Spring is the time when everything comes to life. Trees are blossoming and nature is awakening. All this together with the nice weather is motivating people to do the same. Everyone seems to be getting some new inspiration and motivation to do things. The same rule applies to businesses. Users would love a fresh perspective and businesses are there to provide it. This is why entrepreneurs cannot miss this opportunity to capture new users and keep old ones entertained. Having that in mind, here are some ideas to achieve this goal.
Looks do matter
Regardless of how superficial it may sound, looks are important and do not let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise. Your home page or your Instagram are the first things customers see. In order to gain interest in digging deeper, your design needs to be fetching enough to attract users.
This is something one should take seriously. If this is something you thrive at or you have an employee or a whole department in charge of UI and UX, you should be covered. However, if it is not your area of expertise or if it is a specific domain such as energy industry web design, better leave it to the pros. It will cost you extra, but this is step zero that needs to be overcome in order to get new users.
Customer focus is key
Needless to say, your business plan should be all about the customer, especially today. It is up to you to adjust to the needs and wants of your users and not the other way around. Having said that, what are some ways to express customer focus?
It could be displayed by going the extra mile for your users. Implement short surveys for your customers with just a few questions about their likes and dislikes regarding their experience. Keep this information and use it to offer special discounts and offers. When implementing a new feature, make sure to ask your users whether it is something they would appreciate or not. If not, ask them to write their own ideas and take them into consideration.
Create control groups
Test groups are an excellent way to keep your business plan in check. They are not a cheap or quick solution, but if you manage to form them in the right way, it will all be worth it. Having a control group is like having a secret aly in the fight to the top. This secret aly will tell you whether your new idea for a special feature is solid gold or pure rubbish.
However, creating the perfect control group is a challenge of its own. You need to create an artificial environment that simulates your real audience. It takes carefully selecting members of the group to mimic your real users. Failing to do the job well will make your control group absolutely worthless. This is why you might want consider hiring an expert to help you assemble the perfect test group.
You are not alone
It is for a reason that they say it takes a village. Being an entrepreneur is challenging in many ways, one of them being failure to let go of control. Every startup needs to worry about finances and they usually do not have many employees in the beginning. These are usually people that do the job of several roles in the company. As the main person responsible for the whole company, you would be doing the most responsible tasks, too. This is fine in the beginning when the company does not yet have any profit. However, in time the company starts making a profit and the list of your responsibilities gets longer. Before you know it, you would be buried in work and burnt out completely.
The truth is that you have to start delegating work to other employees. The boss should be in charge of the big picture and the creative work, but if you do all those other tasks, there will be no space left for any innovation and creativity.
In order to take a load of your own back, you need to hire people to do parts of your work. In fact, you need to surround yourself with people you can trust and trust is earned, not implied. This is why you should start by delegating simple tasks and in time build up to more challenging ones.
Take a breath
Being an entrepreneur can make you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. This often happens and it is probably inevitable, but there are ways to fight it and you definitely should. Try to remember the reason you founded your business. Focus on the inspiration you had and the vision you imagined for the future. Where did that person go? Do not worry, that person is still there, you just need a small reminder. Sometimes we bury ourselves in meaningless, but huge workloads and we forget to live. So, take a vacation, watch a movie, read a book, and meet friends over coffee. Do what makes you feel happy and relaxed. Once you remember to breathe a little, inspiration will follow.
This may be easier said than done, but you can achieve it with practice. Keep reminding yourself to do something enjoyable every day, regardless how small. It may be a simple bath that will pick you up. The next day, it can be a walk in the park. Take it step by step and work towards achieving your goal. In time it will become am integral part of your mindset.
All in all, there is no precise recipe for success. If there was, everyone would be successful. However, there are steps you could take to ensure a brighter future, or at least a chance at one. It may seem cheesy to say you should follow your heart, but there is truth in that. Of course you should educate yourself and follow guidelines, but not everything can be rationalized. That is where your heart and your gut come in. Don’t be afraid to use them.
