Starting a business can be very tricky left alone to say starting a successful one.
In some cases, you may have the product and not the market other cases you may have the market and not the product or if you are born lucky for having both the product and the market but there is a section of business which is always underlooked separate from the product and the market which is the administration function this is what formally make a business a business which is primarily required to marry a product with a market.
Likewise very a widely endorsed step in starting a business is to develop a business plan or do market research However as mention earlier that may not be the actual case. As before researching a market you may need to have a product in mind for the market you are researching and likewise after developing a product you may need to understand the marketplace before you may even see your first customer. For this, I will be giving some steps to easily starting a successful business. Also to note there is no specific formula to creating a business as there are no two businesses that are exactly alike, however, there are best practices adopted by organizations for hitting successful milestones.
Step 1
Lose the concept of starting a business because you want to get rich.
Understanding that a business is not a get-rich-quick type of magical venture unless you have superpowers, knowing this is very important. But see a business as an opportunity for you to help others solve a problem they may be having, such as entertainment we all need, food, transportation, legal matters, personal issues, family issues, or just about any problems multiple persons have enough for you to make a profit and scale your business in the future. Business like everything in life and life itself requires time and additional resources to be viably sustainable.
Having the mindset to start a business because you want to get rich isolates and segregates the financial function of the business as your business core mission and tends to pay less attention to the other key functions such as product and development, HR, and customer service or administration. Understanding that all functions work together equally as a team to reach a central mission and vision is very important for a successful business.
Step 2
Identify a passion of yours for which you will use to develop a business idea.
This is a critical step that is normally overlooked due to its very intangible requirements such as internally identifying skillsets you like which can be turned into cold cash. Such as singing or crafting, baking, cooking, teaching, driving and the list goes on. Identifying a passion makes it a lot easier to fulfill the innovative function of a business which is another primary function of a business. Read my prior post about the core functions of a business here.
Doing something you love tends to make your workload feel less like work and more of something you enjoy hence will maintain the consistency the business needs to push it through its complete product lifecycles to reach its success periods. On the flip side doing something you don’t actually like will always feel like a drag and at that time you will always find an excuse and not a way.
Step 3
Validate your product and business idea.
Unless you are able to make live cash from your business/product idea it is just an idea. This is where Market research comes in. This is the stage in which you will attempt to identify a need for the product you had in mind. Asking questions from people you know and trust along with regular surveys moving forward can give you key insights into your product idea and how it can be implemented and improved. You can also search the web to find grey literature or information on competitors which can aid you in the process of developing your product idea and also information about the customers and clients. But also remember that no two businesses are exactly alike hence the same things that worked for your competitor may not necessarily work for your business. The idea at this stage is to verify/ validate that your business idea is worth investing in as it relates to not just your money but also your time and effort.
Step 4
Choose an available business name.
This is usually the fun part but likewise tricky as at this stage you need to identify a name that has not yet been taken by your established competitors. Remembering this is the core of your marketing efforts. Using a long irrelevant name for your business is hard to remember and generally turns your customers away likewise is harder to turn first-time customers into loyal returning clients. Try to keep your business name as short as possible to ensure it is easily memorized and shared, to the point, and should clearly communicate what your business is about. It May not be the easiest task but it is definitely achievable with enough effort and thought put into the process.
There are loads of name generators online which can give you an idea of a name, to begin with, you can then further tweak the name to your business requirements. Ensure the business name is Simple, Relatable, and unique.
Step 5
Write a business plan
But I don’t know how to write a business plan is just an excuse, persons tend to adopt especially when it comes on to a business you are not passionate about. The trick is a plan doesn’t have to be formal to be a plan. Grab a piece of pen and a Paper and
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