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2022 has arrived and many of us are looking to turn a more positive leaf as we step into the new year. 2020 and 2021 have been difficult in many ways. In terms of business, the pandemic has caused chaos, resulting in many companies collapsing. At the same time, the pandemic has also seen many new startups, as more and more people have decided to take the reins on their own career and want more control over their income. Whatever stage your business is at, it’s time to start making plans for the year ahead. Here are a few areas you might want to focus on for the year ahead!
Outsourcing
If your business is getting to a place where you can’t handle all of the demand and work yourself, it may be time to start outsourcing. This is lower commitment and can make a huge difference to you and your business without you having to commit to taking on full time staff. Outsourcing is a common business practice that the majority of small businesses – and many large businesses – engage with. It involves distributing tasks to a third party who will complete the task for an agreed fee. Often, businesses outsource to freelancers or agencies. There are countless tasks that can be outsourced, from outsourcing IT to web development, product photography, copywriting, accounting, manufacturing and more. There are a number of benefits that come with outsourcing. Here are just some to consider.
- Low commitment – when you hire staff, you have to agree to provide them with a set amount of work for a set wage. This can be problematic if your business starts to struggle and you don’t have enough profit to pay their wages. When you’re just starting out, outsourcing is a lower commitment option.
- Low responsibility – when you hire employees, you have to provide benefits, such as annual leave, sick pay, compassionate leave and more. When you hire freelancers, you don’t have these responsibilities.
- Equipment – when you’re just starting out, chances are you don’t have all the equipment you need to complete certain jobs, particularly large scale jobs like manufacturing that require factories, equipment and machinery. Freelancers, agencies and other companies already have this equipment to use, meaning you don’t need to invest in it.
Recruiting
If you find that you have a more consistent demand for work, it may be time to start hiring your staff. Building a good team can equal building the backbone of your business. These people will get to know the ins and outs of how your business works and will help it to progress at the right rate. The majority of small businesses tend to use a recruitment agency to hire their staff. This is because recruitment can be extremely time consuming, and this isn’t exactly what you need during a time where you’re already feeling understaffed and in need of help. Recruitment agencies can help to find potential candidates and then you will be able to interview them to get a feel for whether they’ll be a good fit or not.
Product Development
Even if your products are selling well, you can always expand your appeal by offering more varied options for your customers to choose from. Expanding can be a really positive move for your business. So, get started on some product development. Come up with some ideas and then start the market research phase of your product development process. Market research will put you in touch with your target demographic for honest opinions and feedback, which will give you a good idea of what products will sell and are worth moving forward with.
Rebranding
Could it be time to rebrand your business? There are all sorts of reasons to rebrand. Maybe you’ve found that your products are more successful with a demographic you didn’t expect and you want to rebrand to better fit their tastes and preferences. Maybe your previous branding didn’t work, and you need to try something fresh. You might simply have a bigger budget available now and want to try something higher end. Whatever your reason, branding agencies can usually help with this. Be prepared to give them a vision that you’d like to work with and then they’ll be able to make recommendations.
All of these areas of focus could really help your business to excel. Hopefully, one or two will work for you, helping you to make a success of things over the next twelve months. Keep the ideas in mind and you should be able to benefit!
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