You’ve probably spent the last few years of your life lying awake at night thinking about the dream of starting your own company. A lot of satisfaction, but also some fears: “Is it worth the risk?” “Will I be ready?” Then the answer! “Of course it’s worth it! After all, the idea sounds great and I’ll have to take the plunge. And so it goes: you have finally decided to set up your own start-up, and you are getting ready to learn, day after day, as your project finds responses and feedback on the market, to get to know a world, until now, completely, or at least partly, unknown.
Maybe, on the other hand, you have already founded your company and are beginning to realise that now the going gets tough: now that the validity of your initial idea has been confirmed by the initial successes that you and your team have achieved in recent months, it is time to press the accelerator, and turn your beautiful adventure into a solid reality, which can grow and consolidate in the years to come.
As in the very early stages before and immediately after the foundation of your company, as well as the stages following the first confirmations, a founder always needs the right timing, adequate funding, a sound business model, but above all one last factor that, if of value, will help you achieve all of the above: good and experienced employees.
In addition to a capable team within the company, the key to the competitive success of your start-up in the reference market will be the professional figures you turn to, who are able to offer you valuable business advice. It would be foolish, and above all harmful, to think you can hire an internal resource for every aspect of business management or, even worse, to think you can do everything yourself. This is why choosing the right business consultant can be a simple choice, which will entail certain costs, which will correspond to advantages and gains that are immediately evident, and which can really make the difference between the success or failure of the growth of your start-up.
Let’s take a closer look at how a business consultant can help you and the reasons why every founder should always consider, among his or her main tasks, the search for the best professionals of this type to surround himself or herself with.
It is easy to fall in love with your idea, but it is very difficult to give up and compromise, which is crucial for the success of the business: the ability to adapt to early market feedback and a structure capable of supporting it is one of the most important strengths of a start-up. A business consultant will be able to help you assess the potential and weaknesses of your idea and support you in refining it, with an overview and professional experience on aspects that you might not have even considered.
Just as an external view can help you to evaluate your idea more objectively, it can also be an additional weapon to objectively frame your team and the company organisation. It is normal, and certainly in some cases positive, to bond with your fellow adventurers, especially those with whom you shared the very first days of opening your business, but a business consultant could assess, more objectively, what the lack of skills within your team are and help you fill them by identifying the most suitable resources.
If you have already launched your product on the market, and the time has come to increase customers, sales, and therefore profits, a business consultant can help you find new sales channels where your product or service can strengthen the competitive advantage over your competitors and find success with the public. The analysis of the target market is indeed a delicate activity and of key importance in increasing your company’s turnover and operating margins.
Another activity in which a business consultant can make a difference is the optimisation of specific departments within your company, such as the purchasing department or the sales department, through the identification of targeted strategies and tools by professionals with many years of specific experience in the sector. It is by working on the key departments of your business that you will see the greatest benefits, across the whole structure.
Finally, today, many markets are increasingly moving to the internet, and creating a solid online presence for your company is a factor that you can no longer underestimate. By relying on the advice of a professional, you can plan or consolidate the digital transition of your business, for example by creating a point of sale on the web, or opening new channels to increase the number of potential customers.
In short, business consulting from professionals in your target market is an aspect often underestimated by those who do business, but it represents an investment that, if well targeted, will bring your company concrete and measurable results, with certain and well-defined costs, and that can really make the difference in transforming your dream into reality or your beautiful adventure into a success!
