10 Things to consider before starting your business

we all have to agree that there are things to consider before starting your business, At first, I did not know anything and everything that I learned was from YouTube and reading the blog, and if you are one of those then read ahead and let us discover together some of the most insightful ideas for business growth.

Before starting business-extensive research is required. You just can’t start an establishment without proper plans in place. Perhaps you’ve ideas for a perfect startup offering really unique products or services. On the other hand, you may have popped into businesses for sale websites and thought of purchasing a unique company you believe will change your fortunes one way or the other.

1.A customer base-Who are you selling to? Do you understand their needs? What problems is your product or service going to solve? What is your customer’s greatest focus? Why would your customer buy your product and how does it benefit them. Finding the Right customer base is vital for your business and it also helps you identify what type of demographics suits best for your venture.

2.A start-up strategy-Identify what approach you will take for growing your business. Are you going to acquire a loan or start with no money down? Are you planning on using this as just a side hustle? How much time are you going to invest upfront? What are the costs of starting this business upfront? Do you need any special training, licenses, permissions before starting? How are you going to form the business? An LLC? An S-Corp? Are there partners involved? If there are partners, do you have a partnership contract that states responsibilities and ownership?

3.A price and financial strategy-Is what you’re selling at a competitive price range? Can people afford it? Is it a bargain deal that your customers will be willing to pay for a brand new business? Can you justify your pricing to a customer that asks for a lower price? Is there enough profit margin to cover overhead costs, marketing, sales, rent, expenses, taxes, salary? How are you going to track your money and record your profits/losses/expenses/taxes? Will you do it yourself or hire someone to manage your books?

4.A sales strategy-How are you going to get this business going through selling? Is this going to be in your free time? Where are you going to find your customers and how will you present your business to them? Do you know how to sell your services/product? Can you simplify your selling of services/product to a 3rd grader? How aggressive are you going to be? How are you going to get leads? Do you know how to close a deal when a potential lead comes along?

5.A marketing strategy-Do you know how you’re going to present your business? What avenues of marketing will you use? Videos, social media, website, ads, networking events, sponsorship? How much are you willing to invest upfront in your marketing? Will you do it yourself or will you hire someone else to help you? What marketing can you do for free?

6.A brand, logo, purpose statement-Do you have a brand or a logo that will be disruptive, recognizable and help you stand out? Do you have a purpose statement that you can tell someone in 10 seconds what it is you do? Do you have a way to present your services/product with business cards, flyers, handouts, or other promotional items? What other forms of branding will be important to help you stand out?

7.Location of operation-Where will you operate your business from? Home, coffee shops, your basement, your garage, a rental office, a storefront, shared retail space? What is the cost of your location, free, monthly, annually? Is this going to be month to month or will you need to sign a lease agreement? Can you afford this cost if your business fails?

8.A creative strategy- A creative strategy can be for anything related to business, it could be on how to make the product more unique and valuable or how to make the after-sales service delightful for the end consumer, It is all about sitting down and planning on the areas you can improve, using creative approaches rather than traditional. For example- SWOT analysis.

SWOT analysis(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis) is a brainstorming exercise for helping to identify what internal and external factors will impact the ability of a project, product, place or person to be successful.

As its name states, a SWOT analysis examines four elements:

Strengths: Internal attributes and resources that support a successful outcome.
Weaknesses: Internal attributes and resources that work against a successful outcome.
Opportunities: External factors that the entity can capitalize on or use to its advantage.
Threats: External factors that could jeopardize the entity’s success.

The matrix for conducting a SWOT analysis can be as simple as dividing a square into four quadrants and labelling them S, W, O and T.

For example, decision-makers might choose to identify and list particular strengths in the upper-left quadrant, weaknesses in the lower-left quadrant, opportunities in the upper-right quadrant and threats in the lower-right quadrant. To guide participants through the analysis, the facilitator will typically use a series of open-ended questions such as “What do you do better than anyone else?” or “What does your biggest competitor do better?”.

9.Long term or short term-Do you want this business around in 5 years? What is your plan if your business thrives and does really well? Will you bring others in to help? If so, will they be partners or employees? What kind of people will you look to hire and want to work with/beside you? If your business doesn’t do well, what’s your cutoff point so you don’t lose money?

10.The attitude of Your Mindset-Your Mindset and attitude plays a great role when it comes down to strategizing about money and other aspects of the business. What’s your commitment level? Are you determined to see this through? Do you have what it takes to ride the waves of business, the ups and the downs? Can someone talk you out of this? If someone else can talk you out of this business idea, should you really do it? Will this business make your dreams come true? Does this business fulfil something you’ve longed for? Does this business carry a special joy or is it going to be huge stress or weight?. A resilient mindset in vital for grinding through the tough times.

What is your favourite point from the above, drop your comment below and if you are a business then do contact us for social media promotion through influencers, click the button below.