Victoria HeckstallRunning an online business isn’t easy. Whether it’s dealing with tough competition or finding your customers, there are so many factors you have to take into account. Over 90% of online businesses fail today. Don’t become a statistic.
Nevertheless, here are the five most important areas you must pay extra attention to.
- Remain Professional on Your Personal Social Media Accounts
Clean up your social media accounts and make sure anything you do publish is something you would happily show to potential customers.
From an employer point of view, 40-60% of hiring managers now pass on social media details when comparing candidates. Customers are doing the same. Don’t leave yourself open to embarrassment by posting potentially controversial content on your personal social media account.
- Follow the 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule, or Pareto’s Principle as it’s otherwise known, is the idea that 80% of your output should come from 20% of your input. In other words, focus on the activities that generate most of your business’s revenue. The chances are there are things you’re doing that don’t really matter, or at least not enough to make them a priority.
Review your business and see where most of your income comes from. From there, you can figure out what you need to be putting your energy into.
- Be Open to New Changes that Simplify Tasks
One of the biggest criticisms levelled at bosses, in general, is they are unwilling to accept change. Older bosses are particularly guilty of this. They’re set in their ways, so when a new option comes along they don’t take it.
Be open to change, especially when it simplifies tasks you’re already doing. Automate that task or invest in that new software. It will make running your online business much easier.
- Schedule Everything
Scheduling couldn’t be more important. People think that scheduling is about making lists and nothing else. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is scheduling can save you minutes each day. It doesn’t sound like much, but let’s look at an example.
In your daily routine, you find that you can get back ten minutes each day with a schedule. Over 365 days, you get back 36,500 minutes. That’s humongous when you consider there are just 60 minutes in an hour. Think about what you could do with all this time.
How you schedule depends on your personal preferences. Some bosses may prefer to schedule with a good old-fashioned notebook. Others may want to schedule using specialist software, of which there’s plenty available.
However you do it, review your schedule regularly and see how you can improve. We also recommend outsourcing, if you can.
- Make a Schedule that You Can Actually Stick To
Leading on from the previous point, it’s all well and good coming up with a schedule, but it’s pointless if you can’t stick to it.
Coming up with schedules, you can’t stick to is commonplace among bosses, which is why they don’t take advantage of the full benefits.
So how do you make sure you can stick to that schedule?
- You know yourself. Don’t create a schedule you already know you won’t stick to.
- Make little changes. Sudden changes are hard to implement. Do it little by little.
- Review your schedule. If you find it tough to handle, make changes. Don’t try to hobble along.
Conclusion
These points take into account a number of key attributes every successful online business embraces. You have professionalism, adaptation, and efficiency. If you can master these three things, you’re well on your way to creating a brand you can be proud of.
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