You are going to encounter many roadblocks and obstacles on your way to becoming a successful business owner. You need to be able to deal with setbacks and failures and move on without getting discouraged. As an entrepreneur, you are not just dealing with employees, customers, and the government; you are also dealing with your fears and doubts. These are natural obstacles to overcome, and you need to deal with them firmly and logically.
Here are 8 TIPS for starting a business:
1. Find a good area to work on in the business, if it is well suited to your skills
Many people find they are good at doing a particular task in their old job. They spend a lot of time doing it and make a lot of money from it. So they decide to do the same job skill for their new business venture. Unfortunately, they spend too much time only doing that same task in the business instead of working on the business.
2. Find a good product or service and make it work
One of the great mistakes a new business owner can make is making the product or service work. If you go out and try to sell the product, you will either get no response or too little response. The next thing you do is start researching what the market wants and then develop a plan of attack.
You need to make the company relevant and attractive to the people who responded to your initial ad. There is no point in trying to fit your product into an unresponsive market. You need to find out what people are responding to on your ad and then find a way of meeting that need.
3. Know your market fit
The first thing you need to do is to identify what your market is. What your potential customers are buying? Are they buying industrial machinery or high-end consumer electronics? Who are they? If you don’t know your market, you will never know what size your market will be. You need to know where your customers live!
Find out where your customers are browsing online and offline, what websites they visit, what articles they read, what magazines reviewed, what newspapers they read, what class they are currently taken. Do they watch infomercials or read magazine articles?
4. Know your competitors, but be better prepared
The next thing you need to do is identify your competitors. Find out who your competitors are, who they serve, and how they serve them. How does their product differ from yours? There is no point in creating a product or service if no one exists to buy it!
5. Research what your competitors are doing and figure out your value proposition
This is where you need to get serious about taking care of business. Research your competition and figure out how you can have a competitive edge. Figure out what the challengers are doing and find a way of doing it better. How can you take advantage of their offering, better or differently? You will find ideas here that you wouldn’t even think of before. Figure out a way to outmaneuver them, and you will find a market waiting to be served.
If you have read through this far, you will realize that the first thing you need to do is establish your business idea. It is imperative as it will dictate how you begin. You need to develop your business vision before you start. It will dictate the funding amount you will need in your bank account and ultimately shape your business plan.
6. Begin with a detailed plan for your business
Create a business plan that is more in-depth and specific to your business needs. You will need this to see if your ideas are feasible and to see what your cash flow will be, how much income you will need to service your loans and bills, how much revenue you want to generate and how much you will need to service your loans and keep your doors open.
Business plans are a great tool. They are like a business coach, mentor, or trusted advisor who explains your idea in a more detailed fashion, giving you a high-level overview of where you are currently and where you need to improve so you can get to the Finish Line.
7. Make sure that you have enough money to get through the rough times
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you need a lot of money to start a business; this is a myth! It is recommended that you spend as little as possible. If you have some money to get started and dedicated time, you have all the money you need.Many people that start their own business never finish it. Most businesses fail within the first three years of being in business. If you are going to start a business, make sure that you have a solid plan to get you through the rough times and a plan that will succeed long term. It is much easier to get up off the floor and carry on with your business than to keep trying to figure out how to get it running and acquire new customers.
8. Get help from others
You may want to do all the work, but if your business isn’t working, you have all the responsibility for that work. You can’t blame the team for whatever mistakes you’ve made. There are plenty of ways to get involved in starting a business that doesn’t require much money. You can always join a company or volunteer to do some work for someone else. When you start a business, get help from people already doing what you want to do! These are the people who can show you how to get started and make it a successful run with fewer pitfalls.
I hope these tips for starting a business helped you to make a better decision. Remember that what you need to decide is what is best for you. As I said earlier, you need to choose based on what you want to do, what is best for your business needs, and what is most important to you!
The longer you delay, the harder it is to start your venture.
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Chief Storyteller;
Michael T. Thomas
#TheGreenPreneur
