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How To Start Your
Own Business.
To start a business all you really need is creativity and good
people skills, or the ability to sell yourself or your ideas. Now
if your reading this i'm sure your waiting for more technical aspects
on how to start a business, so lets get into the fundamental steps
of what you must do to get going.
First you want to sit down
and come up with a idea that suits you, if you already have a idea
or business you would like to try your hand in then go ahead and
skip to the next step, if not then continue to read. Lets start
off by getting out some paper and writing down your strengths and
weaknesses, now you may be asking why? what does this have to do
with creating a business? and the answer is everything. simple put
your business will thrive or fail on your own strengths and weaknesses
and your ability to manage them effectively, so like i said lets
get out a piece of paper and write down your strengths and weaknesses,
do you have confidence? can you sell? do you get along with people?
are you a good leader? what talents do you have? what passions do
you have? and etc. now when looking for a business idea the best
place to start believe it or not will be on this list that you've
made, for example are any of your talents marketable? (like can
you knit, weld, draw, sale, teach etc..) see anyone of those things
can be used to build a quality business. now lets say you cant find
anything you can turn into cash from your strengths column, well,
no problem, lets take a look at your weakness column what are somethings
you lack or could improve on? now try to think of a way you could
fix them, what would help a person such as your self do _x_ better?
or if there was only _x_ available i would go to it to get better.
or if someone could just teach me _x_. you see buy doing this you
can find things that may have a market. chances are if you need
help with something so do many other people maybe you can find the
answer and be the one to market the solution. now lets say there
are no strengths, no real marketable weaknesses, well don't fear
lets move on to something else, what about your passions? what do
you long to do? or have an overwhelming desire to be a part of?
are you passionate about your health? children? building things?
counseling people? cleaning (don't laugh lots of people have made
very good incomes with this category)? anyways you get the idea.
now take that passion and try to think of a way to turn it into
a income, how can you apply it to other peoples lives? how can your
passion help other people? see buying doing this you get to follow
your passion and help people in the processes. and now if all 3
of those are empty for you then try to keep an open mind in your
everyday life, look for ways to improve the daily things you use
or see or depend on.
Now that you've
come up with an idea its time to get to the technical aspects, first
come up with a game plan ( a Business plan) research the market
and pin point what area you will primarily be marketing to, seniors,
children, parents, people who live in cities, people who hunt, drink
coffee and the list goes on forever. but take the time to learn
your market once you've figured out who it is your targeting, learn
there habits, their buying power, their preferences and etc. doing
this thoroughly will help you develop a good, fundamentally sound
business plan, when you've finished your research you should have
enough info to have an idea as to what your needs to market this
idea will be, such as? capital, space, time, experience need to
be effective and etc.. after you've gathered as much data as you
can its time to write a business plan and make a business model,
this is where you deiced what your gonna do and how, this plan should
describe your business, its needs to get started and be maintained,
its plans for growth and how it will achieve it, who your market
is and what your competition is and how you will set yourself aside
from it. working thoroughly on this because the better your business
plan and the more detailed and thought out the great your chances
are at succeeding so take this step very seriously.
Now that you've finalized your
plan its time to start marketing, but, not to your customers yet,
no at first your marketing will be aimed at investors, banks,
angel investors, private investors, family, friends.. a good place
to start you out on this road is your local S.C.O.R.E chapter,
and your Local SBA (small business association) these places are
free and have a wealth of info, not to mention alot of very large
major companies got started through their SBA, and its Guaranteed
loan program. so i advise to look into these places if you are
truely serious, not to mention its a great way to start building
some decent contacts. so get down to those offices ASAP. be polite
and call ahead to schedule an appointment remember its time to
start being professional.
Now the final thing i will suggest
in this process is to buy and read as many books as you can over
business, accounting, incorporating, sales, and especially marketing.
the better informed you are the cheaper and more efficient this
process will be, and make it a point to start networking, look
at every new person as a potential client or partner or investor.
and look for a mentor someone who has been in the business start
up trenches and has made it through, these people can be invaluable
to your success and are suprisingly eager to share their experience
with others, so dont be shy NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK.
The last little bit of info i
want to leave you with is this, don't think to much, just get
out and get started, the sooner the better dont continue to put
it off, today is the best time to start, they'll never be a perfect
time to start until you actually just start. dont get stuck in
analysis paralysis (basically over thinking everything, but actually
doing nothing) the best way to learn is to do, dont be afraid
to fail because the more you fail the better you become, so failing
is a good thing, mistakes teach you how to get better so don't
be scared just be smart. read motivational stories about business
successes every night and envision your own success. Good luck
all my friends and i hope to see you soon on this side of the
table.
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