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Why Starting a Business Should Be the Next Logical Step for Freelancers Who Want to Expand Their Offerings

Author: Emma Grace Brown


Doing work online may be more of a side hustle than a long-term business opportunity. However, some freelancers have chosen to build their side hustle into a serious money-making machine. So if you’re contemplating investing in your career full-time by starting a small business, here are some guidelines to help you get started, courtesy of Design Web Louisville.

The Early Steps of Starting a Business

Of course, in the beginning, you’ll want to follow the necessary steps to get your business registered. Furthermore, you’ll have to choose what type of structure your business will have; you’ll probably need to apply for an Employer Identification Number to open a separate bank account to help you manage your finances better, as well as decide on an appropriate name for your new business, too. Also, don’t forget about the importance of drawing up a business plan so that you can monitor the steps you take towards growing your business.

Moreover, you may need to also invest in additional hardware and software to get your business operational in the right areas. You’ll want to prioritize developing a process for invoicing to collect payments promptly to cover your immediate expenses as they arise. Invoicing software can help get your invoices paid on time and can help you with your cash flow too so that you don’t fall behind on your own payments.

Marketing Your New Business

Marketing will be a crucial component for generating awareness for your new business in the beginning stages, where you’ll need the added exposure most. Indeed, there are many ways to go about this nowadays, including marketing on social media and designing a professional-looking website so that people can find your business online.

By creating informative, entertaining, and valuable content, you can build a loyal following of potential customers who are interested in what you have to say. And because they’ve already shown an interest in your brand, they’re more likely to make a purchase when the time comes. Cornerstone Content offers some tips and resources on content marketing.

You may also want to update your resume to detail your qualifications, skills, and accomplishments to potential clients. Use this resume generator to create an eye-catching customized resume that you can tailor to your design needs.

Hiring Extra Staff to Help Your Business Grow

Perhaps, you realize that you require additional assistance to help get your business off the ground. If, for example, social media marketing is not in your wheelhouse, then it may be worthwhile to look into hiring other professional marketing freelancers to help you with this vital task. Or maybe, you need to get the word out about your business, and having a separate lead generation professional on board would help. Again, it’s really more about determining where your strengths lie and leveraging these to grow your business further. Moreover, you’ll need to identify your weaknesses so that you can outsource these elsewhere if need be.

In conclusion, building a fully fledged business as a freelancer may seem like it’s not that far off from what you’re doing already. However, it might just end up growing your brand exponentially so that you can accomplish more and increase your earnings significantly as a result.

Design Web Louisville has affordable prices and payment plans so that any business can get themselves online. Call (502) 755-2633.

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What New Businesses Need to Know About Salesforce

Author: Eleanor Hecks

Starting a new business requires rising up the learning curve on a lot of different topics at one time. Even the software programs you choose to implement may require specialized training. Knowing the ins and outs of a particular option, such as Salesforce can help you hit the ground running and ensure you never miss an important step.

How Is Salesforce Helping Businesses?

The most recent statistics from the Small Business Administration show there were approximately one million new businesses opened and 833,458 closed, for a total of around  33.2 million small businesses in the United States alone. No matter how you look at it, you have competition for attention and possibly within your own niche.

One of the ways you can stand out is by automating as many processes as possible. Ensure your customer relationship management (CRM) skills are better than anyone else’s and you’ll not only gain customers but keep them for the long-term. 

Salesforce helps new businesses in many different ways with automation. Here are the things you need to know to take full advantage of the benefits. 

1. Know Your Customers

One of the best things you can do to ensure your messages are on target for your audience is to know who your customers are. With Salesforce, you gain access to a dashboard where you can run reports looking at demographics and other factors related to the people who already buy from you.

As you get to know the buyer persona most likely to become a loyal fan, it impacts every aspect of your new business from the inventory you order to how often you reach out to your clients. 

2. Backup Important Data

It’s hard on any company to go through a computer crash or loss of data. However, a new business may not be able to recover as easily from such a hit. The average cost of a data breach was around $4.24 million in costs, security measures and lost revenue. Of course, your loss may not be in the millions but it will have a similar impact on your ability to earn income. 

Salesforce automates your backups so you have fewer concerts over a database meltdown.

3. Get in the Cloud

Salesforce products are a software as a service (SaaS) that is cloud-based. Because the SaaS is in the cloud, it integrates easily with other cloud programs such as payment gateways, newsletter management and website content management programs. 

Being in the cloud also means you can access information anytime, anywhere. If you have field technicians, they can pull up customer data. If you want to work from home or let staff go remote, you are already set up for it with Salesforce. 

4. Implement a Chatbot

You can increase customer engagement by 90% by adding a chatbot to your site. Salesforce utilizes artificial intelligence so you can program responses or gather information before sending leads to a live agent. Not only will your system become more efficient but you’ll save money by letting the computer do some of the work. 

5. Lose the Cracks

In a traditional sales environment, you’ll sometimes lose a lead along the way. Someone fails to follow up or they say they’ll return a call and never do. Implementing a CRM software such as Salesforce ensures you get reminders to follow up with your leads. You’ll not forget to reach out when someone hasn’t placed an order in a while.

Other Advantages

The platform is completely customizable to your needs as a business. Think of it as a simple CRM solution where you can add on additional features as your business grows. Salesfoce easily scales up to meet the needs of small, medium and large businesses. 


Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.