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Small businesses can be tricky to get off to a good start, especially if you’re starting your own construction takeoff services. Most small businesses are started by entrepreneurs who’re still experimenting with their ideas, so there’s still much that has the be learnt.

Small businesses are also not floating in capital, so they have to make budget-focused choices. With these limitations in mind, it is obvious why it’s hard to ‘fast track’ a small business towards success. 

What entrepreneurs can do however, is learn from other entrepreneurs – their mistakes and successful strategies as well. 

In this post we’re going to take a look at tips, techniques and strategies entrepreneurs can use to prepare themselves to open a company in the UK.  

1. Gain Domain Experience

Before going all out and launching a business, take time to study its industry before launch. What’s recommended by most experts is to actually gain industry experience before launching your business in the same industry.

Why is this important? Well, this allows you to truly know the ins and outs of the industry before you decide to invest in it. During your time, you may discover things that don’t sit right with you, or aren’t interested in pursuing long term.

A business is a long term commitment, so taking a year and dirtying your hands within the industry is a wise move. 

Gaining industry experience can also open opportunities to build valuable contacts who prove to be useful when you go on to launch your own business. And we don’t mean that they’ll necessarily provide any business or become clients, rather they can become mentors to guide you. 

An important thing to keep in mind is that this isn’t a rule – you can’t simply gain a year’s worth of experience and then expect to be an expert on it. Businesses are constantly evolving and changing thanks to modern technology, so be prepared to learn even after you have significant knowledge and experience. 

2. Don’t Go Solo

Launching a business on your might sound like a good idea at first. After all, you’ll get to keep all the profits and will be in charge of all its policies. However, this is simply not something that is practical. 

In reality, every entrepreneur needs a partner to launch a successful business. Why? Well how many people do you know who have the knowledge, expertise and time to do everything?

Having a partner allows the entrepreneur to focus on what they do best, while the partner can take charge of processes and tasks they aren’t too good with. 

For example, the entrepreneur might be good at sales and networking, while the partner is good at creating company SOPs, processes and finances. 

Partners should make up for the shortcoming of each other, but this isn’t to say any one of them can be totally oblivious as to what the other is doing. 

3. Automation

Automation is something that every business is doing these days – big or small. It’s a common misconception among small business owners that automation only be practically carried out in big businesses.

The truth of the matter is, even smaller businesses have lots of repetitive processes that can be automated to save a significant amount of time and money. 

One of the processes which can absolutely be automated (with ease) is accounting and invoices. 

Many smaller businesses feel content managing their finances through Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, without realizing how much it hurts their efficiency.

 A bespoke accounting suite like Freshbooks can help automate many financial processes while requiring minimal human input once the systems are set up properly.

4. Build a Sales Funnel

A business without a proper sales funnel is going to find itself shooting in the dark when it comes to generating qualified leads. This is an amateur mistake and businesses that don’t have a sales funnel will fail to experience significant growth even if they’re spending lots of money on sales and marketing.

Identifying opportunities by creating a detailed sales funnel and understanding buyer stages will greatly simplify the process of attracting qualified leads. 

If your business sells different kinds of services, building different sales funnels for each service can be beneficial as well. 

You can read more about what a sales funnel is here.

5. Study the Competition

You don’t have to try anything novel or experimental when it comes to sales and marketing, to gain a competitive advantage. Sometimes just doing what your competitors are doing can work wonders. 

There are lots of SEO and marketing tools that will audit your competitor website and show you exactly what they’re ranking for and how they’re attracting inbound leads. Start ranking better for the same terms and you’ll have the upper hand. 

You can also uncover what search terms they’re running ads for, and this way you won’t have to do your own and-related research. Simply start running ads for the the same terms, but bid higher to ensure you have the upper hand. 

The time you save on research this way can be spent on other marketing and sales activities.

6. Launch a Podcast

Podcasts are a popular way of getting your voice heard across whatever demographic you choose. Many entrepreneurs and small business owners have their own podcasts, in which they invite guests from the industry for interviews. 

You don’t have to structure your podcast around interviews exclusively either – add a mix of motivational advice, business tips, and any issues which your potential customers face. 

You’ll eventually have enough reach that clients will start coming to you by listening to your podcast.