Startup: Keeping Track of Your Leads (aka Future Customers)

Leads are the key to startup success.  Keeping track of those leads is essential to your success.  There are lots of applications to help you keep track of all those leads. 

One of the easiest and most affordable options is MailChimp.  This free online option will help you keep track of all of those potential future clients in one place.  You can create a variety of custom lists based on specific clients and send email blasts from one central place. 

As you build your website, include a signup form to help you collect their contact information and send a "thank you" for sharing their info.

Startup: It's Time to Build Your Buzz

Once you have established your brand and taken the first steps in building your website, it's time to get social. 

By social, we mean it's time to embrace social media.  Start out with the biggest platforms - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  Establish your profiles with as much information as you can and start building up your following with targeted posts. 

You don't need to join every social media platform.  Pick the ones that target your customer base.  Focus on the ones that your clients are most likely to hang out on and low prioritize the ones that do target your demographics.

Once you have your profiles established, it's time to start following others (especially people that you would like to follow you back).  Take time to schedule your social media posts using tools like Hootsuite.  This can help you make the best use of your time by posting at the times of the day when you will reach the highest volume of readers. 

Startup: Announcing Yourself to the World

You've decided on your business.  You picked a name.  You setup at domain.  It's time to dip your toe in the online pool. 

The first step to taking your business officially online is to create a pre-launch page.  It's not quite a website, but it's a teaser that shows the world that you are officially in business. 

This is the time to get people excited about your upcoming launch.  Create a one page pre-launch page with a countdown timer and an email signup to start building up your customer base.

Startup: Hire a Writer to Put Your Business Into Words

There comes a time that most startups realize that there is a lot of writing involved with getting a business up and rolling.  The unfortunate reality is that not all entrepreneurs are great writers. 

Once you come to terms with the fact that there are a lot of other things you would like to do with your time than spin your wheels trying to put pen to paper, you will realize that there are professional writers out there who love to spend their hours putting your business into words.

Unless you are naturally good at writing copy, you will get more bang for your buck finding someone who can do a lot of the wordy work for you.  A writer can create the content for your website, draft your business plan, create articles / blog posts, develop presentations, and even manage your social media for you. 

A professional writer can help you check off all those essential documents from your startup to-do list while you focus on actually running your business.

Startup: Determining Your Business Strategy

Once you have decided to start your own business and you've taken the first steps in determining what your business will be, it's time to get busy strategizing.  This is not the part where you figure out the step-by-step plan for your business, this is the part where you think in broad strokes about what you want to accomplish and a basic roadmap on how to get there. 

Mission.  Vision. Goals.  Targets.  Oh, my.....

The first step is to figure out what you will do as a business.  It is also the time to define what you won't do.  Brainstorm who your customers will be.  Determine how you will define success.  Decide how you want to grow and expand.

Setting the strategy is designed to help you focus on the items that are really important to you as a business owner and discard the items that are not.  It will help set the priorities on where you will distribute your startup budget and where you don't need to focus quite yet. 

The better you can define your roadmap early in the process, the easier your path to success will be.

Startup: It's All About Location, Location, Location

When it comes to starting your own business, it's all about location, location, location.  That location could be the ritzy retail location downtown or it could be the comfort of your own kitchen table. 

As you start to think about your business location, really give some consideration to how you will use the space.  Will customers come to see you?  Will they need someplace to park?  Can you work from home and still stay sane?  Will you be hiring employees? 

It is important that you are realistic when you think about your space needs.  If employees and clients are coming to see you, give a home office a whirl.  If a home office isn't really an option, take a look at what shared workspace options are available. If a shared workspace isn't available, look at month-to-month locations until you are sure your business volume will support the cost.

If you do decide that you are going to need a physical location, consider your current business needs.  Take into account the number of employees you plan on hiring, the equipment that you need to run your business, and the space that you need to grow. 

