Tag: Small Business

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Business motivation

3 Small Business Trends that will Emerge in 2021!

small business trends 2021

India has a robust ecosystem of startups with around six crore MSMEs. According to a GoDaddy Global Entrepreneurship Survey 2019, entrepreneurs in India were optimistic about their business expanding globally by at least 50 percent in the next 3 to 5 years.

However, with the pandemic-induced chaos and breakdowns unleashed by the COVID 19, the future seems daunting. According to the State of Small Business report, ’51% of operational SMBs on Facebook India reported they were making at least a quarter of their sales digitally. The numbers mentioned here are substantial considering that there are around 60 million small businesses across India’.

As most of the small businesses are moving towards digitalization, we can expect a stronger, greater, and rapidly growing economy. However, some trends are likely to emerge in 2021. Here is a list of key small business trends that we are likely to see this year:

  1. Small Business will move Online

The trend of online-purchasing is going to strengthen in this pandemic-stricken world. According to a joint report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Facebook, the digitally influenced purchases had increased up to 15-20% for key categories in urban consumers within three months after the pandemic hit the world.

  1. Businesses in Tier II & III cities will Embrace Digitalization

The digitalization process that became a rage especially during the pandemic has made small business owners from small towns and cities realize its importance. Small business owners have finally realized the power of digital acceleration.

From Instagram to Facebook, young entrepreneurs are now using these social media platforms to reach new and potential customers across India.

  1. A Stronger Small Business Ecosystem

How White Hat Jr. became a $300 million company in just 10 months? Apart from their innovative approach and scalable ideas, a large part of their growth came from advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

India has a growing startup ecosystem, a large population of internet users, and a strong entrepreneurial zeal that is getting powered up by digitalization.

The year 2021 has not just taught us some invaluable business lessons but has also carved a pathway that will lead us to recovery. Want to know how you too can contribute to economic growth? Simply by bringing innovative concepts and creative solutions to your target market.

Join our Everything about Entrepreneurship course to know how exactly you can grow your business despite the pandemic with the help of massive digital acceleration. To know more about the course, click here: https://www.badabusiness.com/?ref_code=ArticlesLeads

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Business motivation

How Investors can contribute with more than Investing Just Money into the Startups

Investors
ईज ऑफ डूइंग बिजनेस

Investment is the blood of any startup that is vital for its smooth functioning. However, investing in startups is a lot more than just buying stocks.

A report by IBM (Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics) stated that around 90 percent of the Indian startups fail within the first 5 years of their inception due to the lack of innovation.

Truth to be told, many entrepreneurs themselves believe that post the initial ideation, the startups fail to scale because they lack funds, strategy, or strong leadership. More often than not founders or the owners of small businesses place too much focus on raising money, rather than emphasizing the value that each investor can bring to the table.

So how can an investor add value to the startups beyond making investments into the company?

  1. Financial Aid & Funding

Needless to say that backing startups with finances are often a huge advantage if you are an investor. By providing capital and financial aid, an investor adds immense value to a startup. But, it would be beneficial for the startup if an investor brings more than just money to the table.

As the initial years are crucial for small businesses, investors can help MSMEs and SMEs with their deep industry insights and mentorship. They can help young entrepreneurs in the early stage of the business and guide them to success.

  1. Strategic Planning & Decision Making

Customer satisfaction, cost-effectiveness, and relevance of the product or service in the target market are often lost in the struggle to scale. A seasoned investor who has gained expertise with years of experience can lay a crucial role in decision making.

By making available strategic planning, investors can also help in achieving market penetration and profitable operating ratios.

  1. Network Creation

For small businesses, it is essential to gain access to the right people at the right time in the early stages. An established investor can help in the creation of valuable connectivity to the potential customer or the right talent pool.

Young entrepreneurs who hail from tier II or III cities struggle in finding the right investors and right talents due to the limited access. Hence, investors can help small business owners by being the mediator in business talks. They can also help entrepreneurs in grooming and incubating new profitable ventures to help them grow.

  1. Visibility & Credibility

To add and increase the overall value to an innovative startup venture media attention and access to established domains are required. Hence, an investor can help to build associations with industry doyens, which results from a startup gain visibility and credibility in the market.

Making introductions, build meaningful & profitable associations, giving insights, an investor can do more than just buying the company stocks. With their immense contribution, they can increase the chances of that company`s success.

If you think about it more deeply, why an experienced investor shouldn`t help the startup he is investing in? Want to know how you can find an investor for your business?

Learn the best business strategies that will help you to get investment for your small business with our Everything about Entrepreneurship course. To know more about this course and exclusive offers, click here https://www.badabusiness.com/?ref_code=ArticlesLeads.

