In any new business you will be making an investment? I suggest to take some time to understand ROI or Return on Investment.  
 
Example of low risk investment is the 30 year government bonds where the ROI is between 3% and 5%. The stock market is much more risky and hence the return is in the range of 8% to 13%. However, the new business owner bears more risk and hence the ROI can be 25% to 30% on an average.
 
ROI = [(Payback- Investment)/Investment)]*100
 
Here, Payback is total earned money from your investment whereas Investment is the sum of resources used for generating the Payback amount.
 
If you are starting up a new business, then the knowledge of Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) is very important. It is used to settle on the efficiency of the invested cash in the new business. ROIC is calculated by dividing the net profit of your business by the entire sum of assets. The amount that is generated out of the calculation is not the exact ROIC. Cash and investments are to be subtracted from the amount as these are not investments in your new business itself. What you get after the calculation is Return on Invested Capital. 
 
ROIC = (Net Profit/Total Assets) - Cash and Investments
 
Businesses are generally considered a more risky investment and hence you must focus on having 20% to 30% of Return on Invested Capital to win the interest of the investors. In case the return on investment is low, it means that the shareholders are not getting enough compensation against their risks.
 
Here we are mentioning some features that cause low ROI and you should tackle such situation.
 
You must focus on purchasing assets but with a limit. The assets must be used productively in order to get more profit.

Restrict yourself in spending too much cash on expenses as it can lower profit and restrain growth.
If you are holding cash in your business, then you are not using it effectively. These sort of safe investments results in very low return.

Paying off debt is making an investment and the present rate of interest is around 6%. It is definitely better than holding it in the account of money market.
 
Having good ROI is essential for a new business to grow and flourish. Thus, you need to utilize your asset, funds and cash effectively to enjoy good ROI. Keep your initial investment low and find a business that is in a high growth industry.