Description

The Online Business Startup Training Course includes the following topics:

1. Exploring margins on products
2. How to measure your gross and net profit margins
3. Defining strategies to help increase your income and profit margin
4. Packaging your services to get the right amount of clients of the right size
5. Reducing costs and systemising your business — and much more!

The Online Business Startup Course provides you with pre-built Excel spreadsheets to help you look at scenarios for initial marketing costs and operational changes from month to month. You will learn how to conduct regular and swift “test and measure” smart reporting. You can completely edit these files and change them as much as you want — they are not locked!

You’ll also learn how to:

• define what you sell so you can explain it quickly
• plan your marketing strategy
• tick off your online business startup compliance tasks, then
• build a reputation that helps bring in new clients continuously and effortlessly — that’s our goal.

Defining Your Products and Services

The StartUp Academy Online Business Startup Course and online marketing will help you develop packages that help win sales and bring in new customers.

Fantastic Furniture are well known as the “package deal kings”; every business can benefit by exploring what they can “package” for customers

Most potential customers will make contact with you after doing research online so it’s really important to do your homework on your competitors so you’re well aware of what else potential customers will have seen.

Be capable of clearly defining what you do and how you do it, so if you’re ever asked about a comparison you have a speedy answer that you’re comfortable with.

You don’t have to be the cheapest and you don’t have to accept ANY client or any type of work.

The task of defining your products and services is as much about choosing WHO you want to work with, as much as it is about WHAT work you want to be doing.

Business Planning

Most business owners have a hunch that there are customers out there who need their products and services, but a little preparation and a simple business plan will give you proof and confidence — not only that your business is viable, but a blueprint for how you can achieve your objectives.

The business plan spreadsheet (included in this course) will help you with things like:

• hiring new team members
• buying equipment
• give you confidence to speak with lenders or investors.

A business plan will also enable you to justify —not only to your clients, but to yourself — charging higher fees for your product and/or services.

Digital & Content Marketing

In most service based businesses you’ll make sales and acquire customers because they know you, like you and trust you — it’s as simple as that. So you need some fundamental tools to help you:

• Get discovered online or via face-to-face networking
• Demonstrate your capabilities
• Develop trust with the prospect.

How to do this? One good way is to share information that demonstrates how people use your services. You might provide a case study that people can relate to; this also shows you’re genuinely trying to help them solve their problem.

Ask questions

One of the best selling techniques is to ask authentic questions about a prospect’s needs and then explain how your services will help. The StartUp Academy Business Course will help you come up with quality content informing people about your business, whilst at the same time, providing them with a reason to choose you and your business.

PLUS, smart reporting will help you understand if it works so you can modify it in the next month, quarter or year.

Smart Reporting — Set Yourself Up for Quick Growth

Often in small business, is the business owner is too busy being the technician to actually properly manage the small business and the business stagnates. The StartUp Academy Business Course is designed to help you do more than just start your business; it’s designed to help your business grow.

Included are videos, interviews, workbooks and templates that teach you how to perform regular reports on your business so you can see what’s working and what’s not in order to make the right strategic decisions.

Combine the Online Business StartUp Course with the discounted software courses and you’ll be able to use MYOB, Xero or Quickbooks to understand how your business is performing as well as manage the daily accounting.

 

Who is this Course For?

The StartUp Academy Business Course is ideal for anyone wanting to start a consulting business where they perform work using their knowledge, skills and experience. This would include:

• virtual assistants and remote contractors
• bookkeepers
• website designers
• graphic designers
• content marketing and copywriters and media consultants
• social media and PR consultants
• marketing services providers
• handyperson
• plumber, electrician, carpenter, painter and any other tradesperson
• IT consultants

It’s also suitable for people who want to start a business that requires higher upfront and ongoing costs in plant and equipment and human resources. This would include businesses like:

• Cafes and restaurants
• Retail warehouses – party hire, gifts
• Online businesses
• Product and service combination suppliers
• Retail shops and more

Business Startup Course Topics

1: Originate and Develop Concepts

Whether you work in your own small business, or whether you’re working for somebody else, you will probably be required to develop concepts or products. For example, you might have to develop an advertising/marketing campaign, staff development program, a media or IT plan, or organise an event or exhibit. If you involved in sales or marketing you’ll need to discover new things that your customers are looking for.

2: Business Planning (Market Research)

A Business Plan is simply as the name implies — a plan about your business. It’s used to look ahead, allocate resources, focus on key points and prepare for problems and opportunities. It’s at this stage where we also look at how you offer your services and establishing the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) that you can then test with some marketing.

Market Research will help you identify what already exists, how existing businesses are promoting themselves and how they offer their products/services and how they speak with new potential customers. You’ll learn how and what to research for, including:

• Your industry or industries.
• Who are the competitors?

Be one step ahead from the get-go — not only will having a plan for your business help you get to market faster, it also helps you gain clarity, focus and confidence.

3: Legal and Risk Management

There are quite a lot of laws governing small businesses and small business accounting operations. Nobody wants to pay more tax than they have to and aspects such as the type of legal structure you choose for your business will have a direct bearing on this.

Arm yourself with the know-how about standard legal requirements involving Work, Health and Safety and commercial leases as well as legal documents that improve your professionalism like codes of conduct and privacy statements.

4: Intellectual Property and General Law

You may have some better understanding of the legal aspects to running your own small business, but would you be able to effectively protect your back?

Intangible assets are the ideas and concepts behind your product or service and they lie at the very core of what makes your business unique. They may have a very real market value and they help improve your business performance. Intellectual property has to do with the ownership of these ideas and concepts.

5: Your Digital Marketing Message

Market research is essential to business success because it gives you an understanding of what your potential customers (prospects) see at the time that they make contact with you. You must know what is happening in the market so that you can position your business strategically to capture the trade. Once you’ve completed the market research and considered your unique selling proposition (USP) and your target market (ideal client) you’ll be in a position to start thinking about what you are going to offer, how you are going to offer it and how much you’re going to charge for it.

You’ll identify

• What changes have happened recently
• What trends are impacting on your possible product or service
• How will you approach clients and sell your services?
• Create a pitch about why prospects should buy from you or use your services

At the end of this subject you will have a strategy for your business and your digital marketing and you will use this information to promote yourself to potential customers. Once you start promoting yourself you’ll have a clear plan of how you will discuss your services, your background and how good it will be for the client once they start using your services.

Templates Included

• Sales forecasting templates
• Costing and budgeting template
• Business plan spreadsheet and template
• Engagement letter for new clients
• Timesheets
• Invoices and more!