Your web or graphic design business is, or should be, primarily about the skills you can offer to your clients. Those designs are your core asset, and making sure that those skills are up to scratch and worthy of the fees you charge should be your number one priority. But there’s a lot more that goes into running a business that just what you offer, and if you’re not keeping an eye on some of the dangers that can derail a business, you might find you’re not as healthy as you think you are.

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Time Efficiency

Operating a company requires a set of skills that you might not naturally have, but ones you’ll need to acquire if you’re to be successful. An example of this is time efficiency. You’ll need to have strong time management skills and understand what is worthy of your time and what can be ignored. You might think this isn’t so important, but it is – if you’re able to use your time effectively, you’ll be able to streamline your working hours and boost your profits at the same time.

Your Employees

If you have employees working for you, then you’re no longer responsible for just what you do: you need to make sure they’re productive, skilled, and trustworthy. The best way you can take care of this is to hire the right employees in the first place because the cost of hiring the wrong employee can be significant and put an unnecessary dent in your finances. If you’re unhappy with an employee, you need to be able to rectify it. Sometimes, this will mean dismissal from the role: take a look at http://www.elliswhittam.com/5-common-examples-of-gross-misconduct to see some of the actions that permit instant dismissal. Other employees might be skilled, but be a wrong fit or not work effectively. At those times, it’s your job to be a good leader and get the best out of them.  

No Eyes on the Future

You might be the bee’s knees right now, but in this day and age, that only serves to show that you’re doing well in the here and now. Things move fast, especially when it comes to the web and graphic design, and if you’re not keeping an eye on how you’ll improve and expand in the future, then it’ll only be a matter of time before you’re left behind your competitors. Of course, you should ensure that your work isn’t suffering, but always try to see how you’re going to grow your business. Staying still is the equivalent of a death knell for business, Be progressive and open to change, and you’ll be putting yourself in a position to be as successful in five years as you are today.

Running Before You Can Walk

On the other end of the spectrum, growing too fast can be as harmful as not developing fast enough. It’s natural that when you’re excited about your business, you do everything you can to grow as fast as possible, but if you’re not careful, you run the risk of not being able to keep it with your growing demands. Companies are especially liable for this to happen in the early days before they have the infrastructure and personnel to cope with high volumes of work, but it can happen at any time. If you get a big order, don’t just look at how much money you’ll earn: ask yourself if you’ll be able to do the job to a high standard, while at the same time keeping on top of the work from your other clients.

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Legal Slip-Ups

Running a business would be so much easier if you could just focus on the day to day running of it, but alas, you can’t. There are legal considerations you have to think about, ones that could derail your business if they’re not properly taken care of. What exactly these considerations are will depend on the size of your company, where you’re based, and how much profit you generate. The key to ensuring you’re compliant is to be aware of all the laws that affect you and ensure you’re doing things properly.

Not Outsourcing Your Tasks

You, not a master of every little task that you have to do as part of your business; you are a master of probably just one or two of those tasks. While you could do these tasks yourself, it might not make the most sense for your business, especially if the task is overly technical and has to be gotten completely right. You’ll be better served by outsourcing your tasks, as this will ensure the job is executed to the required level and will also enable you to get back to doing what you do best. Take a look at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/204652 for the best outsourcing practices.

Too Reliant on Big Customers

Getting a lot of business is generally considered to be a good thing, but it can have its hidden dangers. For example, if you get a lot of business from just one client, you might bring in a lot of cash, but at the same time, you might be too reliant on just one customer. What would you do if they were to disappear? You might suddenly find that you’ve lost 80% of your business, for no reason other than you became too reliant. Make sure you’re keeping a diverse number of clients. If you have to turn down work from one client, then so be it.

Established Procedures

If you’re running your company an ad-hoc basis, then eventually that way of working will trip you up. You need to set procedures for how your company operates, from finding clients, scheduling your work, and billing them. Things will run much more smoothly if you have established practices, especially as they’ll become second nature in no time at all.

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Cash Complacency

Money management is one of the hardest aspects of business. You need to know your incomings, outgoings, how much you have in reserve, and so on. Because of this, it’s best to handle a bookkeeper and accountant, as they’ll be able to give you solid advice about the best ways to handle the cash that you have. Nothing can so negatively affect a business than poor cash management. To avoid being stung by cash issues, take a look at this link https://smallbiztrends.com/2015/09/hidden-costs-of-running-a-business.html to learn some of the hidden costs of running a business.

Data Issues

You put a lot of trust into your computers and operating systems. If they were to fail, you might lose too many data to recover from, and may not be able to work at all. Always make sure you’re backing your important documents, be it on a second hard drive or in cloud storage. Cloud storage is particularly recommended because it will not be affected should disaster strike your office. If your office were to be flooded, your data would still be secure in the cloud.

Poor Social Media Performance

It’s no secret that a company’s social media presence is important, but some business owners still fail to put the necessary time and effort into making sure that theirs is as strong as possible. If your page is not updated often or posts inferior content, then you might be losing customers without even realizing it. Like it or not, your presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram reflects who you are as a company. If your current performance is subpar, take a read of the best practices for business social media pages and get them back on track.

Losing your Branding

Your branding shows your potential customers who you are. When you launched, you should have made sure that your branding is strong. You can cultivate and adapt your branding as you grow and change as a company, but if you’re letting your branding slip just because you’re not giving it enough attention, then you’ll be weakening your company. If you don’t have too much to dedicate to your branding, come up with a few key staples and keep things simple.

Playing it Safe/Too Risky

There is an inherent risk in starting a company. It’s just the name of the game. As you navigate the murky world of business success, you need to be striking the right balance between playing it safe and being too risky. Everyone loves taking a gamble when it pays off; getting it wrong could spell the end of your business. Alternatively, playing it safe and not making the most of the opportunities could also be just as bad.

Your Ego

And finally, one of the biggest threat to your business will be you. It’s your baby, of course, but that doesn’t mean that nobody else has anything to offer. You need to be humble enough to listen to good advice when it’s given to you. There is plenty of sound business advice out there; if you don’t listen, you might be missing something important.