When you’re a student, your biggest concern is money – well, your concern is the lack of it! Student life is dogged with balancing finances and keeping your head above water while at the same time wanting to study and party and be a success. It’s a lot of growing up, and if you’ve decided to start your own business while you’re still studying, you’re adding extra pressure to your financial situation as you try to enhance it. Being a student means that you would try to do everything that you can by yourself before paying out for professionals to help you out, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing! The amount of help that you can get from support services in your college will help you to go a long way with your business. Building a website and starting your business online is the first place that you will find yourself on your own and needing help. With no IT department to help you get on your feet, you have to rely on your own knowledge to make your business as professional as possible.
As a bootstrapped entrepreneur, your professional image is going to be of great importance and you need to use as many of the current resources that you have to get your business off the ground and looking amazing. That will likely include using as many personal data websites as possible such as your email and your own social media. Once you have your business running properly, though, you need to change that. You can’t use your college email address for business interactions forever, and you can’t use your personal mobile number for business customers. It gets too messy when you mix business with personal and you need to clean house. Putting out fires in your professional life is what you will be doing for years to come, but you don’t need to accidentally hang up on your friends or family while you do it. One of the biggest areas that you should be looking to clean up is your brand; it’s the look you want your business to have. You cannot promote a healthy brand when you don’t even have an email address that is registered to your business website. You need to look professional and we’ve got five very sensible suggestions to get you from being brand new in your industry, to branded and recognized.
Get Your Digits Sorted
You’re in college, but you also have a business to run. Businesses need business plans and finance, and these are the things that are going to pay for you to have a dedicated business line. You may not have time to be on calls every day, especially with deadlines and lectures and seminars to get done, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot budget for a professional company that offers phone answering services while you are too busy to do it for yourself. This type of gatekeeper can allow your business to look mega professional while you are still finding your feet. Once you sort your phone number, you won’t have to answer your business calls with an accidental “yo!” anymore!
Get Your Mail Routed
Using your parent’s address for your mail is one thing but using your college address is another. You may be a savvy student who knows their stuff and has found their niche, but your clients do not need to know that. Not that there’s anything wrong with a student running a business, but perception is everything and you want your brand to give off the air that you are experienced in your field. People buy from people that they trust, and you need to set yourself up a PO box to use for your post instead of an address that is inaccessible or one that is routed to your college dorm. A PO box gives you a professional image without even trying. You can also use the added advantage that a PO box gives you local weight; meaning that your customers who are most local to you will be loyal to you, as well.
Get Your Domain Paid For
Using a free platform like WordPress is great, but if you don’t pay for the name that you want to use, you have to use ‘.wordpress.com’ in addition to your main business name. This doesn’t look professional at all. There’s nothing wrong with using a free website platform, but you don’t want to show your clients that! Your business name should stand proudly and stand alone because once you invest in yourself that way, customers will want to engage more with you. They’ll know that you mean serious business and are not just a kid with a lemonade stand wanting to make a few bucks over the summer.
Get Business Cards Printed
We may have moved forward digitally but business cards still say an awful lot about your brand and who you wish to be. They’re an excellent tool for word-of-mouth marketing, and as a student, you need as many free tools at your disposal as possible. You can buy from an online service like this one, but in the long run you should invest in professional printers and excellent quality card. Your whole brand could depend on your business cards, so design them well and really think about the way that you want people to think about you when they see them.
Get Your Blog On
You’re a student, likely without much time. Bring on a friend to blog for you. Seriously good content is the way that you will draw in the customers, and your social media and blog should be on your business website. People want to see a company with personality, and if you can give them that impression then you will bring in more business than you thought to be possible. Don’t be left in the dark because of a lack of personality on your website; this is what your blog will do for you!
Cranking out a degree while running a business is hard, but it’s better to be as professional as possible while you do it all so that in the long run, you can have it all!
No comments yet.