As an entrepreneur, before you’ve even thought about working with a business consultant, you’ve probably asked yourself some of these questions: Why is it so hard to work around my budget? Why is it so hard to raise funding? Why is it so hard to reach potential customers and clients? If this sounds like you, don’t worry, you’re not alone. These are all very common questions that entrepreneurs face when launching their business, so how do you fix it? Let’s break down the most common issues and the best solutions.
1. How Do I Reduce Costs and Use an Efficient Budget?
It’s all too easy to get caught up in your long term vision – it’s an entrepreneur trap. Say you’re opening a restaurant, and you’re so focused on the customer experience that you lose sight of budget restrictions. Before you know it, you’ve run out of money, and you have to raise more funds. Why does this happen? Oftentimes as entrepreneurs, we wear many different hats. Small business owners often have to dip into marketing, just as much as they do the financial and legal sides as well. This can lead to neglecting budgets and not being aware of costs on a granular level. Luckily, there’s some good solutions that can help you manage your overall costs. First of all, working with a financial consultant can help with accounting, pricing strategies, taxes, and more. Even if you come from a financial background, expanding your team to help manage the load can be a huge benefit.
2. How Do I Reach More Customers?
You might look at your budget and think reaching a large audience is going to be impossible, but luckily large scale marketing is always within reach. How? Using digital marketing platforms like Google, Paid Social (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc) can give you a ton of visibility at a low price. There’s a ton of great resources on Youtube, and you can find very affordable courses on websites like Udemy (often priced around $15) that give you a great sense of the basics. Utilizing a well thought out digital marketing strategy can reap huge rewards, but it’s important to take it slow, because jumping into any of these platforms will spend money quickly.
Although Google and Facebook utilize very impressive and effective machine learning and AI technology to drive conversions and scale, when used blindly the system can spend frivolously without yielding high results. Beyond the actual ads themselves, Google offers free services like Analytics and Search Console that can tell you important facts about your company’s website. With these platforms you can see what pages drew the most attention, how long people stayed on the site, and what people clicked throughout your site. This is super helpful for entrepreneurs! Try to familiarize yourself with these platforms or work with a digital marketing agency that can help you achieve your goals. Angelytix Consulting offers full digital marketing services as well, and offers options for all kinds of clients.
3. How Do I Raise Money?
Raising capital for your small business can be an intimidating task for entrepreneurs. Not sure where to start? First, make sure you’re sticking to a good strategy. You’ll want to make sure that before any meeting, you’ve established your business strategy and feasibility. In addition, having well made and thorough investor material is critical for any successful pitch. You’ll want to include financial projections, a pitch deck, and one-pagers among other aspects. Now that’s all good, but how do you attract potential investors?
The best thing an entrepreneur can do here is to team up with business development experts who can get you those connections. Otherwise, see what connections you’ve made from your own experience and don’t be afraid to reach out! There’s great email tools like Rocket Reach that make finding email addresses easier. This can be a great tool to get in touch with potential investors. All in all, we recommend using a business development team that can not only help open those doors for you, but also help you review your materials and make sure you’re ready to pitch.
Conclusion
All said and done, being an entrepreneur and getting your business started can be a daunting task. Oftentimes, we want to take everything head on ourselves, but using a strategic business team can not only take your idea and company to the next level, but also take some of the load off your shoulders as you focus on your vision and goals. Luckily, there’s great teams available at places like Angelytix Consulting who can help you out on every step of the way. Have you worked with a business consulting team before? Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions, and we’d be happy to discuss strategies for your business and help you and your company grow.