Starting your own business is one thing. Starting a thriving company that profits and grows is another. Without the right preparation, knowledge, and strategy, you could fall victim to bankruptcy and fail within a few short years. You owe yourself more than just a shot. You owe yourself a real strategy that will help you succeed.
In this case, preparation is key, so before you start your own thriving business, it is important to use these methods to learn and decide on key decisions to help your business succeed.
Work Your Way Up At Another Company
Working at another company in your industry is good practice, but a better strategy is to work your way up the ladder until you are in a managerial role. This will give you experience managing a team and will help give you key insight into how the company works. Only when you have an innovative, new idea should you try to start a business without this key step.
Invest in Consultation Services
Though there are consultants for every field, the best ones to turn to are those that operate under membership.
This means that other businesses like yours come together to grow and benefit from mutual services. It works best in industries that don’t necessarily compete with one another, like healthcare. So long as there is only one optometrist in a neighborhood, there is no reason to compete. Instead, you can cooperate.
One of the best ways for optometrists to cooperate and benefit is to join PECAA. You can enjoy vendor discounts, strong group buying power, and, of course, optometry consulting. New practices can benefit from creating a customized action plan with your own Member Business Advisor (MBA) Experience to help improve their own practice’s strategy.
Become Familiar with Who’s Who
Networking is essential when it comes to business. Go to industry events, meetups, workshops, and more to know who is in your company. You might even be able to help each other out in the future. For instance, say you are starting a cannabis business and want to ensure that the product you provide is the best for your customers. You need to do as much research as possible to find someone who can help you ensure quality. You probably didn’t know that rosin color can tell you a lot about your product quality or that you need washing equipment for your hash. All of this can be daunting at first, but liaising with the people doing this longer than you will help you out in the end.
Take a Business Course (or Many)
Managing a team and even being an expert in your field differ greatly from being an owner. Before you open your clinic, it is best to take a business course or degree so that you know these top five concepts.
Know When to Hire Out
Knowing how to delegate successfully is important for managers, but this isn’t always an option for businesses. What will happen more often is that you will need to hire outside of your business. Investing in professional marketing services or accounting can take the load off of your staff and give you more bang for your buck.
Starting a business is easy. Succeeding in business isn’t. Being prepared in advance is the secret between these two states, and though you’ll always need to take a leap of faith to start a company of your own, you shouldn’t do yourself a disservice by going in blind. Prepare, learn, and lead with confidence.
