Start your own business
Having your own business is the dream of every youngster. This is a new and very good trend developed in the new generation. It has multiple advantages to be the owner of your own business. Some of them are listed below.
- You are your own boss. No one can fire you. Furthermore, you can make decisions important for your business.
- Business owners have also a lifestyle. They are free to spend more time in their workplace or with the family.
- Running your own business provides a chance to make more money than if you were employed.
- You have also many learning opportunities as you will be working on different aspects of your business.
- Business owners have personal satisfaction. Here you yourself choose the area of your work, hence you get more satisfaction. There are many people whose hobbies are their income source and they are the most satisfied one.
You are in the right place if you are looking for help regarding how to start a business. This article will help you in starting any type of business. The factors discussed in the article apply to all the businesses whether online or offline.
MARKET SURVEY TO IDENTIFY POTENTIALS OR OPPORTUNITIES
Prior market survey is important to identify real-time market opportunities. In the absence of market potentials, any attempt to start a business will be a failure. Try to search for those potentials in which you face little competition. You should be the first or amongst the few to plan for a certain business. Your product/services should be of general use so that to increase revenues or keep the prices low of your product/service.
You may easily find the average use of your product/service by a certain customer and multiplying it with the total number of product/service consumers
Mathematically we may define the market potential as below,
If
K= Average Amount or Quantity used by an ordinary Customer
&
N= Total Number of your Product/Service Consumers,
Then,
Y= Market potential of your product/service is given as,
- Y=NK
Higher the value of “Y”, higher the market potential while a low value of “Y” shows lower market potential i.e market potential is an exponential function of “N” and “K”
This equation suggests the market potential is directly proportional not only to the number of customers available in the market but also the average usage of your product/service by an ordinary customer.
DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS AND AREAS OF INTEREST
Before going to any business you should answer the following questions.
- Why I am going to start this business?
- How I will survive in the beginning?
- Why people /customers should prefer to be your clients?
- What is the purchasing power of people in that specific area?
- What customers demand in your services/products?
- How to build customer’s confidence to acquire your services/buy your products?
Answering the above questions prior, you go ahead will minimize the risk to invest and define your business activities as well.
The first question to answer is why you have chosen that specific business. Do you have previous experience for that specific activity or you will learn after you are involved?
Previous experiences are plus parameters so that you may avoid ordinary mistakes that may cost your money and time.
Have you planned how to survive in the beginning? There is a great chance that you may not receive that market response as you calculated directly or indirectly.
To survive in such an uncertain environment you may seek help from the general “ Market potential Equation”
Y=NK (Provided you have a “Y” amount of capital for investment).
Your investment should be 20% to 50% of the market potential that you have calculated so that you may have sufficient cash in hand for survival.
Customer satisfaction is key to a successful business. Try your best to acquire customer’s trust and confidence in your service or produce.
Produce or deliver what the customers expect. Bring changes until your customers say “ Yes it’s now as they expected”.
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS
The more you know your customers, the more you are increasing the chances of success. A successful businessman knows his/her customers more than the one who doesn’t know. Knowing their age, purchasing power, literacy level, cultural and religious norms, and values lead you to a successful businessman.
May be your service/product is easy to be used by young customers but difficult for the old so try to deliver in which age is not a hindrance.
Cultural and religious norms should not be ignored. Avoid such slogans/advertisements/ pictures that break cultural or religious norms.
And the most important factor to consider “WHAT IS THE PURCHASING POWER OF PEOPLE”.?
There is a familiar proverb “If the camel is so cheap that it costs you one coin but even if you haven’t that single coin then it’s expensive.”
START FROM LOW LEVEL
From daily observations, we know that all successful businesses started from a level when the investment level was almost zero. The less you invest in the beginning, the more you minimize chances to fail. A huge investment, in the beginning, is a risk. Study shows you should invest 20% to 50% of your capital that you have at hand for a certain business to start.
The logic behind to start from a low level is to ensure your market survival at the start. The positive market response is a steady process and you may face difficulties if you have invested above the margin start investment level.
MORE INVESTMENT ON THE BASIS OF POSITIVE RESPONSE
Further investment in any business depends on market response. Once you came to know that the market possesses the potentials for further investment then be confident to go ahead with more investment. So more investment is a function of market positive response. Go ahead with a positive market response. So we may say that further investment is a function of positive market response. The common blunder that many people practice is they increase investment levels while they ignore the market response. In case the market response is not increasing, change other parameters like customer satisfaction, quality of your product or service before investing more.
EXISTENCE IN COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
Competition is unavoidable in any business. The more your business expands the more competition you face. Take competition as a challenge, not a problem. Those will survive who win a competition or exist in a competitive environment.
The following may help you to compete in any competitive environment.
- Customers satisfaction
- Easy access to your services
- Customer confidence to acquire your services.
Like customer satisfaction is necessary for positive market response similarly easy access to your service also plays an important rule. Your service or product should be available at the doorstep to customers. They should be confident to find your service easily. Building customer’s confidence is a function of customer satisfaction that depends on the quality of your service or product.
USE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR FURTHER GROWTH
Modern businesses can’t survive without prevailing relevant Technologies. People believe in technology more than they believe what you claim. Using IT as an advertisement tool will not only minimize the expense that you spend on it but will be easier for people to know about your business. Online transactions will be more fruitful than cash in hand business.
IT plays an important role to digitize your business activities that may encourage almost all business parameters.
- Provide online transaction facility
- Websites so that people may know your existence in the market
- Keep customers updated regarding any changes in your service through facebook pages, Mobile SMS service.
- Facilitate customers to put orders online through online service availability
EXPANSION TO OTHER PLACES WITH HIDDEN OPPORTUNITIES
The business should be dynamic and you are not working in an area where the potentials only exist. Try to identify which other places you may succeed.
Expansion is an indication of a successful business. There is no full stop in any business activity. Everywhere you plan to open a franchise or branch of your business activity, repeat all the above parameters. All separate units should work cohesively by using the internet to connect them.
