You can scale up a business without an empire

Building a business is easier than ever if you leverage and use modern technology to your advantage. We’re not saying it’s easy, but the tools are there to help if you use them wisely. In essence, it’s now possible to build and scale up a business without having a vast empire of resources or employees. The latest software allows you to set up and manage a business from anywhere and without a massive team of people.

Promote your business without knocking on doors

For most small businesses, the process starts with an online presence. Creating a website for your business opens up a window to the world. It wasn’t so long ago that entrepreneurs needed to advertise through billboards, radio commercials, leaflets, and business cards. All of those things cost money and time, not to mention the follow-up effort in properly distributing and reaching your intended market. Today, it’s easy to buy a new domain and for a small fee create a professional looking website using WordPress, Squarespace or other tools. No technical knowledge required.

With the right content, keywords, links, and social media posts, you could have thousands of prospective clients visiting your site. Yes, hosting and promotion costs money. You must put in the time and effort to generate traffic. However, on a pound-for-pound basis, what you will spend has the potential to have a far greater impact than an old-school leafletting campaign.

What’s more, you can do all of this on your own. Modern software makes the process of building a website simple. Therefore, you can implement your ideas faster and without the need for outside help.

Meet and manage a team without an office

Once you have a business with an online presence, managing it doesn’t require a vast team of people or physical resources. Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Slack allow you to run an office without a physical location.

61% of companies had remote working provisions in 2019. In 2020, that figure increased to 74%. On a day-to-day basis, these video conferencing and chat platforms make it possible to host meetings and more. They can also be combined with content and task management systems. Once you have multiple departments, coordination will be required. The SolarWinds IT ticketing system allows business owners to manage tasks more efficiently.

Web Help Desk (WHD) automatically converts requests into help tickets. These tickets are then filtered according to pre-sets, so the end result is a task management system that prioritizes requests, provides end-users with self-help solutions and allows an IT department to handle the most important tasks promptly.

The ticketing system also contains built-in analytics that can highlight things such as repeat issues. Software can be used in this manner to reduce the need for a large IT department. Instead of having different people dedicated to receive, distribute, and handle service requests, one or two people can take control.

Build and balance your books without an accountant

Another key aspect where technology can help you scale up a business without a team of experts and resources is financial technology.

You can use online payment processors such as PayPal and Neteller for secure and efficient transactions. Then, once the money is rolling in, QuickBooks can help you manage it. Small business accounting software like QuickBooks can be synced with PayPal so that transactions are automatically tracked and recorded. It will then filter income, expenditure, and other allowances to make sure your balance sheet is not only correct but ready to be filed.

Even if you do require an accountant to make sure the final result is accurate, most of the hard work has already been done. Therefore, you’re saving money by not needing to hire someone full-time to manage these on the day to day.

From the seed of an idea through to the time you reap the rewards, everything can be done with just a handful of resources. By leveraging modern software, you can create an empire without dozens of employees, expensive offices, and everything else that used to be necessary. With the right idea and a few well-targeted investments, you can turn nothing into something.

This is a sponsored post brought to you in collaboration with Solarwinds.