What should you include in your new small business plan? Plus: A free template!
Starting a small business in the new year of 2021 can be exciting. It can also feel daunting with the amount on your to-do list.
There’s a lot to consider for your business start-up.
What is necessary to start your small business, and what’s on your wish list after opening day?
Here’s my list of necessities to have ready for the launch of your small business.
How to price your graphic design services and other small business pricing tips
When I first started freelancing, I went straight for uploading my portfolio and experience to UpWork. I knew it wouldn’t be the lucrative jobs search utopia I was looking for, but it would allow me to learn to be a freelancer with plenty of options.
When finding small business pricing tips, it can be overwhelming on where to start and how to price your graphic design services competitively.
How to know when it's time to let a client go
One day, have the ideal client that you pictured on the day you decided to start your business. Until that day comes, you might have to make the decision, as a business owner, to let a client go a few times. Sometimes, you’ve just grown as a small business and you need to let a more ideal business take over.
Here are a few reasons I or other small business owners have had to let clients go.
What qualities should you think about for your ideal client?
When working on defining your target audience, you should be thinking about one person. If you were able to pluck one individual from your target audience that would use your product or service, what would that person look like? What would they do? What do they want from your business?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself when determining your ideal client.
CREATE: How to make a clear and cohesive digital presence for your small business
I’ve always been encouraged by professors to have a digital presence. When I was attending and starting my classes at the University of Missouri, I was constantly told about the importance of having a presence on various social media and web platforms. It wasn’t enough to have experience. My experience needed to be broadcasted and promoted well for my peers and supervisors to take notice.
CREATE: How to move your ideal client through the marketing strategy customer ladder
I found out more about the Marketing Strategy Customer ladder while reading and completing CREATE An Intensive Biz Playbook & Planner: Scale Your Online Business, Create Explosive Growth and Build a Brand You Crave’s section on marketing strategy.
As a business owner, you will have to determine how you will reach out and market your company to each level of these customers.
Soft skills are highly desired in today’s professional industries.
Many work environments look for hard and technically learned skill sets but soft skills tend to hold more power over positions. It’s important to know hard skills, like Adobe Creative Suite or book-keeping software, but your soft skills show how you work with others, whether that be a client or a coworker.