How To Improve Profit And Expand Your Base

Improve Profit For Your Startup Or Existing Business.

All businesses move through their natural cycle of setup, scale and sustain.

A constantly changing environment means that there comes a time for all business owners when they need to improve profits or say goodbye to their business.

Things like new technologies, new ways of doing things (Like everything as a service), or new competitors taking a chunk of your market all require a measured response.

Failure to understand and act on this appropriately can crush your business.

The Challenge: What To Focus On, And When?

With so much uncertainty in the new economy, it can be hard to know what to focus on and when.

When is the right time to raise funds for growth?

Which technology investment is the right one?

Should you seek support in partnerships or hold on to the control of running things solo?

Where should you look to keep your training and knowledge up to date?

At some point in your business journey, you’ll ask all these questions and many more.

There are no generic answers.

What is best for one business might not be best for another, making finding the right advice difficult.

The Importance Of Being “The Commercialist”.

Becoming a commercialist ensures that you focus on the important aspects of your business, including finances, legal, risk and security.

In this evolving new economy, it also helps you find and put in place the most suited partnerships to help you scale your business and come up with your next big idea.

Four Steps To Improving Profit…

Step 1 - Access Capital To Start Up.

When starting a business, one of the first questions people ask is, “how do I fund it?”

If your circumstances allow, reaching out to friends and family can be an option.

If not, you’ll need to start out by creating a pitch.

Then you have the option of pitching your business to banks, non-banks, venture capitalists, angel investors and crowdfunding.

You could also apply for grants or incubators.

The important thing is to weigh your options and find the option that suits your business.

Step 2 - Be Organised & Be Commercial.

To minimize risk, your business needs to be commercial from day one.

This also ensures that the correct processes, procedures and practices are in place.

Start out by considering things like legal structures, banking, accounting and intellectual property.

You’ll also want procedures in place for risk and compliance, security, governance and ethics.

Even social responsibility factors should be considered early.

Step 3 - Build Relationships And Expand Your Influence.

One of the biggest changes in managing a business in today’s new economy is the importance of building your network and forming partnerships.

These might be long-term, formal arrangements or informal and short, e.g., the length of a project.

Today, the term partnerships may be expanded to include suppliers, leads, prospects, clients, industry experts, associations, promotional partners, affiliate marketers, joint ventures, investors, complimentary competitors, supplementary competitors and influencers.

Step 4 - Challenge Paradigms.

In this new economy where disruption and change are the norms, it’s essential to develop and maintain an entrepreneurial mindset.

Today, business owners need to be ready for anything, including knowing how to re-wire, disrupt, engage, network, coach and mentor.

It pays to consider things early.