8 Easy Questions to Start Your Business
It’s easier to start a business today than ever before. It’s great to see so many people getting into entrepreneurship. But doing it without preparation is risky enough. For example, opening a National casino Philippines with no license can lead to some problems with the law. Or knowing no marketing strategies can also be damaging. So where do you start your business? The answers to these questions will help you get your business started in the right and effective direction and give you a head start on business planning. They will make you turn your ideas into action with next steps while avoiding common mistakes.
Why Do I Personally Need This Business?
Startups often think that their own business will give them freedom, financial well-being, free time, popularity, or an opportunity to prove something to the world. These are all different goals.
You need to understand your true motivation. A desire for self-fulfillment, to save up for an apartment, or to show others that you are not a loser is not about business. A proper understanding of your motives will help you avoid the stress that can wear a person out for many years because of the mismatch between expectations and reality. That is why it’s better to start a new project with a consultation with a psychologist or business consultant.
What Will I Make Money on?
There are key metrics that affect a project’s profits. They are individual to each case, but there are some basic ones:
- Cost of the first purchase.
- Frequency of repeat purchases.
- Profit per consumer over time – how much profit you make per consumer over the entire time you use your product.
Who Are My Consumers?
The most responsible task before you start is to understand who your customers are, what their “pain” is, and why it’s so important for them to cure it. Just as the theater begins with a hanger, so the business begins with customer development:
- Desk research can help for a general understanding of a market need or customer problem.
- Mass surveys are useful for hypothesis testing.
- Interviews with potential customers – understanding the experience of “curing pain with folk methods,” a comprehensive diagnosis of the causes and effects that will motivate use of your product.
What Resources Will Be Needed to Achieve Your Goals?
Human resources are what you invest in your team and professional environment. Not to be confused with “human capital”: capital is more likely to pay dividends, while a resource can run out quickly.
Education is what makes you smarter in your market and makes your product more technologically advanced.
Connections are about the community around you and your project. Connections can help you find important people for your product, new ideas or investments.
Do I Understand the Basic Parameters for Success in a New Business?
Without the right answer to this question, you can’t succeed in your chosen niche. So, the basic parameters of a profitable company are as follows:
- Having an exclusive from a strong international brand.
- A clear and predictable source of potential customers.
- The ability to generate sales in the B2B sector.
Do I Have a Distinct Competitive Advantage over Other companies?
You can’t go to the market without answering this question. Formulate why your company should be the best. If you can’t find a competitive advantage, give up on the idea. A competitive advantage has two characteristics:
- You must be different from your competitors in a selected parameter many times over.
- The difference must be important for your customers.
For example, the competitive advantage of the company supplying furniture is the speed. Business owners make it possible to complete orders faster than their competitors and make sofas and tables that don’t wear out for years.
Do I Know How to Communicate?
Any business is all about communicating with people: employees, colleagues, clients. If you don’t know how to communicate, it will be very difficult for you to succeed. The life of an entrepreneur includes all sorts of speeches, constant networking, participation in all sorts of associations, and hangouts, including those unrelated to business. Overcoming your fear of public speaking and communicating is very important. The TEDx training provided by companies such as Thought-Leader will help you make a lasting impact on investors as a leader and a representative of your organization.
Am I an Inventor or an Entrepreneur?
Many successful startups begin with a great idea. However, product or service ideas are a necessary but not sufficient condition for a successful business. Too often “inventors” focus only on the product, the prototype, the patent, etc., while ignoring other aspects of business development. Having a good product does not guarantee you instant customers. And the “entrepreneurs” know this.
Of course, if you consider yourself more of an “inventor” than an “entrepreneur,” that doesn’t mean you should necessarily give up the idea of your own business. However, you will probably need a partner with entrepreneurial qualities to help you take your idea to the next level. In this case, it will be better if this person is not your friend or family member. Otherwise, problems in your business will become your personal ones, start affecting your relationships negatively, and even ruin them.
Summary
Don’t rush into starting a new business. New opportunities arise every day. An entrepreneur’s greatest resource is time. If you’re not developing new businesses yet, that doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything. Your job is to quietly evaluate new projects. Invest time and resources only in businesses with a high probability of success.
I am the content writer for Allblogsidea, where I love what I do. Writing is my passion; it’s what drives me in life. It makes me happy when people share their stories with the world so they can be heard.
