Hi and welcome back to my blog, today we’ll be talking about easy steps to starting a new business. It isn’t advisable to go into a business without first knowing what and what to do and put in place. You can’t jump into whatever business you plan on starting blindly, that is why I have decided to put these ten steps together. Let’s quickly discuss them in details.
1.) Why?
The very first thing that you need to do when you are considering starting a business is ask yourself why. Why do I want to start this business? I know it sounds cliche, I know you feel as though you know what you want to be doing with this business, why you want it, but I’m telling you that you need to do the inside work before you get started because entrepreneurship is very demanding, it is a lot of work. So, is the business idea that you have something that you are solving a problem for? Is it something that you genuinely want to provide a solution for or are you doing it for personal gain? which is totally fine. You just need to be clear on what it is that you’re doing this thing for.
2.) Set Goals
The second thing you need to do is get clear on your goals. What is the value proposition of this business? Everybody brings something different, we all have different personalities. There are tons of different clothing companies, a whole bunch of furniture companies, there’s tons of different companies that provide the same thing. So it’s not necessarily about always bringing something totally revolutionary to the market. When you’re getting clear on your goal for this business and determining your value proposition, think about these things.
- What makes my business different from things that are already being done out there?
- How can I bring something fresh into the industry that isn’t being done already?
- What conversations am I able to stir up that aren’t being had?
- How is my product or service going to provide a slightly more enhanced solution to this demographic of people?
Think about these, that is what is going to be your value proposition, that’s the thing that sets you apart. You have to think about all of these things that are going to set you apart and cut through the noise of all the other hustle and bustle that’s going on and get people to lock into what you are doing, so understand your value proposition.
3.) List cost of starting
Starting a business costs money and obviously you can limit the amount of money you are spending in the beginning.
I would highly recommend you save up for your business especially if you are planning to transition from your full-time job into full-time entrepreneurship. Without stability yet in your business, I would recommend that you have a big lump of money saved up.
Everything comes with a cost so list out the expenses that you are aware of and then you might have to bake in a little bit more because the things that you don’t even know may come up.
Expenses such as the products that’s if you are creating a product based business, consider these;
- What do you need to purchase?
- Should you get a manufacturer?
- Do you need a product manager or somebody who can help you bring your products to life?
- Do you need to purchase softwares or technology to create whatever it is that you’re doing?
- Do you need licensing or do you need a new skill and pay for someone to teach you?
- Do you need a facility to store your products or to conduct your services?
So, expenses matter. See Quick Steps to Getting your Business in Order
You’re going to have to list out every single thing that you can think of that is going to cost you. This is not to freak you out, it is just so you can be real with yourself in understanding how to best prepare if you’re trying to transition into full-time entrepreneurship or if you are trying to just understand the cost of running your business.
The important thing to think about when evaluating your expenses is your time. Looking at your schedule, priorities that you currently have and figuring out where you can buy some time to run your actual business so you can have the best branding, the best website, the best everything but if you don’t create time to run your business, market your business and effectively grow your business, then all of these isn’t worth anything.
4.) SWOT Analysis
Conduct SWOT analysis for yourself and for a few of your competitors. Basically, what SWOT analysis stands for is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats so you are going to look at what you have going strong for you.
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- Where are some areas that you actually aren’t the strongest in?
- Where do you have the highest amount of opportunity of growth? And then your threats.
Swot analysis helps you think a big picture in your business in comparison to your competitors. What you really need to do is get an idea of what’s going on in your industry. It is not for you to mimic or replicate what others are already doing. I think SWOT analysis when conducted properly is a really great thing to do before you get your business supercharged and up and running.
5.) Create your Offer
You have to create the thing. If it is a product you need to produce it, if it is a service, you need to create your framework or get the things that you need to conduct the service and actually map out how your service will work. So either way, you need to create the thing that you are selling.
6.) Test
When you are testing, I need you to know that you don’t have to do it for free. If you want to test and you want to charge a minimal amount, just something that is worth your time, that’s fine. I think in general, people are valuing the fact that maybe you are taking the initiative to say “hey I want to test this out on you”. Maybe your first one to three are free but then after that, as you start gaining more understanding on how your products or services work, how your clients may be getting results or your customers may love it, then you can start charging.
If you have a product based business, I would recommend you let few people wear your product, let people use it.
Get a small batch when you are starting out and really understand how to run the business and see if you actually like it.
7.) Refine
Now that you have created the product and tested it out on some people, it’s time to refine. So whatever those action items are that you found from the data that you have tested. You need to refine your product or service so that it is optimal when you launch.
8.) Logistics
You know you want to do this, so it’s time to get into logistics. If you feel I can commit to the business, this is something that I want to run, I want to do this long term, then now is the time to start implementing. Do things like registering your business, handling all the legalities – trademarking, copywriting, patenting whatever your products or services are that can be your tagline, your logo, your business name. This is important, you are going to want to protect yourself, your brand and business.
9.) Market
This is where the work really happens and the starting is the hardest part only because it’s going into something that you have no idea what you are going to do. Market your business, you cannot continue to be scared to talk about your business in a way that is enticing to who it is you are trying to get to purchase. Make sure that when you are marketing, you are not begging.
10.) Pivoting
Last but not least is understand that your business can change. You can pivot, you are not held captive or trapped by your business. I want you to know that this is supposed to be something that allows you more freedom in the long run. So if you are feeling like you are not experiencing joy from running your business, if you are going months and you are not fulfilled, you’re not happy, then you need to make a change either in your business or in your approach to your business.
Conclusion
Sometimes, even our first business is not the business that is the business that takes us to the next level. Sometimes, your first few businesses are teaching you those fundamentals of growing a business, becoming a leader, becoming more confident. So consider that you are an entrepreneur and take these steps into being a business owner. Remember that this is not a rush, this is not a race, where you are is the sweetest place to be so enjoy it, enjoy the journey!
