Now is a good time as any to start turning that business idea you’ve been obsessing about into a reality. A report by Guidant Financial shows that as many as 78% of all small businesses are raking in good profits. By following the right steps to start a business, you too can join the ranks of those profit-making businessmen and women.
You’ll Never Get Anywhere Unless You Start
If you’ve read the amazing story of Naa-Sakla Akuete, and how she founded her own company, you know that Africans are shaking up the world of small businesses now more than ever before.
Our brothers and sisters have gone to foreign lands and started businesses either in pursuit of their dreams and passions or as a solution to specific problems and challenges. What’s even more encouraging is how they’ve managed to doggedly keep those businesses moving, in spite of all odds.
But starting an African restaurant, fashion shop, beauty& hair salon, or any other African specialty business outside your home country isn’t easy. And success only comes after working hard and risking a lot.
All the same, you must take that first step in setting up your business. We have put together 6 preliminary steps that will get your business started on the right footing.
Starting Your Business 101
When some accomplished entrepreneurs tell their success stories, you may sometimes think that starting a business is easy. The truth, however, is that about 30% of all businesses fail in their first year, and half of them die out entirely within 5 years.
Nevertheless, you can easily improve your chances of success if you get the steps right when starting your business.
So, let’s consider some of the vital steps of starting a successful business.
1. Know and Understand Your Business Idea
While you may pivot to a different tangent or follow different steps when starting a business, it’s really important to have absolute clarity on the idea before investing time and money on it.
So, take some time to reflect on:
- Why you’re launching that specific business
- What problems and challenges your business will be solving
- Whether there’ll be a demand for what your business offers
- There’s a need and demand for what your business intends to offer
- The potential market for your business is big enough to attract a profit
- People are actually willing to pay money for whatever it is that you’ll be offering
- Your pricing is enough to offset operating costs and also turn a profit
- Other businesses are offering similar products or services
- Your business can compete favorably with similar businesses in the market
Remember, speed and execution can be valuable during the initial stages of starting a business. Thus, you might also want to think about whether you can get the business up and running fast enough.
2. Research
A good number of business start-ups fail because their owners failed to research and back up their assumptions about the business idea.
It’s therefore wise to do some preliminary research into whether:
