Staying Profitable as a Small Business
Starting a business is an excellent way to build wealth and gain valuable experience. And while it’s great to love what you do, passion alone won’t pay the bills. Making sure you have a healthy cash flow is key to having a thriving, profitable business.
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Ways to Stay Profitable as a Small Business
Create Partnerships With Other Local Businesses
The first step to building business partnerships is getting to know other business owners in your area. A good place to start is your local chamber of commerce.
Consider partnering with other businesses that offer products or services complementary to yours. For example, if you run an ice cream shop, you could partner with a nearby pizza place and agree to offer coupons at each other’s stores.
These types of mutually beneficial business relationships are great, but good old-fashioned advertising still works. Be strategic about where you place your advertisements. You don’t want to approach a competitor for help with your marketing efforts. For example, if you run a contracting business, ask about placing a flier at your local diner. Many times, restaurants like these are frequented by an older demographic that may be in need of some extra help around the house or yard.
Develop a Loyalty Program
Customers love to be rewarded and feel appreciated for their patronage. One way to do this is to implement a loyalty program to encourage return visits. Your loyalty program can be as simple as offering a card customers get stamped or punched every time they make a purchase. Then, after they accumulate a certain number of these, they can redeem their card for a discounted or free product or service. Sometimes this reward is the incentive a customer needs to stop in again.
Keep in mind that loyalty programs shouldn’t cost you more money than they make. Ensure that the reward you’re offering is something relatively small, but still enticing. An example could be a half-priced appetizer every fifth visit.
Pro tip: Have custom cards made by a graphic designer on Fiverr or Upwork. Use a special stamp or hole-punch on the cards to ensure authenticity.
Design a Memorable Logo
When you design an attractive and memorable logo, you’ll better connect with potential customers and help sell your brand. If you’re working with a logo designer and exchanging logo ideas and files, you can utilize a convert JPG to PDF tool to make these files easier to download while preserving image quality. Once you’re done, you can feature your new logo on your website, social media pages, and marketing materials.
Open a High-Interest Savings Account
Once you start making money, you’ll need a safe place to store it. High-interest savings accounts are great because they offer you money in exchange for creating and funding an account. The longer you keep the money in the savings account, the more money you’ll receive in interest, so only use this option if you’re confident you won’t need to withdraw the money any time soon. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the average annual percentage yield is 0.06%. Choose a financial institution offering a higher yield, and pay attention to fees and minimum balance requirements.
Make It Official
If you haven’t already, choose a business structure that works for your business. If you need to take on investors, forming a corporation can be your best option. When you’re a corporation, you can sell shares to investors, and you’ll gain personal liability protections as well.
Boost Your Bottom Line
Entrepreneurship offers a range of challenges and opportunities. Learning how to manage your money wisely can open the door to unlimited potential for your business.
