If you have planned to start your own business, you are not alone who has this plan. Flexible working hours, being own boss and enjoy financial rewards are some good reasons to own a business. This is always exciting and challenging to start and register a company. You need to plan your working hours, put your extra effort to get the maximum returns on your investment and make is successful, and most importantly you are the sole person who takes all key decisions in your company, and you take ownership of it. It takes a serious investment of time and energy to get a new venture off the ground.
How to start a company from scratch?
If you have decided to start a company from scratch; believe it or not, this not a hard or complicated decision that you have taken. But you must have a proper planned and detailed work for this task to be done. It is always a good idea to seek outside professional advice from specialists like sap business one consultants when you encounter something that you do not understand.
Evaluate Yourself
Can you work better in a structured or non-structured workflow? What if you get frustrated by your daily routine? At what things you are good at? Do you enjoy public speaking and presenting?
These are some of the very important questions that you need to ask yourself if you have to start your own company. Whatever answers up come p for these questions, make sure this is the evaluation that can help you identify strengths and weaknesses.
Must have a passion for what you are doing
Being a business person can be a very tiring job for you, and you might not find enough hours to accomplish everything properly. If you are not fueled with passion in the journey of being alone, your job can become the worst nightmare for you. Do remember off and on why you have started your business and let the passion drive you through every hard time that you have.
Evaluate Your Idea
If you have a new business idea that involves some new product or service; it should be evaluated on a serious note, even if you are enhancing the existing product or service. This is what we call market research.
You can also find some agencies that are specialized in conducting market research for new products/services. You can do it yourself if you don’t have enough budget.
Design a Business Plan
One of the most important steps in building a successful business is designing a business plan once you are done with the market research. A business plan is a blueprint or an outline of the business you are going to develop. Below mentioned elements must be a part of a good business plan;
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You have to compile an Executive Summary and it must layout the products or services that you are going to offer. And you should be giving a solution to the consumer’s problems.
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You need to Evaluate the Market, the audience that you are going to hit once you launched your product or service. Whether the market is going to expand in the coming 10-20 years and how cans this product/service can fulfil the consumer’s requirements.
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Then comes the Market Strategies, how you are going to compete with the current companies. And what are the tactics that you will be using to sell your product/service?
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Then we have an Operational Plan, how you will lead the company doing business successfully day by day.
Work on Business Structure
You can consult with your financial advisor to know what’s right for you. You have different kinds of business entities open for you, have a look;
Sole Proprietorship
You can start a small business by using this way, all you have to pay for a sales tax license or business license. By doing so, you can register yourself with the government, and you can find so many online resources that can cost you a minimum. The business owner can use their bank account for such a startup. And you have all authorities and commands over the decision making as a sole proprietor.
Crowdfunding
You can easily avail crowdfunding through some websites like Kickstarter. Crowdfunding is very helpful for you if you are interested in raising funds. It is also helpful for building interests, a consumer base, and a spirit.
Assemble Your Team
Upon evaluating your strengths and weaknesses, this is the time to fill the gaps efficiently. Do you hate cold calling and selling goods? If your answer is Yes, that’s great! Lots of people around you love selling, and they won’t agree to do anything else; they have full command in it.
If you have got enough bore with accounting; you can find tons of accounting firms that are ready to take care of your business’s finance.
Your job is to be on top of all the different aspects of the business to ensure everyone is working smoothly/ and they are doing their best to get the results that you need if they are not, so it's you who will have to figure out the problem and move on to the solution.
Buy Insurance
It doesn’t matter what kind of business you are going to start, but you need insurance for sure. It confirms that nobody wants to buy insurance, but this is going to be very helpful for you in the future. This is what we can call a very controversial time, a small slip, and you can be declared a bankrupt without insurance. If you don’t have any idea of the good insurance agent; better check with the local trading organizations or consult fellow business persons. Some insurance might be mandatory. e.g. If you worker is doing manual work, you might want to check out wica insurance.
Focus on the target market
Some of the companies don’t have the best product/service, yet they are very successful just because of their online marketing and sales. You should research the buying habits of your potential customers. Try to communicate with your competitors, have conversations with the similar niche business persons, check competitors' websites, and go for the reviews and check out the positive & negative reviews about the product/service on social media.
Start small and grow
Initially try to finance your business yourself, and after some time go for funding upon creating a growth story. You can break apart your offerings in smaller junks. This is how you can manage easily funding at the early stages. You will need a website. Seek out a professional web designer who is familiar with specialist online portals such as real estate websites, ecommerce websites etc.
Sit with advisors and mentors
Not even a single person on this planet has all the knowledge, experience or perspective of handling every situation. But one can learn a lot from other’s skills and experiences. 50% of businesses finished after five years, and they left no name behind them. There is a website Score, where you can get free mentors. You can get a mentor who can share everything you need in a face to face meeting through Skype or email.
Conclusion
There are lots of skills and experiences are required that we couldn’t learn at our business schools. Finance, operations and business strategy isn’t enough to decide whether you should go for this business or not.
These are the skills that you can only learn by implementing them practically. But at the earliest stage, all you need is an idea, team, communications, experts and your passion for taking your business to the extreme success. So stick to the area you have selected, do your work honestly and put all your efforts to make it run better. You have to fulfil the needs of people and try to give a solution through your business.