Ask for the Business : Business Guide and Help

Being an entrepreneur means owning your own business, being your own employee and a whole mountain of work. It may bring in some money, it may not, but hopefully at the end you’ll actually have some job satisfaction.

1. The Idea

First, you need an idea of what you’re going to do, whether it is to sell bags or books, software programs, or even offer consultancy services. You’ve got to be able to exchange something for money, unless you’re running an investment business, where youre exchanging money for ( hopefully ) more money.

You need a business that is not easily replicated by the first business rival who then improves upon it and dumps you out of business. For example, if you’re gonna sell food, you must have either a secret recipe which people actually like, or a chef who can actually cook and won’t jump ship for an additional 2 dollar per month.

Ok - so you’ve got your idea down.

2. Planning / Investment

You’ve got to sit down and plan what you actually need. Maybe some retail space with decent human traffic. Maybe a manufacturer who can churn out bags or shoes according to your design and specifications. Source for quotes. Do your groundwork and actively seek out the lowest price for the best quality. You need to lower your overheads as far as they can go, to maximise profit, without compromising on quality, failing which your customers will never return.

Plan your finances and investment. How much money do you need to sustain the business for at least a year. Most businesses take at least a few years to be self-sustaining, before being able to return on investment, and hopefully, subsequently turn a profit.

3. Source for investment

Bank loan, relative loans, savings account, whatever works for you. Government grants may actually give you the leg-up you need, so actively source for grants. The less conditions tied to the loan, the better. The lower the interest rate, the better.

If you somehow have enough money, you may consider buying over an active business instead of going throught the grind of setting up your own. But bear in mind that you must do adequate research into the target business, whether it is going through the books, checking out their actual store / factory, and seeing if it is worth what you’re paying. But that’s a whole different chapter, under acquisitions.

4. Setting up your infrastructure

Time to get things set up. You need to organise shipping of your products from your manufacturers to your buyers. Most people would choose to ship in bulk from the manufacturer to a convenient storage point, and distributing from that storage point to individual buyers. Remember that good logistics can decrease your shipping costs and decrease delay. Think through your supply chain before implementing, as this can save your thousands of dollars, or more.

5. Marketing

You need to market your products. How ? There’s lots of options. Word-of mouth for starters. Tell people, friends, family. Print flyers. Set up an internet website. Classified ads. Radio, TV, print ads in magazines and newspapers.

Think about who’s your target niche, then target appropriately.

6. Followup

You’ve sold your product. Now actively seek customer feedback for improvements to be made, upgrade your product to version 1.1 and sell again. And do actually listen to your customer. After all, they are the ones using your products.