5 Awesome Ways to Jump-Start Your Business after MBA

Group of business people in a meeting seated grouped around a table having a discussion with focus to a smiling man at the head of the table. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

If you have completed your MBA and want to start your own business, then one important question might pop up in your mind is “How to jump-start my business?” There are some tips that (if stringently followed) enhance the effectiveness of your business operation. When it comes to advice on how to operate your business most effectively, it seems as though everyone you know has an answer, not to mention the thousands of articles circulating the Internet offering numerous tips and information on how best to make your business successful. While some advice might actually work for you, other tips certainly won’t apply, so how do you know which advice to take and which advice to ignore. The answer is to listen to the advice and tips that work for most, regardless of industry or type of business.

After perusing through countless articles professing business advice, you’ll find that there are many tips that are very similar and appear to have the most positive results in serving to jump start your business. Below you will find 5 tips that have a high success rate and have proven most effective for all manner of businesses and business owners or managers.

1. Set Goals

It can be hard to propel your business forward without setting goals for yourself and for what you want your business to achieve. Take the time to plan out short-term goals and long-term goals, and also be sure to write down the steps you need to take in order to make sure that you can achieve those goals. Be realistic as well—setting unrealistic goals and then not being able to meet them can actually set your business back and result in an overall decrease in motivation and productivity. But by setting goals, working towards them, and achieving them, you’ll find that your sense of self-satisfaction grows, as will your business.

2. Pay Yourself a Salary

Many entrepreneurs start a business and choose not to pay themselves a salary, opting only to take money from the business when and if they can. But, if you do this you are actually doing yourself a disservice. Even if you love your business, and even if you work hard at trying to make it work, how can you really expect it to succeed if you don’t treat it like a real business? Paying yourself a salary instills within you the mindset needed to treat your business like a real business, and not simply as a venture that may or may not work. When you collect a salary each week, you’ll find that earning the money you are working so hard for makes you feel that much prouder, and a strong feeling of motivation and determination will ensue, which you can harness to further drive your business to success.

3. Create Great Content

Marketing is an important factor in any new business, and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to market effectively these days either. Content marketing and email marketing are highly cost-effective means of reaching your audience as well as attracting new potential customers and clients. If you don’t have someone on staff that can create great content for you, then you can find freelancers on various websites that can do it for you at cost-effective prices. You can also hire freelancers to craft email marketing campaigns and social media posts, so that you are always putting out content that can be used to attract new followers and improve online visibility. Start a blog, Facebook page, or newsletter, post to other sites that are related to your industry, and definitely take advantage of LinkedIn.

4. Use an automated phone system

Just because your new business may be rather small doesn’t mean it can’t appear to be as big and professional as a major corporation. Take advantage of all the benefits afforded by an automated phone system and clients and customers that call you will certainly be under the impression that your company is much larger, not to mention especially professional thanks to an automated virtual receptionist feature. The virtual receptionist and other important features are offered as part of some automated phone systems. Other features include call forwarding, 1-800 numbers, SMS messaging, mobile numbers, and much more that serve to improve communication and ensure that workflow and daily operations continue to run smoothly.

5. Motivate your team

Selecting a good and dedicated team is one of the primary requirements for any business to flourish. Motivating your employees is also important. Motivated employees are productive employees, and productive employees can lead a new business to success. So, how do you motivate your employees? Aside from leading by example, you also want to ensure that your employees know that they are appreciated. Say thank you when they do a good job, reward them if they do an excellent job, provide incentives for completing a project ahead of schedule or with great success, and most importantly, be sure to communicate with them so that they feel that they are actually part of the team, rather than just an asset that can be replaced.

Author Bio: Sheza Gary is a veteran strategist of projects related to business and technology. Since 2009, she has been advising highly innovative ways of intelligent use of technology that enhance business efficiency and productivity, which ultimately leads to the greater profitability of businesses. A technophile, she always strives to provide helpful tips and valuable resources to the small businesses. You can follow Sheza Gary on Twitter at @shezagary.