Five top tips for small businesses
Paycorp supports entrepreneurs at the Small Business Expo
31 August – 02 September 2017, Ticketpro Dome, Johannesburg
Paycorp has always been supportive of small businesses, not just because the South African economy needs entrepreneurs but because they know what it takes to build a business from scratch – the company was once a start-up too! Here is some advice for entrepreneurs to succeed.
Disrupt or be disrupted
We live in an age of disruption. To thrive, today’s entrepreneur has to be a little crazy, taking risks, breaking the rules and being more innovative than ever. Turn the status quo on its head: how can you use technology and apps to add a new twist to a familiar idea? Be bold enough to be the first to try an idea that seems crazy!
Planning
Gone are the days of the 100-page business plan. Take a look at the Lean Canvas Model which fits on one page and includes all the important details. Even better, you don’t have to marry it – you can create a new one or adapt the existing one as necessary throughout the life of your business.
Product
Your product needs to be great to succeed. It doesn’t matter how good all of the other elements of the business are, they crumble when they have to support a mediocre product. That is why it’s important to take a moment to consider product development and understand whether you need to make any changes to meet customer demands.
Money
Funding is usually the most difficult aspect of starting – and building – a new business. How do you find funding and which source is the right one for you? There are loads of options, but regardless of where you get your funding, you’ll need to show them that you have a level of financial acumen that gives them confidence and comfort that you know what you’re doing with their cash. So if you don’t know what terms like burn rate, profitability ratio or discounted cash flow mean, then an introductory course in finance-for-nonfinancial-managers is a must.
Marketing
Start thinking about marketing early on because it has a direct and positive impact on sales, and can be the difference between success and failure. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Look at pay-per-click marketing with Facebook and Google – both are results-driven and allow you to track and measure your marketing efforts so that you can adapt as necessary. Call in the experts for the more complicated things when you can afford them.
It’s vital to remember that every single sale makes a difference to a small business. There’s nothing worse than losing a sale because you can’t accept payment from a customer in the way that they want to pay. Whether it’s providing easy access to cash through an on-site ATM, or taking card payments in-store or on-the-go at your market pop-up, consider Paycorp’s range of payment solutions. Paycorp is South Africa’s largest provider of independent payments solutions and it’s their mission to connect people to their money and businesses to their customers, which they do through a network of over 5,500 ATMs and 3,000 POS terminals.
