4 Simple Steps to Build a Solid Business Foundation

How many cans of veggies do you have stocked in your pantry?

Well, if you were Norm’s daughter (that’s my Dad!) — you’d have plenty.

That’s because Norm always said that you should have plenty of veggies on hand in case of emergency. He always nagged me to see if I had flashlights under the sink, and plenty of batteries on hand. Dads 😂

But when we moved to our ocean-facing dream house last year, we knew the batteries and flashlights weren’t going to cut it.

🌀 Here, we get hurricanes. And those hurricanes can knock out power for a long time.

The little island we live on lost power for weeks after Hurricane Sandy.

So as much as I want to install a fireplace, get new outdoor furniture and lots of other little cosmetic things — I did what I knew we had to do when we moved in:

🔌 Get a whole-house generator installed. Basically, it powers the entire house (AC included! 🥵) in case of a power outage. It can run forever & comes on automatically.

Without power, there’d be nothing else.

Besides the actual foundation of a house, power’s crucial to the house (& my business!) running smoothly.

Your business is really no different than your house.

Your business needs a solid foundation to stand on before you add on all the fireplaces & pretty bathroom tile 😉

What Makes A Solid Business Foundation

To me, a solid business foundation is made up of:

01. A solid legal foundation

Well, duh you knew I’d say that! But seriously, without it — how can you take on clients or process payments? Here’s where to get started.

02. Financial Setup

This part can be simple and sweet in the beginning — you need a business bank account and a way to take payments that’s connected to that account. A simple bookkeeping method is helpful, too.

03. Clear Offers

You need 1-3 offers (products/services) to start out that are priced right, and are desired by your ideal client. You don’t want to confuse people with loads of options or payment plans.

04. Simple Marketing Plan

To get those offers to the right people, you need a solid marketing plan that you stick to for 3-6 months straight and track the data for. In my ideal world, you’d have 1-2 evergreen channels (ie, a blog, YouTube channel, podcast that you optimize etc) and 1 “all in” social media channel (ie, IG or TikTok or FB).

You’ll need to create content that educates, inspires, and connects with your ideal clients — and that leads them to the next logical step in your business: opting in, listening, reading, watching, buying.

Sometimes it’s helpful to “zoom out” and look at the big picture of your business.

Which of these foundational steps are you focused on right now? Reply in the comment section below.

It doesn’t matter how far along you are in business — you should be continuously coming back and checking on your foundation.

For example, I’m finishing up the creation of a new product AND I’m hyper-focused on my marketing channels. So a lot of my day-to-day is zooming out and looking at the big marketing picture: where am I marketing this? To who? why? Where are the leads coming from, and what am I asking them to do once they get there? How am I nurturing them & is my product the solution for them?

Was this helpful?! Comment below and let me know! ☺️

🎙 Speaking of moving, this week I’m teaching you what to do with your business if you move! Do you need to register your LLC again? Or should you wait until you move if you haven’t yet? Listen to Episode 57 of On Your Terms here!