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Taking Your First Steps Towards a New Business Adventure

Your New Career SignStarting a new business truly is an adventure, with the risk, chance of failure and benefits of success all in play. Before you sign on the dotted line and commit your time and resources to a new venture, you’ll need to cover some basic ground first.

Evaluate Yourself

Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. While there’s no guaranteed way to tell whether you’re cut out for being your own boss or not, you can take a look at your current work habits, lifestyle and confidence levels to make your own personal assessment of your likelihood of success.

Research

You must research your idea, the relevant industry, your potential customers and your competitors as thoroughly as possible – to fulfil this, a Companies House research is usually an ideal first step.

Even if you’re wholly committed to your vision, you’re likely to hit rough waters if your idea fails to provide a product or service in demand. Your target customer needs to be able to afford what you’re selling and you must be able to meet the level of service from your competitors or distinguish your business in some way to survive.

While some areas of study are obvious, others, such as the country’s economic forecast for your intended target customer group, are not. You’re essentially investigating all the relevant data that may affect the price, industry placement and promotion of your product or service to create a solid foundation for your company.

Develop a Plan

Drafting a solid business plan is necessary for financing and gives you a snapshot of your goals and ideas in a neat and organized format. The most important section as far as investors and lenders go is often your executive summary, which is comprised of your plan’s highlights. Review your business plan and compare it to your research to ensure your idea is sound and your strategy makes sense given what you’ve learned.

Reinvent the Wheel or Buy In

You’ll need to decide whether you’re going to buy a business that’s already in place or build one entirely from the ground up. Establishing a business from the ground up is challenging, more difficult to finance and will take longer to generate a profit but will be completely your own design. If you buy an established business, you’re taking on less risk and will have access to an existing customer base, but the business model is already fixed and the upfront cost may be higher than if you start your own.

Posted in: Business

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