There is a common misconception that being a business owner is for a select group of people. Businesses start from ideas, and many people get stuck with ideas in their heads once they see that it is too hard to build a successful business. In essence, there is a seed in each one of us that can be cultivated to becomes business owners; we only need to be committed to seeing it through.
Most people can easily find a way around getting a good idea, harnessing their creativity and possibly getting good capital, but what most people lack is the determination and patience of executing a business plan. One can easily get overwhelmed by the needs of a business at an early stage. The key to working through the challenging times is to have a working plan that you can use to navigate the course.
We are going to look at five steps that can help you kick-start your business.
Brainstorm your idea
An idea has many variables that can be easily assumed. Your task as an entrepreneur is to think through every aspect of your business so that when a potential investor asks you a question about your area of interest, you have an answer. For instance, try to give your best answers to these questions:
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Who are you targeting with your service or product?
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What are the risks behind your business and how are you going to solve it?
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What other products can be tied down to your service or product?
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What are some of the things you are going to market to your customers?
Formalize a business plan
When you prepare well enough for these answers, you will be seen as a confident and dedicated business owner when attracting investors to your business. After the questions are answered, you need to come up with a solid business plan. The U.S Small Business Administration have stated that the main parts of a business plan comprise of the executive summary, the value proposition, the market research, the marketing strategy, the product or service, 3-5 year financial projection and others.
Launch a marketing or brand awareness campaign
Once you have gathered the necessary resources for running your business, come up with ideas for sales, marketing, and branding. Since social media is big across the U.S, it is crucial to make your presence felt online.
Start by creating the company’s Twitter profile, a Facebook Page, a LinkedIn page and a Google+ account. As you focus on opening these channels of getting in touch with your customers, it is important to first understand where your customer base is mostly present. For example, a Tree Trimming company may not need a LinkedIn profile account, but they can use a Facebook page. For the page to be active enough ensure that you have a cohesive and regularly updated web page.
Be financially aware
If you fail to update your taxes, bookkeeping and accounting records, you will incur more costs in running your business, be on the wrong side of the law, and possibly be on the verge of closing down in the long run. Failure to pay your taxes will make your G2B hard.For bookkeeping purposes, you can leverage on technology by using software like Quickbooks or GoDaddy Bookkeeping for easier export of taxes. It is also crucial that you are away of your business G2B relationship. What is G2B? It is basically the relations between your business and the government. It is very important you are aware of the laws relative to your field of business because this could greatly impact all aspects of your industry
To have the best financial records, hire an accountant to keep every financial document updated. Ensure that you liaise with a lawyer to make sure that you abide by the law when you are branching out to other states which have different laws and regulations.
Plan how to scale
When your business is up and running, keeping tabs on the performance of the company like the payroll, inventory or updating the website and blog is vital for the growth of the company. Always schedule the tasks on a regular basis and place them on a dashboard to check on the performance on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
It does not matter how old your business is, once you have the regular tasks properly running, you need to plan to move the business forward. Check what your competition is doing, and seek advice on how you are going to scale your business for you to be successful.
Conclusion
Starting a business can be a tough task for many people because of how hard it is. But once you have a good support system, you are dedicated and committed to learning and growing; you will eventually build a business that is sustainable for years to come.
