Everyone wants to start their own business,
but many never do. Maybe they're overwhelmed by the process or just unsure
of what specif steps to take. From writing a business plan to naming their
new venture, not to mention hiring employees, business startup can seem
quite daunting. Not to worry, we've compiled 50 secrets to a successful
startup. By following through on each step, your business will be off
to a great success!
Before you even
begin: What's your plan? A solid business plan get you started off strong
and stay that way. Well before you launch your business, writing a business
plan is an essential part of starting up. Some businesses never write
a plan at all, but then find out it's a minimum requirement when they
need money, or a strategic business partner. A business plan will be the
foundation to most decisions you make throughout the life of the business,
including whether to even start! A written business plan will also be
required to gain investors or loan approvals from. Your business plan
will serve as the blueprint for communicating with potential partners,
vendors, your employees and even customers.
1. Learn about resources that can help
Your local SBA office or Small Business Development Center is a great
place to start and community college classes or private courses and
conferences can also. You probably shouldn’t count letting a consultant
do the entire job though. Following the old adage, “You get what
you pay for,” good consultants range anywhere from $300 an hour
down, and generally a good plan will run you $5,000 to $10,000.
2. Back up your concepts with numbers.
A business plan is not just writing about your vision of the business,
it's interpreting it in financial terms that you can measure. Start
by writing the conceptual ideas of the business with verbal descriptions
of your plans, then move to the financial part, keeping your numbers
as precise and accurate as possible. Quantify your ideas with hard numbers.
For instance, once you have an idea of how often you will advertise,
how large an ad you need, and where it will run, you can figure out
the costs. This will give you a number to input for advertising costs.
The abstract, or text part of your plan, has to have the concrete financial
part to be valid.
3. Be realistic when making projections.
The most common mistake in a business plan is over-estimating revenue
and under-estimating expenses. Narrow your target market down to a realistic
niche, then translate revenue and expenses in terms of that market.
Begin by identifying potential customers, but don’t include those
who may not be ready to buy, can't effectively be marketed to, can't
afford your solution or don't consider it a need.
4. Cash flow is critical!
At minimum, include monthly cash-flow projections for the first year,
but prepare an overall projection of profit and loss for three years,
as well as a projected balance sheet. Figure out the break-even point
at which sales will cover costs. Research financial ratios specific
to your industry, and look at published industry-specific ratios to
make sure your assumptions are realistic.
5. Pay special attention to marketing.
Start by developing a marketing goal. Next, do a market analysis, including
identifying target markets, researching competition and assessing market
trends for your industry. Then prepare a marketing strategy, including
your approaches to sales, promotions, advertising, PR, networking, community
building, customer service and other marketing channels and tools. Develop
a plan to implement that marketing strategy, and include benchmarks
to see if what you planned actually happened.
