Have you just set up a new business? Or perhaps 2020 is the year you’ve decided to take the plunge and break out on your own?

If so then you’ll probably be wondering how to make your business work and ensure that start making a tidy profit.

Here’s everything that an aspiring entrepreneur needs to know about becoming a business owner.

1. Work Hard

The first step to success in the business world is to work hard. Many people think running a business -especially one that involves online trading – is easy and requires little effort or just a few hours a day of commitment.

The truth is you will often be competing with seasoned professionals who know and understand the marketplace. In the early stages of your business, you need to play catch up and learn as you go.

You will make mistakes and sometimes you will put in hours and days of hard work only to find that you lose a lot of money or have made a fundamental mistake. But this is part of the process. The best businessmen and women are all people who have failed but have started again and not given up.

At 30 years old Simon Cowell – today a multimillionaire record producer with his own label and production company – moved back in with his parents because he was bankrupt. But he succeeded in the end.

2. Know Your Customers

Knowing your customers is important in today’s climate as everybody can pursue their interests and niches, however small due to the power of the internet.

The world is also more globalized so it’s easy to sell in places like India, Vietnam, or remote countries in Africa. They all have their own culture and backgrounds that it’s important to understand if you are going to tap into that market.

You can do this by doing some market research and visiting the countries you intend to sell to.

If you have a bamboo straw business targeting the developing world then you will no doubt need to understand what would convince a business owner to invest in them and how your product fits in with the local price.

3. Market Well

Marketing is the cornerstone of a good business. Even if you have the best business concept in the world or the best product aimed at the right audience, it doesn’t matter if nobody hears about it.

Marketing in the 2020s is not about bombarding people with messages or costly advertising campaigns that reach a wide range of people. It’s about knowing your target customers, even if they are very small, and creating a genuine connection with them.

Part of your market research should also include getting some product design tips on your product from professionals to improve it before you go to market.

Social Media

To establish this you first need to talk to as many different people as you can about your project.

Social media is integral to this. It allows you to establish a two-way conversation that was previously not possible and to get feedback on your business.

Think carefully about which social media channels would work best for your product. If you are selling a product or your business is in fashion then Pinterest or Instagram might both be good options.

But if you’re business is something service-related – perhaps you want to start a life coaching business – then image-based social media platforms would not work well unless you got creative.

Blogging

You can supplement social media by setting up a regular blog with valuable content for potential customers to enjoy.

If you ensure your content is Search Engine Optimized (SEO) or you hire an agency to do this for you, you can start to rank highly on Google. You can then target keywords you think your potential customers will be searching for and bring them to your site.

4. Embrace Remote Working

Finally, as the recent Corona Virus Pandemic has shown, the traditional ways of working are not viable anymore.

Hiring a huge office with loads of overheads and asking your employees to work there can bring with it a host of issues. It can weigh your business down financially when you could free up that cash as emergency cash flow or to plow it into an investment to help you grow in other ways.

It restricts the people you can employ to a geographical location or means you might have to relocate workers at your expense. But it’s also bad for your employees who don’t get the freedom to live where they want and fit their work around the business.

Happier employees and employees from different perspectives and backgrounds can lead to a happier business environment and ultimately a more productive company.

Get your employees hooked up with laptops loaded with remote working apps such as Zoom, Slack, and Skype.

Aspiring Entrepreneur? You Can Do This

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur then make 2020 the year you launch the business you’ve always wanted to. Listen to your instincts, do your research but above all work hard.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Even the most successful entrepreneurs failed many times before they succeded. What sets them apart from others is their capacity to adapt and learn from their mistakes but also to keep trying, even when the odds are stacked against them.

Finally, don’t forget to embrace all that the internet has to offer, from marketing opportunities to remote working.

If you are interested in learning more small business tips or advice on becoming a business owner then be sure to check out the rest of our site.