How to Go From Winging It to Winning it (in your biz)
Image Credit: Shamblen Studios
When you first start in business, you may not know what you're doing. That's normal. Whether you're a freelancer or a solopreneur, you won't always have the experience you need to get your business off the ground.
Yet, you do it anyway. But when you're ready to grow the company, you may find that you want to start doing things in a much more professional manner. To help you to do exactly that, here's everything you need to know to grow your business and go from winging it to winning in business. Let’s get right into it :)
1. Know What You Want to Achieve
First of all, you have to make sure that you know what you want to achieve. If you're someone who likes to set goals, this is where you need to begin. If not, you can just start to think about what it is that you want to do with your business. Being intentional with this counts. It's important for you to focus on exactly what you're trying to do and what you want to achieve in order to make it happen. Without this, you may lack a sense of direction.
2. Create an Action Plan
Once you know what it is that you want to achieve, you can then create your action plan. If you don't have an action plan in place, you may find that you're still just winging it, but when you start to think about the different steps you need to take in order to get to where you want to be, you have a form of guidance in place. Not only that, but your action plan can help to keep you accountable and ensure that you follow through on everything you need to do. Start by listing out the tasks you need to do—then prioritize them.
Image Credit: Shamblen Studios
3. Get Professional Branding in Place
When it comes to the different action points that you need to focus on, one of the best places to start is with professional branding. Whether you've had branding done before or not, refreshing the way that your business looks can really make a difference. This could be updates to your current logo and brand colors or a complete overhaul. If you know you want to feel more professional-looking, it is the best way to begin! And once you’ve done that, get a creative process in place to help you build the kind of (literal) image that shows the world what you're about.
4. Invest in a Professional Setup
Alongside that, it's always a good idea to invest in a professional setup. This can work in a few different ways. Firstly, you need to make sure that you have your own website that you can drive traffic back to. At the same time, you need to make sure that you have all the equipment and tools you need. One of the things that you may need here is colocation services to support your everyday operations. If you have all of your own equipment but you want help with data management, this can be a great option for you.
5. Procure a Physical Location
If you don't already have a physical premises, this could be next on your list! Not every type of business needs to have a physical location, but when you want to look more professional or you're ready to grow, getting your first office can be important. It can also feel like a milestone moment.
6. Hire a Team
Next, you may want to hire a team. If you've been doing everything mostly on your own, it might be time for a change. Even if it's just been you and an assistant, having a team behind you could be what you need to take the business to the next level. This can seem like a scary step, but having the right experts in your corner could make a huge difference to how well the business does.
7. Get Creative With Your Marketing
Then, when it comes to the actions you need to take in order to actually grow the business, getting creative with your marketing is always a good idea. I cannot stress this enough—boring photos won’t catch the attention of anyone nowadays. If you know that your marketing has been a little bit complacent lately, trying out new techniques could be just what you need to stand out. Regardless of what you do, it's a crowded market out there, so being creative and getting attention will make a huge difference for you.
Use humor to grab attention in your marketing. Image Credit: Shamblen Studios
8. Work With Key Software
It's also really important to make sure that your business is supported with the right software. If you're still doing everything manually, it could be slowing you down. When it comes to really winning in the world of business, you need to be smart in the way that you operate. This means bringing in different automations and software packages that are going to help you grow, boost your productivity, and organize your operations more efficiently. Also—keep everything up to date :)
9. Invest in Your Growth
At some point, you may also want to invest in your growth. When it comes to growing a business, there are many ways that you can invest in it in order for this to happen. It might be that you want to invest in your knowledge and experience as a CEO, or that you want to bring experts on board so that you can harness their knowledge and experience and get the business to where you want it to be.
Image Credit: Shamblen Studios
10. Network!
Finally, you need to make sure that you're networking. There is nothing as powerful in business as the network you have around you. Plus, when you know that you want to grow the company and get to higher heights, it's really important to make sure that you find the right opportunities to do that. Networking with people in your industry and meeting powerful players will really help you to expand your knowledge, open new doors, and get the company to where you want it to be. Even if you're introverted, mingling with people online or offline can really help support your business growth and help you win in business—Instagram is a great place to start!
