Being a startup isn’t easy – you and the people who work with you are likely slaving away for little or no compensation. This period can last for ages, it can be truly demotivating and, in turn, hinder the workplace productivity. The best way to prevent these detriments is taking your startup to the next level – become larger, finally become self-sustainable, even profitable. Here are some interesting ideas to keep in mind if you want to take your startup to the next level.

Stick to your business plan

When times get hectic and when there’s a ton of work everywhere, it’s unbelievably easy to lose track of your business goal and even the general idea behind the entire project in question. This is why having a business plan is so important – you need to be able to revisit it in order to adjust your collective aim. Now, your business plan will feature all the essential stuff regarding your future goals and the means of getting to them, so make sure that you revisit your business plan every once in a while; often, in fact!

Keep in mind, however, that you should be flexible here – the business plan is a plan, after all; it isn’t set in stone and it will and should change as your business evolves.

Invest in new technology

Trying to save up by buying old technology is fine, as long as we’re talking about pieces of equipment that are relevant to your way of doing business. For instance, your community manager can make do with a pre-owned computer, but going used with the tech staff, such as programmers, software engineers and web devs is absolutely unacceptable. Instead of going all-new or all-used with technology, be smart about it and consider where to put the biggest portion of your investment.

Hire the right people

One of the most vital things in business is making sure that you hire right – the entire future of your company depends on the team of people that you’ve gathered around you. There are so many aspects to keep in mind here, which is why hiring without recommendation is a very risky process. If you cannot find anyone who knows someone awesome for a particular position, don’t just go out stabbing in the dark. Improve your chances by thoroughly researching every candidate using the big data.

If you don’t have the time to hire diligently, opt for a reliable human resource management agency, such as UniqueHR, to cover the employment aspect of your business for you.

Outsource and equip

In a perfect scenario, you will have an employee for every task, no question about it. Startups, however, as well as many larger businesses, are far from perfect, and you’ll often have to compensate for the lack of expertise in certain fields. There is no shame in outsourcing. In fact, hiring an employee that you won’t be using part- or full-time is completely nonsensical.

Often, however, the outsourced help will have to come and work from your office, which is why having a fully equipped room for potential outside help is more than advisable. Use experts such as Glenco to equip these rooms quickly and completely, covering everything from electrical, internet and air conditioning services to alarms, security, etc.

Don’t disregard SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is a popular way of moving your website up in the rankings when people type in your keywords in the Google search bar. This is very important, because if you aren’t on the first page of Google, you are basically invisible – no one goes past the first page of search results.

Make no mistake, you’re going to need help with SEO – either dedicate enough time to research it yourself (which is incredibly time-consuming), or hire an expert that will deal with this aspect of your business. Make no mistake, SEO is a genuine marketing tactic that is often much more important than displaying your name on billboards and even featuring your business on TV and internet commercials.

Another cool perk of knowing SEO is being able to use a variety of neat tools to help you figure out what your competition might be doing.

By returning to and revising your initial business plan and by playing it smart with technology, you are making sure that things are on track. Of course, you won’t get anywhere without a rock-solid team and without creating a quality internet presence. Follow the mentioned advice and the only way you’ll be going is up!