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Business motivation

3 Simple & Effective Growth Hacks for Every Small Business

growth hacking strategies

Having a successful business is the dream of every aspiring entrepreneur. But let`s face the truth. Scaling and expanding your business is difficult. Initially, it means wearing multiple hats, sometimes all at the same time.

Sometimes it means understanding taxes and corporate compliance. Other times, it could also mean juggling between sales and marketing. It will also require you to interact with customers daily to create a meaningful customer relationship. And so much more!

At the end of the day, this tiring process will drain all your energy. However, if you want to scale and grow your business, there is still light at the end of the tunnel. All you need is to de-clutter your mind and shift your perspective a little to identify the most effective business growth hack.

Though, there are many existing growth hacks, here is a list of 5 strategies that will take your small business to the next level efficiently and quickly:

  1. Stand Out of the Crowd

Creating a unique experience for customers is necessary in the business world. There must be plenty of other business owners selling the same product as yours. Then why a customer should buy your product?

How your product will solve the immediate problem of the consumer in the market will make the ultimate difference. Sell the benefits and tell your target customer how their life will be changed after they purchase your product. Consumers want to know the stories behind your product, and not about your product.

  1. Research Competitors

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”. Knowing about your competitors is necessary to stay ahead. Hence, do a market analysis and research about your competitors. Find out their key selling points and build a strategy that will work for your product. This is an excellent growth hack for small business owners who are in the early stages.

  1. Innovative & Personalized Marketing Strategies

In this digital age, creating a marketing strategy that is tailor-fit for your brand is a little tricky. But, if done properly, it can fetch more customers and boost sales. Small business owners can deploy creative growth hacks to pull more customers to their platforms by email marketing, product recommendations, visually appealing ad creative, and identifying high lifetime value (LTV).

Most of the business growth hacks state with a simple idea that emerged in the conversations. These growth hacks, if implemented quickly, can be quite effective for small business owners. A planned approach is necessary to scale these experiments.

Learn what works for what, not for your business. Find a customized business strategy as per your requirements with our Problem Solving Course. Click here to learn more: https://www.badabusiness.com/?ref_code=ArticlesLeads.

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Startup

Here Are 4 Kinds of People To Avoid When Starting a Business

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Mumbai, November 30: Starting your own business is not as easy as it sounds. There are several factors which need to be considered and they need to fall in place for the proper functioning of the business. When you start a business, it is very important to be in the influence of people who will have a positive impact on you, rather than demotivate and pull you down.

The entrepreneurial journey is extremely satisfying,  but there are several challenges on its path. We have listed a few kinds of people from whom you should stay away.

  1. People Who Are Negative & Doubt Your Capabilities: Stay away from people who doubt your capabilities as one of the traits which are required when you start a business is confidence. So at no cost, you can afford people who doubt your capabilities. People who are negative will have a bad impact on you.
  2. People Who Will Not Stand by Your Tough Times: All days are not going to be the same. There will be days when your business will face a tough time. It is very important to choose people who will not leave you in your tough days.
  3. Those Who Have Big Egos: When you are starting a new company, everyone is on the same page and all the employees need to think of it as their baby. People at this stage can’t carry excess baggage in the form of egos, which will create a negative impact and will hinder the growth.
  4. The Person who keeps reminding you of your shortcomings: Stay away from people who keep on reminding you of your past mistakes and shortcomings. These kinds of people will not let you move ahead in future.We hope that the above ideas will help you to stay alert and maintain a distance from such toxic people, whom you can’t avoid at the start of your business.
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Startup

Here Are 4 Reasons Why Starting a Business From Home is Not a Bad Idea

Startup (Representational Image Only, Photo Credits: NeedPix.com)

Mumbai, November 27: Starting a business from home considered as a great time in today’s time. Although there was a time when a home-based business wasn’t taken seriously, compared with the usual 9-to-5. However, we can safely say that times have changed and COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to changing the landscape of operating a business.

The pandemic forced offices to allow employees to work from home. It was then people valued and understood the concept of work from home. Here’s why starting a business from home is actually a good idea.

  1. Increasing Commuting Cost & Traffic Issues: We are all familiar with the traffic jams which we face every day on our way to commute. The situation in metro cities is worst, where employees are spending their majority time in travelling. So, here’s why this hassle can be overcome if you plan to start a business from home.
  2. Giving time to the family: If you are saving time on the commute, you can use that to spend time with your family and loved ones.
  3. No need to pay high rent for office space: The best part of working from home and starting your own business is that you don’t require to rent or buy an office space. Property is a very volatile market and companies spend a huge chunk of their income in paying office rent.
  4. Advancement in technology: Thanks to the ever-changing technology, your work will not be impacted even if you work from home. From good internet bandwidth to online meetings with colleagues, everything can be facilitated from the comfort of your home.

