How to start your own business [the 8 steps you need]
How to start your own business step by step?
If you have always dreamed of starting a business on your own and you wonder what to do, you should know that you have to follow some logical steps, starting with knowing the market you are going to cover and what you are going to offer it . This is the first step. Then, you must start with the numerical analysis to know the prices that you are going to offer. If you are going to associate, look for people who share your vision, people with whom you can distribute the tasks to start. In addition, you can hire freelance advice at the times you need or in specific parts when you need it.
If you are considering starting your own company or want to know what it takes to start a business, today we will cover the above points in detail.
- Define your market
- Find the ideal partner
- Do numbers to establish costs
- Organize tasks and functions
- business goals
- Outsource what you don't know
- promote yourself
- Customer Support
Surely, you have various doubts about what to do to start or what type of business you can start. Starting a business is not an easy task . It requires time, effort, investment and intelligence, as well as knowing how to carry out a good marketing strategy to be successful.
It is also important to define your work plan well to know what the next step is that you are going to take. That is why today we are going to show you the 8 key steps that you must follow to be able to start your own business much more easily and that you have it well planned from the beginning.
Can I undertake having a permanent job?
Of course yes. Starting your own business takes work, coordination and time, but there are some services that you can offer to start in the world of entrepreneurship, without having to leave your current job. These are jobs you can do even in your spare time.
Best of all, they do not require large amounts of capital. There are even businesses where you don't need to invest more resources than a computer and the internet.
The idea of this article is that when you finish reading it, you do the exercise of starting to think about these steps, put together your strategy and decide to start.
Are you ready?
Look at the 8 steps to start a business:
1. Define what market need you are going to cover
The first thing to start a business is to know that what you offer covers a market need , that is, that there are people who are interested in what you sell. Your job is to find out who those potential buyers are.
Once you have defined the business idea that you are going to start, think about how you are going to offer your product or service, especially if it is something that already exists in the market.
To do this, you must answer yourself what added value you will offer your customers, what differentiates you from the competition or what makes you special.
It's about convincing yourself to convince others why they should buy from you.
You must justify your quality:
Vague answers like "because I'm the best" are not valid. You must justify the quality or look for that differentiating aspect that you are going to offer and that makes you better than others.
For example: if your product is ecological, economical, if it is a unique design, if it is made with a better production process, if it helps a cause...
Take a look at this:
Take for example the advertising of some famous brands:
- Subway: Eat healthy and tasty
- Papa John's: Better Ingredients, Better Pizza
- Wendy's: We don't cut corners
These types of messages are like a promise to the customer or highlight a special feature of the product. Think about it to know what your differentiating element is.
2. Look for partners who share your vision
If you have decided to ally yourself with someone to start a business, you must keep in mind that the decisions they make regarding it will be made together. Choosing the wrong partner can lead to problems in the future.
Look for a partner who shares your vision, objectives and who complements you in a strategic way , so that the strengths of both are used for the benefit of your company and can make it grow.
3. Do your numbers
Before starting your venture, you should prepare a quick business plan, taking into account the following aspects.
Know your balance point
It is the point at which the business expenses would be equal to the income, that is, there are no profits or losses. To calculate it, you must determine the fixed and variable costs.
Among the fixed are, for example, the payment of office rent, fixed salaries, payment of internet plans, etc.
The variable costs of your company may include office supplies, travel expenses, commissions on sales, subcontracting of personnel, expenses on telephone calls, among others.
Once you have them, compare them to total income.
Create a pricing strategy
Take out the cost of production or operating costs. Then, establish a price modification strategy to give your customers offers.
It is important for you to know that even if you negotiate the sale prices, you will always have a profit margin.
Some types can be: the market penetration price, the discount price, seasonal prices, depending on the life cycle of the product price, among others.
Calculate the cost of customer acquisition
The cost of customer acquisition is the amount invested in acquiring each customer who has bought from you.
To calculate it, you must determine the cost of marketing and sales in a given period of time, including any other related expenses, such as base salaries.
Then you must divide the result by the number of clients you have obtained in that same period of time.
Estimate the average purchase per customer
It is the approximate or most frequent amount that customers usually spend each time they buy something from you.
To calculate it, divide the total sales for a certain period of time by the number of customers who bought from you in that same period of time.
That way, you'll have an average of how much you bill per customer, which is known as the average ticket.
These are some basic numbers that you must handle before starting any venture.
A good way to prepare your business plan, having the whole panorama clear (such as clients, resources, distribution channels, etc.) is to use the canvas model. You can see the canvas model step by step in this Innokabi post .
4. Get organized, distribute tasks and functions
One of the most delicate aspects is knowing how to organize the work so that everything works optimally.
For this, it is important to determine the distribution of functions for each of those involved in the production or service chain of your company, as well as a working method by which the operation will be governed. You should also think about how difficulties will be resolved if they arise.
One way to do this is to create an outline of the sales process.
What is it about?
It is a visual way to review the logical steps of the sale or production process, from the time the first contact is made with the customer until the sale is closed.
To better illustrate it, imagine that you have a digital printing company and that you describe the steps of the sale:
- Take order from the client: measurement, material, quantity, quantity of inks
- Quality control of the document to be printed: Resolution, color and format
- Submit test print for review
- Approval of the proof and signature of the client
- Presentation of signed order to authorize printing
- Printing order requested
- Customer delivery and collection
Having detailed the sales process, you can delegate the functions and know who will be responsible for fulfilling a certain part of the process.
