5 Tips to Starting A Successful Business
If you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life. When it comes to starting your own business, it’s usually fueled by passion – to make a difference, to follow your heart, to have more freedom.
As exciting as it can be to create your own empire, getting started can be a challenge. Sometimes unexpected obstacles are thrown your way and getting started can become much more complicated than you anticipated. So when you are taking that first step, start simple and check out these five tips for successfully starting your own business:
1. Be Passionate
Starting your own business is an investment. It requires a lot of time, finances and determination. The first step to this process is to make sure you have chosen a field or a product that you love. Challenges will come your way and you may have to sacrifice time in your personal life to see the business through. Your passion is what will drive you to create more, put in more hours, and never see working as a compromise from your personal life. Choose to do what you love.
2. Network
In business it’s all about who you know, not always what/how much you know. Networking is key. People can open doors for your business and sometimes you may meet someone unexpectedly that could change the future of your company. Take every opportunity you can to meet people; take every business card that is offered to you; take special care to network with people (especially when you least expect it).
3. Create a Business Plan
Structure is key. Creating a business plan will help you establish goals, define your target audience, outline expenses and turn your idea into a reality. As your company grows, you can redefine your plan and alter it depending on your company’s direction. However initially, you want to know the direction you are going in and the initial goals you want to meet. Don’t just jump in head first, take your time and determine the steps you want to take forward.
4. Trial Phase
As with most new projects or products, it’s better to have a trial period before you go full throttle. This phase of testing will help you figure out the areas that need improvement and, on the extreme side, if this is even a plan you should pursue. Additionally, use this trial period to check out your competitors (if you have them) to see what is working and what is not working. It’s important to learn from others (both their triumphs and mistakes), so you can step around them on your way to the top.
5. Accept Guidance
It is never a bad thing to ask for help. If you are in over your head or don’t feel like you are on the path to success, ask for help. Find a mentor or a consultant that can help redefine your goals; speak to a bank about financial loans for small businesses; consider hiring an employee to delegate tasks to; and ask friends and family for emotional support. Even though you are starting a business by yourself, it doesn’t mean that you are completely on your own. There are so many resources available to new businesses, so take advantage of them.
At CommonGrounds Workplace, our spaces are full of entrepreneurs. Having your office within a coworking space will help you with networking (see tip #3) and finding mentors (see tip #5) who can relate and advise you on how to successfully run your own business. At the end of the day, having a team behind you, consisting of people who support you and whom you can collaborate, with is one of the greatest resources you can have.
