I have seen almost everyone wanting to start their own business. People usually do not like to do a job under someone.
There is indeed job satisfaction among many people, however, deep down everyone wants to get their freedom. Whether you accept it or not. The only business of your own can give you the ultimate freedom you ever desire.
But there is a catch; it’s not as easy as it sounds to get the ultimate freedom. You see every large organization has a history of struggling.
It’s never been smooth sailing for anyone. It’s challenging at every step. However, they didn’t give up. They became successful & left their mark of victory in the business world. In a recent study, it has been found that 543,000 new businesses started every month.
And 45% start-ups closed due to a lack of preparation within 2-3 years.
So, what do we learn here? Starting a new business is everyone’s dream, yet it is the most challenging and overwhelming task.
Though it is challenging, it can be achieved through well preparation & plan ahead in time. Additionally, this is a digital era.
You have powerful technology as your arsenal to face the challenge.
In this article, I will walk you through how to launch a start-up business successfully with 7 easy steps.
Pro tip: Start with a digital marketing agency. Understanding how to start a digital marketing agency might set you up for success.
Step 1: Smart Marketing is the Beginning of Every Success
In this world, business runs because of marketing. Whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. Look around you, everywhere you will see advertisements directly or indirectly. Trying to ask you to buy their product or service. The truth is, without proper marketing no business in the world will ever be able to lift from the ground. No matter how smart your business idea is? How talented are your business employees? All everything is meaningless unless you let outside people (customers) learn about your business through marketing.
Though marketing is vital to growing your business. It is also important to learn how to do it properly. Experts say running successful marketing is equally challenging to run a business. Why is that? Simple, because a marketer must have to learn about his target audience interest and create a tailored offer just for them for effectiveness. Understanding your audience is a crucial and challenging task. Moreover, there are many methods and advertising platforms for you to choose from. My suggestion is – Identify your audience before you start preparing your marketing plan.
Actionable Tips for Marketing Your Business:
- Build a business website
- Smartly implement
SEO (don’t do keyword stuffing) - Create high quality engaging contents
- Open social media business page & profile
- Build a targeted email list
Step 2: Courage to Believe in Yourself
Most people fail to keep running a business even after starting with lots of preparation. Only because they didn’t have enough courage & believe in themselves. Remember, this is not a 9 AM to 5 PM job where there is no risk from your side. A business is like a battle with your opponents, the risk and reward all is yours. Those who want the reward but do not dare to take the risk, eventually they fail to climb to get the success.
Forget about skills, talents, education. None of these matters when it comes to starting a business that you have prior experience. Of course, without having prior knowledge you shouldn’t start a business. Because you won’t have any time to learn and apply. But when you do have experience and want to start a business, do not ever go back just because you fear that you may not have enough skills, talents, or education. Trust me none of these matters, only your experience and believe in yourself.
Step 3: Follow Your Heart to Discover What You Want
There is another reason most businesses cannot survive in the end. It’s because you have to like the idea of a business from your heart. Do not just start a business because your friends think it is logically the best choice unless you also feel the same way. Maybe you want to start an online business but logically it’s far better to start a restaurant business.
However, even after you may get enough advantage with a restaurant business you shouldn’t do it unless you want it. It’s so obvious, we cannot do something properly unless we like it from our hearts. Maybe you won’t get the advantage if you start an online business but go forth and beyond to pursue your dream. When something you like most, you will sacrifice everything for that & this is the reason why you should follow what you like most.
Step 4: Try to be Innovative as much as Possible
This is a competitive era. As I said before, half a million new businesses open every single month. Everyone has a unique & innovative idea to do business. However, only a handful of them survive in the end. Why is that? Because it is the “survival of the fittest”. When there are too many competitors, only smart & innovative businesses survive.
You have to come up with an innovative idea to do a business that will solve your audience’s problems. Or, it may happen that your competitors already solved your audience problem with their service. Then what should you do? Create a hole in the market. Show your audience why they need your service to solve a problem that has not yet arrived. This is called an innovative idea to enter the market by creating a new hole when none exists.
Step 5: Keep Your Business Goal as Simple as Possible
It happens that you may start your business with a simple idea however, as time goes by that simple idea gets bigger and complex. Like a tree spreading its branches in all directions. This will prevent you from focusing on a single goal. Remember, the more complex it gets harder it becomes to control and focus. It’s simple, you cannot become the master of all trade, try to focus on a specific goal, and achieve your target one at a time.
Step 6: Plan Your Budget Smartly
Planning your budget is probably the most challenging part. Though, you cannot plan your budget against all possible business scenarios. It’s almost impossible & that’s why you need to plan smartly. Unless the fund is your primary issue do not create a tight budget plan. It’s better to reserve some funds for unexpected future events.
Actionable Tips to Create an Outline for Business:
- Before you start, build a brief outline of the business plan
- Create a draft budget that covers all major parts of the business
- Use CRM/Project management tools to manage the complex task
Step 7: Learn about the Legal Aspect of Your Business
Finally, before you start, learn all the legal aspects of your business. Learn what type of documents you may require to start your business. Many people do not have any idea about the legal aspect of a business & face serious problems after a while. While you plan for your business, also get an idea about the legal side.
If you start a sole proprietorship, you won’t face many legal issues. However, if it is a company, then plan in time at least 6 months beforehand to collect all the necessary documents and permissions to start your business.
Conclusion
Courage to stand before all odds is the foremost skill you ever need to start your business and become successful in the end. Though you need some time to prepare for planning, it would be wise to build connections with other businesses like yours. Do not roam alone in the wild you may become prey to the hunters. Stay within a pack and become the hunters.
People Working with Startup -DepositPhotos
