Home based business have a lot of good things working for them. Since they usually require low up-front investments, they represent a good choice for first-time entrepreneurs, and running things from home offers up an opportunity for a good work-life balance.
However, despite these benefits, running a home based business is not a breeze, and it comes with all the problems and responsibilities of larger organizations. One of the biggest concerns, of course, is running your company once you open the doors to the customers.
The goal of every successful business is to grow. Now, we’ll see how to do it.
Be sure to set goals
Goals are what will keep you on track and prevent you from being lost in the haze of juggling family life and business chores at the same. So, keep detailed track of your sales, cash flow, and expenses and use them to inform your short-term and long-term goals. In order to be useful, these goals need to be measurable, focused, and, most importantly, realistic. Stretching of resources can only cause your company to waste resources and ruin your track record long-term. So, keep your development plans modest and incremental. It’s far easier to deal with runaway success than overreaching.
Focus on a single product or service
Although this strategy may sound completely opposite from growing, putting your focus on a single (or a couple of) successful product of service until you gather more resources for expansion will keep your business firmly anchored and reduce its overall operating costs. Your ultimate goal here should be to build a strong base of customers that will serve as early adopters of your expanded portfolio and simply make the expansion safer. This is the slower route, and you will certainly play a “who is going to blink first” game with some lucrative market opportunities, but you will also go down a much safe route.
Use the online resources
The reason why you should make this leap is that online resources are more affordable and easier to maintain than most on-site tools. Also, it is safe to say that enough people of all ages use the internet to make online marketing the most cost-effective approach you can get in your company’s early years. Of course, to fully utilize the advantages of online marketing as well as Cloud-based tools, you will need a professional-looking website and a good fiber internet connection to keep everything running as planned. But, these investments will buy you a rock-solid infrastructure you will use in years to come.
Find a way to increase sales with existing clients
Customer loyalty is a foundation upon which all successful businesses are built upon. One of the recent surveys says that existing customers are likely to spend 67% more money on your products and services than the new ones. On the other hand, similar research points out that about 80% of businesses spend only 30% of their marketing budgets on these loyal high-paying customers. So, there is the crack you can exploit to drive more sales without too much effort. Set up an engaging loyalty program, put more effort into customer service, make sure the customers’ voices are heard and you’re halfway done.
Join forces with other businesses
No matter what your business branch might be, you can always find a couple of related companies to build long-lasting relations with and, at some point, join the forces with. For instance, if you are starting a home-based pet care center, you can reach out to nearby pet stores and see if you can agree on some long-term discounts. If everything goes well, you can start doing cross-marketing and promote each other’s services in your facilities. You can also establish a shared marketing budget and start rolling out the commercial on wider-access media like TV. The opportunities are virtually limitless.
Try out new marketing techniques
Last but not least, we have to remember that effective marketing doesn’t always have to be performed through traditional marketing channels. For instance, guerilla marketing has proved to be especially productive in smaller communities where word of mouth spreads more quickly. If you are unfamiliar with the term, guerilla marketing refers to some public stunt, performance, a piece of street art, or any other widely visible action or asset that puts the spotlight on your business in a fun, creative, and why not even subversive manner.
We hope these few guidelines and tips will help your small home-based business go through its infancy without too many growing pains. Of course, no matter what you do and how well you are prepared there will be a lot of obstacles you will have to overcome. But, as long as you know where you’re headed and how to get there, you will be fine. Now, you have some directions.
