Comments Off on The Entrepreneur’s Tool Kit: Managing Your New Business Venture

The Entrepreneur’s Tool Kit: Managing Your New Business Venture

Posted by Lior Weinstein on Monday, March 18th, 2013

Have you always dreamed of being an entrepreneur? When you are starting a new venture there are so many things that have to be done. It is easy to lose sight of why you started your business in the first place. Sometimes you end up doing things in an inefficient manner because you don’t have the right tools. By starting out with the right equipment and software, you’ll be able to concentrate on sales and marketing.

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Many entrepreneurs start out working from home. They often struggle on their own to get their business established because they don’t have the funds to hire staff. You may have a fantastic product or service but your focus is on getting your name out there and getting clients. Why not start part time and keep your day job until you have a foundation to build upon?

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There are numerous websites that provide support and advice for entrepreneurs. Most of those sites focus on the psychology of entrepreneurship. It’s true that you have to have a vision and a passion for what you are doing. Without those, you may as well go work for someone else because you won’t have the strength to keep going when the going gets rough. You have to be steadfast and willing to work hard to build a business where you may not see results for a while.

Planning is crucial when starting a small business. You need determination, but you also need office space, or at least a desk, equipment, services such as the Internet and phone and a host of other products to make your transition to business owner an easier one. Why make your job harder than it already is?

If you are starting a business with limited funds, you may have to be a jack of all trades. That means you are going to be your own marketer, sales person, webpage designer, blogger, bookkeeper and delivery person. Your time is going to be at a premium.

In order to succeed in business you have to have to be able to communicate effectively. If you have a terrific product, but you don’t know how to put it into words, you may have to hire someone to do that for you. You will need an online presence, brochures and other written materials. Try crowdsourcing in the cloud to find someone who will do this work for a reasonable price.

We can’t be good at everything. If you aren’t good with numbers and can’t afford to hire a bookkeeper, find a friend or family member who is has the ability to help you set up a system that is easy for you to use.

While you are promoting your venture on Facebook and Twitter you should also be planning for when those sales start to come in. Do you have the resources in place to handle orders? You may be connected through social media, your computer, tablet and smartphone, but keeping track of those orders is another thing.

Some people are brilliant and creative, but they don’t have a business mind. If you can’t afford to hire someone to take care of the minutiae, you are going to have to learn. Using spreadsheets is the easiest method of organizing sales appointments, customer lists, orders, suppliers and invoicing.

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If you aren’t familiar with Excel, you can easily learn it online, for free. It isn’t difficult. Many people are deterred from using spreadsheets because they are impatient. When they open that spreadsheet and look at those empty cells, the thought of sitting and typing in numbers fills them with dread. As an entrepreneur, you can’t afford to be impatient because you have a lot of waiting ahead of you. When you aren’t waiting for sales to come in, you’ll be too busy promoting your business to sit there for hours doing data entry. By using a PDF to Excel converter, you can allow software to do the job for you.

When you are starting out, your budget will only stretch so far. You need to determine what your strengths and weaknesses are, what you can do for yourself and what you absolutely have to leave to the experts. Using software such as a PDF to Excel converter, allows you to do the work yourself and save your budget for advertising or manufacturing costs.