You have big dreams of becoming a CEO and running your own business. You’ve drawn up the business plans. You researched the market and feel ready to take the leap of faith and launch your business.
Running a business can be stressful. You need to acquire capital, create a budget, and somehow find a way to care for yourself amidst all the madness. But you are a competent CEO. All you need to do is follow these ten steps and be on your way to a successful startup.
1. Take Control of Your Cash Flow With a Startup Business Loan and Learn More With Entrepreneur
Let’s face it. There are a lot of expenses to get your business up and off the ground. You’ll need a website, which may require you to outsource a web developer. Business cards, inventory, steady internet … it all adds up fast.
Loans for a startup business could provide the essential cash flow you need to begin to build your business, which you can learn more about with Entrepreneur. Even if you have a sizable amount of capital, it’s probably not enough to get your startup off the ground. You’ll want to seek out and network with investors who want proof that your business is worth putting their money into.
Before applying for a startup business loan, you’ll need to build your business plan and be prepared to present it to potential lenders. Luckily, many options are available to get you the money you need to get started.
Choose the right startup business loan for you and your business goals. Consider an SBA microloan, a government-backed program that offers $5,000-$50,000 loans to lower-income communities and small businesses. You could also use personal collateral and take out a personal loan in your name to put towards your business venture. Finally, multiple online business lenders, like Lendio and Kabbage, offer startup loans geared explicitly towards companies with under a year in business.
2. Keep Costs Low and Budget Wisely
Once you have the funds required to start your business, you must ensure you don’t spend too quickly. While you can expect your business to start bringing in money, you can’t expect to turn a profit for at least eighteen months—well into your second year running your new business.
Do everything you can to keep your costs low and stick to your budget. Use online accounting software to auto-track income and expenses and stay on top of cash flow within your business. Avoid being one of the many small businesses that fizzle out after the first two years when they run out of money.
Learning how to manage your money is essential to growing into the best CEO you can be. Not only will this save you money by cutting the cost of employing a full-time accountant, but this will put the power of the budget in your hands. You’ll be able to see control and direct where the money in your business is going.
3. Reinvest Back Into the Company Before Paying Yourself
When your business starts turning a profit, it can be tempting to increase your salary or write a paycheck—after all, you’ve been putting in hours and hours of hard work. Resist this urge. While you deserve to be rewarded, the money your business earns is better off reinvested than put into your pocket.
Obviously, you should still pay yourself enough to live. But putting the extra profit back into your business will only increase your profit over time. Consider investing in social media and marketing strategies that are known to drive clients or customers to your product.
You could hire freelancers to help curate a blog on your website to improve your SEO, allowing more potential clients to find you on Google. Invest in Facebook and Instagram ads to broaden your reach. Find ways to utilize inbound marketing and offer solutions to client problems rather than push your product on them. Get creative, find what works, and continue to invest in marketing solutions that grow your network.
4. Learn to Invest in a Solid Phone Plan to Work on the Go With Navi
The first year of running your business will require a lot of your attention, and an unreliable phone plan could cause you to miss an important phone call or respond late to an email from an investor with whom you wanted to make a good impression. Investing in a solid phone plan allows you to never miss a beat and have your work in your pocket no matter where you are.
Consider which plan will save you money. Compare and contrast carriers like T Mobile vs Verizon, both known to have excellent coverage across the US and internationally, and check which provider has the best coverage in your area with help from Navi. Remember you’re on a budget, and choose the plan that gets you the most bang for your buck.
You can provide your key employees with work phones to keep your whole crew on the same page. Just make sure you aren’t adding additional expenses where they aren’t necessary.
5. Use Ritual to Prioritize Your Health and Manage Stress
While you rush around to set up your startup loan, choose a phone plan, build your budget, and everything else building a business entails, you have to take the time to care for your health as well. When you’re the CEO of a new business, taking a sick day could impact your company for weeks or months. You need to be as available as possible. To do that, you need to prioritize staying healthy and managing stress.
Maintaining a healthy diet is essential when it comes to feeling your best. But, sometimes, diet alone isn’t enough to keep your gut healthy and balanced. If you are currently suffering from fatigue or poor digestion, an imbalanced gut could be the culprit. There’s a simple solution, adding a daily probiotic to your routine.
The human digestive tract includes trillions of tiny bacteria which work for and against our bodies. Probiotics introduce more of the healthy bacteria to your gut biome, helping to improve digestion, fight fatigue, and boost your immune system.
