Starting a business is not an easy task. You need to know and prepare for every situation that you will be facing. There are many things that you will have to understand and plan to create the foundation of the business. Starting from questioning yourself as to what type of business would suit the best for you to organizing your business which includes taxes, legal papers, etc. This business guide will help you.
In this article you will get a brief understanding of all the steps you have to go through that will bring a boon to your new start-up. So, let’s start with the process.
1. How to start a business?
In reality, it takes a lot of things that will be the seeds of a successful business in the long run. You need to come up with many thoughts and lots of examinations. Ask yourself these three questions:
- What is your strength?
- What are the weaknesses within you?
- What skills do you have?
These questions will help you to understand your abilities and whether you will be able to run your business plan. Having a great business plan is important but at the same time, you need to make sure whether you have the traits to make them successful.
Your niche should be according to your capabilities. Such as if you are good at programming, you can start a web development business, or if you love writing you can start a creative writing firm. These examples are to show you how you can choose your business idea and will help you understand what is best for you and your team.
2. Have a clear mindset
You need to have a clear approach to the reason for starting the business. It is crucial because you will know why you left a secure job and career and chose the path to business that is uncertain. The clearer you are about your goals; the more is the chance of achieving them.
Your motive to start a business whether it is fame, wealth, or bringing a change will help you determine what business will help in achieving it. You may fail to become successful if the business is not inclined to your ambitions.
Once you have a clear outlook on what type of start-up you need you can start setting up a plan and looking for products and ideas.
3. Questions to determine your abilities
If you want help on how to understand your strengths and weaknesses or whether you can run the business in the future, you can answer these questions.
- Do you have an idea that will fulfill a need in the market?
- Can you afford the costs and efforts needed to carry out your business plan?
- Do you have a product that can add some value to the people?
- Are you ready to dedicate many years to this field?
- Do you know whether you can monetize your business?
- Can I sell the product?
- Can I hire employees?
If the answers are yes, you can start with making the plan for the project.
4. Give shape to your plan
It is the foundation and there should be no compromise while creating a business plan. This has to convey the structure, maintenance, and growth of your business. The plan should attract workers and investors to work with you. Everyone wants to know their gain when they want to work with someone. So, the best way to convince others is to show what they will benefit from your business.
There are two categories when it comes to creating a business plan.
- Traditional: They have a common standard structure and are widely used. These types of business plans are in-depth and maybe a lot of pages long. The structure includes the following pages:
- Summary- about the company
- Company description- detailed approach towards your start-up
- Market analysis
- Managing and organization
- Products or services
- Sales strategy
- Funds
- Financial projections
- Appendix
- examples
- Lean start-up: these are brief and also follow a structure. The key points for your ideas are written down on one page and do not take more than one to two hours. The points to be included are
- Partnerships
- Activities
- Resources
- Proposals
- Relationships with customers
- Business segments
- Channels
- Cost structures
- Revenues
- examples
5. Choose the correct product
What you will provide to your customers is the key role that will bring profit. But how can we know whether the product or service is suitable? To know the answer to this you need to understand these things first.
- A good product or a good service is that which helps to solve a particular problem or need of your customers. You need to target a huge crowd and find out a common need. Customers are most likely to buy your service or products when they think they can solve any of their problems.
- You may look for solutions that are already available but you can make improvements to them. Such as you can innovate the solution or can bring down the cost.
- You need to look for locations where you can provide your service at a lower cost than your competitors. You need to think about the future and think of what problems may arise. This will help you to find the solution which you can provide whenever the situation arises.
- Also, you need to look for clients or providers who can do the work at the least cost.
If you can find the right product or service after knowing these points, you are good to go.
6. Know the market status
Analyzing the market is important. You need to know who your audience is and how many people will be efficient customers for your business. Also, you must know about your competitors and analyze them.
- Determine the potential areas where you can get customers.
- Know and research your potential customers
- Make a good marketing plan to reach your clients and advertise your sales. You will need many marketing tools and employees that will help you in this process. Advertisements are crucial especially during the first few years when no one is aware of your business.