    These days, there are plenty of legitimate businesses that are being operated from homes across countries. These businesses have grown to create one of the largest, fastest-growing commercial segments in the world today. Modern technology makes it possible, easy, and convenient to do business wherever and whenever.

    Today, there are several options which are open for someone if one wants to explore the idea of starting a business from home. If you have an idea, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, and start it today.

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Startup

What is the Difference Between a Startup And Small Business Venture? Here Are 3 Key Differences

Startup Vs Small Business Venture
Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Bangalore, November 5: Startup is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable economic model. A startup is often confused with a small business, however, there are key differences which one needs to understand in how they function.

Amid the tough market conditions, it is difficult to run a small business and more difficult is to see a startup grow.

Growth Plans

Startups are different from small ventures mainly because they are designed to grow fast on limited resources internally. Startups have an essential need for rapid growth.

Small businesses also seek growth, but more conservative growth which includes creating reliable, long-term income streams.

Funding:

Apart from having different growth strategies, startups seek financial investment differently than most small businesses. Startups rely on capital that comes by means of angel investors or venture capital firms. On the other hand, small business ventures may tend to rely on loans and grants from financial institutions.

A startup requires constant investment at every stage of their growth, which will help them to reach the next level. This is the reason, why user number metrics are so important to startups as they indicate what percentage of their target market has been achieved.

Risk-Taking Capability

Compared to small business ventures, startups have an aggressive risk-taking capability. A startup undertakes several risks like- product risk, market risk and financial risk. For a startup, it is also very important to know their customer and why, how and where they buy related products is arguably the most important risk factor to assess before launching the product. For startups, the risk is mainly tougher because the product is new and it will be a different experience for the public.

Small businesses also take risks, but they are usually of a different nature. The time to prove their success in the market is usually more.

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Strategy

7 Tips To Make You Successful Small Business Owner

Business Ideas

In current times to succeed in business, a good business owner needs to be very flexible and have the skill to handle every situation. It is an assumption that you need to turn yourself into computers, or you will start making money as your business get into the market.

Assuming things might be wrong, but the above assumption can completely turn out to be true if you don’t balance and plan out your work. There are necessary moves you need to make to achieve the road to success. This road map can set for any kind of business you have. Therefore, start using the tips that can help you to be successful in your venture.

Be Organized

For achieving success in any aspect of life, you need to be organized. Therefore, being successful in the business, you need to be organized as the first step. For doing this, you need to start by creating a to-do list for each day. While finishing each task, check it off your list.

This process will help you not to forget anything important for that day, and you will be able to fulfil all essential steps for the survival of your venture.

Recognize the Risks and Rewards

The key to any success is to calculate and understand the risks which can help your business expand. Figure out what can be the worst-case scenario, if you can figure out this then you can work on it. That can help you calculate the risk that can later help you generate reward out of it.

Figuring out the risk and rewards is a smart step before starting your business.

Learn To Be Creative

The key to success in your business is to have a chance of improving. Always gives your best to stand out in the crowd of competition. Be open to new ideas and innovation for your business. Creativity should be in a manner to express your product feature but, don’t do overdo the terms of showing creativity.

Be Focused

Being focused on the goal is a significant feature for business building. From the day you thought about the idea of business, so make sure when you work on your long-term and short- term, goals

Don’t Be Scared to Make Sacrifices

Every business needs a lot of hard work and passionate but once you start your business your work just started. So, while working on it you need to make little sacrificing like spending more time at work, you may feel professional life is taking over, but in the beginning, you need to bear it and later you just need to create balance.

Always work on the Providing Good Service

The customer is god, it’s an old saying, but it’s not completely wrong. Providing great service is important to your brand. The benefit of providing happy services will bring your customer back to you again, instead of going to move towards your competition.

 Never lose Consistency

One of the secrets of success is to be consistent in any business. That’s true, it’s important to keep doing what is necessary to be successful. This will help you to create a habit of long-term mindset and success.

Just thought of starting a business idea will not work until you work on how to take the plan out it. We have mentioned a few simple steps which can help you in business planning and strategy.

 

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Startup

COVID-19 Impact: 15% Startups Halt Operations, 44% Have Cash Runway For Less Than 6 Months

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Mumbai, October 14: The coronavirus pandemic has affected across sectors causing job losses and business being shut. According to an IANS report, the impact of COVID-19 has been severe on the Indian startup as 15 percent of the startups have halted operations.

According to a report by TIE Delhi-NCR and Zinnov, 44 per cent of start-ups have cash runway for less than 6 months, 41 per cent of startups have been impacted negatively while 52 per cent are struggling to raise capital.

