5 Things you must know before you start Business
what do I need to start a business?
1. You need a formal business plan.
A business plan is a document that outlines your goals, strategies, market analysis, financial projections, and other aspects of your business. It helps you clarify your vision, identify potential problems and opportunities, and communicate your value proposition to potential investors, partners, and customers. A business plan also serves as a roadmap for your actions and decisions as you launch and grow your business.
You can use online tools and guides to help you create a simple business plan, or hire a professional consultant to assist you. A good business plan should include the following sections:
- Executive summary: A brief overview of your business idea, goals, mission, value proposition, and target market.
- Company description: A detailed description of your business structure, ownership, location, products or services, and competitive advantages.
- Market analysis: A thorough research of your industry, competitors, customers, and market trends.
- Marketing and sales strategy: A clear explanation of how you will promote, sell and distribute your products or services to your target market.
- Financial plan: A realistic projection of your income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and break-even analysis for the next three to five years.
- Appendix: Any additional information or documents that support your business plan, such as resumes, licenses, permits, contracts, etc.
2. You need to estimate your start-up costs and secure funding.
Starting a business requires money. You need to invest in various expenses such as registering your company name, creating a website, developing your product or service, packaging, marketing, etc. You also need to have enough working capital to cover your operational costs until you start generating revenue.
To avoid overspending or underspending on your business idea, you need to estimate your start-up costs accurately. You can use online tools or consult with an accountant to help you calculate how much money you need to launch and run your business for the first year.
Once you have a clear idea of your start-up costs, you need to find ways to secure funding for your business. There are different sources of funding available for entrepreneurs, such as:
- Personal savings: This is the most common and easiest way to fund your business. You can use your own money from your bank account, retirement account, credit card or home equity loan. However, this also means risking your personal assets and credit score if your business fails.
- Family and friends: This is another common way to raise money for your business. You can ask your relatives and friends to lend you money or invest in your business in exchange for equity or interest. However, this also means risking your personal relationships if you can’t repay them or if there are disagreements over the terms of the deal.
- Loans: This is a way to borrow money from a bank or other financial institution to fund your business. You need to have a good credit history, a solid business plan, and collateral to qualify for a loan. You also need to pay back the loan with interest over a period of time.
- Grants: This is a way to get free money from the government or other organizations that support entrepreneurship. You don’t have to pay back grants or give up any equity in your business. However, grants are very competitive and have strict eligibility criteria and application processes.
- Crowdfunding: This is a way to raise money from the public through online platforms such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo. You can offer rewards or equity in exchange for donations from people who are interested in your product or service. However, crowdfunding requires a lot of marketing and promotion efforts and may not guarantee enough funds for your business.
- Angel investors: This is a way to get money from wealthy individuals who are willing to invest in early-stage businesses with high growth potential. You can offer equity or convertible debt in exchange for their investment. However, angel investors are very selective and may demand a lot of control over your business decisions.
- Venture capitalists: This is a way to get money from professional firms that specialize in investing in high-risk, high-reward businesses with scalable models. You can offer equity or convertible debt in exchange for their investment. However, venture capitalists are very hard to access and may require you to give up a lot of ownership and control over your business.
3. You need to identify your target market and customers.
One of the most important things you need to know before starting a business is who will buy your product or service. You can’t sell to everyone; you need to focus on a specific segment of the market that has a problem that you can solve with your value proposition.
To identify your target market and customers, you need to conduct market research and analysis. You need to answer questions such as:
- What is the size and growth potential of the market?
- What are the needs, wants, preferences, and behaviors of the customers?
- What are the demographics, psychographics, and geographics of the customers?
- What are the pain points and challenges that the customers face?
- How do the customers currently solve their problems or satisfy their needs?
- What are the benefits and features that the customers look for in a product or service?
- How much are the customers willing and able to pay for a product or service?
- How do the customers make their purchase decisions?
- Where do the customers find information about products or services?
- How do the customer's access products or services?
You can use various methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, online research, etc., to collect data from primary (direct) or secondary (indirect) sources about your target market and customers.
Once you have gathered enough data about your target market and customers, you need to segment them into different groups based on their characteristics and behaviors. Then you need to select one or more segments that are most attractive and profitable for your business. These segments will become your target audience.
