Top tips for your own business

• Produce a monthly newsletter about your market and circualte it to people who might be potential customers (or know somone who is)
• Get a good corporate image and replicate it across everything that is on view to the outside world, literature, website and even your car!
• Set a marketing budget and be really mean with it! Should you really advertise or can you direct mail your potential customers at lower cost and with better results?
• Take advantage of free marketing training or seminars or invest in yourself and spend some of your budget on learning how to market more efficiently.
• Swap! In your networking groups do you know someone who writes wonderful copy and could you do something for them in return?
• Newspaper PR is free if you have an interesting story
• Write everything down - Ideas don't become real if they just stay in your head.
• Get into a positive frame of mind You will come up with a winning idea! Negative thinking stifles creativity.
• List your skills, experience, interest and hobbies and see if anything there could generate income - its more motivating to be self-employed doing something you love!
• Go to the Fair! Vist trade fairs, home fairs and craft fairs and look at the exhibitors - is there something you could do and more importantly could you do it better?
• If your idea is to be a real flyer it must be different 'Me too' products rarely make any money. When looking for ideas you should always therefore look to see what unique selling points you have, and of course be aware of how you are going to sell.
• Be creative and innovative - Think about how you can make a product or service: cleaner, safer, faster, more convenient, less expensive etc.
• Think about problems What little things annoy you about everyday life?
• Passing the baton - Building a business you can pass on.
• Build your business so you are not essential to it. This will mean that you need to have people in your company covering every position. Your ultimate role will be to ensure they are all performing well.
• If you are indispensable in any of the roles, you will only be able to sell it with you stilkl involved. This may not be attractive to a purchaser.
• Make sure your business is scaleable from day one i.e. that all processes are clear and transparent so that the same business could be set up in another area.
• Intergrate effective staff training to ensure that company policy is clearly understood and that the values are truly shared and agreed. Loyal and committed staff are your future.
• Great suppliers are an essential part of any successful business. Make sure you find the best group of suppliers and treat them well.

Source: Tara Dalrymple http://busylizzie.ie/

If you have an article with business tips and advice you would like to submit to 'Dublin City Enterprise News' please email ecurley@dceb.ie

• Back to Index