In addition to this, there has been a decline in the overall pace of investments, especially in April to June 2020. To add to it, there has been a 48 per cent year on year decline in funding and 37 per cent year on year decline in the number of deals in the quarter.

The decline was even more prominent in seed and early-stage investments. The coronavirus also affected early and late-stage funding. According to the report, there was more than 50 percent decrease in early and late-stage total funding in Q2 20 as compared to Q1 20.

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Business motivation Motivational

Pivot And Persist: These Companies Stood Successful In Pandemic Times

2020 has turned out to be a chaotic year with full of surprises and shocks for everyone. It will not be wrong to say COVID-19, called the worst thing for many businesses, but for many entrepreneurs, it came as a blessing in disguise. This hard situation may not only enable them to rotate their business operations, process but keeping mind the growth of their business.

It has been months for the Indians who are surviving and fighting with the threat of this unbeatable virus. As correctly said, the lockdown imposed by the Government for the safety of our added woes not only to entrepreneurs but every class people as well.

While suffering during this time, a lot of businesses worked hard to fight back by changing the direction of their operation and touching different dimensions to be stable and grow at the same time.

Let’s have a look into those few businesses who fought this pandemic with a positive mind and change in operations way.

Hula Global

A garment manufacturing company founded in 2018 based out in Noida, was entirely into garments before COVID-19 came. But after a worse situation faced by people in terms of safety from viruses, the company owner changed business operations and started into manufacturing PPE kits, N95 masks, face shields, etc., to fulfil the rising demand for products in the country.

A change in business operation not only helped people in fighting the virus but also helped in the growth of the business. Now the brand has collaborated with the Bahrain Government, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Brazil, and Italy to supply these kits.

Homescape

A co-working space, company founded in 2013 by Manoj Khandelwal operating from Bengaluru, when lockdown happened, then work from home to come. So, co-working spaces had major suffering during this pandemic time.

When the future of his co-working space future remains uncertain, then this Bengaluru-based co-working space Workshaala had set the example by changing business operations by an initiative called Homescape. The company started providing furniture like tables, chairs, and desktop to people working from home and help them individual’s productivity and provide them with comfort and ease at the same time.

Shree Shakti Enterprises

Shree Shakti Enterprises is a bulk trader of steel utensils since 1956 that has a good name in the market. But like most businesses in the world, they also hit a speed bump. This pandemic forced them to pause the economic activity, shut factories, so they had to close all its manufacturing units in Sonipat, Haryana.

Then their Rahul Bajaj, the owner of the company came up with the idea to touch uncharted territory of sensor-based sanitizer dispensers to hands-free hand wash systems, and automatic foot sanitizers. They started building a prototype within days of the lockdown. We can clearly say that the idea had changed their life.

2020 maybe turn out to be a surprise and shock at the same time. Last few months, many businesses have illustrated flexibility more than ever. As the pandemic and lockdown disabled not only the economy, our lives too across the globe. But, as it said you will find the way you go on the path of innovation with a positive mindset.

 

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Startup

5 Mistakes Which Startups Should Avoid While Starting a Business

Startup Growth
Startup Growth (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Starting a business is not an easy job. There are a lot of things that need to fall into place. You may have the right idea, but lack in marketing it, therefore there several crucial decision that needs to be made while running a business. More caution needs to be exercised especially if your business is small and it is a startup.

One poor decision can hurt the potential for success, or at least set you back. While there is no fool-proof plan for success, but there are some commonly committed mistakes, which can be avoided. Here are 5 mistakes, which startups and small businesses need to avoid at any cost.

Not Having a Plan

Small companies often fail to make a mark because they lack a proper plan. Planning may be tedious, but without a solid plan for your business that includes business idea research and market potential, you will be operating in the dark.

Lack of Market Understanding

When you launch in the market, you need to have a proper understanding of the space where you are working, including the competition. Never underestimate your competition and analyse their strengths and weakness wisely.

Hiring More Than Required

Never do this mistake of hiring more employees than what is required. Based on the budget allocated for a particular profile, companies should never hire more resources than what is required. One needs to remember that it is a small company and the resources are limited. Companies often make the mistake of hiring more than what is required and then they end up firing them.

Spending Too Quickly:

The most important thing which startups and small businesses should keep in mind is to spend wisely. In the initial few days, one might see that investing money is giving good returns, which might prompt them to spend more. However, there should be planning and based on which, companies should spend.

Planning only for success:

It is very important to be prepared for failure. What will happen tomorrow is not known to anyone. There can be a lot of factors that can hinder the growth of a business. For e.g, the coronavirus pandemic has caused several businesses to wind up. At the start of this year, no one could foresee that the pandemic would take such an immense scale which would make the economy dwindle. So don’t start a business, buy planning only for success. There will be times, and days when things will not go as per the way you want. So be prepared for it.