The hardest part of starting a business is not starting a business, but knowing where to go next. Learn about the most important milestones you need to achieve in your first year. Starting a business can seem like jumping into the middle of the ocean without a lifeboat, not knowing where the nearest island is. In fact, the “eureka” moment of coming up with a great idea is only the first of many important business milestones. The path from business idea to business plan to successful business is filled with uncertainty. So how do you know if you’re headed in the right direction?

Rather than a checklist of milestones to start a business, they are the result of a series of actions. Some may be things to celebrate, while others may be challenges to overcome. In any case, if you are achieving these business milestones, you are on the right track.

Business Milestone: First Month

1. Set a monthly budget

Before you begin your marketing and sales activities, it is important to have a clear financial plan. Create a monthly budget to manage your finances effectively and set spending limits. This will help you allocate funds for business activities and milestones throughout the year.

Key components to include in your budget:

• Expected Earnings
• Fixed and variable costs
• One-time cost
• Budget for unexpected expenses
• Expected profit (or loss)

By creating a budget early, you can better understand your financial constraints and opportunities as you pursue your other key goals for the first month.

2. Generate positive ROI from your first paid marketing efforts

The main goal this month is to find a repeatable and profitable marketing approach. For most businesses with little brand awareness, the quickest way to get noticed and acquire new customers is to launch a paid marketing campaign. The good news is that many paid channels allow you to pay per click, and you can get started with a budget of as little as $100.

The key is not to give up after one or two failed ads. Keep iterating and testing your ads until you find the right combination of visuals and copy that engages your target audience. The right combination is definitely out there. Profitable paid advertising campaigns usually require a lot of upfront work, but once set up, they can run autonomously.

Another way to quickly expose your product or brand to a relevant audience is to hire someone who already has a following. Influencer marketing (via Instagram users, YouTubers, bloggers, etc.) has become a popular form of online advertising.

Success in influencer marketing depends on finding the right influencers to promote your business. The challenge is identifying influencers with active and engaged followers who are likely to be interested in your product, and who have the ability to create content that reflects your brand well.

Influencer marketing works well for trendy products (e.g. fashion, food, technology) or products that require a bit of a demonstration.

• New to paid advertising? Check out our simple guides to running Facebook ads and Google ads. If you need help, find an experienced professional in the Shopify Experts Marketplace.
• If you’re interested in influencer marketing, check out our beginner’s guide to Instagram influencer marketing.

3. Make your first sale to a complete stranger

The next milestone is to complete your first sale to someone outside your family and social network. Your first real sale can provide valuable feedback on many aspects of your buying experience, marketing strategy, and more.

Rather than guessing what your customers want, experiment with marketing strategies and tactics as quickly as possible. As mentioned earlier, paid advertising is an intuitive way to reach your target audience and collect data so you can assess whether you are on the right track.

Use your first sales opportunity to build a connection with a genuine customer. Send a personal message of appreciation, and don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. If you receive positive feedback, ask if the customer can provide a recommendation for your store or leave a review on another public recommendation platform.

Business Milestones: First 3 Months

4. First customer support issue

While it’s important to celebrate milestones in your business, it’s also important to set milestones for failure. Selling to a customer is never fun. Nevertheless, good customer support isn’t about always being right, it’s about being willing to fix what’s wrong. A dissatisfied customer is an opportunity to build a stronger relationship by providing excellent customer service. According to the service recovery paradox, there is evidence that if you can resolve a problem with a positive support experience, you’ll earn more goodwill and customer loyalty.

Customer support documentation tells you to be empathetic and apologize. But these days, a simple “I’m sorry” can feel like a dead end. Instead, start as a customer advocate. That means investing time to fully understand the issue, explore solutions, and suggest next steps to make things right. But the best way to manage angry customers is to prevent the problem from happening with self-service elements. This can include displaying an order status page where customers can track their packages, sending automated shipping notifications, or adding an FAQ page.

It’s important to always provide a way for your customers to contact you. While it’s great to be able to contact them via a form, providing a live chat channel will give your customers a much more friendly and immediate support experience.

5. First Review

There is no better advertising than genuine, positive reviews from real customers. And the best part is, they are free. No matter what you sell, today’s consumers are more skeptical of marketing claims than ever before. This makes honest reviews and product reviews an essential part of any marketing strategy. This is especially true for high-priced items like mattresses or products that are difficult to return or exchange, like deodorant.

Dutch deodorant manufacturer Nuud features a carousel of customer reviews and videos of positive reviews on its homepage. For many website visitors, this approach provides them with the confidence they need to click the buy button.

