11`GUIDES TO STARTING A BUSINESS To start a business, you must have desire, conviction and commitment. You must be convinced that you’re ready to start the business. The following will guides help business starters. 1. HAVE A BUSINESS IDEA An idea is the main thing. This idea has to be in a business form or its best to put your idea into a business form. People of worry about capital when thinking about starting a business and don’t really pay attention to what the business is all about. With a good business idea you can get funding from prospective investors or partners. Most billionaires today started their businesses from ideas that they had. The secret of a successful business is the nature of the idea that gives birth to the business. Try to have an idea, a unique idea, one that has not been thought of. Well, if you want to just going into the business of making money, you can start with a business already in vogue. You’ll probably have to attend a seminar on how that particular business is run. With a unique idea you stand the chance of creating a monopoly, getting a patent and dominating your market alone. After the idea comes how to implement and source for funding. 2. HAVE A MOTIVATION What motivated you to go into business? Something should have inspired you to turn your idea into a business. It could be the reason of wanting to be self employed, wanting to be your own boss. I know a guy who started his own firm because he always had this passion of being an employer of labor. Others may want to go into competition with a former employer. Some may see a loop hole in a particular system or business or organization, some may discover or invent something and would want to commercialize it, even an innovation or new technology may bring about business start ups. There are also cases where a particular product or service doesn’t meet market demand. It could be a factor to make you start a business providing that product or service to the huge market. 3. KNOW YOUR BUSINESS Don’t go into a business you know nothing about. Don’t be a novice in that field. It will lead to a quick fall. If it’s something you know nothing about, get the required training and education. Attend seminars and courses on the respective issue. Speak to consultants or business owners. It’s not just knowing only how to run a business but also knowing how to run your business. Some people are not just cut out for owning a business, they may be better off as an employee receiving a paycheck. Running a business is high risk, one should no that. Be prepared; take a look at all the odds about starting a business. Know what you’re going into. Try to get working experience from a establishment already in the field your intending to start your business in.
4. LOVE YOUR BUSINESS Try to make money from doing something you love. That will be your staying power in that business. Turn your hobby into your business, love your work. Don’t start a business you’re not comfortable with only do so if you’re convinced you’ll learn to like it later on. This will involve requiring a skill that you may not have at the moment. You could go for some kind of training or seminar to get that. Loving your business will help you see through it, giving you a chance to identify loopholes and helping to create innovations that will provide a better service to customers. Don’t force yourself to love your business, if you’ve been in it for a while and you’re not comfortable with its affairs, leave that business and start a new one. 5. KNOW YOUR MARKET Your market should evolve around your intending product or service. Don’t be in business to serve the wrong market. Know your market. What particular sector of the public do you wish to serve? Who do you wish to patronize you? Go into a business that will easily capture its market. Are you hoping to go into kids stuffs or are you planning on starting or product or service for old people? These are sample questions that guide business starters in that category. If the market doesn’t come to you, go to it. Your market should be easily accessible and they should know you and your product. Advertising helps. You may be a small startup with limited funds, don’t overlook advertising. Advertise in your own little way. When your business grows, you can then increase and modify your adverts. Your market should be reliable. It should be always there to patronize you. It your market fluctuates, what I mean is if your market is seasonal; probably bringing about high product during a particular season then measures should be made to have patronage during off seasons. Now, you’ll need a product that will sell during different seasons. It not advisable to go into a product that is seasonal without planning for seasons of low sales. 6. ALWAYS MAKE IRRESISTIBLE OFFERS Offer someone what he can’t refuse, that’s the key to making a sale and being patronized. Offer value for your product. As long as your product or service will solve the problems of an individual, he or she will be ready to pay for it. The key to making an irresistible offer is knowing or understanding the needs of people. Some who buys a leather jacket doesn’t really want a leather jacket, he wants to feel warm. He knows the jacket will make him fell warm when he puts it on. The provider of the jacket assured him that. People don’t just want a knife; they want to be able to cut things. Provide a product that will cut things in a way far better than a knife does, then see your new product sell out. Don’t just tell people about your product, tell them what your product can do for them. When you make irresistible offers your simply making someone take money out of his pocket and give to you. You’re doing it in a persuasive manner. Know what your
customer wants before you make your offers. Be careful not to offer the wrong product or service to satisfy a need. 7. MIND YOUR BUSINESS NAME People often overlook this factor of naming your business. Some just don’t think it’s important. Your business name can boost or ruin your business, I’ve seen it happen. Your name should target your market. It should attract it. Your name should surround your kind of business. It’s your name that is the first element of marketing; it plays a vital role in advertising. Like I said earlier it attracts your market. Examples: you have Bill Gate’s MICROSFT, a software company, note how ‘Microsoft’ relates to ‘software’, Richard Branson’s VIRGIN ATLANTIC, an international airline, note how ‘Atlantic’ relates to ‘International’. These names practically advertise their businesses. You don’t want to be selling stuff for ladies and name your startup something relating to guys or not to ladies, you loose that market. Choose a name that will promote your business. 8. DON’T BE SCARED BY THE SIZE OF YOUR COMPETITION You’re in business to make profit. You’re attention should be on your market and how to make money. Don’t be scared by the size of your competition. The business next door shouldn’t prevent your start up. They’re even scared of the small businesses because a small business is closer to the populace than a bigger one. A small business also will have cheaper services and products. Your small start up should be ready to take the market off the big companies. People want to be able to make choices; no one wants to be stuck with one product or service. Your small start up can bring down a big business. Enter an already occupied market in a different way. Don’t go into a market with so many players in it without observing the way they play. Doing this will give you innovations that will guide your startup’s operations. Be creative in a tight market and watch that market come to you 9. HAVE AN ATTRACTIVE LOCATION The location of your start up is important. The meeting point between you and your customers is important. Your customers will judge your business from the beauty of your environment. It’s not that you shouldn’t go into business without an attractive location, your customers want to be comfortable doing business with you. Plan to have an attractive business environment. Your point of contact between you and your market should make about 20%-25% of your startup. If your business operations are going to be online, your web pages have to be very attractive. You should provide your startup with the necessary infrastructure and tools. Never give that impression that you’re broke or you don’t have money. Once it’s seen that you don’t have money, your customers are gone. Be ready to spend to make your outfit attractive. Have attractive business documents. Complementary cards, letter heads forms and official papers of your
establishment should be presentable. Plan to have bright colors when designing your official documents, colors and graphics sell. 10. AVOID DORMANT AND LETHARGIC STAFF Your staff can either make your startup or break it. Sometimes you may not be around to see to your business affairs and it will be in the affairs of your staff so know the kind of people being hired. They are only with you for their paycheck. Their interests are not in your startup. Hire the best. Try to make them love their job. Your staff should be full of energy. Don’t attach sentiments to when treating cases of staffs showing lack of interest to your startup’s activities. Be ready to fire anyone who’s not performing. It’s advisable not to hire friends and relatives. It may be difficult to relate with them officially. 11. GO FOR A MORE LABOUR INTENSIVE BUSINESS For a startup, especially small businesses, it’s better going for businesses that involve more of physical work than material. It helps reduce startup costs. Plan for 60% labor and 40% material. Spend less on material. Let your start up involve making money from physical efforts. Examples are web based businesses.