Today I’m going to give you the TEN steps you need to follow to start a business THIS YEAR.
Choose a Business Idea THAT HAS A WANTING AUDIENCE
You need (usually) to have an idea that a lot of people are interested in. This idea 1. Solves a Problem, 2. Satisfies a NEED or a WANT, or 3. Entertains the customer (movies/food, etc).
Research Your Products, Audience, and Competition
Can you actually create this problem at a profitable level? Can you hit your target audience? Can you compete with your competition? This is where you do your due diligence and determine if your idea has some merit.
Write a Business Plan
This doesn’t need to be a novel. It just details your idea, your products, your audience, your competition, your plan of attack. Reverse engineer your business from LAUNCH back to the IDEA. How are you going to make it work?
How Will You Fulfill This Product/Service?
Are you going to hire people? What happens if the company that makes your product can’t do it anymore? Do you have a backup? Can you do it at the cost you thought you could and the quality level you want?
Formation of a Company
This is the legal formation of the company. The LLC
Beta Test It
Test your product/service/operations at a smaller level BEFORE you go all in! You might find your cost to acquire a new customer is too expensive or the conversion rate was not high enough.
Re-Adjust If Needed
Post beta test adjustments.
Staff It
If you think you can bring the business to scale, that’s when you start staffing. There’s a lot of due diligence on the front end and testing will keep your costs down until you’re ready to scale and hire staff.
Marketing Launch
Put some money behind the launch. You have to attract customers and putting money into marketing is how to do that.
SELL. Adjust. SELL. Adjust
You’ll be constantly making adjustments to pricing, fulfillment, processes, etc, but you should ALWAYS BE SELLING.
