Have you been thinking of starting a business but just haven't got around to it? Here's a secret: don't delay another day, get started right now! Here's 5 tips for starting your own business taken from an interview I did with Karen Gunton from Build a Little Biz on the Web Marketing Adelaide Podcast.
- Finding the right idea – something that combines your interests/skills/expertise with what people actually need/want
- Doing your research – into biz models, profitability, a point of difference in the marketplace etc.
- Building the framework of your biz – your products, your customers, your brand etc.
- Giving yourself a timeframe – ‘portfolio building’ stage
- Starting right now with a simple marketing strategy
Finding the right idea
Most people, when trying to start their own business, fall into two categories. The first category are people who have a particular skill, hobby or expertise that they think they can make money out of and turn into a business. The second category are people who like the idea of having their own business but don’t know exactly what it is they want to sell or what service they can provide and charge money for. What ever it is you do or sell, you have to keep in mind that not only does your product or service need to be something you can provide but also something that other people need. So if you already know what it is you want to sell, you now have to find people who want to pay for it, which can be pretty difficult. On the other hand, if you already know that there is something that other people need or want, it becomes easier to sell because you already know who you are going to sell it to. The important thing is to find something that you are willing to do that other people will pay for.Doing the research
Before you start your business, it’s important to research who else is selling the same thing or providing the same service. It can really help to know how other people are conducting their business and to find out what you can do better and what you can learn. It’s pretty easy to find someone with a good buisness model that you can turn into something unique by making a few tweaks here and there and calling it your own. It is also important to know how profitable your business will be and how much you should be charging for your product or service. For instance, if you are selling homemade jewlery and you are charging twenty dollars for earings, you might be pushing away customers who are looking for high quality products. It is always easier to start off pricing high and then bring the price down if that isn’t working for you than it is to start off pricing low and then raise the price later. |
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Building the framework of your business
When starting a business you need to be clear on what your product is, who is going to buy it, how you’re going to sell it etc. You need to make sure you have a specific audience who you are targeting and you need to know how you are going to sell your product to that audience. Sometimes it helps to look into what the real, more broad reasons for why people are buying your product of using your service. People don’t just buy jewlery because they want jewlery - they buy jewlery to make them feel good about themselves. You need to look into what you’re really selling people, and that can be really helpful when trying to communicate with your customers.Giving your self a time frame
When you’re first starting out, it can be useful to designate yourself a certain amount of time to test out how you’ll run your business and build a portfolio before you actually properly launch your business. You can use this time just as a learning stage to find out what you need to change about your business or how much you’re going to charge or how many hours a week you’re going to spend on your business. It doesn’t really matter what you do in this time because you can always go back and fix things. Remember that what you do in this time is ‘not a tattoo’ and isn’t going to define your business forever and can always be changed.Starting right now with a simple marketing strategy
One of the best ways to begin creating an online presence for your business is to just start a simple blog or website where you can talk about your ideas and hopefully gain followers. Another great thing you can do is start keeping a list of emails of people who are interested in what you do or interested in your product or service. So if you want to notify people about a new idea or a new product, you already have a list of people who are interested in what you have to say. This is great for when you are in your portfolio building stage and you want to try things out before launching your product or service.The most important thing when starting a business is to just start right now. Leave a comment bellow and tell us what you can do today to help you towards starting your own business.
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