The origin of every great business begins with an idea. Maybe it is the next game-changing development in a product or service industry.
The spark for a cutting-edge company may be an ambitious entrepreneur wanting to move out of working in the corporate world and become a boss.
For that conceptual spark to ignite into a financial flame, a business must be constructed around that idea with a stable foundation underneath to support it.
To ensure that you start your own business to have true staying power and not blow away in the wind as if it never existed, avoid the missteps made by your competition with these easy-to-follow steps for success.
Develop a Mission statement
First, you must know exactly why you are starting this particular business. Then, get crystal clear on what is motivating, other than financial freedom.
In what way can your company benefit the world around you, and how is this effort specific and personal to you?
Your mission statement is why your business needs to exist in the first place and will be that added momentum you will need when times get hard, and everything isn’t going precisely according to plans.
Work the hardest
Hopefully, you aren’t starting your own business so that you can kick your feet up on day one and stop working. However, keep in mind that just because you are in charge doesn’t mean that you won’t be responsible for all the gritty aspects of your company until you can delegate tasks to qualified staff.
You will need to understand the ins and outs of what makes your business function so that you can ask the right questions when things go astray and know which solutions you need to seek.
Also, as your company grows in scale, you will be able to have inside knowledge on where you have been and what it took to get to the next level.
Focus on the details
Focusing on the ‘big picture is a common thread that connects many CEOs from various fields. But for any larger-than-life vision to take shape, many little details need to come into fruition first.
Don’t skim over the details for your brand-new business to have strong legs to stand on. Get them executed in order of priority.
What will the manufacturing process look like? How much will your products cost to produce? What will the supply chain unfold to get your product to customers worldwide?
Without these critical details factored in and put into effect affordably, you may be stuck selling things that are too expensive to make and too expensive to sell.
Planning properly
If you are intimidated by mathematics, make sure that numbers become your friend by the time you are starting your business. Not just numbers, but actual, factual, and researched numbers.
Just because you assume that you are taking up 75% of the current market share in your city for your industry doesn’t mean it is a reality unless you can back it up with real hard numbers.
Create an outline that includes each expense that can come your way in the next six months to a year with a realistic timeline to launch your products and services and estimate the revenue you expect to get back.
Budget your business honestly, take accounting seriously, and refrain from buying what isn’t necessary to give your business the best chance to be profitable.
Pick productive partners
Maybe your business is beginning with just you and your college buddy right now. There is nothing wrong with staying nimble and stealthy to keep the ball rolling. But remember that the company probably can’t go on like this forever.
As you expand, you will need more than just an extra pair of hands. You will need consultants, accountants, a sales department, and marketing experts like Kevin Miller to reach customers and clients online.
Not only do you need to find an experienced team, but you need to have enough confidence in them to allow them to do their job so that you can focus on growth opportunities.
‘New’ isn’t always necessary
Many companies face one problem: they can get so stuck in development mode for so long that they run out of funding actually to bring their product or service to market.
Tools and technology are constantly changing and evolving regularly. Therefore, it stands to reason that the more months and even years that go into getting your business started, the more options you will have for marketing services, business applications, and new shiny objects to keep you distracted.
There is nothing wrong with adopting new tools and digital platforms to get your vision. But if you stay concerned with all the cool solutions that your company can integrate into its workflow, you may not have much work actually flowing.
Stick with what is working until you can afford to level up and alter your operation with the newest and latest gadgets.
Never stop learning
Learn from the lucrative maneuvers made by those CEOs and Founders that have continued to rise. They most likely remained curious and kept asking questions.
Don’t let confidence turn into ignorance by pretending to know everything about your industry to appear totally in control.
Something is comforting about a boss that is open-minded enough to seek the wealth of intelligence that surrounds them at the office and admit when they need assistance.
When you are starting your own business, you must research your market extensively, find people smarter than you are, acknowledge what it is that you don’t know, and after picking those brains, be sure to implement what makes the most sense for your business.
When you finally start your own business, don’t forget to instill loyalty in your team by making them part of the process by acknowledging their expertise, compensating them properly for what they offer, and continuing to check in with them to see if things can run any smoother.
