With the new year just right around the corner, there is much hope for new beginnings and clean slates. Starting a new business is almost always on everyone’s resolutions list. While launching what could be your future enterprise is an enticing idea, most businesses fail within years from opening because they forget to cover the basics. Here are some items to mull over if you’re planning to start your own business:
Know what you do; do what you love.
This seems like pretty basic common sense when thinking of your business. But sometimes, our decisions are affected by external factors: what’s popular, what’s cheap, what’s sellable. Then, we just plan our way to learning that trade.
You must have a clear understanding of the skills and topics you are exceptionally good at. If you’re starting a business, mastery of it is a must for you to do it credibly. From there, choose which one you feel strongly about–the one that you won’t be able to stop talking about among peers. Because during tough business times, it is your passion for this craft that will keep you holding on.
Test the concept among your circles.
It is also important that people will also love your business idea; after all, it’s not a business without customers. So, test first your idea with your family and friends, most especially with the ones that can relate to what you plan to set up. If you plan to open a food business, create some samples first for them to try. Should you wish to start a service-oriented business, offer your service for a minimal fee/free among your circles to check if it will be received well.
Starting it first with close and trusted people–you can call it your beta test–can help you kick out the kinks and improve your products before you officially open for business.
Eye for the bare minimum
Especially for dream businesses, we have this idea of how it should look like and what are the things it should have.
However, it is unwise to start your business grandly. What you may have spent on additional items could have been used to improve your products or services, which would be the more important aspect to focus on while you’re starting. A business is a continuing process so the smarter way to do it is to start it small–make sure to cover the essentials for you to open and operate. Improvements in your business can come in when you have already recouped your initial investment.
It’s okay to take a smart loan.
But maybe, your business plan requires big-ticket purchases to properly start. In this case, you should consider borrowing funds from financial institutions. Since you are using the loan for investing in your business, your projected additional income can take care of repaying your installments in your first months of operation
Most successful businesses have started on borrowed funds and even still owe liabilities today! It would be hard, not to mention very risky, to operate a business using all your savings. To expand your net worth, you would have to acquire additional assets–the easy and smart way to do that is through financing.
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