They say that life’s a journey. And nowhere is that more obvious in the world of personal enterprise. You start off with one set of ideas, only to find out that you need to change your views completely after a couple of years.
Nowhere is this truer than in the pursuit of profit.
Becoming profitable is a genuine challenge. Data suggest that around 25 percent of new businesses survive until the 15-year mark. And more than 65 percent fail in the first ten years.
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The trick in solopreneurship is to generate more revenue than you consume in expenses. But doing that is notoriously difficult.
In this post, we take a look at some profit-improving strategies you wish you’d learned years ago. These ideas should help you bypass some of the struggles you face and get your business to where you’d like it to be.
Make Your Website Foolproof
If you’re struggling to make sales, the problem might not be the product itself, but the difficulty in accessing it. Today, we live in a “click-happy” culture where people want simple, easy checkouts that work instantly. They don’t want to have to spend their time filling out forms or ringing phone numbers. They want services delivered simply and automatically through your site.
Where possible, make sure that this happens. If nothing else, ensure that paying is simple and automated. Also, try to deliver digital services that people can consume immediately through the cloud. If you’re an e-commerce business, send them an email updating them with their shipping progress. Always keep them in the loop.
Implement Cost-Seg Accounting Practices
If you’re still struggling to make money, it’s worth spending a little time going over your expenses. Sometimes, you’ll find that you’re underestimating your true costs.
Start with cost-segmentation accounting practices to find out whether there are any hidden depreciation costs in your business. (You can learn more here about this concept).
Then move onto looking into whether your business expenses qualify for any tax credit schemes. Some of your spending, especially R&D, may allow you to reduce your earnings liability more than the value of the expense itself.
Build Reviews
Review-building is a powerful tool for improving profits for several reasons. It helps to build “social proof” – something that a lot of companies struggle to do – by getting consumers themselves to rate your company and recommend it to others.
Reviews can be a little risky if your products and services aren’t up to standard. But if you have a decent offering, then they can be a great way to convince people you can genuinely meet their needs.
Communicate With Your Customers More Often
Many companies view their own marketing materials as a hassle. But clients don’t always see it this way. In fact, once they have a relationship with an organization, they typically want to benefit from it as much as possible.
Communication helps to build trust and keep them in the loop. Here are some strategies that you might want to try using.
- Post on forums
- Offer virtual meet-ups on Zoom
- Speak to them via email
- Spend more time chatting to them on social media
Photo by Vitaly Taranov