7 Important Factors For Starting Your Own Business
If you want to become a business owner, then you are taking a brave step into the unknown. Many people dream of working for themselves, but it doesn’t always work out for them. The fact of the matter is that starting and running your own business is difficult. It requires discipline, level-headedness and the will to succeed.
For many people, it is easier just to stick to their corporate office jobs. And there is nothing wrong with this. But if it is not making you happy then you need to consider alternatives. One such alternative would be to freelance and work for yourself. This way you can set your hours and income, and you live a more relaxed lifestyle.
But you have to be sensible and treat your approach to your own business with the same discipline as you would if you answered to a boss. Here are seven factors important to starting your own business. Make sure you take note of them and try to apply them where possible.
1. Training
You will need to make sure you get the right training to be able to do whatever business you decide to set up. Many businesses can be created and maintained with minimal training needs. But a lot will need quite a bit of training to one degree or another. It is important that you take steps to get this training before setting up your business. This way you will know what to expect and how to adapt if needed.
2. Planning and Research
Planning and research are pivotal. You need to research the industry, so you know how to prepare yourself and the business. Make sure you understand how the sector works. Look at recent trends. Is that particular industry struggling at the moment or is it booming? Is there one standout business in the industry? If so have a look at the way they operate and try to adopt a similar business model.
You should also think about writing up a business plan for your vision of the future. Detail what you want the business to achieve and how you plan to achieve it. You can also give a projection of future profit margins, etc. Use this plan as a blueprint for how to go about running your business.
3. Finance
When you decide to start your own business you will need to remember that this is a massive financial commitment. You will be funding everything yourself. So if the business goes bust it is you who will take the hit.
Because of this the concept of starting a business can terrify some people. When you first start out as well the costs are even higher still. You need to fund all the startup costs for the business.
As a result of the huge expense and the financial burden, a lot of people choose to take out a business loan. If you are thinking about starting a business, then you should consider taking out a business loan. You will need to submit your business plan to secure the loan. And you will need to detail how much you want to borrow and how you plan to pay it back. Make sure that you don’t borrow more than you can afford to pay back. This will put you in all sorts of problems later.
4. Insurance
A sensible step would be to take out insurance for the business as well. This will protect against loss, damage or theft of stock and equipment. It will also help to protect your assets such as staff and office space.
If you run a business that’s based on you and a service you offer insurance is important too. If you work as a personal trainer, then you might think about taking out fitness trainer insurance. This will protect you as well as your clients in the event of accident or injury, etc.
5. Clients
It will be important for you to build up a client base for your business. Without new and repeat customers how can you expect the business the thrive? Clients are your bread and butter so make sure you take steps to secure as many as you can. But don’t take on too many. You need to be able to give them all the same level of great service.
This will result in interest from new clients and at that stage, you might consider expanding the business.
6. Marketing
Marketing is your secret weapon when running your own business. It is your most powerful tool and will be nearly impossible for you to succeed without. Marketing is how you promote your business and your services. Without it nobody would know your brand even exists. You need to spend a lot of time, effort and money on marketing; it will be worth it long term.
As well as physical marketing it is vital that you have an online presence. The internet is the best way to market your business nowadays so you should make full use of it. If you don’t already have a business website, you need one. If you do have one you should be doing all you can to promote and drive traffic to it.
Because marketing is so important you might want to think about hiring experts to do it for you. You can find digital marketing agencies online. They will be happy to develop an online marketing strategy for your business. This will help your business to thrive and grow and should help increase your client base.
7. Outsource
An important part of running your own business is being able to outsource certain tasks or projects. You may have a small staff base, if any, and there are certain tasks that need expert guidance. You can find fellow freelancers who specialise in the tasks that you want to do and outsource the work to them.
This will result in a faster turnaround time and may even keep costs lower than keeping the work in house. Outsourcing has become popular in business in recent years. And it is a great way of remaining efficient and cost effective.