Tips for Homegrown, Self-Made Business Owners

It’s no secret that some of the most valuable companies in the world got their start in garages. In some cases, these now mythic captains of industry who founded their international corporations were viewed as tech geeks working in the car shed of their childhood home.

Take, for instance, Apple, which is one of the most valuable brands in the world today, which got it’s start in the small suburban Cupertino, California, ranch of founder Steve Jobs’ adopted parents in 1976, selling the first Apple computers for $500 a piece custom-built. Even Amazon, a comparatively tech behemoth, was founded out of Jeff Bezos’ Bellevue, Washington, shed filled with potbellied stoves before becoming the world’s largest online retailor.

As any of these industry heavyweights would tell you, it takes a lot more than just putting your nose to the grindstone to take your business out of your backyard and into the mainstream. The process of growing your business is harder today than ever before as the increasingly interconnected world that we occupy has leveled the playing field. For some companies, it’s networking rather than hard work that brings potential customers or venture capitalists into the fold, while trending on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn can be more lucrative advertising than a pricey commercial campaign.

That isn’t to say that a quality product or service isn’t the cornerstone of a successful business. Many companies have made headlines as they went from their parent’s garage to the world of big business only to fizzle out before they make their first big deal. The goal is for you to automate tasks that don’t need your full attention so that you can spread your time equally between developing your company and reaching the customers that count.

For instance, double down on your company’s online presence. Simply making your website functional on mobile devices and making sure your home page is SEO-friendly will help you rank in Google, where roughly 59 percent of consumers search for reliable, local businesses.

It’s also wise to take advantage of the freelance economy to take care of tasks and outreach that you either don’t have the personal bandwidth or the budget to complete. Many of these tasks – including optimizing your website – don’t require bringing a new, salaried hire online. Rather, you can keep a freelancer on the payroll only as long as a specific project takes to complete, making sure to build a relationship that you can return to when new projects come about down the line.

You also want to make sure that you are backing up your important files in a way that makes sure that you can be collaborative with key members of your teams but also confident that your materials are secure. The Fasetto app allows teams to collaborate without needing direct access to public Internet, giving you the flexibility to grow your company and your product no matter where your priorities lay.