How Do I Start My Own Business?

Starting your own business is something most people have thought about especially when you hear all the success stories of people around you from taking their passion to the next level. Instead of going to an office and working 9 to 5, you get to be your own boss! Instead of doing something you don’t enjoy, you get to do something that is your passion or hobby, and then, you get paid for it too! How awesome is that? However, it’s not as easy to do as it sounds. It is also not completely impossible to do. Many people, out of fear, decide to stick to their jobs and push the idea of business away. They’re afraid it’s not going to be a success or that it is much too hard and expensive to start a business.

While these fears are somewhat rational and understandable, they are stopping you from doing what you love. If you still don’t want to take the risk, then it’s your preference, but, if you want to try venturing into that field, this article was made for you! In this article, we have explained the steps you need to accomplish to successfully start your own business. Moreover, if you are wondering what kind of small business you could operate, we have also attached a list of those below so keep reading to find out!

How to start a small business?

While some people might think starting a business means renting out a space or getting a storefront, that is not necessarily the case. Depending on the nature of your business, you might not need to do any of those things, rather you can start in your own space, in your home, and gradually grow from there. You can also choose to rent out a small office space, just enough to keep your team together so you can work together from there. You have probably also heard of incubation centers that are institutions assisting entrepreneurs in developing their businesses and solving any problems they come across. You can get resources such as initial seed funds, technical services, lab facilities, etc.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the steps of starting a small business:

1. Refine your idea

If you’ve decided to start your own business, it means you have an idea of what you want to be selling in your business, whether its services or products. So, the first thing to do is to refine that idea by doing market research and checking your competitors and what they are doing. Although you may not be in direct competition with the big brands, you can still learn from their failures and successes. Moreover, if you are providing the same thing as them, but a bit better, or at least at a cheaper price, you are on the right track.

2. Determine the business “why”

Your business needs to have a reason to be there. In fact, every business started with a reason. Whether it was for entertainment or a need that could not be ignored, it was the starting point for a business. So, you need to decide what your business “why” is. Is it a personal “why” or a marketplace “why”? That is also what you must think about when starting a business. The reason you need to think about these things is because of future growth, actions, and expansion. If your business “why” is due to a marketplace “why”, then the scope of your business is larger. Whereas, if you have a business with a personal “why”, the scope of your business will not be as much as the other type.

3. Think of your business name and target customers

The name you decide for your business should have a meaning, instead of a random name. While you can select a random name, it is better to think of a meaningful name, and it is also important to think of the business name after finalizing the idea and determining your business “why”. This is the reason we have put this down as the third step, instead of the first or second. Usually, people think about the name of the business, before they’ve even thought about the idea properly.

The next thing is to think about your target customers. Who will want to buy from you or what value is your product/service providing them? Why should they be willing to spend money on your product/service specifically? These are the questions you should be asking yourself so you know how to market your product or whether your business idea is good or bad. Without customers, a business is nothing, so you can’t just start a business thinking that you don’t care for money and it is just your passion.

4. Assess your finances

This is possibly the most important part of starting your own business. Do you have the money to fund your start-up or will you need to borrow? If you have a job currently, are you making enough money to fund your business and support yourself and your family till the business takes off? Most businesses fail due to underestimating the costs and not having enough money to support their business. Starting a business is all about having enough money so that you don’t run across any problems till your business starts generating sustainable revenue.

One way to assess how much money your business might need is by using the break-even formula. This helps you to determine whether their service/product or company will be profitable. The formula is as follows:

Other than this, there are multiple other things you will need to do like selecting a price for your products or services. You will also need to analyze the data and decide what volumes of goods or services to sell to be profitable. If you cannot fund your business yourself, consider funding options like business loans, investors, and crowdfunding.

5. Branding and advertising

As a small business, you won’t have enough funds to hire an agency or a team to advertise your business. Even if you can manage to, it is better to do it yourself or keep 1-2 members on your team to do that. Without any branding and advertising, how will people know about your business? This is something you will have to do and if we look at branding, some things need to be addressed here. Logo, company website, theme (if any), CRM, and social media are all part of branding. You must have all these things as that is how your brand is represented to the public. Without these things, you cannot expect to stand out from the competition and be remembered by your customers.

The logo is the face of your business while the company website is the official page where people can find out more about your brand. Social media pages are where your customers can interact with you and the brand. The CRM software allows you to store customer data and improve marketing. Whether it’s email marketing campaigns or social media ads, you will need to be strategic about everything. To do all this, there is one more important thing that you need and that is: A good internet connection!

Without a proper internet connection, everything becomes hard to manage, especially because you can find everything and anything on the internet now. There are no limits to resources and information on the internet and so, it is something you have to be extremely careful about. Finding internet with good customer service is also essential in case you might face any problems with your internet. Spectrum customer service is quite popular and rated well in many states in the U.S. They also have attractive packages and plans for the internet that you can check on their website.

The final note

Other than these steps, there are many others requiring official paperwork, registration, etc. However, that is a topic for another day. These steps are the ones that you need to do right at the beginning and it might take longer than you expect to finally start your business. The reason for that is the careful thought process you need to put into these things and the details you need to look after. Keep in mind, you will need to be very patient before your business can officially become a relatively well-known brand in the market.