A Guide to Small Business R&D for Mompreneurs

In order to satisfy current customers and bring in new ones, a business is expected to continuously innovate itself. Of course, this doesn’t just happen overnight; rather, it is the result of careful research and development (R&D) to find out how a business’s products or services can still be improved upon.

Now, you might be thinking: doesn’t R&D sound like the sort of complicated process only big corporations do? That actually couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, even small ventures such as the ones run by mompreneurs, or moms who manage their business from their homes, can also benefit from doing R&D.

Here’s a quick overview on what R&D can bring to your small mom-run business, how you can get started, and what you can hope to achieve from this process as a mompreneur.

R&D 101 for Mompreneurs: Giving Your Business the Advantage

R&D in the context of entrepreneurship refers to when a business conducts tests, surveys, or studies to determine how it can improve its operations or current offerings. This is done with the intention of increasing business profit and giving it an edge against competitors. Thus, one of the greatest benefits you get when doing R&D for your business is giving it a competitive advantage.

A thoughtfully implemented R&D process can give you more than just information on your customers’ preferences. It can also spark ideas on how to improve your products or services, as well as what new offerings you can bring to the table as a mompreneur. This can lead to new solutions that’ll give your business a unique selling point, and, knowing how competitive the playing field can be as someone who runs their own small business, you’d certainly want to seize that kind of advantage.

Finding New Ways to Get Revenue and Funding for R&D Activities

As a mompreneur still taking on the reins of your business, your capital is probably limited. But there are various ways to secure additional funding for upcoming R&D activities.

One way to inject new capital into your business for the purpose of R&D is through business loans. A quick search of business loans Philippines programs online will no doubt show local financial institutions offering these. If you want a hassle-free loaning experience with low fees, which is perfect for mompreneurs and other small businesses in a similar demographic, you can consider solutions like Maya’s Flexi Loan. Use the funds acquired from your loan to support R&D activities like data collection, product design, and product revision.

New products that are created as a result of the R&D can also be sold and bring in more profit. For example, say you run a business that sells delicious cookies online and you find out in your R&D that customers want more variety than your current chocolate chip and peanut butter offerings. Your R&D can help you decide on new flavors and add them to your menu, selling them first at a promotional price and then making them a regular item once you have evidence that there’s a strong demand for them.

Improving Business Operations Through Your R&D

In addition to helping you come up with new offerings, R&D can also pinpoint weaknesses in your current business operations. Are you taking too long to get back to customers? Then perhaps you can set aside a specific time frame just for answering customer queries. Have your sales plateaued lately? Maybe it’s time for a new marketing strategy.

With the help of information gathered from your R&D, you’re able to make more responsive decisions on how to fix problematic areas in your operations. The resulting actions should increase trust and satisfaction in your mompreneur brand.

Getting Started with R&D as a Mompreneur

R&D may sound intimidating and expensive, but it’s truly just a matter of gathering information and acting upon it—whether that info comes from industry trends, your customers, or your own business operations. That information can then be used for various strategies such as the ones discussed above.

Since you’re likely running a small business as a mompreneur, you can conduct your R&D in ways that are within your means. For instance, you can simply send out survey links to your current customers with questions on how they find your current offerings and what more they expect from you. On the operational side of things, you can make a detailed workflow of your daily operations and see which parts can still be optimized. If you’ve noticed that you’re taking too long to pack orders, then it might be time to hire some help.

As for keeping up with industry trends, you can first roll out your R&D process by keeping up with the news as well as your competitors. Evaluate how you can capitalize on trends to give your business a boost, and when may be the right time to craft a new product or offer a new service.

For sure, being a mom and running your own business at the same time is tough work. But that should give you more motivation to want your business to succeed—to make sure your hard work will bear fruit. R&D can make a huge difference in your business’s competitiveness, so be sure to invest time and effort in the process—you’ll find that the benefits you reap from it will be well worth it.