How To Start A Business

Throughout the world, some people are looking for a different way to earn money. Establishing a business and becoming your own boss is one option. And in this article, we will look at how to start a business and what you need to do.

Why Start a Business?

There are numerous reasons why you might want to start a business. Here is a list of reasons.

    • To be your own boss and determine when you work and what work you complete.
    • To be in control of your earnings.
    • Earn the money that you feel you’re worth and not have to have a cut given to your boss.
    • To share a passion you have with others in the world.
    • Compliment earnings you make with existing employment (side hustle).
    • For a better work-life balance.
    • Escape office politics.

Whatever the reason, you need to learn how to start a business the right way. So many businesses fail and that is often because they don’t take the right steps in the initial moments.

How to Start a Business

Here are the steps that you need to follow when you want to know how to start a business.

Step 1 - Decided Why you Want to Start a Business

The first thing that you need to understand is why you want to start a business. Just because you can is not going to be the motivation you need to be successful. Business owners, especially small business owners can often struggle financially, mentally, and socially because of the extra work they have to put in to make their business a success.

The results are worth the extra effort, but not having the motivation can sometimes mean that you will give up hope and quit. Motivation can include better family life, better income, enjoying work more, etc.

Step 2 - Decide on the Business Structure

Now you need to decide on the business structure you’re going to use. Are you going to be a sole proprietary, LLC, or Private Limited company? There are advantages and disadvantages to all the different types of business that you can form, so do your research.

Step 3 – Create a Basic Business Plan

Now you need to create a basic business plan. An online business can be harder in some ways because there is no physical traffic passing by your office/store to see what you have to offer. You have to do lots of marketing to get noticed.

A basic business plan should include what platforms you’re going to use (which website platform, social media platforms, etc.) and then you also want to know how you’re going to reach audiences. Your marketing plan should also include costs, such as advertising, website building, hosting, domain costs, and also software allowances.

You also need to look at supplies, licenses, and stock. Having costings for each of these for a total budget of what you need.

Step 4 – Create a Brand

Now you need to create a brand. You will need to choose a name for your brand, this can include using an online business name generator. For any brand name that you create, it is highly recommended that you do a business name search for the name to ensure that it is not in use.

In addition to this, you should also look at searching Google and social media to ensure that the name is not being used by other brands that haven’t registered the name.

Buy your domain and register your social media accounts as soon as you’ve settled on a brand and checked you can use it. You will also need to get your bank accounts and other helpful information set up now.

Step 5 – Raise Funds

Funding is one of the most important parts of your business. You should have an estimated amount of what you need from step 3. It is highly recommended to multiply this by about 10% to ensure you have enough for hidden costs.

Raising funds can be done through friends & family, loans, grants, and personal savings. You might also want to try crowdfunding which can help you find an audience too.

The average amount that an online eCommerce business needs is about $40,000 in the first year, although some businesses are set up on $5,000. When dropshipping, you might be able to start your business on much less.

Step 6 – Build your Website

Now you should build your website. You might have already started this if you are crowdfunding or looking to attract investors for your business. Building your website can take a week or two, especially if you’re adding numerous products.

Before making your website live, do user tests on the website. You might want to check that you can take payments, which can cause embarrassment if you get customers who phone you up because they can’t make a payment.

Step 7 – Market your Brand

All while you’re doing this, you should be marketing your brand. Be sure to add an email subscription option on your website. Email helps to generate a significantly higher number of sales than social media in most niches and getting an email address ensures that you build a more successful delivery network.

Marketing can also be done through SEO. However, for the first three to six months, your rank will be significantly lower because of the Google New Domain penalty. You can come off this earlier and offset this by demonstrating you’re a trustworthy brand.

Another part of marketing is to leverage existing customers. Ensure you ask for reviews and word of mouth. Most consumers will purchase if they’ve been recommended your brand either through a review or word of mouth by another customer.

In your early days, don’t be tempted to use PPC. While they can sometimes offer good results, unless you’re going to get a significant budget behind a campaign, you are more likely going to make a loss.

Be sure that you’re listing yourself on Google Maps as well. While you might not want visits to your home while running your online store, it can help with SEO.

Final Word: How to Start a Business

Above we’ve gone into the detailed steps on how to start a business. This is not a challenging or hard process, but it can take time. Make sure you’re going about it the right way by demonstrating that you have the right intentions to give your business the best start in life.