You also need to create customer personas for each segment of your target audience. A customer persona is a fictional representation of an ideal customer based on real data and insights. It helps you understand who they are, what they want, how they think, and how they behave.
You can use customer personas [^29 ^30 ^31 ^32 ^33 ^34 ^35 ^36 ^37 ^38 ^39 ^40 ^41 ^42 ^43 ^44 ^45 ^46 ^47 ^48 ^49 ^50 ^51 ^52 ^53 ^54 ^55 ^56 ^57 ^58 ^59 ^60 ^61 ^62 ^63 ^64 ^65 ^66 ^67 ^68 ^69 to guide your product development, marketing strategy, sales process, customer service, etc.
4. You need to differentiate yourself from competitors.
No matter how unique or innovative your product or service is, chances are there are other businesses that offer something similar or substitute. You need to be aware of who they are, what they do, how they do it, why they do it, how well they do it, how much they charge, etc.
You also need to understand how they position themselves in the market, how they communicate their value proposition, how they attract and retain customers, what their strengths and weaknesses are, what their opportunities and threats are, etc.
You can use various tools such as SWOT analysis, Porter’s five forces analysis, competitor matrix, etc., to conduct competitor analysis.
Once you have analyzed your competitors, you need to find ways to differentiate yourself from them. You need to answer questions such as:
- What makes your product or service better than theirs?
- What makes your product or service different from theirs?
- What makes your product or service unique from theirs?
- What makes your product or service more valuable than theirs?
You can use various strategies such as focusing on a niche market, offering superior quality, providing exceptional service, creating a strong brand identity, etc., to create a competitive advantage.
You also need to communicate your differentiation clearly and consistently through all channels such as website, social media, advertising[, etc., so that potential customers can easily recognize why they should choose you over others.
5. You need to market yourself effectively.
Having a great product or service is not enough; you also need to let people know about it. Marketing is essential for any business; it helps you reach out, connect, engage, and persuade your potential customers to buy from you.
Marketing can be done in various ways, such as:
- Social media: This is a way to create and share content on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., to build awareness, trust, and loyalty with your audience. You can use social media to showcase your products or services, share customer testimonials, offer discounts or promotions, answer questions, etc. You can also use social media ads to target specific segments of your audience based on their demographics, interests, behaviors, etc.
- Website: This is a way to create and maintain an online presence for your business. Your website should be attractive, user-friendly, and informative. It should showcase your products or services, communicate your value proposition, capture leads, facilitate transactions, etc. You can also use your website to host a blog where you can share valuable content related to your industry, niche, or topic.
- Email: This is a way to communicate with your prospects and customers directly and personally. You can use email to nurture leads, send newsletters, offer discounts or promotions, solicit feedback, etc. You can also use email marketing tools to segment your list, automate your campaigns and track your results.
- Advertising: This is a way to pay for exposure on various channels such as search engines, websites, social media platforms, etc. You can use advertising to generate traffic, leads, and sales for your business. You can also use advertising tools to create and manage your ads, target your audience and measure your performance.
- Content marketing: This is a way to create and distribute valuable, relevant, and consistent content that attracts and retains your audience. Content marketing can include blog posts, ebooks, white papers, case studies, infographics, videos, podcasts, webinars, etc. You can use content marketing to educate your audience, demonstrate your expertise, solve their problems and persuade them to take action.
- Word-of-mouth: This is a way to leverage the power of referrals and recommendations from your existing customers or other sources such as influencers, media outlets[, industry associations, etc. Word-of-mouth marketing can boost your credibility, reputation, and trustworthiness. You can use word-of-mouth marketing by encouraging your customers to share their experiences with others, offering incentives for referrals, partnering with influencers or other brands, etc.
To market yourself effectively, you need to have a clear marketing strategy that aligns with your business goals, budget, and resources. You also need to have a marketing plan that outlines your objectives, tactics, channels, budget, timeline, metrics, etc.
You also need to monitor and evaluate your marketing efforts regularly using tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Mailchimp Reports, etc., to see what works and what doesn’t. You also need to test different variations of your marketing elements such as headlines, images, copy, offers, etc., to optimize your results.
Marketing is not a one-time activity; it’s an ongoing process that requires constant improvement and adaptation. By following these five steps before you start a business, you’ll be able to market yourself effectively and grow your business successfully.