Creating a business consists of several stages, sequentially performing which and paying due attention to each, the future businessman will create a profitable business quickly and with minimal risk.
The key to success in starting your own business is not really the presence of fabulous seed capital or the presence of ties government. In fact, success is determined by competent planning, detailed analysis and timely correction of actions at all stages of the creation and functioning of a business.
Recommended: Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Online Business
Contents
Stage 1. Choosing a Niche
First of all, you need to decide on the direction of future business. The fundamental factors of the right choice of future activities should be 2 key factors.
- Personal knowledge, skills and experience. No matter how competent and professional employees are, a novice businessman must understand the basic laws and essence of the chosen business, otherwise strategic planning and control are impossible.
- The size of the starting capital.
Of course, with a small budget, you should not think of such projects as the opening of a gas station or pawnshop, but there is polygamy of types of businesses that require minimal investment to start.
I recommend choosing a niche through the business section by investment size, everything is very conveniently organized and there are three formats at once: ideas, plans, and instructions.
Choosing the right direction, you can search for your own niche within a specific type of business.
A niche is not just a direction or type of activity, it is an empty place inside the market that a new service or product can fill. For example, if you plan to open a bakery and in your area, there are already very popular French sweet buns, but there are no baking Caucasian dishes, this is the market segment that can become your niche.
Stage 2. Market research and analysis
Market research actions can be divided into 2 directions: a study of the target audience and competitors’ offers.
When planning to open a small business, it is correct to rely on data on a specific area, housing estate – the smaller the unit of study, the more truthfully it will reflect the data and the prospect of developing a business in a specific area.
When starting a business with significant investments, it is better to resort to the help of specialists, in other cases, you can calculate the market capacity yourself. You can use a free survey tool to gather necessary data to determine your target market and other needed information. Alternatively, you can use the advertising tools offered by one of the popular social networks to determine the target audience. Using this technique, you can determine the number of potential buyers, the main characteristics of the target audience – age, income, interests, and more. This will help to correctly formulate the assortment of goods and services, calculate profitability and organize effective advertising campaigns.
Analysis of competition consists, first of all, in establishing the number of competitors and the ratio of this quantity to the market capacity. It will be useful to analyze the activities of competitors, identify their strengths and weaknesses and use this information to create your own business.
Recommended: 5 Ways You Can Protect Your Business from Cyber-Threats
Stage 3. Clarifications and the formation of a unique selling proposition (USP)
So, you already know what you want to do, who your target audience is, where to better position your business, how many potential competitors you have and what they attract customers to. Now is the time to detail the business concept and create a unique selling proposition based on the needs and desires of your customers and the analysis of competitors.
A business must find its unique “face” and features that distinguish it from competing enterprises. A few easy-to-remember advantages will suffice.
It is a mistake to believe that the decisive factor in promoting a product or service is price, and it is enough to only slightly reduce it to “lure” customers. It is much more important to create a proposal that meets the needs of customers and provides a higher level of comfort than competitors.
So, for example, in a store for expectant mothers it is more advisable to install comfortable sofas than to provide a ten percent difference in the price of goods with competitors. And opening a public catering for students – to provide the maximum speed of service and ready-made package offers in the menu at budget prices. You can also rely on AV equipment in Atlanta for office equipment including, projectors, rental computers etc.
Stage 4. Calculation of initial investments and development of a business plan
A clear plan for the operation of the enterprise, the number of employees and their responsibilities, the target audience and details of all costs should be reflected in the business plan. It will be he who will become the main document according to which the activities will be carried out and its results will be monitored.
Stage 5. Registration in all necessary instances
The entrepreneurial activity should be properly framed in terms of legislation. The choice of legal form is determined by the type of activity and the acceptable form of taxation, the number of founders. For a small business, two forms are relevant: an individual entrepreneur and a limited liability company.
After choosing the legal form of doing business, you must select a tax regime. For small businesses, special forms of taxation are provided, which imply a simplified tax reporting format and preferential conditions for paying taxes.
Studying in detail each stage on the path to creating his own business, and paying sufficient attention to details, the businessman lays a reliable foundation that will allow him to build a successful and profitable enterprise.
Related Post: