There are approximately 627,000 new businesses registered in the US every single year, and the spirit of entrepreneurship is helping this number continue to scale higher. A lot of hard work goes into starting a business and initially, there are a lot of spinning plates for you to deal with. Thankfully, unlike the businesses of yesteryear, we have technology on our side. Not every business is one of technology, but all businesses can utilize it in order to succeed in their field. Here are some of the ways that tech can boost your business when starting out – from law to logo.
Laying the foundations
To begin with, the foundations of business need to be laid. You’ll start with trademarking a business name. You need to ensure you have a trading name and keep it as a separate entity from your personal finances by registering the business and the business bank account. Then, you need to ensure you have the up-to-date accreditation depending on your field. So, if handling food, you need to make sure you follow the proper food safety certificate regulations.
If you’re operating in a niche field of business, you need to make sure you are protected in this. All businesses should prepare for a business insurance cost when first starting out, though the cost of having business insurance is a fraction of what it might cost you if something happens. Business insurance can give you peace of mind and can prevent any personal loss or business damage should something litigious occur.
The advent of data protection regulations means that your website needs to be on top of the cookies you may be using. Your company’s privacy policy should outline what will happen with personal and financial data inputted through your website. The website itself should be functional and be sure to run smoothly, such as through sites like Wix. The website-builder offers a drag-and-drop function for creating websites and can also help you bring together key elements of a start-up business, such as a logo and color scheme.
Building the business
In today’s over-saturated business world, the internet is your best friend – but can also be your worst enemy, depending on how well your business opponents are using it. That’s why a strong digital marketing strategy is crucial to succeeding in most businesses nowadays. There are many resources online from free articles to paid courses on sites such as Groupon or Udemy that will ensure you are at the forefront of digital marketing in order to help your business have the best possible chance for success.
There are also a large variety of apps that can help you with budgeting, from Mint to Toshl Finance, Venmo to MoneyBook and Goodbudget, which ensure your business finances are maintained. Some even allow you to submit expenses receipts and raise invoices from the app, keeping all financial transactions for your business in one handy place.
Writing a business plan may seem like a daunting task, but there are also apps available that can help you with this. Business Plan Premier not only helps you write your plan, but it presents it in front of 3,000 potential backers and financiers. Enloop provides snippets of text you can drag and drop into your business plan about more generic concepts, while StratPad has a 58-page business strategy tutorial, so you can understand a bit more about why you need a strategy and how it can help you.
Once you have completed the key business start-up tasks and are positioned with the use of technology to help you launch your business, you’ll be a prime position to begin making money. It might take some investment to begin with and might not work as quickly as you’d like, but covering the groundwork means that you are legally and financially protected and ready to begin trading in earnest.