Building a business is no easy task. It is a process that requires a lot of hard work and patience. Many people do not last during the process of building a business. For one reason or another, they do not have all of the qualifying criteria that is needed for a person to become a successful entrepreneur.
This is not a bad thing- everyone is not meant to be an entrepreneur. If you are in the pursuit of entrepreneurship and want to build a successful business, you will need to create a checklist to be sure you meet the criteria. The following criteria below are the necessary attributes you need in order to build a successful business. Read further in order learn more about these necessary attributes.
1. Be inspired
It takes inspiration to be an entrepreneur. You will have some days when things are going great. Then there will be other days when you just feel like throwing in the towel. During these days, you will need to look back to why you became an entrepreneur in the first place. Let that desire for a better life, better pay, or the need to create be your inspiration that drives you to succeed.
2. Have a passion
Build a business you are passionate about. Building a business is a process and you will need to love what you do in order to build it from the ground up.There will be times when money is slow, you can barely find customers, and a job is looking like the better option to make money. If you love what you do, you can overcome these challenges and build your business despite the setbacks you deal with.
3. Educate yourself
Immerse yourself in the world of entrepreneurship. Learn what it takes to build a business and become successful. Gain real experience instead of solely depending on blogs and articles for all of your entrepreneurship education. Also remember that education is a never-ending process. Entrepreneurship is a rapidly changing world, so you do not want to be caught behind trying to catch up.
4. Generate an idea
People have business ideas every day but only few actually pursue these ideas by investing time and money into them. Determine if you have a business idea that will prove to be successful. You do not want to build a business while constantly questioning if you made the right decision.
5. Preliminarily research the idea
Never step into business ownership without understanding what you are getting yourself into. Find out how many other businesses similar to yours are already in operations. Determine the potential for success that exist. You will need to know if your business is actually one that has demand.
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6. Talk to others
Family and friends are okay to seek feedback from, but it is best to gather feedback from strangers and other entrepreneurs. These people will provide you with real advice, instead of holding back their thoughts. You will need real feedback so you can determine if changes will need to be made before going all in on your business idea.
7. Develop the idea
Put your idea into motion by beginning to put some solid planning behind it to bring it into fruition. You will need to work out all possible weaknesses and start to figure out what will need to be included in your strategy in order to build your initial idea into a successful business.
8. Research and start a business plan
This is your strategy that will be used to guide all of your actions while developing your business and when your business is operating. You will need to cover all aspects of your business in detail. Determine how you will market your business, what is your ideal customer, what are your sales goals, and how much money needs to be made yearly. Remember, everything needs to covered in detail in order to build a strong business.
9. Determine your target market
Do not go into your business believing that everyone is your customer. If you believe this, your business will fail miserably because you are not focused on a specific demographic who actually need what you offer and will pay for your product or service. You will find that many businesses fail because their target market has not been defined, therefore their real customers do not know they exist.
10. Come up with a financial model
If you have determined your target market, then you should have also determined the price they can pay for your product or service. You will want to come up with a price model that actually makes money for your business. Too many business owners place their business in a bad position because they are trying to be too price friendly instead of operating a business. Determine how much needs to be made for you to break-even when considering your initial investment and expenses. Then determine how much money needs to be made to make a profit. Understand the difference between revenue and profit.
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11. Come up with an operations model
You will need to determine what is needed to maintain an operational business. This will not only be the actions that are needed from you, but also the resources you need in place to successfully handle these actions.Determine who you will need for support in order to continuously build beyond your initial starting point.
12. Come up with a staffing plan
When you are just starting your business, you may find it difficult to pay people. As your business grows though, you will need to hire people so that you can step away from doing everything by yourself and become an actual business owner. Your main staffing focus should be on a salesperson and a marketing expert. These two key people will help you build your business fairly quickly.
13. Come up with a sales and marketing plan
Marketing in sales are what produce business growth. Marketing is how you attract people to your business, and sales is how you turn interested marketing leads into customers. You will need a well-defined plan that addresses how you will communicate with your target market, and how you convert them into paying customers.
