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Top 10 Tips for Business Start-Ups
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Top 10 Tips for Business Start-Ups
After starting and advising a range of small business start-ups
over the last ten years I have learnt from my own mistakes and the
mistakes of others. Here's my list of top ten tips that will help you
navigate start-up success without coming completely unstuck. The list is
certainly not exhaustive and I'm sure I'll amend it over time, please
feel free to comment and contribute:
1. Define Your Vision and Goals.
Be certain what you want to achieve and arrange a set of goals of how
you are going to achieve your vision. Your goals and strategy will
change over time but your vision should remain fairly rigid until you
have achieved it. Your vision might be 'start my own successful business
installing and repairing computer systems for local businesses'. Goals
along the way could be, 'acquire five new customers in the next six
months by advertising in the local paper', 'employ myself full time
within one year', 'have 3 employees within 2 years' and 'expand into
another region in the next eighteen months'. Without a clearly defined
vision and achievable goals you will be relying on luck to achieve your
ambition.
2. Start Small, Grow Fast. Try to take
small steps to start with. Don't give up the full time job and put your
life savings into the venture straight away. Prove to yourself that the
idea is sound, that there is a market for your product or service and
most importantly that you enjoy doing it. Once you have proven these
things then you can start to build, expand and invest in the business.
If it's not quite right, adjust it. If it doesn't workout, change the
formula and try again. Don't expect to hit gold on your first try.
However, every attempt should teach you something about the market and
yourself.
3. Develop Your USP - Unique Selling Proposition.
Your product or service doesn't need to be unique, but you must be able
to explain to a customer why they should pay YOU for your service or
product. The 3 golden rules are: Better; Different or Cheaper. Your
product / service must be one of theses otherwise there is no compelling
reason for someone to purchase from you. Just look at the coffee stands
in railway stations and ask why certain people buy from one rather than
another. Is AMT coffee better then Starbucks or is it because they are
cheaper or is it because it is more convenient, by being closer to your
platform?
4. Know Your Customer. It is imperative
you have an understanding of who you are offering services to and what
they might want from you. You will naturally develop this understanding
over time but you must have an idea at the very beginning. From this
understanding you can then develop your marketing messages, advertising
and tailor your services so that the buying process has limited
obstacles to overcome. You want the internal dialog of the customer to
be 'wow this vendor really understands my needs'. Don't focus on the
mass market; think about a niche that you can dominate.
5. Know Your Competition.
It is important to understand who you are competing against and how
crowded the market might be. Going back to your definition of your USP
you must ensure that you are better, different or cheaper that others
who are offering similar services or products. Remember you don't have
to be unique, you might simply grow a fantastically loyal customer base
because your customer service. Look at the John Lewis Partnership, they
are remarkably successful because people love their customer service and
aftersales service, and that is their USP - differential customer
service.
6. Know Yourself! So you have come up
with a great service that is unique, has a good price point and the
local competition is weak. However providing that service is something
you find a complete chore and get no enjoyment from. In time if you do
not enjoy, or you are not enthusiastic about, your business, customers
will spot this and drift, nay run away. It's hard enough doing something
you enjoy immensely and turning it into a successful and thriving
business, therefore examine the type of business you want to run AND it is one that complements you skills and competences.
7. Know Your Real Value.
You have a few people working for you, revenue is respectable and you
are drawing a nice dividend from your new business. But have you truly
calculated all the effort, time and money you and other business
partners are actually expending on the business? This 'off balance
sheet' contribution is to be expected during the start-up process but it
still needs to be accounted for when you are considering the true
profit of the business and where your break-even point is. This is
especially important if you are giving up paid employment to join the
business full time. Many small businesses have artificial profits and in
truth are loss making and being subsidised by the owner.
8. Be Positive.
To make any business succeed you need to maintain a positive outlook
and face your challenges head on. As I recently heard someone say 'focus
on the road ahead and not on the bugs on the screen'. The bugs need to
be dealt with but if you focus on them to the exclusion of your goals
and vision you will surely crash. It's also important not to surround
yourself with naysayers. Good honest direct feedback is important, but
it needs to be considered. Find people you can trust to discuss your
goals, vision and objectives with. They will be worth their weight in
gold.
9. Be Flexible and Adapt. It is highly
possible that some of your assumptions on formulating your business plan
will be plain wrong. This doesn't mean your vision is incorrect, but
you may have to modify your plans to accommodate these changes. Being
flexible in your approach to business is a key factor to success.
However, this does not mean changing your mind every 5 minuets, as
having a certain purpose is also vital. You will encounter many
challenges and obstacles to the successful establishment of a business,
therefore you must be able to identify these issues and react
accordingly.
10. You are Not an Island. Starting
and running your own business requires a wide range of skills, tenacity
and lots and lots of hard work. Whilst you can do many things yourself
you should seek to understand all the things that need to be done that
you are not particularly good at or do not have the required expertise.
Concentrate on the things you excel at and get some external help with
the things you might struggle with, for example accountancy, technology
or marketing. When leading an organisation it is also useful to sound
out ideas with people who are not trying to support you such as a
family, as they are not going to tell you the harsh truths, and remember
advice is worth as much as you pay for it.
Andy is a highly experienced consultant who has successfully
advised and developed a range of small business over the past 20 years.
He has also worked as a consultant for a wide range of national and
international companies including: Marks & Spencer; NatWest; RBS;
Gartner; Morse and central and local government.
