How to Start Your Own Business

So you’ve decided to venture into the world of business ownership, but you aren’t sure where to start. With the statistics of failed startup businesses, it’s understandable to be wary of getting started; but as long as you properly prepare, you can increase your chances of launching a successful business. We have formulated the five key steps for how to start your own business; these are not necessarily foolproof, but they’re sure to get you going in the right direction.

1. Look for a problem worth solving

Ask yourself; how will your business be valuable to the market? The easiest approach it to get started in an industry that you have experience in. This way you are privy to the gaps in its workings, and can properly offer a solution to these gaps.

If you don’t have experience in a certain field, use a general problem that you have an idea on how to fix.

Either way, talk to a lot of people about your idea for solving it, you need to validate it before settling on an idea. Gather the knowledge so you are sure what it’s worth to the people who want to have it solved. The more need, the higher chance of success (if you can properly solve it).

Make sure you understand the market; who are the players, and types of customers that you might have. If you aren’t properly targeting, you’ll likely miss your mark, resulting in difficulty reaching your goals.

2. Get Started

Don’t procrastinate – don’t stall making sure you have the right education, contacts, business plan, leads, “war chest” of money etc. You can start even if you don’t have any of these.

What does getting started mean? Beginning is as simple as making a phone call to a potential supplier or customer; booking meetings, talking to people you may want to work with, or drafting a simple one-page business plan as shown below.

Remember that this doesn’t have to be perfect the first time; you will likely pivot many times – its a process!

3. Make the leap!

There will be a point where you have to quit your job and go all in. It helps to have a bit of traction at this point (having done 1 and 2) Make sure you have the support of your family and friends – having the traction shows them they have reason to believe in you.

You want a realistic financial plan set up- every entrepreneur is over-optimistic about how much and how quickly their company will make money, and this is the biggest downfall for startups.

A way to keep organized, and on top of your expenses, is to keep personal and business financial plans separate. Your personal plan should be kept very conservative; plan on profits taking longer than you think it will to keep out of a bad situation If you need to supplement your income with consulting – factor that in early. If you don’t make the leap, your business will likely never gain traction.

4. You Start your own Business!

You are an entrepreneur – you’ll know it when you feel it – commit to the process and yourself that you will stick with it. It will be hard, but things worth doing are going to be difficult.

5. Execute

At this point, you need to be making the decision for sales, marketing, product development, customer service, financial planning, software selection, investments, etc. But that’s too long for right now, keep an eye on the Entreflow website for an in-depth look at these strategies in future secret weapon blog posts!

The most important thing to take away from all of this is to focus on selling. Don’t sit and fiddle with perfection before you start selling – get out there and get revenue! Customer-driven growth is always best! Work in that area before fine tuning the little things, you’ll be better prepared with a safety net of income, and a set basis of customers that will support you while sanding away the rough edges. Following along with these steps will put you on the beginning tracks to success, but it comes down to your planning and your ability to be honest with yourself on your ventures, the less you lie to yourself and the better your foundations; the higher chance of building a business that will achieve all of your goals.