The beginnings of any small business are humble, and require you to put a lot of trust in a lot of other people. You may be the captain of that particular ship, but it truly is a crew effort. A good boss is a one who recognizes the abilities of the people that he or she hires, and utilizes those skills before rewarding their staff.
However, ultimately a small business is still one which requires a lot of external help too. As a business owner, you might have aspirations to someday turn your labor of love into a much bigger enterprise, or franchise outwards and incorporate many into your fold. Until then, though, you need to have strong beginnings––and to achieve that, you need to have a good network of help. Here are some examples of services which will help you grow that small business into the empire you may be imagining.
Someone To Call
There may not be a specific guidebook to help you get started, but there are plenty of people out there who can pass on knowledge based on their own experiences. Starting a small business in the United States is not uncommon, but keeping a business growing into something larger is a different battle, and a one that not near as many people win.
Frankly, the obstacles are small but many––and it’s easy to get lost in the sea of other responsibilities that you are also trying to get on top of. Do you have a good and secure internet connection? Will your Wi-Fi have public access options? Do your employees have the right to use mobile devices on the work floor? Can your business use a mobile app? Do you know anyone who can create a mobile app? What do you do if you need to serve a notice of termination? These are but a small sample of the myriad of questions that you, the small business owner, are the sole decision maker of.
However, there is help at hand. In much the same way that contact centers can provide customer service for callers of their businesses, Ansafone is a small business call center that is available to alleviate some of a small business’s workload. As a result, the owners of a small business can concentrate on getting their company started and growing instead. The way Anasfone works is simple: they provide a call center for your business operations to continue in lieu of availability from the brick-and-mortar store. Should you and your staff have encouraged more custom that can be handled by your own numbers, then Anasfone’s pros will take phone calls from your customers as representatives of your small business. One of the most common reasons for businesses having trouble in the early days is the feeling that they have bitten off a little than they can chew. If you have a call center working on your behalf, then that responsibility is shared enough for you to branch out into the other obstacles that you will be facing.
Legal Services
Did you know that Mastercard compiles a list of merchants who have been terminated due to fraudulent activity, bankruptcies, illegal activity and insolvency? As a payment processor, Mastercard, as well as American Express, Visa, Discover, and a whole host of financial establishments keep a terminated merchant file (TMF) as it is the best way to ensure that a new merchant is legitimate and will keep all of their financial obligations. Anyone who is on the TMF, is considered high risk and is unlikely to secure any business loans or funding, since no payment processors will want to deal with them.
As a new business owner, this Member-Alert-To-Control-High-Risk List (or MATCH list for short) is not one you want to find yourself on, as the only way to be removed is after staying on it for five years, or to challenge your involvement on it in the first place. To avoid the former is simple, do not engage with any fraudulent activity yourself, or make sure that if you are partnering with someone else to start a business, double-check that they are not on the TMF list, or the MATCH List themselves.
However, if you have been added to either the MATCH list or TMF list in error, then (ironically) it’s more difficult to have yourself removed. Acquirers do not like to admit they have made a mistake in adding a merchant to the MATCH list, as they face liability for any further financial losses that occur as a result of their error. As such, you’re probably going to need some legal advice (such as that on offer from Global Legal Law Firm) in order to get your removal from the Terminated Merchant File.
Online Presence
Very simply put, unless you know exactly what you are doing when it comes to working online, you are probably going to need a tech-guru or digital specialist. With so much business being conducted online (especially due to COVID-19) it pays to have someone to take care of your online presence and business. For extra efficiency, get some cloud photo storage so that they can document your business growth through pictures.
Funding
At the end of the day, you’re never going to be able to grow your business into a larger one, if there wasn’t even a small business to start off with. For that, you’ll need a bit of money behind you. Unless you have been siphoning off your own funds into an account to get you started, have a look into government funding for small business.
If you have already started, but the pandemic has threatened your growth, there is also help to preserve small businesses during COVID-19. Money may not make the world go round, but it will certainly help your business get bigger.