BusinessSmall businesses do a lot of things better than the competition. As an SME, for example, you’ll have tighter links with the local community, allowing you to strengthen brand loyalty. Also, having a limited budget means that you understand how and where to cut costs to maximize your funds.

On the flip side, you will struggle to perform some tasks to the same standard as everyone else. While there is nothing wrong with having weaknesses, it’s essential to turn them into strengths if you want to stay afloat. After all, your rivals will leave you in their dust if you don’t adapt and thrive.

First, you must figure out what the company’s weaknesses are as it will allow you to focus on the most important ones. Here are four common pitfalls that SMEs suffer regularly. It might come as a surprise how basic the following steps are.

Ask Others

Most posts will start by saying that you need to conduct a SWOT analysis. Working out your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is a great place to start, but it doesn’t help you figure out what they are. With that in mind, it’s wise to ask other people for their opinions.

Employees will always be happy to help in this department because they are never satisfied! Bear that in mind when analyzing whether they are weak points or not as they could be little gripes that do not affect the business. Clients and customers are excellent research sources, too. All you need to do is ask them whether you can improve on the customer experience.

You should be open to constructive criticism. Some of the things you’ll hear will be out of the blue, and it’s easy to react poorly. Instead, write it down and move onto the next potential weakness. That way, you can review them in more detail later.

Perform Tests

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, it’s possible to test various elements of your business to check for weak spots. A performance assessment of your server and internet connection is the best place to begin because the company relies on the Web. Professional network solutions are often necessary as they ensure the business is never offline and website upload speeds are high. Plus, quality services come with an assessment included.

Next, it’s time to test which areas of the site are getting traction from browsers and which ones are lagging behind. A/B testing is a fantastic tool for companies that can narrow the weaknesses down to a handful of features. If you don’t fall into this category, you should opt for multivariate testing instead. MV tests analyze several elements of your site simultaneously, helping you to figure out what is useful.

You should always perform assessments as they encourage growth and improvement.

Keep Tabs On Complaints

The first paragraph said you should ask customers for their opinions. Well, the good news is that you don’t have to – they’ll come to you if they think the standard is low. One in twenty-five shoppers will complain directly to you, whereas an additional 13% will tell up to five people about the experience. Thanks to the internet, you can find these complaints with ease.

Again, it’s about striking the perfect balance. Yes, some people like to complain, and they will do it regardless. However, there could be a couple of nuggets of information that will transform your processes and practices. The trick is to watch out for criticisms that pop-up more than once. If several complaints focus on the same point, the odds are high that they are right.

Responding to complaints and asking for feedback is a smart way to show you care and want to change.

StrategyDriven Business Performance Assessment Program (BPAP) Article |Business Weaknesses|Identifying Your Weaknesses As A BusinessCompare Yourself To The Competition

Comparing yourself to anyone is risky because there could be differing variables. As a result, the conclusions you draw will be flawed. Although that is true, it’s never bad to evaluate your business against the rest of the market. By doing this, you’ll figure out which areas you excel at, and which ones need some work.

A good tip is to keep it general. Check their website and see whether it’s more navigable than yours, or gauge whether they go the extra mile for customers for the sake of their experience. Doing this should provide perspective and encourage you to up your game to compete with your rivals.

Do you understand your business’ weaknesses? Hopefully, this post will help you address the imbalance.

Business Plan Development: Know your Finances

StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Business Plan|Business Plan Development: Know your FinancesA great business plan is the foundation of every great business. It sets out what your new business will do, how you will overcome the challenges of starting up and, most important of all, how you will make money.

But your start-up business plan is all just wishful thinking until you start filling in the financial figures.

Your marketing plan and SWOT analysis are interesting – but they don’t mean a thing if you don’t have realistic figures on your bottom line. Your financial forecasts and statements make up the most essential section of your plan. You need it – not just to set the financial targets you will work to, and as a blueprint for running your business – but to secure funding from investors or lenders. They are going to want to see numbers that show your business has the ingredients to thrive and grow and that they can be repaid, with interest.

What should be in the financial section of your business plan?

Your financial projections need to include the key figures that business accounts will show. These are the profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow.

These will be similar to the detailed accounting statements your business will eventually generate – but with one important difference. You will need to make projections of the figures your business will achieve, rather than report on those you have.

This means that you have to take an educated guess about the future performance of your business. It may be easier to make your estimates if you have experience of running a similar business – and if you have, say so!

Keep it real

It may be tempting to be over-optimistic – but the more realistic your estimates are, the more professional you will look – and the better your chances of securing the funding you want.

Everyone wants to set up the next Google or Twitter, but not every business can enjoy exponential growth – and plans that suggest it will, can be a red flag for investors.

One way to ensure your figures are credible is to base them on an existing business that you know well, and to use the following structure:

Start with a sales forecast. Set up a spreadsheet projecting sales over the first three years. Set up different sections for different lines, with columns for every month for the first year (you might want to change to a quarterly basis for subsequent years).

Don’t just include units. Have columns for unit sales, unit costs, pricing, one that multiplies units times price to calculate sales, and one for sales costs. This allows you to demonstrate gross margin: sales revenue less sales costs. Plus it’s a useful number for comparing with different standard industry ratios.

Create an expenses budget. Differentiate between fixed costs, such as rent and payroll, and variable costs, such as advertising and delivery. Include contingencies and variations based on different sales figures.

You may have to estimate things like interest and taxes.

Develop a cash-flow statement. This shows the cash moving in and out of the business. It is important to remember when compiling your cash-flow projection to show how many of your invoices will be paid in cash, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and so on. Some business planning software programs will help you make these projections.

Income projections. This is your profit and loss forecast for your business for the coming three years. Use the numbers that you put in the other sections. Remember:

Sales – cost of sales = gross margin

Gross margin – expenses, interest and taxes = net profit

Include assets and liabilities. Start with assets and estimate what you’ll have on hand, month by month for cash, money owed to you, inventory, and your substantial assets like land, buildings, and equipment.

Then work out your liabilities or debts – the bills for suppliers, finance and loan repayments.

The breakeven point. If your business is viable, at a certain point your revenue will exceed your costs. This is a key point for potential lenders, who want to know that they are lending to a viable enterprise.

Do you need help?

The financial section of your business plan is so important that it is worth getting help with. Your accountant may be able to provide some input, and, remember, that you may be able to find templates for businesses like yours online.

Some accounts software may have helpful modules – and some will have the ability to translate your figures into graphic form to create pie charts or bar graphs that you can use to highlight your financials, sales history, or projected income over three years. And don’t be afraid to include visuals in your business plans – they can make complicated data much easier to understand!