Be patient; signs probiotics are working take time and daily use, which Ritual notes. Give your gut time to adjust to its new microbiome. You may initially feel slight discomfort—but that should pass as your body adjusts. Consistency is vital. If you are religious about taking your daily probiotic, chances are you’ll avoid unnecessary sick days and allow yourself to stay on track.
6. Get Plenty of Sleep With Sunflora
Along with taking a probiotic, one of the best ways to take care of your health is to prioritize your sleep. Starting a business is stressful, and stress is one of the leading causes of chronic insomnia. When you have a million things on your mind, it can be difficult to fall asleep, much less stay asleep.
If you want to show up to work every morning as your best self, it’s essential you find an evening ritual that allows you to release the stress of the day and get a good night’s sleep. Set your phone to “do not disturb” an hour before bedtime, and take that time to simply relax. Tossing and turning all night will only lead to more anxiety and restlessness the following day.
Put on soothing music, light a candle, and draw yourself a bath. Indulge in a good book for pleasure. If you’re still having trouble soothing yourself to sleep after an hour of no distractions, consider a CBN sleep edible, like the ones at Sunflora.
CBN is a cannabinoid, similar to CBD, derived from THC that has been broken down due to heat exposure and removing any psychoactive effects. Like CBD, a CBN sleep edible can help your mind relax, ease tension in your body, and promote overall feelings of well-being. Since CBN is derived from THC, it’s thought that CBN is even more beneficial than CBD in promoting a good night’s sleep.
7. Avoid Injury in the Warehouse by Wearing a Back Brace From Incrediwear
In addition to getting enough sleep and balancing your gut biome, you need to ensure you’re doing everything you can to avoid injury. You are essential during the first few years of running your business. If you were to throw your back out lifting a heavy box in the warehouse or going too hard at the gym, your business and employees would suffer.
An easy way to protect back muscles from injury is to wear a back brace from Incrediwear when doing any sort of heavy lifting, whether it be part of your workout or rearranging office supplies. Especially if you have a history of lower back injury or lumbar pain, a back brace can help you recover faster and get back to doing what you love.
If professional athletes can use back braces to improve their performance and get back to their job on intense exercise sooner: who is to say it won’t do the same for you? In addition to using a back brace, always lift with your legs and avoid putting too much pressure on your lower back. Eventually, you’ll have warehouse workers to do all the heavy lifting, but when starting out, be safe lifting all those big boxes.
8. Wait to Lease an Office Space
Setting up a space to call your own for your small business can be tempting. But, many startups begin in someone’s garage. There is no reason you can’t build your business up over the first year of working from home. You’ll save thousands of dollars on rent each month, which you can use for marketing instead of a physical office.
Obviously, working from home every day is not ideal. You may run into distractions like dirty dishes and laundry, which could suck up hours of your time before you even realize it. Rather than spending money on rent, use a co-working space one to two days a week to change up your environment and focus on your business. You’ll get all the benefits of a day at the office without throwing money away on rent.
If your business involves you selling a physical item or opening a brick-and-mortar store, you may not be able to avoid the cost of leasing your space. You could be opening a cafe or a private training gym, in which case you’d need a physical location to sell your services. However, if your product doesn’t require a location immediately, save your money and wait to lease office space.
9. Make Time for Activities You Enjoy With TickPick
While you may be tempted to pinch every penny for the first few years while you get your business up and running, resist that temptation. There is no need to spend frivolously, but you also still need to live an exciting and full life. Invest in yourself as well as your business, and take time to get out in the world and do things you enjoy.
See your favorite band live, go out for margarita night with your friends, or take a pottery class. Over the next few years, you’ll be spending so much time growing your business. You need to take care of yourself and find ways to enjoy your life every step of the way.
Find deals where you can! Rather than spend full price, snag your UFC tickets on TickPick. With TickPick, you never pay service fees, and you’ll always get the best price for the big fight. Go ahead and treat yourself. See your favorite MMA fighters go at it, drink a cold beer, and have fun with your friends. You deserve it.
Remember, You Got This
Hopefully, these tips help you see that the dream you have to start a business this year is totally achievable. Be smart with your money, take care of your health, and remember that you deserve to have some fun. On the days you feel a little stressed, just take a deep breath and remember, you got this.
Now go launch your business and become the CEO you were always meant to be.
