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Albert Einstein once famously said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity”. While it’s true Coronavirus has had a significant impact on all our lives and made everything tougher (including business), there’s no reason not to think entrepreneurially and start planning your next venture.
Have a business plan and source adequate funding
The first step in opening a new business is to draft a business plan. This will form the framework of everything you do and gives you a route-map to work to.
A good business plan outlines your goals and how you intend to achieve them. It should identify anticipated expenses and overheads and give clear profit and loss figures.
Of course, plans are all well and good, but all companies need cold hard cash to get off the ground. Thankfully, even in today’s rather harsh business environment, lenders are still willing to fund enterprising start-ups with good ideas.
In particular, online financing has become very common in our connected age and offers a fast track solution to raising funds. Web-based finance firms like biz2credit.com provide business loans to start-ups (as well as established companies), at extremely competitive rates with staggered repayment plans to help you get started.
Choose your market sector carefully
In today’s COVID climate, the market sector you choose is probably the single most crucial decision you will make in starting a company. The businesses surviving best through the virus are those that can operate online without issue.
Forms of lockdown are expected to continue for most of this year at least – and social distancing will likely be part of our lives for longer than that – so choose a business model that doesn’t require close proximity.
Plan for remote working
Many of the social distancing measures forced upon us by Coronavirus will undoubtedly ease over time, but remote working seems likely to remain with us forever. There’s been a seismic shift in working habits through the virus with all sectors of business embracing the positive benefits of remote-working.
Facilitate people working at home by setting up a network infrastructure now. As a bonus, employing staff remotely dramatically reduces your overhead by removing the need for costly premises or office space.
Use the power of the Internet and web marketing
The demise of the traditional High Street has been coming for many years, and most successful retailers have been moving operations online in their droves. The Internet has become an integral component in operating through Coronavirus – in particular, selling online.
In the post-pandemic years, our reliance on the web marketing and online sales is only going to increase. Future-proof your business now by investing in a slick website, properly maintained social accounts, and a solid network infrastructure to allow for remote employees.
Outsource where possible
Outsourcing takes many forms from working with individual freelancers right up to handing over parts of your business to large third-party productivity partners.
- If you’re selling goods online, look to partnering with an order fulfillment company to look after all sides of product storage and delivery.
- For your internal and external computer network, employ an IT company.
- In terms of online security, look at engaging with cybercrime IT experts.
- For the design and upkeep of your website, bring on board the skills of a specialized web development company.
- And for online marketing, enlist the support and services of an established Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company and social media marketing specialist.
In reality, there’s barely a part of your company that can’t be handled by a third party to some degree – and normally more successfully than you could do in-house. Outsourcing massively cuts overheads and means you only pay for resources when you need them.
Certainly, the business climate is tough right now, but – to paraphrase Einstein – through these difficulties, you may well still find your big opportunity. The key will be your preparedness and ability to ability to a changing world.
