According to Bloomberg.com, 8 out of 10 businesses fail within the first 18 months. Back in the day, it was rare for people to go off and start their own company. Now, with more and more people looking to start their own businesses, that’s a lot of failures about to occur. 80% of all start-ups are going to crash and burn, leaving a lot of messes to be cleaned up!
So what are the right ingredients for a company to be successful?
The answer isn’t as straight-forward as one would hope. There are several factors which come into play when creating your own business and sometimes it just takes a little luck. The best advice we can give you, is to make sure that whatever line of business you are going to enter, you have a passion for it and will enjoy working in that field for years to come.
Everyone enjoys the thought of working for themselves, but not everyone has the determination and will-power to stay focused (especially when working from home). When first starting a company, you need to be ready to put in long hours and sacrifice evenings and weekends to get your business off the ground. That is why it is so important to love what you’re doing. You also need to make sure that whatever product or service you are offering has a unique selling proposition that differentiates you from the competition.
Advanced Cleaning Services is a great example of a local Canadian company that has stood the test of time. They just recently celebrated their 40th year anniversary, providing Ontario with exceptional commercial cleaning and janitorial services and were featured in the Digital Journal for their accomplishments. In an industry filled with fly-by-nighters, 40 years of business is something to be proud of!
So what allowed Advanced Cleaning Services to reach this milestone? The simple answer is hard work and dedication. Advanced Cleaning Services started out with humble beginnings and a devotion to their customers that was unmatched in their industry. They followed up regularly with their customers and listened to their every suggestion. Through customer feedback, they were able to come up with their own unique selling propositions making them one of the first cleaning companies in Toronto to offer one month of free commercial cleaning AND a 100% service guarantee. It didn’t take long for the business to spread through word of mouth. Now 40 years later, Advanced Cleaning Services generates millions of dollars worth of sales each year and works with some of the most respected companies in Ontario.
Leave the marketing to the professionals.
If you are not a marketing or PR agency, then don’t do your own marketing! Building a brand and getting the right message out to your audience is a full-time job and if that’s not a service your business offers, then hire a professional so you can focus on your main business. Many business owners waste a lot of time trying to learn about topics that are outside of their field. Don’t waste weeks learning to build a website or run an advertising campaign when you should be focused on your customers. Advanced Cleaning Services was also one of the first cleaning companies with a website, but do you think they built it on their own?
With technology today, the information to do anything is at your fingertips, but that doesn’t mean you should be doing everything yourself. Time is your most important and precious asset, so guard it with your life and focus on the tasks that make you money.