In this way, everyone within the business organization will know which areas they are responsible for and will ensure that everything works correctly in them.
* Read also how you can create your online store
5. Be clear about the business objective
The main objective of any business is to generate sales and be profitable . To do this, your effort must be focused on the 4 key stages of modern marketing:
Therefore, you must stay focused on it and not get distracted by activities that, although they may seem entertaining, are not productive at all.
Like what? How to micromanage the process of designing your advertising, responding to comments on social networks, decorating the office, creating customer loyalty programs, etc. These are tasks that you can delegate to focus your effort on something more profitable.
That's right, your job is to sell...
In the words of author and business expert Amar Bhidé :
“Focus on the quality and time of sale of your product or provision of your service, and on having a good after-sales department. And the rest, outsource it. Monitor it, but outsource it.”
Always remember your goal and your most productive task: to sell and generate new business.
6. Find professional advice on topics you don't know
Maybe you have defined what your line of business or activity will be, you have an ally and you already have an idea of how the work process will work, but it is also important that you get advice on other aspects when starting a business.
For example, if you need help with legal registration or other permits , billing and taxes , market research, software implementation to optimize work, etc.
In all these cases, you can hire an expert consultant in the area you need, so that they can give you guidance or prepare a plan to follow step by step.
Outsource to save money:
Another key point when starting a business is to maintain operations during the first few months. This, while you manage to generate a volume of clients that makes it sustainable and recover the investment.
To minimize operating costs, outsource as many services as possible, which are not the core of the business, so you can focus on what really matters .
Tasks such as accounting management , email marketing, social networks or the maintenance of your website can be coordinated with someone else, even if they are not even in your office.
The way to do this is through email, project management applications or virtual work platforms .
Online work platforms not only allow you to find the help you are looking for, but also manage the entire project within it.
Try to hire permanent staff only when necessary. That is, if it is a daily task that requires work or face-to-face supervision.
Minimize operating costs by keeping the work team small.
7. Promote yourself and get clients online
No business strategy would be complete without promoting yourself in the largest medium of communication: the internet, which offers you a great opportunity to make yourself known. On the internet is the easiest way to attract potential customers to get to know you.
To start a business, you must also create and optimize your website with the help of a professional: Hire a programmer to put your site online and then find an expert in SEO (search engine optimization) to help you appear in the first pages of search engines.
* See the essential tips on how to make a professional website
Add a blog where you can publish relevant news about your company. Post topics related to your business, providing curious data, news and advice.
Thus, you solve specific problems for people who are looking for what you offer and attract potential buyers. This is called content marketing.
This will help you a lot:
Once you have implemented your blog, promote your site with advertising campaigns on search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo!
Later, you can contact influencers , recognized professionals in your area and who have good credibility and followers.
Invite them to get to know your brand or your services, get interviews or make video conferences that you later add to your YouTube channel (creating your own YouTube channel is important too).
Another strategy that works very well is to talk about your services by offering guest posting on sites in your area that are visited by users who fit the profile of your buyer persona .
What is guest posting about?
It is about publishing within these sites a topic that is of value to them, but at the same time, that is beneficial for you. In this way, you build credibility, offer value and create interest in your product or service without just advertising. Remember that people prefer to buy, and not to be sold.
Continuing with the example of a digital print shop, you could guest post on a blog about graphic design, with topics such as how to check the resolution and quality of photos, how to create a personalized calendar, ideas for printed cards, etc.
* Know the definitive guide to attract customers 24/7 without spending on advertising
Do not forget networks and email marketing:
A good digital marketing strategy includes social networks. The creation of your fan page on Facebook and other accounts on the main social networks (Instagram, Twitter, +Google, Linked In and YouTube), allows you to attract followers who become prospects, clients or ambassadors of your brand.
You can include other networks, such as Pinterest, Soundcloud, Youtube, etc. All depending on your line of business and the need for communication you have.
Send your clients newsletters with relevant topics that you have published on your blog, as well as important news and offers.
* Learn how to make effective email marketing campaigns
Select the different types of audience or customers you have. Offer each segment more personalized and interesting content for those who receive it.
* Know the 7 necessary steps for an effective email marketing strategy
8. Implement good customer service
When starting a business, all the effort of advising you, implementing your marketing strategy and making yourself known must be complemented with good customer service.
Remember that you owe the customer:
You must make it easy for your potential buyers to communicate. It speeds up the attention you receive, in terms of the response time to your queries. It does not matter if it is through the mail, social networks or telephone lines. You can also implement a chat system on your website. So you can solve doubts or simple problems and provide information quickly.
At this point it becomes important to have links to your site on hand. That way you can send them to the client so that they can see complementary information to their queries. In this way, you will provide an agile response that is really useful for the client.
Always try to treat your customers professionally, both when they contact you to ask questions and when they go through the process of purchasing your products and services.
* Learn how to improve customer service in 7 easy steps
Do not forget to request contact information from those who show interest in what you offer. It doesn't matter if they didn't buy you at the time. You can offer them promotions or more specialized products, in order to close new sales.
Remember that you do not have to do the work alone. You can always count on the help of a professional to advise you at every step when starting a business.
Find the help of an expert by posting your project or requirement on SoyFreelancer.com . Cheer up and good luck!
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