Under the current, (very) uncertain financial conditions, the prospect of starting a business might not be the most appealing. With some experts predicting an economic downturn worse than anything we’ve seen since the Great Depression during the 1930s, cutting back on all non-essentials and saving as much money as possible seems the obvious & sensible strategy.
However, for every recession, some businesses thrive and several entrepreneurial possibilities will typically develop. To build a recession-proof business and to start a business during the current financial crisis, minimizing overheads is a great place to start.
Work from Home
Many of us have now experience the ‘forced-experiment’ of working from home and have hopefully, made adjustments so that it is a viable option in the future. Whilst during the pandemic your clients may forgive you for having a barking dog or a crying baby in the background, this will most likely be deemed highly unprofessional again in the near future.
By using a telephone answering service from the likes of Moneypenny and a virtual office address from the likes of Apso you can portray your business in a highly professional light. Combined with a professional website, having a ‘bricks and mortar’ office address and a landline telephone number can make a business run from your bedroom, appear to be a highly reputable establishment.
In addition, having a professional receptionist who knows your business down to the important details and provides a great customer service can make your business seem ‘bigger’ than it is.
Another big advantage of using a virtual receptionist app or service is that you can often opt for a 24/7 or out of hours service. This can allow you to capture calls around the clock, meaning that you’ll never miss a sales-lead again.
Use Accountancy Apps
Please note that in some countries, you can get a fine for filling in a tax return and other legal forms incorrectly. If this is the case, it may be wise to invest in a local accountant or hire a tax return specialist from a website such as Upwork.
Whether or not you use an accountant, using an accounting or finance app can still save you lots of time and potentially money. By using an app, for example, you can cut down substantially on admin time that may have previously required an additional member of staff to hire.
The fact that you can access your financial data on your mobile phone, regardless of your location, makes it a lot easier to manage your operations & spending. With the right app; you will also be able to archive receipts and create invoices on the go – giving you fewer things to remember to do when you get back home or back to the office!
Quickbooks and Freshbooks are the leading industry apps at present. To quickly run through what you could expect to do with Quickbooks:
– Create & send highly professional invoices
– Scan receipts & attach them to expenses forms
– Instantly access auto-generated reports such as profit & loss, balance and cash flow
– Run a Payroll
– Accept Online Payments
– Simplify Tax returns
Being able to simplify tax returns is a big benefit. This can save you a lot of money, as a freelance accountant will have to spend less time putting together your forms, meaning that they can charge significantly less.
Develop Brand Ambassadors
By brand ambassadors, we don’t mean the ones that you might find on social media with tens of thousands of followers – we mean utilising your customers & clients. By going above and beyond, providing a great value service and/or product and offering referral promotions, you can often turn existing clients and customers into lead-generating assets. Many businesses make the mistake of chasing new clients and not looking after their current clientele. However, by making your current clients feel special and highly valued, you can often gain many clients passively, by word of mouth.
One way to find brand ambassadors is to do a search online and find people who’ve already shown some authentic love or admiration for your brand. Search using your company name, relevant hashtags or just look for posts that you’ve been tagged in. You can also use software for this if necessary – for example, Brand24 or SocialToaster. Finally, if you have a signup process online, you can ask people if they would be willing to share products with their network and friends. This can also work if you have a newsletter or ask for feedback at any point.
Social Media Advertising
Before you commit to spending any money on advertising, make sure you research for several hours first. People waste millions of dollars each year by putting adverts live without delving into the strategies that work and don’t work for each industry and niche. Hiring an agency can also be very expensive and for something that is not highly technical or difficult to learn. Commit to 2 or 3 hours of research – which pretty much involves watching videos on Youtube at x1.5 speed!
If you do choose to do paid advertising on Facebook, focus on getting the right audience, be as specific as possible and create a tailored set of adverts. Remember that people are not actively searching for products or services, they are just scrolling through their timeline – so you’ll usually need to ‘warm them up’ with a free eBook or offer. If budget allows, test several formats of advert too, make video one of them.
The worst thing you can do with Google, Facebook or any other advertising, is jump in and put campaigns live without learning the tips and tricks that a very important when it comes to making a profit. Done correctly, however, social media advertising can be highly cost-effective.
Here is a great tutorial about Facebook advertising to get started with.