14. Come up with a growth plan
A successful business in one that continually grows as time progresses. Year one may se little growth, but as year two comes along, you need to experience growth in order for your business to have a chance of succeeding. If after three years you are in the same position, your business does not have a good growth plan in place.
15. Decide on a legal structure for your business
You will need to think carefully about the legal structure your business will operate under. Your legal structure plays a big role in the taxes you pay and the protection you have as owner of your business. Research all legal structures so that you can weigh the pros and cons of all the legal entities available to you.
16. Determine what you need to start
Starting out, you may not have all the money you would like or the people in place to support you. You will then need to be resourceful and replace lack of resources with hard work and consistent hustle. It’s possible to take a $100 investment and turn it into a six figure business.
17. Objectively analyze the risk
. Business ownership is a major risk. If you are putting all the money you possess into your business, then you will have to ensure that it is successful, even though this cannot be guaranteed. Determine if you can handle the pressures of these risk because they will always remain in the back of your head when things get a bit rocky.
18. If you’re ready, quit your current job
Think hard and long before making this decision. Once you quit your job, you will depend solely on your business to support your lifestyle. Therefore, you may want to have money saved up that can support you for at least 12 months before you quit your job. It may take months or a year before your business actually starts to make the money that can support both its operations and you.
19. Secure capital
You will need capital to invest in your business to get it going. Trying to secure a loan from a bank will be impossible since your business has no track record aka customers to validate its chance of succeeding. Therefore, you will need to secure funding from yourself, and possibly family and friends if they believe in you and your idea. Tread lightly when taking money from family and friend though. They will expect to be paid back, and you do not want a failed business to turn these personal relationships sour.
20. Seek resources and aid
Your local small business development center is a great place to find resources that will help you navigate through the business development phase. You should also join networking groups that are dedicated to entrepreneurs helping other entrepreneurs succeed.
21. Scout for potential clients
Even if your business is not in operations, it does not mean that you cannot start pitching your business to those individuals or businesses that fit your target customer profile. Work to have customers in place so you can start making money once your business is open. You can even do presells, and have your customers pay for your product or service while it is under development.
22. Register your business name
You will have to do the research to make sure your business name is available to be used. If it is, register that name so no one else can come along and use your business name because it was not registered with Acra.
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23. Get a tax ID
Your tax id is needed to open a business bank account so that your earnings can be reported to the IRS. Your earnings and expenses will determine the amount of taxes your business will have to pay.
24. File your local taxes with Acra
As you can see, taxes will be taken out from every place that can get a piece of the money you generate. If you neglect to pay any of these taxes, your business will be subject to having a lien placed on its finances.
25. Obtain any necessary permits or licenses
The local government your business is operated within may require you to obtain certain licenses and permits in order to operate your type of business. Be sure that you have obtained these documents before you find your business being shut down.
26. Recruit one or more mentors
New entrepreneurs definitely need mentors who can provide them with the insight on what it takes to build a successful business.They can help you avoid certain mistakes and introduce you to key people who can help your business prosper. Seek a mentor when starting a business, and continue adding mentors as you grow as an entrepreneur.
27. Find your key locations
Unless a brick and mortar location is necessary, you do not necessarily need a traditional office. You can work out of your home while building your business.If you believe you need a disciplined structure, look into coworking spaces.
28. Establish a unique brand
You will need to determine what makes your business different from your competitors. Effectively communicate your business’s unique positioning so that you put in the consumer’s mind what separates your business from those with similar products and services.
29. Start building a personal brand
You are the one who sells your business. When you meet people, they are looking to see if you have the qualities that communicate if you are a person that has the confidence and knowledge to be successful. Utilize social media to build your authority. You will also need to do speaking engagements and write articles in order to demonstrate your knowledge of the industry you operate within.
