Saturday 21 July 2012

7 Startup Tips For The Entrepreneur

Probably one of the most daunting aspects about becoming an entrepreneur is knowing how to startup. There are so many things to consider and it can be difficult to know where you need to start to increase your chances of success. Below I have listed some hints and tips which any startup needs to consider.

1. Be Realistic
This is perhaps one of the most important points any aspiring entrepreneur needs to consider before they startup. If you are not realistic you are likely to fail soon in to your startup due to not achieving the quick results and success you wanted. It is very easy as an aspiring entrepreneur to think that your idea is so good it will be an immediate success. However this is very rarely the case and a lot of hard work is needed to ensure your startup idea is marketed. If people do not know it exists it is not going to succeed. Do not expect that you just need to open for business and the floodgates will open with eager customers ready to buy your product or service. Remember it doesn't matter how big of a bang a tree makes when it falls if there is nobody around it won't get heard. One effective way to help you be realistic is through setting goals. To gain tips on becoming an effective goal setting and ensure you remain realistic click here.

2. Be Prepared to Learn
Being prepared to learn is important for two reasons. The first reason being the more you are prepared to learn the more money you will save. And let's be honest one of the most important things for a new business is cashflow. If you can learn how to market and promote your company efficently it could save you a lot of money. Remember though that if you are completely new to these areas it will likely take longer to do it yourself than paying someone who is experienced. So, again remember you need to be realistic about what you can do, if you can do it well and how long it will take you.

The second part of this tip is coachability. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur new to business you will need to be coachable if you are going to succeed. You will need to accept that there will be many areas you are not aware of and will need to be become skilled in. Again, this does not happen over night so give yourself a realistic opportunity to achieve these things.

3. Evaluate Your Market
It is important that before you enter a market with your business that you evaluate. Examine the competition you will be up against. What are their strengths and weaknesses and what opportunities are available as a result. Knowing what opportunities are available could allow you to develop a USP (see tip 4). However also ensure you analyse what your biggest threats are in the market. If you want to startup as a hairdresser and there are already 14 hairdressers in your small town then attracting customers is your biggest risk. One key thing to remember if you are entering a competitive market is the successful businesses are likely going to be able to afford to cut costs due to greater cashflow. This is an important factor to be aware of. Entering a competive market is very very difficult for a new business. As an aspiring entrepreneur to do not be naive to this. If you analyse a market and feel it is very crowded you may need to go back to the drawing board and develop a new business idea. Remember how important it is to be realistic. One effective way of evaluating an idea is through a SWOT analysis click here to read more about SWOT analysis. If you feel the market is too crowded you may need to create some more business ideas. My Squidoo Lens business  "Top Tips to Create a Business Idea - For the Aspiring Entrepreneur" is a useful resource to gain hints and tips on creating business ideas.

4. Consider Your USP
The JourneyIf as an aspiring entrepreneur you have already started to research business ideas you will likely be aware that you need a USP (unique selling point). A USP is of particular importance if you are entering a competitive market. However it is also an important part of establishing yourself as a business. A USP means you are offering something that others in the market don't. This will allow you to start building a fanbase. But beware you can not just have a USP for the sake of it. Your USP needs to be something that solves a problem and that people want. Otherwise it will not add any value to your business. It is important to remeber that your USP may not remain for unique or even for very long. What you need it for is to help you establish your business so it is in a position to succeed. And remember if someone else starts to offer what you offer there is no reason why you can't develop another USP to ensure you stay one step ahead of the competition. Click here for some tips on how to be creative.

5. Will People Buy This?
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur you are likely to think that your business idea is brilliant. However the measure of any idea is whether people are prepared to pay for what you are offering. If people are not prepared to pay for it then you need to have a rethink. One way to explore this is to use the internet and research people's views on what you are offering. Some questions to ask yourself regarding this is - does it add convenience to peoples lives? Does it solve a problem people need solving?

6. What is my price?
Setting your price can be very difficult as an aspiring entrepreneur especially if you have a new business idea which is different to others. Overpricing your service or product could mean potential customers are put off whereas underpricing your product or service could mean you are losing out on potential profit. You may find "10 Tips on How to Price Your Product or Service" by Michelle Knudson published on voices.yahoo.com a very useful article.

7. Cashflow
One golden rule of thumb when you start out is to overestimate your expenditure and underestimate your revenue. This will ensure that you are realistic about how much cashflow you have. This is a very important tip to consider. Remember many businesses that fail do so within the first 12 months with one of the biggest if not the biggest reason being lack of cashflow. If as an aspiring entrepreneur you do not consider cashflow your business idea is unlikely to succeed. Not because it is not good enough but because of lack of cash.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing this start up tips. I will surely need this because I am building my own business and I want to improve this as soon as possible.

    Startup

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