Tips for Starting a Successful Ecom Business or Mobile Application.
The end of the year is fast approaching, if you are looking to start a business, build an online business or a Mobile Application or simply health check your existing business.
Here are some tips to help ensure success.
1. Business Idea or Mobile Application Idea
If you have a solid idea for a business or mobile application, you must have a solid business plan that you set and follow.
Once you have your idea, build a solid business plan, and seek advice if you are unsure or unaware as there may be costs associated that you’re unaware of. Ensure that you have the right legal and accounting advisors.
In your business plan you should check what legal licensing you need in your country or state, IE for instance FinTech startups are being encouraged heavily by many governments around the world. For example, the Australian Government has a SandBox for FinTech however, you do need to see and obtain proper legal advice from a professional if your business will fit into these SandBox approaches to help StartUps as many businesses will fit the criteria yours may not, you may require licensing which may cost you anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000.
Just because a business is online or a Mobile Application does not simply mean that it is not a real-world company, that has to abide by local, state or federal laws in which you are selling or offering your services. This includes taxation, for example, if you are an Australian company that is dealing in Australia and the US market, for example, you need to speak with an accountant that knows and understands international tax laws for the countries you are selling to or providing services too.
It has never been so easy to launch a fantastic online business or mobile application, the potential is endless now with technology, take Stripe, for instance, this enables you to take payments, disperse payments, accept payments and build a rock-solid global business, which before was extremely expensive and would take years to get to this stage, so there are many new services that you can embrace and build new business models to build and disrupt old ways of doing business, building yourself a business locally or globally.
2. Designing and Planning your online business or Mobile Application
Once you have established that the legal framework is viable, you have chosen a market or your about to create a new “Unknown Market” it is extremely important to think out the process of how your online business will work, look and function.
If you’re building a mobile application, the second most important key is what we call a wireframe. By drawing out your website and or mobile application either online or with sketches on paper, you will be able to plan out each component and section of how your business or application will function.
By doing this, you are able to see any flaws, things you may have forgotten, additions you need to think about and consider.
The next step, especially for Mobile Apps, is to build a Prototype, this is a working wireframe, at Digital One Agency, we can plan out your wireframes and build you a working prototype of your mobile application.
This allows you to have a working, functioning Mobile Application that you can problem-solve with, adjust wireframes and prototyping until you are satisfied that you’re happy with your product.
Digital One Agency can assist from idea to Prototype, to complete the build and development of your online business or Mobile Application.
3. Funding and Cash Flow
By having a solid business plan, a wireframe and or a working prototype will allow you to show friends, family and potential investors your business model.
If you have a working Prototype of your Mobile Application you have a 95% higher chance of finding an investor as they will be able to see your idea and grasp the full concept of what your app is all about.
As part of your business plan, you need to know what it will cost to build your online business or mobile application. You need to know any legal licensing and ongoing costs for your new business.
A key element that is often missed, is how much will it cost to market your online business or mobile application to get users and paying clients.
Many businesses who do not research their competition, or who are creating something that has never existed before do not usually think about the cost to market the online business or mobile application, this can be a huge mistake!
With planning your idea, to building, to going to market you must work out how much you are willing to spend on marketing, what platforms suit your business and how you will market your new online business or mobile application.
You should consider how much money it will take to launch your mobile application in the countries you are wanting to launch in. Gaining users varies heavily from country to country, IE marketing and obtaining users in the US market can be 1/10th the price of obtaining users in Australia for example.
Ensuring you have enough money to market and stay financially strong once you have built your online presence or mobile application is so important! You can have the next biggest mobile application, but if you do not have enough money to market your app or online business then no one will ever know about it.
A strong marketing plan is just as essential as your business plan and should be written within your entire business plan. Ensuring you have enough working capital to build your online business or mobile application, obtain any licensing and insurances required and market your online business or mobile application.
At Digital One Agency, we have specialist business advisors, lawyers, accountants, marketing professionals and we are able to assist with every aspect of your new business.
4. Long Term Goals
It is essential to set long term and short term goals. You must be realistic with your goals, not setting them too low or too high, your goals need to be achievable.
Planning long term helps you make decisions that can have a financial impact which could be extremely positive or negative if not thought through properly.
Are you starting the online business or mobile application to earn a living or are you building your business to be able to sell part of it now or down the track?
Building a successful online business or mobile application has never been so easy, anyone from all walks of life can come up with an idea, follow their passion and build a multi-million dollar business now. Carefully planned and executed you too can build the next Uber, Air BNB or disruptive technology that solves a problem for the real world, something that has never been thought of that the everyday person can use and understand, that makes current tedious tasks simple, for both consumers or businesses.
At Digital One Agency, we have 20+ years of experience in online businesses, mobile applications, physical businesses. We understand every aspect of starting a business, buying a business and selling a business. Our teams can assist with just designing and building an online business or mobile applications with our dedicated designers and developers, through to professional business advice, business coaching, getting you the best lawyers, accountants, licensing specialists if you require more help or assistance with your idea.
Read more here: Why Your Business Needs a Mobile Application in 2019?
5. Ensure that the professionals you engage deliver
Whilst building and planning your business, talk to multiple lawyers, accountants and business specialists. Ensure that they deliver what they promise.
Time and time again, we see clients who are let down by the professionals they have chosen, it is imperative to you that everyone you work with delivers what is promised and on time.
Put agreements in place, protect yourself, your idea, your business. Make sure that you have a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for any company you hire, including marketing companies, suppliers of products, the company building your online store or mobile application.
Ensure that your providers have a structured payment arrangement for the services they are providing, especially when building a mobile application. Never pay the full amount for a mobile application upfront, structure progress payments and request daily or weekly updates.
If your chosen mobile app development company is not delivering the quality, sticking to timelines, under-delivering, you must protect yourself and your money. Starting an online business or mobile application can be daunting, it doesn’t have to be, working with Digital One Agency, we provide our clients with a full proposal, a structured agreement, a timeline, structured payments so that you pay as each milestone has been completed.
6. Choosing a development company
It is imperative to you and your business that you choose a company that will provide you with a detailed proposal, a legal agreement, structured payments.
Often at Digital One Agency, we have clients come to us that have started working with an offshore company or business to build their online business or mobile application, we see time and time again that the work is extremely poor, incomplete and totally miscommunicated. By trying to save money and build a mobile application on a tiny budget offshore usually ends in tears, it is very sad and in a lot of cases the client has paid the full development cost already and ended up with an unusable product or no product at all!
When dealing with a company like Digital One Agency, you have recourse, we are an Australian owned and operated company, with Insurances to protect our clients, we ensure the safety and requirements of our clients, we ensure that if we engage or suggest outside professionals that we have had previous experience or dealings with them. However, we have our own internal professionals for every aspect of business both online and offline as well as dealing in many countries other than Australia.
If you are setting up an online store or even engaging in manufacturers for a product, please make sure that you have a legal binding agreement with the manufacturers of your products, this alleviates any delays in receiving your products, you can build into your agreement penalties for the manufacturer if they are late, so that you are discounted a percentage (%) daily, for every day your manufacturer is late on delivering a product.
Conclusion
This article will help both new and established businesses or someone with an online business or mobile application idea. Digital One Agency can assist in any aspect of your new or existing business, we have over 20+ years of building, buying and selling successful businesses and also assisted hundreds of businesses locally in Australia and Globally, there has never been a greater time to create or expand your existing business!
Here at Digital One Agency, our team of specialists are ready to help with all your business needs, concerns, problems, starting a business, starting a mobile app, health checking your existing business or mobile application…
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