All great businesses start with a simple idea or skill and grow into something more significant. The sky is the limit as a determined entrepreneur, but starting an entire brand or business is much more complicated than it seems at first glance. Before committing to your startup, there are a few strategies and details you’ll want to secure first.
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Choose a Unique Brand Identity
Many industries and brands face a lot of competition. What sets major brands apart is their solid brand identity, which includes a unique but memorable name, a brand image, and a mission. Many successful brands have found a need to be fulfilled and met it. Others are simply meritable based on the quality of their product. You can collaborate with marketing experts and graphic designers to create the best names, logos, and identities that match your startup’s vision.
Create an Online Presence
In the age of e-commerce and digital marketing, it can be a career suicide to neglect your startup’s online presence. Create an attractive and functional website for your brand. Create social media profiles for your brand on every fitting platform. Consider hiring a social media manager to keep up to date with posting, marketing, and algorithms. Create a Google Business Profile to allow clients to learn about your brand more efficiently, including reviews. You should be accessible and transparent for your startup’s success.
Budget Properly
It can be easy to overspend when starting a business or brand. While taking out loans is typical for startups, you don’t want to get in over your head. Budget your monthly expenses and income appropriately. Don’t take out any loans that you can’t afford. Meet up with a financial advisor to help you navigate your pre-revenue startup. Grants and investments can help lower your startup’s debt accumulation.
Consider Partnerships
It can take time to start or manage a brand yourself. If there’s a solid partner you can team up with, you should consider it. An additional set of eyes can add a lot of perspective and creative ideas regarding business management. However, a partnership is a serious decision that can end badly when not adequately considered, so be sure you can trust your prospective partner’s work ethic and vision before committing. Investors can also contribute funds to your business but take a more background role in your startup, which is also something to consider if you don’t mind giving up some equity.
Don’t Expand Too Fast
It’s great to have a lot of ideas for your startup—it shows passion and initiative. However, you can crash and burn if you do too much too fast. Start with your most successful goods or services; you can slowly add more SKUs or services if you see growth. A startup can take a while to generate income, so spending money on too many products or directions can be confusing, frustrating, and costly.
Start Marketing
Marketing is critical to business success; a decent marketing plan requires expertise. Hire marketing professionals, even if they’re just in an advisory role. They can help you determine what marketing strategies are best for your startup. Marketing firms can also help you start, manage, and develop marketing campaigns to their highest potential. Marketing can be in ads, videos, social media, etc.
Get Licensed
You’ll likely need or want a license if your startup requires any technical expertise. Licensing gives your business a solid foundation of accreditation, expertise, and dedication, especially if licensing is optional for your startup’s industry or trade. Some licenses, such as medical, electrician, plumbing, or general contracting (GC), aren’t optional. In these cases, you’ll want to be licensed before promoting or launching your startup. Licensing can take much time and preparation, including exams, so you’ll want to be ready before launching. Official licensing requirements vary by state. For example, for general contracting:
California
In California, general contractors must be licensed. Licensing requirements involve at least four years of job experience, passing an exam, and paying licensing fees. Depending on the type of licensing, additional insurance or bonds may be required. Studying, taking exams, and applying for insurance all take a decent amount of time, and starting your business before you’re prepared can be risky.
Alabama
Alabama GC license requirements involve two exams, so ample time for studying and preparation classes is critical before launching your construction startup. You’ll also have to provide financial and experience information and general liability insurance. These steps can take time!
New York
New York generally doesn’t require a contractor license on a statewide level. However, licensing may be encouraged or needed on a city or county level. There are specific types of work for which licensing is required as well. The requirements for getting licensed in New York vary by type but generally require testing and proof of insurance.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurs are passionate, driven, and dedicated to their startups and visions. However, starting a business is costly and tricky, particularly by yourself. Proper budgeting, partnerships, and expert consultations can help mitigate risk and expenses. You’ll need to be prepared by creating an online presence, getting licensed, and creating a marketing plan before launching.
