Start Up Your Small Business With This 10-Step Guide
Starting your own small business may seem like a walk-in-the-park. However, things may not turn out the way you want it to. Certain mishaps may happen if you don’t carefully plan out the business that you want to be involved in. Following this 10-step guide will help you start up your small business.
- Evaluate Yourself
Self-evaluation is the first key to a successful business. Assessing the essentials such as innate skills, passion, area of expertise, risk-taking ability, financial capabilities, and entrepreneurship readiness will serve as the foundation of you and the business. Here lies the success of the business.
Skills dictates how good you are at business, especially when having entrepreneurship skills. Passion will also become a drive in taking a shot at business. Because the business world has changed over the course of years, entrepreneurship readiness should also be considered.
- Know the Nature of Business
After having self-evaluation, plan ahead what your business will offer. There are three following nature of business that you can choose from.
- Service. This type of business deals with either selling time or expertise. Event organizers, professionals, IT, and marketing belong to this type. Businesses that customers turn to regularly such as restaurants, food kiosks, spa, salon, and transportation also belong to service type of business.
- Merchandising. Merchandising, also known as retail, wholesale, distribution, or trading, refers to the buy-and-sell of goods. Grocery and department stores are some of the examples of merchandising.
- Manufacturing. The combination of raw materials, use of equipment, and labor to create the product and sell it afterwards is known as a manufacturing type of business. Cars, clothing, and gadgets businesses belong to manufacturing.
- Think of a Business Idea
Now that you know the nature of business you want to be in, it’s time to think of a business idea. Think of creative ideas that go with the current trend. Think of a business idea that is unique to other businesses. The more unique and creative the idea is, the more customers get their curiosity peaked.
- Know Target Customers
Customers will be the lifeline of your business. The more customers you get, the longer business will last. To invite more customers to your business, direct your business to something that will impact most of the population.
In today’s world, researching your market will help you to target your customers. Study certain age groups and the current trend. This will help you in designing your product that will fit in with the customers.
- Set Location
Setting the location of your business is as important as knowing your target customers. Set the location of your business to places where your target customers are. Typically, location of small businesses are set on residential places.
Research different locations that may bring in customers. Choose a place where your target customers are sure to pass by. It can be beside the road, near a commercial area, or at the center of residences.
- Plan Funding and Budget
Fund is the blood of your business. Having substantial funds keep your business going. Start first with your capital. Decide on whether the capital comes from your own money or the capital comes from a borrowed source of funding. If your financially restricted and you want your business to pull through, CreditNinja.com offers a variety of loans that you may want to take.
Small business needs only a small capital to start. Such loans, due to their low interest rate and longer time to pay, are advisable to take loans to cushion the financial needs of setting up your business. Worry not, you can pay off the loan when your profits exceed your capital and the interest of your loan.
- Acquire Legal Documentation
Register your business and obtain the needed legal documents to support your business. This will help you to avoid complications that may occur when dealing with your business. When authorities want you to show some documents, you will have something to show.
- Hire Store Staff
For small businesses especially the service and manufacturing types, hiring staff should be a priority. Set up positions and qualifications and post them on social media or job websites. A clear and objective set of qualifications will help you garner applications from aspiring applicants. Also, align the qualifications with the jobs that they apply for.
- Listen to Feedback
Feedback is essential for business improvement. Always listen to what your customers say — they are your main concern. However, remember that you cannot please everyone. No business is perfect to the eyes of customers. Take the feedback constructively and ponder on what should be done and what should not be done.
Certain customers may suggest improvements on your product or service. Some colleagues assess your products and also suggests improvements. Self-assessment of products will also come in handy.
- Promote Your Business
Lastly, to make your business booming, promote it. Post photos of your product on social media and websites. Acquire an audience that will rate and review your products and services that may reach other potential customers.
Be creative on your promotion. Take social-media worthy photos of your establishment, products, and services. Add enticing captions and texts to your posts. Sometimes, you can sponsor the posts to reach many more audience.
Takeaway
Careful planning and sound decisions are the key to a successful business. No matter how big the risks are, your proactiveness and readiness to take business head on will go a long way.
Author’s Bio:
Tiffany Wagner is currently taking a degree in Investment Management Analysis in her junior year in college. In the context of decision making and business strategy, she focuses on finance and information interpretation.