6. Marketing channels that generate positive ROI

Among marketing milestones, organic efforts (social media, SEO, content marketing) take longer to show results, but they will eventually make up a significant portion of your overall marketing budget, making your costs sustainable. “Resist the temptation to increase your paid ad spend regardless of organic demand, or your margins will disappear,” explains Taylor Holiday, founder of Common Thread Collective.

“Resist the temptation to increase your paid advertising spend regardless of organic demand, or your margins will disappear.”

The organic customer acquisition work starts from the first month, and honestly, it never ends. The good news is that there are countless ways to attract your target audience to your website, and these tactics are the same whether you’re looking for your first customer or your 100,000th. This includes running contests on social media platforms, offering referral bonuses, or partnering with influencers.

7. Outsource anything outside your core competencies.

You can't be an expert in every aspect of starting and growing a business. You'll find out what you're good at and what you're not (like designing a logo, for example) within the first month. So one of the big company milestones is to take certain tasks outside of the company.

At this point, you should focus on finding product-market fit. If you’re spending too much time on pixel work, instead of talking to your loyal customers or exploring new marketing strategies, you may need to get help from an experienced professional. There are experts in a variety of fields, from web development to business strategy, and you can find one to fit most budgets.

Business Milestones: First 6 Months

8. Start receiving orders daily

Of all the business plan milestones, this one can be the most variable, depending on what you are selling. The actual outcome we are aiming for here is product-market fit.

How do you know when you have achieved a business model that works through product-market fit? There are endless formulas, templates, and dogmas for the ultimate business model, but essentially, the moment you feel you have found your business model is when you feel your product “pulling” in the market.

The moment you know you've found product-market fit is when you feel your product "grabbing" in the marketplace.

For example, people will start talking about your brand and recommending it to others. You will start building a loyal customer base and a strong market reputation. You will spend more effort fulfilling orders and answering support questions than trying to attract customers.

You know you have established product-market fit when you have a steady stream of orders coming in, either daily for a low-priced item or weekly for a high-priced item.

You can also see positive changes in some of the key metrics you can see in your Shopify reports:

• Repeat Purchase Rate. This is the number of repeat customers who have purchased more than once divided by the total number of unique customers. The higher this number, the more customers you are retaining. (Tip: If you have a lot of repeat customers, it may be worth considering a subscription business model.)
• Customer acquisition cost. This is the amount spent on marketing strategies (paid advertising, design, branding, etc.) divided by the total number of unique customers. The lower this number, the more effective your marketing plan is.
• Customer Lifetime Value. The total profit that will be made while the average customer remains a customer. This is important because LTV is directly related to a profitable business model. Overall, companies with higher LTV can afford to spend more to acquire customers and have higher margins.

Business Milestones: First Year

9. Increase in first shopping volume

The surge in shopping is an exciting and adrenaline-pumping experience, but it can be less fun if you’re not prepared. A spike in sales due to flash sales, Black Friday, Cyber ​​Monday, or other seasonal trends can temporarily boost sales or grow your business in the long run.

Preparing for increased shopping volume typically requires months of planning, including stocking additional shipping supplies, hiring temporary staff, and creating seasonal forecasts. Customer support can be overwhelmed during this time, so it’s important to prepare for anticipated inquiries as much as possible. This will help shoppers feel understood and increase customer satisfaction.

10. First Employee

1. Identify the roles that will have the biggest impact.
2. Develop a clear job description and list of required skills for each position.
3. Consider full-time employees versus freelancers/contractors, depending on your needs and budget.
4. Ensure suitability through thorough interviews and reference checks.
5. Start building your company culture from the very beginning of your hiring.

Remember, your first hire will help shape the future of your company, so invest time in finding the right people who fit your vision and values. Be prepared to provide them with training and development opportunities so they can contribute to the growth of your business.

11. Outsourcing companies must always be prepared.

Running a long-term business is all about maintaining balance. Of course, there will be unexpected weekends and late nights, but at this point, these things should be less and less frequent. That's when outsourcing comes in handy.

If you’re looking to hire your first employee to handle some aspects of your business, like shipping and fulfillment, then do it now! If you’re still too early to consider hiring an employee, but are doing a lot of the day-to-day work, like accounting or managing social media, you might want to explore the increasingly popular virtual assistant route.

Learn to delegate some functions and focus on other important areas. You can focus on areas where you can have a bigger impact, such as product development, media engagement, or international expansion. Or it can simply be time to spend more time with your family and take care of yourself. Now let’s move on to the last milestone.

12. Enjoy your vacation 🏖️

After a few months of positive and negative business milestones, I hope you can reach a place where you can take a break and reflect on your accomplishments.

Business Milestones FAQs