As a startup business you’re likely to start small. In fact, some of the most famous startup businesses began with one person working on a computer in their local coffeeshop. But like any budding entrepreneur you’ll be looking to expand as soon as possible, moving towards establishing yourself as a big business.
This will no doubt be a long and arduous road, but it will be the road that you chose for yourself. Therefore, it is natural for it to be a lot more rewarding than your usual work arrangement. Moving into an office, making a hire. All of the events like these will be huge milestones for your company, ones that will herald your growing success and your development as a business.
Well, in order to give you that little bit more motivation and the thirst to keep growing, we’ve assembled a short list of these milestone events. Have a read through and see what you can learn, as we’ll also be walking you through how to speed up your development process.
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The First Hire
This is likely to be a pretty big one for you as a startup. When you hire someone you have to be making enough money to be a viable prospect. You’ll be bringing in more business than you personally are capable of, and therefore you’ll need a helping hand. To reach this point you should be promoting your business as much as possible, as it will be these new clients and new contracts which give you the ability to make a hire.
As you make your first hire you will also have some important considerations to make. You’ll have to think about what kind of employer you’re going to be, and how you’re going to attract and nurture talent in your startup. You will also find yourself having to consider the hiring process, although there are plenty of tools out there such as Myhrtoolkit which will be able to help.
Taking Up Offices
This is another big one that will likely come at similar time to making your first hire. Establishing your office will be a massive step, as it makes you a physical presence in the business world. You’re no longer a little project that someone’s working on in their spare time. Now you’re a professional operation with prospects lining up. In order to be in a position where you need to find an office you will essentially have to have enough employees that you need a physical location. Once again, this is all to do with promoting your business and bringing in enough business to make sure that your future will be secure.
Advertising Campaigns
Once you’ve established the longer term prospects of your business you should be thinking in the even longer term. This means taking out indirect advertisements which establish your place as a market leader rather than simply promoting your business to those who may use it.
This is a more general strategy with less tangible results, but it is one which is the hallmark of a successful business. To get to this level you should have a fully established work process with a brand image and a conscious plan for your future.