Andy runs a
series of seminars in the UK for would be small business owners helping
them start, develop and grow their own business.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_Davies
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6495436
over the last ten years I have learnt from my own mistakes and the
mistakes of others. Here's my list of top ten tips that will help you
navigate start-up success without coming completely unstuck. The list is
certainly not exhaustive and I'm sure I'll amend it over time, please
feel free to comment and contribute:
1. Define Your Vision and Goals.
Be certain what you want to achieve and arrange a set of goals of how
you are going to achieve your vision. Your goals and strategy will
change over time but your vision should remain fairly rigid until you
have achieved it. Your vision might be 'start my own successful business
installing and repairing computer systems for local businesses'. Goals
along the way could be, 'acquire five new customers in the next six
months by advertising in the local paper', 'employ myself full time
within one year', 'have 3 employees within 2 years' and 'expand into
another region in the next eighteen months'. Without a clearly defined
vision and achievable goals you will be relying on luck to achieve your
ambition.
2. Start Small, Grow Fast. Try to take
small steps to start with. Don't give up the full time job and put your
life savings into the venture straight away. Prove to yourself that the
idea is sound, that there is a market for your product or service and
most importantly that you enjoy doing it. Once you have proven these
things then you can start to build, expand and invest in the business.
If it's not quite right, adjust it. If it doesn't workout, change the
formula and try again. Don't expect to hit gold on your first try.
However, every attempt should teach you something about the market and
yourself.
3. Develop Your USP - Unique Selling Proposition.
Your product or service doesn't need to be unique, but you must be able
to explain to a customer why they should pay YOU for your service or
product. The 3 golden rules are: Better; Different or Cheaper. Your
product / service must be one of theses otherwise there is no compelling
reason for someone to purchase from you. Just look at the coffee stands
in railway stations and ask why certain people buy from one rather than
another. Is AMT coffee better then Starbucks or is it because they are
cheaper or is it because it is more convenient, by being closer to your
platform?
4. Know Your Customer. It is imperative
you have an understanding of who you are offering services to and what
they might want from you. You will naturally develop this understanding
over time but you must have an idea at the very beginning. From this
understanding you can then develop your marketing messages, advertising
and tailor your services so that the buying process has limited
obstacles to overcome. You want the internal dialog of the customer to
be 'wow this vendor really understands my needs'. Don't focus on the
mass market; think about a niche that you can dominate.
5. Know Your Competition.
It is important to understand who you are competing against and how
crowded the market might be. Going back to your definition of your USP
you must ensure that you are better, different or cheaper that others
who are offering similar services or products. Remember you don't have
to be unique, you might simply grow a fantastically loyal customer base
because your customer service. Look at the John Lewis Partnership, they
are remarkably successful because people love their customer service and
aftersales service, and that is their USP - differential customer
service.
6. Know Yourself! So you have come up
with a great service that is unique, has a good price point and the
local competition is weak. However providing that service is something
you find a complete chore and get no enjoyment from. In time if you do
not enjoy, or you are not enthusiastic about, your business, customers
will spot this and drift, nay run away. It's hard enough doing something
you enjoy immensely and turning it into a successful and thriving
business, therefore examine the type of business you want to run AND it is one that complements you skills and competences.
7. Know Your Real Value.
You have a few people working for you, revenue is respectable and you
are drawing a nice dividend from your new business. But have you truly
calculated all the effort, time and money you and other business
partners are actually expending on the business? This 'off balance
sheet' contribution is to be expected during the start-up process but it
still needs to be accounted for when you are considering the true
profit of the business and where your break-even point is. This is
especially important if you are giving up paid employment to join the
business full time. Many small businesses have artificial profits and in
truth are loss making and being subsidised by the owner.
8. Be Positive.
To make any business succeed you need to maintain a positive outlook
and face your challenges head on. As I recently heard someone say 'focus
on the road ahead and not on the bugs on the screen'. The bugs need to
be dealt with but if you focus on them to the exclusion of your goals
and vision you will surely crash. It's also important not to surround
yourself with naysayers. Good honest direct feedback is important, but
it needs to be considered. Find people you can trust to discuss your
goals, vision and objectives with. They will be worth their weight in
gold.
9. Be Flexible and Adapt. It is highly
possible that some of your assumptions on formulating your business plan
will be plain wrong. This doesn't mean your vision is incorrect, but
you may have to modify your plans to accommodate these changes. Being
flexible in your approach to business is a key factor to success.
However, this does not mean changing your mind every 5 minuets, as
having a certain purpose is also vital. You will encounter many
challenges and obstacles to the successful establishment of a business,
therefore you must be able to identify these issues and react
accordingly.
10. You are Not an Island. Starting
and running your own business requires a wide range of skills, tenacity
and lots and lots of hard work. Whilst you can do many things yourself
you should seek to understand all the things that need to be done that
you are not particularly good at or do not have the required expertise.
Concentrate on the things you excel at and get some external help with
the things you might struggle with, for example accountancy, technology
or marketing. When leading an organisation it is also useful to sound
out ideas with people who are not trying to support you such as a
family, as they are not going to tell you the harsh truths, and remember
advice is worth as much as you pay for it.
Andy is a highly experienced consultant who has successfully
advised and developed a range of small business over the past 20 years.
He has also worked as a consultant for a wide range of national and
international companies including: Marks & Spencer; NatWest; RBS;
Gartner; Morse and central and local government.
Andy runs a
series of seminars in the UK for would be small business owners helping
them start, develop and grow their own business.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_Davies
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6495436
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