30. Create a test product or service
Create your test product or service and have people use it in order to determine its strengths and weaknesses. You want to depend on real user experience instead of your bias thoughts in order to determine if you have a product or service that will provide value to your customers. If your early adopters say your prototype needs work, go back to the drawing board and improve its deficiencies.
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31. Establish key vendors and partners
You will need the support of other businesses to provide the materials and back-end support to run your business smoothly. Form relationships with these key people, and let them know what is needed from them to make your business successful.
32. Learn and apply your employer responsibilities
You are no longer the employee. You are the person who is responsible for the success of employees within your business. Study what great leaders do. Determine what are your legal responsibilities as a business owner. Do what it takes to be a great business owner and employer.
33. Hire your first employees
Only hire what is needed from the very beginning. As mentioned, marketing and sales should be the positions you want to fill first. These are the employees who are focused on money generating activities.
34. Create a human resource plan and company culture
A company needs structure in order to succeed when a diverse group of people are working together. Communicate the culture that is supposed to be upheld, and let the values of the business be known. Your employees need to understand that you have strict standards that should be followed.
35. Start selling
Selling is your immediate responsibility once your business is up and running. Money has to be made and that only occurs when sales are being made. Set sales goals and work hard everyday to meet those goals. Remember, sales is a numbers game.Touch as many people as possible to meet your sales goals.
36. Launch a website
People are doing searches for businesses online. More payments are being done online. Therefore, you will need to have a strong online presence to create a successful business. When you meet people and tell them about your business, they will ask if you have a card and do you have a website. They will need to see your website to learn more about your business on their own time.
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37. Outline and begin a digital marketing campaign
You will need to invest in content marketing, SEO, PPC marketing, and a strong social media presence. All of these components, when done well, should lead people back to your website or landing pages where they can make a purchase.
38. Network everywhere you go
Every time you step out of the door is an opportunity to tell people about your business. Even if the person you meet does not need what you offer, they are sure to know someone who does. With constant networking, you can build your business from the ground up in a couple of months.
39. Find at least one dependable, long-term client
You do not want to get in the cat and mouse game of trying to find clients. Find a client who will need to hire you for a long-term job. This will give you a little breathing room to secure 2-3 more long-term clients, which is a good start for a new business.
40. Use promotions and discounts to attract new customers
When using this tactic, be sure to communicate that your promotion will expire at a certain time. You do not want people to believe that the price being offered is what will remain. You might want to get clients in the door, but making a profit is your main objective once a solid customer base has been established.
41. Learn from customer feedback and launch the second iteration of your products or services
Always seek the feedback of your customers so that you can demonstrate you are focused on providing them with value. When they say that something could be improved, recognize this feedback and work to make the improvements. This will help you keep long-term customers who remain very loyal to your business.
42. Hire more employees if necessary
As your business grows, hiring additional employees will be necessary. You do not want to overburden your current employees with so much work that their performance begins to suffer.
43. Tweak your operations to become more efficient
Efficiency is key for you to operate a business that is using it time and resources wisely. Always check your operations and analyze where your performance can be adjusted in order to improve efficiency.
44. Ensure your cash flow remains positive, with proper safety measures
Just because you have cash coming into your business, it does not mean your business is making money. If your expenses outweigh your revenue, then you will find it hard to operate a business that can make any money. Reduce your expenses, by doing away with unnecessary things and increase your profits in return.
45. Scale your sales strategy
Go after bigger clients, expand your reach, dig deeper into your existing clients. Never become content with your current position. Always strive to make more money.
46. Scale your marketing strategy
Invest more into your marketing. You need as many people seeing your business as possible so that you can increase the leads contacting your business for more information.
As you can see, it takes a lot to build a successful business. As you went through this checklist, do you believe that you have what it takes to build a successful business? It is always good to be honest with yourself when asking this question. Building a business will require a lot of hard work, which will depend on having great mental toughness. If you are ready to step up to the challenge though, keep this criteria guideline nearby for reference as you are developing your business.Get help
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