7 STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR STARTING A NEW BUSINESS
If you have aspirations to make big money and work on your terms, you have probably thought of starting a new business. Most young adults today are attracted to startups and want to become an entrepreneur. Becoming the head of a company is most people’s dream, but the road up is tough. This guide is meant to act as a comprehensive checklist to refer to before starting a business. Of course, the hard work and the innovation are all yours, but people tend to forget the fundamentals sometimes and this is there to remind you!
Here are some step by step guide for starting a new business.
1. Are you ready?
Most people assume that starting a new business is like a full-time job or even less work. It isn’t. It’s much much more than just a full-time job. You will be working more than 12 hours a day at times and holidays are rare at most. You will have to completely redesign your life so be prepared before going in.
The success of your business is a reflection of the work you put in. If you don’t hustle, your business is bound to fail. Remember, since you re not working for anybody, the only person that will affect your breaks is you. Read this guide for courses you should take if you are going to be an entrepreneur.
2. Is your idea enough?
Another common mistake in startups is not analyzing the market enough. Your idea may be as innovative as it gets, but it has to attract customers! You have to do ample research on the market you are targeting. Hire experts if you need to and carefully assess what the market is right now and what it may be in the future.
If the results are disheartening, don’t just dive into it thinking you’ll be okay, you probably won’t. Assess the risks of investment and potential loss, go in open-minded, don’t lose yourself in your idea.
While starting a new business it doesn’t fail because of a lack of innovation. They fail because of the wrong timing. If ideas were all it took, yahoo wouldn’t have disappeared and google wouldn’t be so big; keep that in mind.
3. So what’s your plan?
Planning is essential in everything you do, no matter what it is. This is especially pronounced while starting a new business because if it lacks a clear path, you will quite certainly get lost. Don’t be lazy in the beginning and skip through the process, they are there for a reason. Make a clear-cut list of objectives and how you are going to pursue them. You may not realize it in the beginning, but they will become very handy later on.
4. Don’t forget that laws exist
Before starting a new business, you will have to decide what type is it. Is it on the partnership, is it a co-operative, is it an LLC? I won’t elaborate on them here but look out for another article soon.
Anyway, each business structure has varying laws that come with it. Tax payment will also differ accordingly. Hiring a law firm is probably a good idea. But if you can’t afford it, the internet is a great resource. In any case, don’t forget to figure all the legal stuff out first, you don’t want extra stress later.
See our article on how to register a PAN for your business here.
5. Advisers are essential
You may think you are a one-man army, but I assure you you are not. No one person can look over and be an expert in everything. You will need people around you who are specialists in their own field. Their expertise will boost your business towards success. These might include lawyers, statisticians, market analysts, economists, and so on. Keep yourself advised on everything related to your business.
6. Can you afford it?
What are your finances like? Where is the funding coming from? How are you going to sustain your business in the long run? Are you taking loans? If you are, then are they enough to sustain your business but not large enough to drown you in bankruptcy?
These are questions you need to ask yourself before diving in. Look out for investors, partners, and crowdfunds before going to a bank. Try to avoid loans as much as possible. Look ahead, what will your finances look like 5, 10 years from now? Keep these answers ready and organized. You will need them.
7. Spread the word
I recently did an article on Pathao’s market strategy, you should probably check that out here if you are starting a new business. You can see how Pathao basically marketed their way into the top. This is an essential point in any business. Great innovations fail out because entrepreneurs fail to market them properly. You can take this crash course on digital marketing to get you started
You don’t need to start big. Just tell your friends and families to spread the word, put up small range ads on Facebook but keep it going. Never stop advertising, it is quite literally the only way you are going to get customers. If you stop, so will your business.
