How do you start a business, in a way that your chances of failure are kept at minimum?
Starting a business can be a challenging and nail-biting experience. Once you launch a business, you face issues of all sorts; financial, legal, marketing, etc.
Business is an entirely different experience from a 9 to 5 job. But this doesn’t mean that you should not start one.
Here is a list of tips that could prove to be very useful in starting a business.
1. Have Passion and Knowledge About It
Business is a 24/7 Job. You have to be available any time of the day for any untoward happenings.
Therefore, if you lack interest in your business, there’s quite a strong chance that you’ll soon be bored.
Also, if you already have some good knowledge about the business you are starting, it could mean that your learning curve won’t hamper your success.
2. Make Sure Your Idea Has Market Opportunity
Before starting any business, make sure that you have spent enough time in understanding the market potential of your product or service.
Find out about your competitors, and try to gain information about how well are they doing.
As a result, you’ll know what are your chances of success.
3. Start Your Business With The Right Budget
However small or big, if you wish to start a business, you must have sufficient capital.
It takes a lot of effort, and money to build a product/service. Hence, it is important to maintain a cushion for any sort of development or marketing expenses that incur along the way.
Thus, you should do some financial calculations beforehand, and be ready with the capital.
That being said, if your bank account is low, you can always go for partnerships.
4. Research Your Competition
This is one of the most important things to do before starting any business.
This gives you an idea of what is already available, and what is your potential market share.
Besides this, when you are watching your competitor, you’ll always be working on improvements and enhancements in your product.
5. Ask For Advice From Business People
It is almost not possible for one person to have all the knowledge for every business situation.
One of the most valuable things could be to have an advisory board or small group of your friends or acquaintances, who are businessmen or professionals (such as marketers & lawyers).
This will help you not to over-think, and make quick decisions.
6. Start Networking and Never Stop
Networking does marvels for you and your business. It can land you opportunities in the form of mentorship, partnerships, investments, or even sales.
You never know who might have further useful connections in his/her network.
But don’t always be on the receiving end of benefits from a network. Always try to give, and give more. It will come back thousand times more.
7. Set High Standards of Customer Service
Good customer service is the driving force of any business.
What keeps your business moving is not just customers, but customers who come again and again. Therefore, try to build a company culture that supports the customers.
Set great standards of customer service, no matter the length you have to go to achieve those.
8. Hire the Right People
Hiring is always a daunting task. It consumes your time, money, and a lot of energy.
Therefore, make sure you hire someone, who is not only technically able, but also matches your mind-set.
Treat your business/company as a team. Think of your employees as team members. This way, you’ll know who you do not want to be in your team.
9. Monitor Finances Once you Start
One of the major reasons of failure in a business, is the inability to manage your cash.
Whether you have a product or service, you must always keep a check on your monthly finances. Many businesses run out of cash mid-way.
Therefore, keep a check on the costs of your operations, utilities etc.
Sometimes you are too busy in developments that you pay almost no attention to your expenses.
Never do that!
In my first blog, I have shared about the finances of starting a fast food business in detail.
10. Just Do It!
Another business mistake is too much contemplation.
You will never be fully prepared.
Time will never be right.
Everything will not be perfect. You just have to be a performer and not a perfectionist to start your business.
Simply follow the advice: Just do it!
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Have you started a business, or are you planning to? Let me know if you want to add something to the above list of tips.
Great tips! Would love to learn more about them.