Being your own boss is much more than just taking risks. Starting a whole new business is all about timing, planning, and market research. And in order to transform your entrepreneurial dream into reality, it is essential that you create and have a fine-tune business plan for your startup.
With sheer determination and a perfect approach, your startup might even find a place in the list of multi-billion dollar companies.
But that’s not as easy as it seems. From assessing the finances and building an image for your business to employing quality human resources, there are millions of steps you need to take before you call yourself a business owner.
If you are also planning to change your profile from an employee to an entrepreneur, here are some steps you can take.
- Understand what you’ll be signing up for
Starting a new business is a huge responsibility, especially if you are thinking about a long term commitment. But there’s one mistake many entrepreneurs often make, and that’s failing to calculate the amount of energy they’ll be needing to help their new business grow.
Here are some challenges you’ll have to face and use a flexible approach to overcome.
- Coming up with a unique product or service for your business.
- Drafting a concrete business plan.
- Making necessary financial changes.
- Coming up with a management plan.
- Finding efficient and profit bearing employees.
- Figuring out how to create demand for your product and services.
- Creating a positive image for your business, both online and offline.
- Trying to maintain a perfect work-life balance.
- Come up with a simple yet effective name for your business.
Now that you know what it’s like to become a business owner and you are okay with the challenges it brings along, it’s time to take the next step. It would be best if you came up with a catchy name for your business. Think of it as an identity for your business. Remember, it is how you’ll be referring to your startup. So, opt for a name that’s neither too complicated nor too simple. Not to mention that a wrong name might result in insurmountable legal and business hurdles.
Here are some tips for you to name your startup:
- Avoid choosing the ones that are hard to spell or pronounce.
- DON’T COPY your competitors.
- Conduct a thorough internet and trademark search before finalizing the name.
- Come up with the five best ones and share them with your partners, investors and prospective employees.
The name of your business is going to be everywhere, so make sure you choose the one that’s search-friendly and easy to remember.
- Build a profile of your business
It’s a well-known fact that finances play an important role in starting a business, and so does its online and offline profile. It’s one of the most important things that can help in creating an image for your startup even before launching it in the industry.
To create an online profile of your startup, you need to design a unique website. Make sure you go for a layout that’s not tricky for your potential visitors. Follow all the guidelines of the search engine and optimize your website accordingly. Also, it would help if you created a social media presence for your business to connect with your potential customers at a personal level.
As far as the offline profile of your business is concerned, you need to take a traditional approach with this. You can create urgency for your business by using billboards and newspaper ads. In fact, you can even get your business cards printed to establish genuine connections rather than a digital information swap. According to industry experts, business cards are important even in the contemporary digital age.
So, create an authentic and concrete business profile and prepare your startup to enter the industry.
- Set up a functional bookkeeping and accounting system
No business can flourish without a practical and functional accounting system. Regardless of the size and niche of your business, it is important that you keep track of your cash flow.
You’ll be surprised to know that many startups fail just because entrepreneurs couldn’t figure out financial loopholes. That’s precisely why you need to review your finances regularly.
A functional accounting system helps in drafting the financial situation of the business. From income and expenses to capital expenditure, it keeps track of literally everything. Not to mention that it’ll come in handy during the tax filing process.
Thanks to several online software, keeping a check on a business’s finances has never been so easy.
- Add perfection to your elevator pitch
For those who don’t know elevator pitch is a brief and persuasive presentation that entrepreneurs use to spark an interest in their businesses. You might even consider using an elevator pitch to develop an interest in an upcoming project or product. The golden rule to draft an elevator pitch is that it should be short and to the point and it shouldn’t take more than 20 to 30 seconds to read it completely
Think of it as an introduction to your business you might have to give in front of your potential investors and partners. Here are some tips that can help in perfecting your elevator pitch.
- Start out strong with your vision and mission statement.
- Take a positive and enthusiastic approach in your delivery.
- Avoid going too formal and keep a conversational tone with your pitch.
- Practice before the final showtime
- Avoid industry jargons as it might confuse your audience.
- Emphasize how unique your business idea is.
- Invite listeners to participate in a question-answer round.
- Prioritize your human resources
As a would-be entrepreneur, you should know that human resources are something that’s going to add profits to your business. Efficient and reliable employees are undoubtedly valuable assets for every business.
So, make sure that you take the hiring process seriously. Not only this, but you also need to match the right talent with the right job so that your employees can work with full potential. Suppose a candidate applies for a management position, but you feel that he can do better in sales. In that case, you need to put the candidate in the sales team to see what he’s got. That’s a risk you need to talk with every candidate before offering them a job in your company.
Wrapping Up,
Starting a business is no piece of cake. It requires passion, vision and determination to be an owner of a successful startup. Now that you have some steps to fulfil your entrepreneurial dream, what else are you waiting for?
