Businessmen and entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Jeffy Bezos aren’t born. They are made.
Yet, there’s such a big difference between a successful company and a failing one. It all has to do with how the company was started in the first place, and whether the right strategic decisions have been made.
This is where learning how to start a company becomes an essential step to establish a solid business from the ground up. If you’ve been spending too much time dithering in the preparatory stages, no worries. You’ve come to the right place. Keep on reading for our full breakdown on how to start a business, with a step-by-step plan that you can easily integrate into your plans today.
How to Start a Company 101: What’s Your Business Idea?
Before we start dissecting every phase of building your start-up, let’s start with the most important step of them all: picking the right business idea.
This is the very first step in your journey, and you need to take your time brainstorming and researching your potential contenders. You can do so by asking the right questions.
For example, what does this business idea’s potential opportunity size look like? Is it a smaller or a bigger market? And, if it’s a smaller one, is the specific niche fertile enough for repurchase by existing customers, so that your bottom line profits won’t suffer?
Once you’ve nailed down your market size, you’ll want to identify some essential characteristics of the market. For instance, is this a stable growing market, or is it more of a trend or a fad?
This will help you narrow down the trajectory of your market for future purposes so that you can estimate what your future demand can look like. The same rules apply for identifying your potential competitors, whether you can deal with the regulations or restrictions, or if staying in compliance might tank your business resources.
Choosing Your Business Name
Once you have a concrete business idea on hand, it’s time to give it a name.
You’ll want to have a solid understanding of just how far-reaching your business name’s effect will have on your marketing and business reputation. After all, your marketing efforts will be one of the most important elements of business growth, and you need to realize that you’ll be making things harder for yourself if you have to explain your business’ name over and over again.
Stack the deck in your favor by picking the right business name that perfectly suits your business idea. Word-of-mouth is already quite hard to achieve as it is, so you’ll want a business name that’s easy on the tongue and memorable.
Time to Validate Your Product or Service
It’s never too early to get feedback on your business idea. After all, up until this point, all your research has been built on assumptions, and maybe some historical data, at most.
Of course, getting some expert opinion on your idea is a great first step, which you can do with the help of great platforms like www.startup-forums.com.
Yet, if you’re looking for concrete evidence that your business idea has good potential, then you’ll want to try making a few initial sales. Nothing is more concrete when it comes to the validity of your product than people spending money on your business. This screams commitment, as well as people putting their money where their mouth is.
Learn How to Write a Business Plan
Until you have a written business plan that you can show to potential investors, your business idea is just a theory in the wind.
Sure, in the business world, most people can admit that the majority of your plans will need edits and changes once it collides with the real market. Yet, that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth the effort.
There’s huge value in researching and writing down your business plan. It’ll help you nail down the answers to questions like what your targeted audience will look like, as well as how you’ll run your business financials.
Get Your Finances in Good Shape
Speaking of financials, your business plan will give you the right prompt to analyze what your business plan will look like through the scope of your financials.
After all, the goal of any business is to net some profits and make money. Therefore, you’ll need to showcase that you know how to properly manage your cash flow, how much funds you’ll need to break even, and whether your capital will tide you over during the rocking first two years of business.
If you’re not sure where to start, you can begin with two key factors. Those are financial literacy and securing the necessary funding.
When it comes to financial literacy, you’ll want to educate yourself on how to manage your business books. Of course, you’re not expected to turn into a certified accountant overnight, but you’ll want to have a good understanding of the basics.
Then, depending on your business idea, you might need minimal startup costs, or you might need a big chunk of money to get the necessary equipment, physical space, or inventory. Whichever side of the spectrum you lie on, you’ll want to have a clear total view of your investment. Specifically, before you even think of spending a penny.
Developing Your Service or Product
For one of the fun stages of the whole process, it’s time to dig deeper into the nuances of developing your actual product or service.
You’ve already gathered the essential data, like your financials and validation from the early interest of your future stakeholders. Now it’s time to start building your prototype. If it’s a product, then you’re going to build a physical prototype. And, if it’s a service, then you can start beta testing and sending out surveys.
How to Start a Small Business: Unlocked
You might feel like your heart is trying to escape your body due to a delightful combination of both excitement and pure fear. Remember to take a deep breath.
Hopefully, our explainer has shed some light on how to start a company from nothing, and remind you that it’s all about taking small steps and moving slowly.
If you enjoyed our article, make sure to check out additional tips and tricks, all available to you in our business section.