- Make sure that your business plan is not already created as this will lead to the downfall of your start-up.
- Analyze the costs that are currently proposed on your products or the rate of your services.
7. creating your business
Brand name
A good and catchy brand name that suits your purpose is the first step to create an efficient business. A name is something that creates the first impression of someone. So, you need to search for something that attracts your customer’s attention and brings out their curiosity. You may take help from an expert or host a contest to find a good brand name, but remember this requires a little investment.
Registering your business
Registering a limited company is simple but important and should be done carefully. You can take legal advice if required. To know how and where it is done read the following points.
- There are specific websites of the government (i.e. Startup India, India Filings) where you can register your company.
- You need to pay a small fee to register. Usually, it takes 24 hours for a company to be registered.
- You will have to fill up some details regarding your company such as company name, address, etc.
- And your registration is done.
Protection of assets
Don’t start your business as a sole trader. This will put your assets and property at risk to clear the debts for your business. So, we prefer to start your business as an S corporation, LLC, or C corporation. Also, remember that signing the Certificate of incorporation does not free the owner from any debts and liabilities. Keep the following in mind:
- Always use the full corporate name with abbreviations.
- Use your signature whenever you need the property signature in any of your documents.
- Keep the formalities of the corporation in mind
- Organize your funds to prevent combining.
- Taxes should be paid from corporate accounts
- Transactions should be organized.
8. make an online presence
You need to present your company to the world. This process can make or break a business and should be done potentially. In this era where the internet is used by almost everyone, making an online presence is a must. Moreover, it will connect your start-up to the world and there is no doubt that you will get more clients. Making an online presence includes three steps
- Branding of your business
A professional brand is what makes you stand out and recognizable. This is an easy process and you can get help from freelancers to carry out the process. The process includes creating a good logo, deciding a color scheme, creating a tagline and a symbol if required.
- Creating a website
Your website should be able to tackle a lot of things to be called a useful website for a company. This is the place where clients will visit to know about your business and buy products or services. Remember impression matters in this case.
- Make sure that your website design is neither too bland nor too complicated.
- It should provide easy access to users.
- Terms and conditions should be mentioned.
- Prices should be clear for the services or products
- Provide a clear description of what you are and what you do
- You should have your contact details and email id displayed. Good customer care support is also crucial.
- Show previous customer experiences. This will help clients to build trust and buy your products and services.
3. Business email
A business email is a requirement for any start-up. This is where customers or other parties will be able to contact you and should be minimal and simple.
For example, if your brand name is Pheonix you can create an email like [email protected] or [email protected].
9. key to an organized business
- A good accounting system
It is necessary to keep track of the financial transactions and where the money is being distributed. You need to file every transaction that takes place within your company. You might need them later.
Also, filling an annual account should be done. This is required to be submitted annually. You will have to register your self-assessment from where your tax will be identified by the Government.
Hiring an accountant is the best way to maintain a good accounting system. They will ensure everything about your company’s money. It might cost you to hire someone but it is worth the money spent.
- Create a business bank account
Once you start taking and spending money as a company, create a business bank account after obtaining a federal EIN (Employer Identification Number).
Business bank accounts are different from personal accounts. They provide more benefits and protection.it is important to choose the right bank before creating your account because once you have created one it is difficult to change.
- Set qualifications for employees
Every company is different with different needs. You need people who will suit you best. So, setting up qualifications is a must. You need to test their skills and dedication to this job and whether they can cooperate with the other employees. Inquire about his/her punctuality and previous experiences.
10. Know your competitors
Make sure you have good knowledge about their products and services. You can set up alerts to get notified about any new plans or advertisements that they launch online.
Your investors are likely to ask questions about your competitors. They might ask you about your principal competitors and if you have a new idea or product that can outsmart them.
Conclusion
Being the CEO of a company, you will have to work hard to grow your start-up. You will be at a fast pace, meeting many people and sacrificing a lot for your business. Many challenges will come forward but you need to recall why you started your business at first and what was your aim to keep yourself determined.
