The idea of building a business, becoming your own boss, and taking charge of your own paycheck and schedule sounds great. But the reality of entrepreneurship can be quite different. You’ve heard the tales of entrepreneurs who have started small businesses that slowly grew into multi-million dollar empires, but you may not know what it takes to start a successful business from scratch with zero dollars in the bank.
In this post we share six tips to help you go from clueless about starting a new business to making it work for you. Saas 27m series altos ventures.
1. Do Your Homework
Research your business. Before you dive in and start spending money, take the time to get educated about what it will take to be successful. Thinking you can jump-start a new business without doing your homework is like trying to start a car without having any idea of how the engine works.
Not all business ideas are created equal. Some ideas have much more potential than others for becoming successful businesses. Pick something with real demand – not just something you want to do or sell, but something people will pay money for.
The Small Business Administration has an online course called Starting a Business that’s a great place to start. You can also learn a lot by talking with people who have already done what you want to do. Sure, the internet is full of people selling courses on the next hot business idea, but find out how real people with real businesses are actually doing it.
2. Do Your Research
Once you’ve picked your business idea, do some research on your competition. There’s nothing worse than jumping into a niche only to find out there are three other businesses doing the same thing in town and they’ve been there for years!
Not sure where to start? One of my favorite places is Google. You can get an idea of whether or not someone else is doing what you want to do. Google their website, look at the products they sell on their site and see if you like what they’re selling.
3. Choose A Niche
You don’t want to compete head to head with someone else just because they’re already there. Before you jump into a market, try to find a niche where you can be the most effective. Not all businesses are created equal. Some have a much better chance of success than others. If you’re going to jump into something, why not choose something where there’s already a demand for your product? The internet has created a world where there’s competition for everything – it’s tough out there!
You can check out websites like the U.S Census Bureau , the Small Business Administration and Wikipedia for various business ideas that have been around for years (or centuries).
4. Do Your Research
Once you’ve decided on a niche, do a little research. You don’t want to start with something that’s already saturated – unless you know specific niche where there’s a need for your product. After you’ve chosen a niche, do more research! Inc. Magazine has a Business Briefings section where you can get insight into the latest news related to your chosen industry.
I recently did some research on the cost of running a blog. You don’t have to go through this trouble yourself. Ask for help! Most bloggers offer consulting or coaching to people starting blogs.
5. Get Help From Others
You have no doubt heard the saying: “Asking for help is difficult, but not asking is even more difficult.”
Yes, it’s tough to ask for help, but it’s even tougher not asking for help until you absolutely have to!
You can always find people who want their brain power put to use – whether it’s at a local community college or a professional association. You may not fit in with the crowd of other entrepreneurs in your area and that’s okay.
6. Have A Plan
It would be very easy to jump into something and hope for the best. Many people do that, but why make yourself work harder than you have to? In this era of “instant gratification”, you’re better off working out an idea and creating a plan before acting on it.
Establishing a plan is the key to having a successful business. Planning ahead will give you an idea of what you need to do in order to bring in customers and it will also give you data on how much money you need to make in order to survive.
Conclusion of this article:
As the old saying goes, “A plan is not a plan until you do something about it.” You can’t be lazy or wishful thinking when it comes to starting your own business.
Today is the day for you to make your first step towards becoming an entrepreneur! Start by doing some research and getting educated on what will make you successful. What are your best tips for new entrepreneurs?
