There’s nothing better than being your own boss. You can make your own choices, set your hours, hire your staff, and sink or swim on your own. Opening a new online business, even a small one, isn’t as simple as it might seem. Starting your new online business will not be easy.
However, while you may have heard of businesses that seemed to be overnight successes, the truth is that a healthy company requires careful planning and work behind the scenes.
That said, if you have a great idea and work hard, you can build a business that gives you everything you’ve dreamed of.
Here are six tips for opening a new business so that it is ready for launch and the groundwork is in place to keep it growing well into the future.
Table of Contents
Start With An Idea
Every great business starts with an idea. In some cases, it’s a new product or service. In others, it’s a new way to market something, such as a fun theme for a store or restaurant.
Whatever your idea is, it has to make you stand out from the crowd.
If you do the same thing that someone else does, you will be behind the 8-ball right off the bat. Your idea doesn’t even have to be completely original.
It could be something common but isn’t available in your chosen market yet.
For example, if you don’t have a certain type of cuisine available near you, then you can start a restaurant that features it. The key is that you start with something that doesn’t have competition and that will draw interest from a section of the market.
Have a Plan for Your New Online Business
If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. That’s an old saying, but it’s always been true. You might have the best business idea in history, but if you don’t take the time to plan out how you will operate, then you are setting yourself up for trouble.
Your business plan should outline everything involved in running your business. This includes your projected costs and revenues.
Then, map out how you will run your day-to-day operations and how much staffing you will need. A business plan will give you a framework for you to reach your goals. As you start to bring in revenue, your plan will remind you about what profit level you need to reach before you can responsibly start investing in growth.
Otherwise, you could end up overextending yourself and having cash flow issues. A plan will keep you on the straight and narrow at all times even when opening your new online business.
Develop Your Brand Identity
Your customers will certainly appreciate great products and friendly service. However, you need good branding to bring those customers in and get them to buy in the first place. Branding starts with a business name, a logo, and perhaps a tagline.
However, it’s much more than that. Your brand tells the story of your business. It tells the customer what your business is like and what they can expect in dealing with you. All of the creative decisions you make for your business will depend on how you’ve crafted and developed your brand.
When developing your brand, consider certain factors, such as what you sell, your company values, what makes you unique, and what voice you want to use. Your voice is the personality that will underpin your marketing content and social media posts.
However, your branding should evoke a certain feeling in your audience when they interact with you.
Get Insured For Your New Online Business
Small business owners and startups are always looking for ways to cut costs. It’s great to be as efficient as possible, but insurance is not the place where you should be skimping. You may never have to make an insurance claim, but you will be more than happy that you have it.
Being protected will allow you to sleep well at night and be confident that no matter what happens, you won’t be left holding the bag. Every business is different, so each one has different coverage needs.
For one, general liability is a business essential. Every entity should have it to protect against lawsuits related to personal injury, property damage, reputational harm, or data breaches.
Additionally, you should also have commercial property insurance if you have the equipment and the location from which you work. You may also need it even if you work from home, as certain things may not be covered in your homeowner’s policy.
If you use a vehicle for your business, then you will need commercial auto insurance.
Finally, almost every state mandates that you have workers’ compensation coverage if you have employees as well.
Be Patient When Hiring a Team
If you are planning on hiring employees when opening a new online business, then start the process early. A good team can make or break your business, so you don’t want to make the wrong choices.
The last thing you should do is hire someone who might not be a good fit just because you are running out of time and need some.
The candidates you hire should have the right experience and knowledge and also fit in well with your personality. You don’t want to work long hours every day with people you don’t gel with.
Even if you think you are out of time and you are desperate, it’s still better to wait. When you find the perfect candidate, it will be some short-term pain for long-term gain.
You may even consider taking on a business partner.
Launch Your Website Early For Your Starting New Online Business
If you have a date in mind to launch your online business, you should have your website up and running well before. Even if you are not selling anything, a well-developed site will still help you bring in sales when you do launch.
It takes time for a new website to appear in search engine rankings. If you build your website early, you can start to produce informative content that contains keywords related to your industry. Search engines will index your site and start to push it up the rankings.
The benefit of doing this early is that your website can already be on its way up when you officially launch. Then it will be easier to find customers and get in front of more eyeballs right off the bat.
If you wait too long, you will end up playing catch-up.
Opening an online business usually means long days and a lot of work. Unfortunately, that can’t be avoided because you have to make sure that you’ve done everything you can to set it up for success.
Follow these tips to build a business that will help you achieve everything you’ve dreamed of.
Your Turn
What other tips would you add to this list of 6 tips for starting a new online business? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below so we can discuss them.
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 12 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
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This article provides a nice, concise “starters kit” for new entrepreneurs. Wish I’d created a business plan earlier than I did. My marketing plan was good to have, but didn’t factor in big picture goals.
Hi Elijah, thank you. I’m with you, I didn’t start with a business plan when I launched this blog. It came years later. Always better late than never, right? Thanks for coming by Elijah and have a great day.
Hi Lisa,
I have to admit that I wasn’t thinking about getting insurance so I need to look into that for sure. Thanks for all the great tips!
Oh yes, Ileane. It’s one of the first things I did here when I started my business officially at Inspire To Thrive. Didn’t want to worry about any lawsuits dangling over me. Good luck finding insurance that suits you, I’m sure it won’t be hard to find. Thanks for coming by and have a wonderful day Ileane.
When I first started my online business, I had no idea of how to create a business plan. I thought I just needed “street smarts” and just had to pick a hot target market. But later on down the line, I realized the concept of a business plan existed for a reason. Once I finally created one, I was able to streamline my marketing routine everyday, and create a timeline of when I would reach my initial income goals. I’ll never underestimate conventional business advice again.
Planning helps heaps Lisa. Planning adds order to your mind. Feeling orderly within creates greater clarity with your blogging strategy. I plan more mindfully with my blog and business these days to be more efficient and effective. Fabulous post.
Ryan