We’ve worked with many start-ups over the past years and it’s always great to see a new shop succeed and grow. But not all shops make it and this can be very tough on the owner. So before you empty your savings account, read our 5 tips & make sure your money is well spent.

1. Be Frugal

Start-ups often begin with high hopes and a desire to own a proper online shop. All good, but many also fail in the first year or run out of cash. So for the first year, examine every penny you spend. Start selling on marketplaces which require no investment (eBay, Amazon) and if you need your own online shop, consider open source or budget-friendly off-the-shelf solutions. Unless you are entering a design-conscious market, having your own design with your custom-made shop can wait for year 2.

2. Be Patient

Start-ups are often compared to acorns growing into mighty oaks. A good comparison, but don’t forget how long oaks need to grow to a decent size. So give yourself time. Don’t rely on breaking even in year 1. If you do, great, but the marketplace may be tougher than expected so have enough money to keep going into year 2 and 3. Sometimes good businesses fail simply because they run of out money. Don’t let this happen to you.

3. Be Flexible

Successful businesses often get sales from many avenues – they don’t just have one marketing / sales plan, but many. Sales may come by word of mouth, via Google, forums, blogs, twitter, social networking, advertising, brick & mortar shops, fairs, expos, markets, ….. and the list goes on. The important lesson is that you need to find out what works for your business and build up several channels. Relying on just one source hardly ever works and makes you very vulnerable. So get out there & sell wherever you can.

4. Be Responsible

There’s lots of advice available to start-ups and it’s a good idea to gather as much info as you can before risking your life savings. But accept that in the end, you are in charge and nobody else can make your business a success. You need to be very clear what you want sell how and have the vision to follow it through. Listen to advice given, evaluate it, but feel confident enough to defend your own ideas if you feel it’s the right way for your business. For encouragement try a book by Richard Branson – he’s a great example of how perceived wisdom isn’t always right.

5. Be Prepared

Start-ups often struggle to draw up a spec for their first site. Starting with a blank canvas, although a great opportunity, is usually a very hard thing to do. But don’t be tempted to base your site spec on the competition. For starters, don’t assume that their site works well for them – for all you know, they might hate it and be busy on planning a redesign. Equally, young businesses like to “look proper” but having a shop which looks like all the others can make you look bland and be counter-productive. For start-ups it’s often a good strategy to start with a basic site with a view to develop/redesign after the first 12 months. Successful sites tend to be under ongoing development, so view your site as an ongoing process – start small, then develop your site as your business grows.