@keldastar I am curious what type of business you have, what kind of market you are in, and what your sales expectations of "success" are.
I ask this because some people go into business because they want to be entrepreneurs, but never really sit down and do the "math" to figure out how much business they need to do to be profitable, and by "profitable" I mean after paying your business expenses
including your owner salary.
I do consulting for people who are interested in getting into business, not necessarily rescues of failing small business. Good example of this is people want to open coffee/breakfast shops. They want to make $50,000 a year for themselves, have one or two employees, and be open from 7am-1pm six days a week. I look them in the eye, and go "Don't do it," and they immediately ask why. I show them the spreadsheet of expenses and receipts broken down by month for 12, 24, and 36 months and they immediately go, "Oh, I see it now." and then we try to work up alternatives and options. The number of businesses I've walked into on opening day and say to myself, "This place won't be open next year." is shocking.
Now, for suggestions.
First thing to recognize is that organic growth through dependency on social media (TikTok, FB), and word of mouth is next to worthless when it comes to a startup. These avenues are what you do to grow business and expand once established, but right now you are a drop in an ocean of competition and to make your business rise to the top and forefront of shoppers minds is the key.
Think about marketing. If this is a local focused business, radio is the #1 way to grow small business in smaller communities where radio spot time is cheap. You can pick stations and times that target your intended audience and demographic, and focus your spots there. Market primarily to certain ethnic or special interest groups? Advertise where those people are listening. Market a food product? Pick breakfast and dinner time spots when people are hungry. Market holiday focused products? You're going to suffer for months between holidays with no sales -- but focus during those times on radio spots leading up to holidays.
If this is a nationally focused product/business, keep in mind you are in direct competition with offshore companies that pay their people $0.10 an hour. Printed products, custom T-shirts, hats, that sort of thing, you won't make money because your costs are much higher than your chief competitor's costs. To make money in those products, you need branding - unique designs with unique branding, so you can have exclusive production and charge people for the
brand not the
product. Branded merchandising is a much higher capital venture, because brand awareness requires bigger marketing/advertising budgets.
Tell us what you do, what marketing avenues you're taking, and what your expectations for the "future" are - what your ideal business growth would look like.
