     |
Starting a Small Business - What to do.Your mind is made up, on starting a small business, so let’s move on to the preparation needed to start this business. Having been through the trauma of starting more than one small business from scratch, hopefully, I can help with a few suggestions! So here goes, my thoughts on starting a small business from scratch. Well, to tell the truth, not only my thoughts but those of fellow business friends, all of them successful, whom I have learned from over the years. The Beginning Having a good reason for wanting to go into business for oneself is critical to the long term success of your business. Think carefully as to why you want to go into business, are your reasons sound? Whatever the reason, make sure that it is a valid reason that you fully understand and that you can live with in the future. You will find more on reasons elsewhere on this site. Get Family Support Following on your decision to start a small business, the first priority is to obtain the support of one’s spouse, partner, family and if appropriate, friends. These people, the ones closest to you, are going to suffer the most neglect during the start-up phase of the business and probably for a few years after. Discuss your idea with them; go to any friendly counselor or mentors you might have for help with your idea or decision. Get these people on your side, their help and understanding will be critical to your success. Is Your Idea The Right One? Investigate your small business ideas, get the facts, and look up any information that is available. What is the competition like? Who will be your competition? Where are your markets, customers, etc? Do you still like your idea and does your research tell you that you can run with it and make it profitable? Happy with your concept for a business – good – you can now really get down to putting it together. An Aside Here
Starting a small business for oneself can happen in many ways, so really decide what you are best at,what you want and will enjoy most. It helps if you know something about the business you want to start, but this is not essential.
You can either start your own business from scratch or buy a ‘running’ business. You can go into manufacturing, retailing, distribution, services or an internet based business. You can work from home, rent or buy premises. You can be the sole owner or go into partnership.
A whole lot to think through but do it early on so that you know your future direction. Starting a small business is a big decision, so spend some time on getting it right. Good Idea But Will It Sell? Done all the basic research on your idea, it looks good and you are raring to go, well wait, you need to do one more thing first. Your idea must produce product/s that will sell. You must have potential customers or you are doomed to failure. So, once more market research your idea, prototype product or service. Will your service be wanted, more so than the competitors? Who will be your customers? Is your business wanted/needed in your chosen area? What can you charge for your product/service? This is critical, so get it right. There is only one thing that no business can survive and that is a lack of customers! Are You Ready For The Effort? Make no mistake; starting a small business from scratch is hard work. If you think that you have always worked hard as an employee, just wait and see the hours you put in as your own boss. When everyone else has gone home, you will still be at it! Are you prepared to put the necessary time and effort into the business? Are you prepared to learn the business? It is not essential to possess all the knowledge and skills necessary to run a business, knowledge and skills can always be learned or bought. The capacity for hard work is vital however. Your hard work! Business Systems Are Boring After 20 years in the corporate world, I knew everything about everything didn’t I? I had dealt with recruitment, marketing, distribution, engineering, etc, all true, but until I went into business on my own, I never realized how little I really knew about the basics of business. You have to learn fast! Have you the self-confidence and patience to learn, to set up systems, recruit people, deal with bureaucrats, manage finances, etc, for your business? You have to do all these and more, so be prepared. Want To Give Up? You are dead keen on starting a small business of your own and here you are reading all this about hard work and the many difficulties ahead! Well, to succeed in business, there is one trait that all successful business people have and that is that they are realistic. Starting a small business from scratch takes hard work, so be realistic from the start and you will find success comes easier. Many want-to-be-business people give up at this point. When they realize the extra effort, hard work and time needed to start a business, they are not prepared to go any further. They are right, lack of enthusiasm and commitment can only lead to failure and financial loss. So have you got what it takes, are you strong? If so read on. How Much Will It Cost? You have put in a lot of work getting here, where you are now happy with your idea and its chances of success. So what is next? Next, will come the cash requirement aspects of starting a small business. You now need to prepare some sort of financial plan and budget for the proposed business. This will give you some idea of your start-up costs. This plan can be as detailed and comprehensive as you like or as simple as a one page projected requirement for money out and money in. Much depends on the type of business you envisage starting. The basic concept however is to have some idea of the start-up costs of getting your new business off the ground. It is probably a good idea not to spend too much time here on a very detailed budget, but simply arrive at a ball park figure of cash requirements. Once you have these, you can decide if you have the resources yourself or if you need to raise capital. Here you again need to decide if you should go ahead, prune your ambitions or give up the idea. Ready To Go? You can do it and you are willing, so one more very important thing to do before you are into starting a small business. The last stage in the pre-business preparation is the business plan. Make this as comprehensive and detailed as the type of business warrants. The bigger and more complex the business will be, the more detail is required in the business plan. This plan should enable you to project and plan your company’s future, as well as being essential if you ever aim to borrow money. A good business plan can take up a lot of time initially, but once completed, will show your thoughts, in writing, regarding the future of your small business. As your business plan is essential to your long term success, make sure that it is good and comprehensive. Time spent preparing this plan is time well spent. Remember that you can’t ever skip doing a business plan; it is a must if you are to succeed in starting a small business successfully, so you may as well do it well. That's It Well that’s it; you are now ready to start your new business. A new business that has been researched well, with the one aim of becoming a successful business, generally does. Large numbers of small businesses fail every year, mainly because of inadequate preplanning to meet capital start up needs, customer bases and costs, etc. You need not be one of them! It is vital therefore that any decision to start a new business is based on a thorough pre-investigation and research on:-
Do it right and you, starting a small business, will have every chance of success. Now come the exciting and challenging times! Good Luck! Return from Starting a Small Business to Business Management Basics Home Page Subscribe to Business Buzz, the monthly newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on new, site business content, business news, tips and other items of interest. Be assured that your email address will be safe and that is why you will be asked to confirm your subscription by double opt-in. This will keep you safe from spammers and other malicious persons. Hope you enjoy Business Buzz. Subscribe here.
|
