The topic of would you do things differently if you had to start your business again is an interesting one. What would you do if you were to start your business over again from scratch in 2017? Well, maybe I can give you some tips.

  1. The more you can adapt the better. Especially if you are someone who started their business a long time ago and things have now changed. If you don’t have existent resources, your go-to should be technology; an online business. Lucky for you, there are many tools available today that are super affordable.
  1. Start with purchasing quality website hosting and a domain name. Trust me, you don’t want to deal with malware or getting hacked. Then make sure that the website you pick is customizable on WordPress or Weebly or Squarespace. WordPress seems to be a heavy favorite due to a number of add-ons and plug-ins that have the exact functionality that you’re looking for and that you’ll grow into without sacrificing style.
  1. Then you want to work with a professional designer on your branding. Some people say that you should just pick a theme and make some tweaks to make it more you, then hire a designer for the second revision once you’ve made some money. But there are clear advantages to doing it well the first time. Brand perception is very important.
  1. Focus on systems to help you with list building faster since you are starting from scratch. You need people to subscribe to your email list fast. You need to convert visitors into subscribers starting with a polite pop up. You may not have anything to offer in exchange for somebody’s name and email so make sure to spend some time creating a good freebie opt-in gift, live a free live webinar or an e-book.
  1. You want to educate yourself, which is very important. Luckily, there are many webinars and courses out there to get you up to speed quickly. Many people also offer some sort of online business school in a package that you can go through at a fraction of the price of attending a traditional business school. That’s a good foundation that every business needs. And keep in mind that not every teacher at a traditional business school has actually ran a business. So you can start to see the value in learning from on online course, especially from those who have done what you are trying to achieve themselves already. That will enable you to really get a step-by-step playbook and also rub shoulders with people on similar tracks. That helps a lot when it comes to staying motivated. So make sure you take that general business course, but only take one specifically on what you are trying to do. And once you learn, implement! Don’t just keep learning. For example, if you want to focus on driving traffic to your website using Facebook ads, then you want to sign up for a Facebook add specific program.
  1. The next thing to do is to attend events. Attending events will really help you grow your business much faster so I recommend doing a little research locally to see what events may be coming to a town near you that focuses on what you need. Here’s your chance to meet some movers and shakers as well as other entrepreneurs. Some will be also juggling a side business with full-time work. You can pick their brains to come up with ideas and strategies.
  1. And don’t forget influencers. Influencers in your marketplace are the ones to ask to help you spread the word. You may be running a Facebook ad, writing a guest post for a popular website or asking to be interviewed. You can be interviewed on somebody else’s podcast to get the ball rolling.
  1. Once you are starting to gain some exposure, continue getting your list building traction going so that you can have a steady flow of potential clients for your business and crank up the marketing at this point.