Take your time to look at all the options in your market.  When you find the right one, get ready to roll up your sleeves to negotiate.  Find out what utilities are included, if the landlord will do any improvements, and the length of the term of the lease. 

Move Over Millennials: Generation Z Is Ready to Launch

Move over Millennials, Generation Z is poised to take over the workforce and they are ready to hit the ground running.  In a few short years, those pesky kids born in the mid-90s and on will emerge onto the working and entrepreneurial scene with a unique set of experiences that has them ready to shake things up.

According to a national study conducted by Northeastern University, Gen Z has been seriously impacted by the financial downturn over the last decade and they are already planning for the future.  Looking at the future with realistic poise, 67% worry about affording college, 64% are concerned about getting a job, and 60% worry about having enough cash.

This realistic view of the future has cultivated a brand new entrepreneurial spirit that would offer them more control over their professional lives than the formerly comfortable corporate jobs – nearly 42% believe that they will work for themselves.  Generation Z has a new view of the education that they will need to achieve their entrepreneurial goals with 63% of them believing that entrepreneurship should be taught in college.

What do you expect to see from Generation Z as they emerge on the professional scene?

How to Start Your Business on a Budget

We've all read the stories in the business blogs of the brand new startups that are rolling in the capital.  If you don't have an endless credit line or a crowd of angel investors lining up to help fund your dream, you may need to learn how to make your business dollars stretch a wee bit further. 

Here are some tips that can help you start your business on a budget:

Start virtually: An office may be a luxury for your startup phase. Thanks to the rise of the digital age, there are lots of online tools and apps that can help you navigate.  Take advantage of Google Docs for sharing of documents, Skype for voice and video communications, Toggl for time tracking, and Square for invoicing and payment processing.  If you don't have a need for a physical location for your business, it is a cost that can be put offuntil you grow enough to support it.  Restaurants, retail shops, and manufacturers will need a dedicated space, but many of us can work out a home office, garage, or local coffee shop until we start generating solid cash flow.

The cloud:  Not only is the internet good for online tools and applications, it has given us access to ample digital storage and reduced the need for expensive software solutions.  Rather than pay the upfront cost of pricey brand name software, a little bit of surfing can bring you access to free or inexpensive options available on the cloud.  All you need is access to a laptop, tablet or cell phone and you can use and access your documents just about everywhere.  Dropbox makes sharing of documents seamless regardless of size.  Google Docs doesn't just save documents, it gives you the functionally of Microsoft Office while allowing multiple users to edit them from anywhere.  Adobe Creative Cloud eliminates the hefty price tag by giving users access to their software on a subscription basis for a fraction of the cost.  Whatever your needs, odds are that you can find the software you need hosted somewhere in the cloud.

Outsource: There is no need to staff up as you get your business up and running.  Every hire should be focused on achieving the targets you set in your business plan and supported by your financial growth.  Most other business functions, can be handled by independent contractors.  Look for affordable skilled professionals on sites such as Upwork, Guru and even Twitter.

Get social: Online social networks are not just for entertainment, they can be cheap or free marketing tools that can spread the word about your business.  Build your profiles on whichever channels you feel would give you the best contact with your target market.  Then devote a few hours each week getting the word out about your awesome products and services.  Build a website blog using targeted keywords to drive more traffic to your brand.  A little hard work can help you reach those early adopters that can place the spotlight directly onto your business. 

Act like the big dog:  You company may be small, but you can convey the image of a big player.  A well-designed website is essential to give the illusion of big.  Wix and SquareSpace are affordable options that give you access to an eye catching collection of templates that are as unique as your business.  Make sure to spring for the customized domain email.  An email address ending with @gmail.com or @yahoo.com is a dead giveaway that you are bootstrapping. 

A small business needs to make the most out of every dollar especially through the startup phase.  If you keep a close eye on your costs, listen to your instincts, and take advantage of the small business edge that gets lost in the corporate culture, you can grow your company into a big dog in no time.