Don’t get caught in a poorly-planned valet trash business model! You’ve worked too hard for too long to get to where you are now to falter in the beginning stages of launching your valet trash company. Avoid common mistakes by checking out these 7 signs that your valet trash business model won’t be successful.
#1 Avoiding the Competition
One of the most integral parts of preparing yourself and your company for business is analyzing the competition. Without taking the time to understand and research what the competition is providing in the marketplace will leave you without a clear picture of what your unique selling proposition (USP) is.
Dedicating some research on what the competitor offers will help you mold the way you want to present your valet trash business’s unique price point and services you offer. When you understand what sets you apart from the competition, writing your business model will be a breeze.
#2 Not Forecasting Your Growth
If you don’t forecast your growth, where will you be in five years? Ten? Twenty?
When crafting your valet trash business model, you need to have a section that shows how you expect your business to perform financially in month-to-month for the next year and then year-over-year for years two through five.
You don’t need to be a mathematician or business analyst to project your growth. Reviewing your overhead cost, employee hiring projection, and even past sales will help put you in the right frame of mind. There are a vast majority of resources to guide you along during this process. Start by taking a trip to the bookstore, your local public or college library, or even some basic internet searching. Also, don’t forget the helpful and free tools like Venngage and Canva to add some easily to create graphs and charts to showcase the projections in a manner that is pleasing for the reader to see.
#3 Using the Wrong Format
If you’re reading this, you have likely never put together a business model or you may not know exactly how it should be formatted. Ensuring you are adhering to the standard business model will prepare you for when you may need to present the model to an investor or bank when in search of a loan.
Your business model should be kept close-at-hand during your day-to-day operations and you and employees should refer to it often. Using the right format will make the model easy to read and reference when necessary.
#4 Poorly Written
If your valet trash business model reads like a fifth-grader wrote it, no one will take you seriously. Remember, even if you don’t plan on anyone else viewing it besides yourself (which should never happen), at some point you may need to present your valet trash service model to a someone else.
You could have the best business model in the world, but if you didn’t take the time to make sure it was professionally written, don’t bother to show it to anyone else.
Ever.
You don’t need to be a professional writer to craft your model. Online tools such as Grammarly and Spellchecker will take care of the basic issues, and the online community of Fiverr will certainly have an entrepreneur just like you, ready to edit your valet trash business model for $5-$10. Take advantage of those that make a career out of making any document a professional one. It is a small price to pay for such an integral piece of your business for years to come.
# 5 Not Planning for Change
Each business should have a fluid plan to provide a service or product that customers need and are willing to pay for. Don’t underestimate the necessity of projecting your business growth for the future and with it, the openness to adapting to the ever-changing marketplace. You cannot predict the future, this we all know. But, understanding who your customers are, and how your services can help them in the long run, will help prepare you for forecasting your data or future avenues to venture down keeping your valet trash business successful over the years to come.
Consider how you will expand your services and your customer base, but not by moving past who you are and what you do. What other segments of your valet trash business can you involve? How can you keep your business fresh but relevant? Remaining stagnant or avoiding change will prevent your business model from being a success, and with it, your business.
#6 Not Proving the Demand for Your Services
Preparing your valet trash business model is your professional way of showing yourself, or any outside interested party, what your business is all about and how you expect it to be successful.
Part of this comes from proving how the marketplace needs a business like yours. Do your research on the services you are planning to offer and how there will be no issue or concern over finding customers for your business.
#7 Not Admitting Your Soft Spots
It is unrealistic to say that you have no weaknesses in your business plan. No business is perfect and yours is no exception. There may be one area that is your strongest asset and another that you feel has room for improvement. Performing a basic SWOT analysis (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) will help put you and your valet trash business model right where they need to be.
Any investor or prospective business partner will look for an analysis like this as it is a real-world business application. Plus, ignoring your weaknesses or assuming they will disappear after some time is unrealistic and could put your business in danger. It may get you by for a little while, but by the time the vulnerabilities present themselves, it may be too late.
Do yourself and your business a favor: take the time to prepare your valet trash business model right the first time and it will save you considerable grief and potential failure in the end. Don’t expect to be perfect. Your business model will be reviewed and rewritten many times during the lifetime of your valet trash business. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and to search for answers of any questions you may have. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
