Thinking Of Starting a New Venture?
If you are at a stage where you believe that you are ready to start something new on your own, then you must keep a few things in mind before planning your idea. Often people, when thinking about start-ups, try to think big. They always have the mindset of earning billions and making their company world-renowned. They often tend to run behind angel investors to fund their business. Halt right there! There is no hard and fast rule to start big. Not every start-up can tend to be like Oyo or Airbnb. Keep these few requisites in mind:
1) Start Small: No company has started big initially. It is important to gain experience and exposure to this new market and lifestyle. In order to do so, you can always start as a mere consultant, work as an agency / consultant for a few clients and gain knowledge in the field of your choice, before you start big projects. Any company is like a seed. If you try to rush into growing it, it may just weaken and fall off. It is important that you nurture this new seed with care and compassion, regularly providing the essentials and having a positive outlook. Only then will you get a strong tree, full of leaves and fruits. And you are satisfied as you have borne perfect results. 2) Never go behind funding: Always remember, few Venture Capitalist or Angel investor would want to invest in your company if it is in its ideation stage. Every investor would like to confirm that the company has a strong base and is done with test marketing. If your company shows positive results within a minimum period of time, they will be ready to buy stakes. So it is OK if you start your company with your own investment, however small it may be. Because this investment will provide best results as you will be as careful with this money as you would with a new-born baby. Also you can always start your business within your own town and city before you expand it to other places. This is called dip-stick analysis (You can research more about it online). 3)Don't always try to get in partners beforehand: We all do feel confident when we work with a few people as a team, thinking that we have a helping hand and a strong support. But this is business- you need to be as self reliant as possible. Run Solo. "The more, the merrier" is a concept people use in their business, not for their business. Besides you are the best person you could ever get, make full use of yourself and then invite others. That is why sole proprietors tend to make excessive profits even in a small scale. Building members and teams is essential only when you are ready to expand your market. 4)It is not always about the money: If you think being an entrepreneur will help fetch lots of money, then pack your bags and go back to a placement cell where you will get a 20 lac package or so. Because if this is your intention then it will be immensely difficult for to run your business financially. Businesses surely are profit-oriented, but the entrepreneurs' intention has to be service and satisfaction oriented, and yes this includes personal satisfaction too. As long as creativity and innovation turns you on, you will always work towards building your company and achieving your goals.
5)Go Online: Your startup company needs a physical address and a web address. Don’t wait until the day your business officially launches to get your website off the ground. It’s never too early to start promoting your business.
If customers are searching online for a service in your industry, you want them to know that you exist, even if you’re not quite open for business yet. You can even start generating some income through your website. If it’s applicable, start taking some pre-orders and scheduling appointments. Today, your company can’t survive without an online presence. If you’ve never launched a website before, you can follow my guide to building your first website. It may sound like a tough task, but it’s really not that difficult. Once your website is up and running, you need to expand your digital presence.
Utilize social media platforms like:
● Snapchat
6. Become a marketing expert
If you’re not a marketing expert, you need to become one. You might have the best product or service in the world, but if nobody knows about it, then your startup can’t succeed.
Learn how to use digital marketing techniqueslike:
● Content marketing
● Affiliate marketing
● Email marketing
● Search engine optimization (SEO)
● Social media marketing (SMM)
● Search engine marketing (SEM)
● Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
If you’re starting a small business in a local community, you can take advantage of some older and conventional methods such as:
● Print advertising
● Radio advertisements
● Television
● Billboards
While these methods can be productive, outbound marketing efforts are not as effective as they used to be.
7. Prepare for anything: Expect the unexpected. Launching your startup company won’t be easy, and you need to plan for some hurdles along the way. Don’t let these speed bumps become roadblocks. You can’t get discouraged when something goes wrong. Preserve and push through it. The difficulties that you’ll face while launching your startup company will help prepare you for the tough road ahead. Even after your business is up and running, it won’t necessarily be smooth sailing for the entire lifecycle of your company.
These are 7 key-points you must always remember. Go ahead, make the best use of that life-supporting brain of yours. We never know, you might be the change maker...
- Team ThinkBizz
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