So, you’ve made it through your first year of running your business. Congratulations! That’s a major milestone, and if you’ve made it this far, there’s no reason why you won’t go on to bigger and better things. The end of year one is a time for analysis. You’ll be going through what went well and what didn’t, and what you should do to improve for the following year. This article is here to help you with that. Here are five strategies for increasing your profits in the second year of business.
1. Conduct an Energy Audit
One of the first things you should do at the start of a new year is conduct an energy audit.
As you’ll know, running your facility is one of your biggest expenses, and reassessing your needs every 12 months enables you to better understand your biggest costs and how to reduce them.
This also helps you make changes to become more sustainable and eco-friendly.
2. Utilize Financial Forecasting
When starting out, it’s common for many companies not to conduct any financial forecasting, but this is always a mistake.
Forecasts enable you to project your expected income and expenses so that you have a goal to work off of, and the figures help you pull in the reins when money’s tight. Your second year represents an opportunity to get a better handle on your finances, so don’t skip this step.
3. Re-Think Your Subscriptions
This is the age of subscription services, and while the shift has done a lot to make both digital and physical products more accessible to a wider range of businesses, you can sometimes be spending more than you need.
The start of your second year is a great time to review everything you’re subscribed to. The first thing you should do is ask yourself whether you really need a given product, and from there, you can investigate to see what else is out there and if there are any better deals.
4. Reconfigure Your Pricing Strategy
Pricing is always a tricky thing to figure out, and the vast majority of businesses don’t have things fully sorted during the first year.
This year, it’s time to switch things up. Conduct a thorough competitor analysis to see how other businesses are doing and who’s new, and consider slightly adjusting your prices to reflect both personal and economic fluctuations.
5. Improve Your Marketing Game
Marketing is a huge component of any business, and it’s very difficult to get right the first time. In most cases, you simply need to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks, and a full year is the perfect point to reevaluate.
If you haven’t quite got to grips with your social media strategy, start there. Short-form content is king, so if you can whip up some high-quality, eye-catching short videos, you should be on to a winner.
Wrapping Up
Your second year of business represents an exciting time – a chance to do things a little differently to hopefully finish with an even more successful year than your first. Hopefully, the above tips will help you put that plan into action. Good luck!
