In business, there are no limits to who can become the next big entrepreneur. You don’t necessarily need a college degree nor do you need to be rich in order to be successful, let alone start your own business. However, what you need is a strong plan and drive to see it through.
If you have no idea where to start your business, we’re here to help you!
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Evaluate yourself
Why do you want this? Why do you want to start your own business? The first rule of business is knowing exactly why you’re having one. Use this question as your guide to what kind of business you want to have.
To help you, here are a few questions to ask yourself in order to help you figure out the type of business you want to start.
- What can you offer?
- What are you great at?
- How much are you willing to wager?
- How much capital do you need?
- What kind of lifestyle do you want to live?
Your answers will create a foundation for everything you do moving forward, so it’s better to know the truth now than later.
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What’s your business idea?
Don’t have a business idea yet? An Entrepreneur article suggests 8 ways on how to come up with a business idea. Here are the takeaways:
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- What’s next for you? How do you plan to keep up with technological advancements? How will that advancement change the business landscape?
- What will it help fix? Your business should be something that helps alleviate a problem.
- Is it an innovation? Your business may not be unique but you can innovate it. For example, can you apply it to a different industry? A fresh set of eyes from a new perspective can make all the difference.
- Is it efficient? How do you make a business that isn’t unique to become cheaper, faster, or better overall?
Meet new people and ask them questions, seek advice from other entrepreneurs, research your ideas online, and see what method works best for you.
- Do your market research.
Start researching your potential competitors or partners within the market. List down the objectives you need to complete your research and how you’ll be able to achieve the methods you think would best help your business. You can conduct interviews, focus group discussions, surveys, and other means of how to get input.
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Feedback.
Allow people to interact with your product/service. This allows your brand to get the inside scoop on what people actually think of your product/business and allows you to know how you can improve your business.
By pushing out a product, getting feedback, and then adapting before you push out the next product, you can constantly improve and make sure you stay relevant.
How do you handle feedback? We have five steps on how to handle it like a pro.
- Stop and think. Whatever you hear, make sure to not jump into any conclusions and think about what you just heard.
- Say ‘thank you.’ It doesn’t matter if the feedback was positive or negative. More often than not, those who give you negative feedback are the ones you should actually be the ones you should be thinking because they’re the ones who give you the feedback you need to improve.
- Seek for truth. If someone gives you criticism or feedback, make sure that what they’re giving you is actual feedback and something that can help your business. Remember that these people are trying to help, and they might just be pointing out a smaller problem or solution that you should look into further.
- Remain curious. Don’t be afraid to listen and ask what else you can improve on.
- Ask questions. When asking, figure out why someone liked or didn’t like something and how could you make it better.
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Legalities.
Never forget to get the legalities out of the way. This should be one of the first things you settle in your business. This way, you the paranoia of someone stealing your great business idea can be taken care of. A quick checklist of things to shore up might include:
- Secure Business Name with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Open Corporate Bank Account
- Register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
- Register with the Social Security System (SSS)
- Register with PhilHealth
- Register with Pag-IBIG
- Obtain a Mayor’s or Business Permit
It’s best to consult with a lawyer before delving into anything regarding your business.
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What’s your business plan?
A business plan is a written description of how your business will evolve from when it starts up to the finished product.
To start you off, here’s what we suggest for your business plan:
- Title page
- Executive summary
- Business description
- Market strategies
- Competitive analysis
- Design and development plan
- Operations and management plan
- Finance factors
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Where do you get the funds?
You can fund your business in a few different ways. Here, we’ll talk about the 10 ways to fund your business. Figure out which one works best for you.
- Self-funding
- Start pitching
- Small-business grant
- Crowdfunding
- Investors
- Angel Investor
- Venture Capital Investors
- Startup incubator
- Partnership
- Trade equity
- Bank loan
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Develop your product or service.
After preparing everything for your business, it’s time to focus on what you’ll offer. When crafting the product, you should focus on two things: simplicity and quality.
When you are ready to do product development and outsource some of the tasks make sure you:
- Retain control of your product and learn constantly. This is something you should be doing for your business. If you leave the development up to someone else, you might not get the vision you want for your business.
- Checks and balances to reduce your risk.
- Hire specialists. Hire people who will do the exact same thing you would do, doing exactly what is asked of them.
The only way for you to start learning about your business is by learning as much as you can about the production process.
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Build your team.
If you’re planning to build your business up, you’re certainly going to need the help of a team. You’re going to have to find someone who’ll be a good fit.
- Your goals. Make sure that everyone in your team understands their role and mission to the improvement of the business.
- Hire well. The hiring process is tedious but finding the right fit for your business will be worth it. Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. It’s the future of your business that we’re talking about after all.
- Build a strong company culture. Great company culture is more than just respect or employee empowerment. Improvement of company culture includes training and membership.
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Location.
When looking for a location for your business, it’s important to note a few factors before choosing your business location. Here are a few things to find out:
- Demographics.
- Traffic
- Accessibility and parking
- Proximity to other establishments
- Surrounding competition
- Local ordinances
- Overhead costs (rent, utility, etc.)
Once you know what to look for and it’s time to start searching for a place that fits all of your qualifications, these four tips can help.
- Think on your own timeframe. Landlords are starting to offer shorter-term office rentals. Don’t get stuck in a long-term lease if it doesn’t make sense for your business.
- Play the whole field. There are all sorts of places to use — co-working spaces, office business centers, sublets and more. Keep your options open.
- Click around town. You might be able to find the perfect place by using online resources.
- Do the deal on your terms. Again, you have options. Don’t get roped into something that makes you uncomfortable.
After you have a location, you can focus on the aesthetic. You can check out a few design ideas here.
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Grow your business.
The most important part of any business is making sure it grows and continues to grow. No growth plan will matter if you don’t have the key attributes that all growing companies have in common.
Know how to market your business. Invest in making sure that your existing customers come back. In today’s time, there are sure to be hundreds of businesses that offer something similar to what you do. You’ll always be competing for these customers so make sure to keep researching the market and what they want/need. Hire good people and make a superior product and you’re sure to be on your way to your business’ success.
It will be an inevitable thing to put your business on social media and to advertise/market there because the audience in this platform is fairly large and reaches a global scale faster than traditional marketing/advertising. If you do take the chance to put your business on social media always remember to remain calm, to exert your individuality, and to build relationships that will help you and your business.
Social media has built a reputation especially in communities of design. It’s a great place to grow your network and be able to share your work and personality to reach potential clients.
It’s a daunting place wherein deadlines and expectations are always present so if you’re a creative professional using social media, here are some ways on how you can avoid feeling overwhelmed.
- Content creation
Get into the habit of content creation. This is when you only share what feels right and what feels authentic to you. You’re not on social media to please other people. You’re there to show what you have. If you’re running a business that has its audience in social media then you can start curating your content by only sharing what you think will benefit your brand.
Lessen the sharing and start your original content journey. This is important because if you aren’t enjoying what you’re doing or what you’re seeing on your own feed then something must be wrong. You’ll get even more annoyed knowing what you’re posting on your own personal/business profile isn’t something you want to see nor is it something you created.
- Take your time
We all start from somewhere and when growing your social media account, it really takes patience. Clients don’t come and visit your profiles the moment you post your first poster or your first deal/sale. You have to build your following first. You ought to know who you are and you target your posts. The connections you make can eventually lead you to make a sale, get you into events, conferences, and even future projects and collaborations.
You don’t want to rush into growing your business, right? Take your time and grow it!
- You do you
It will be a difficult process to making a name for yourself whether it’s a personal brand or a branding for your business. Everyone’s moving at their own pace and taking the time to build their own brand and so should you.
Focus on how you can improve yourself and stop comparing yourself to others.
- Building relationships
There are different ways on how you can build relationships online. You can try utilizing the different messaging feature of your chosen platform. By utilizing this feature, you can reach more prospective clients and potentially land more projects. The whole point of social media is being social and building relationships.
Social media wasn’t meant to be a way to increase the level of your anxiety because of the pressure of keeping up with others. You should take advantage of the platform and see it as a means of showing more of what you are and what you can do.
Artzap Studio offers professional social media management services for businesses. Should you want to get our services for whatever needs you may have, you may contact us at 7622-2755 / 8851-8829 or email us at inquire@artzapstudio.com.
