Starting and growing a business is a real challenge, and there are so many success stories you will read from all over the world. Many of them claim to have made a success of themselves, but when you dig a little deeper, you often tend to find out that they came from money and started with favorable loans from wealthy parents. But most don't have these advantages and still want to start a business and make a success of it. If this sounds like you, then here is the guide to show you the hints and tips you need to be able to grow a business from nothing.
It’s true, there is absolutely no substitute for experience, and unfortunately, none of us are born with it. We usually need to acquire it by trial and error, making mistakes along the way, and learning from them. The one way to get a jump on this in some way is to get some good advice. But how to get it? There are so many supposed business gurus offering empty advice and with little experience behind it. The advice here is always based on business experience and tech expertise, and you can access our content in various ways through the podcast, books, online shows, and even our coaching services to help you on your journey to success.
Everything that is going to be successful in this world doesn't happen without a plan. Hard work, a good attitude, and perseverance are all essential, but if they are utilized without a proper direction pre-arranged, then they will be all for nothing. A plan must take in all aspects of the business. You need to sort out the start-up phase, where you will get funds and resources from? Who are your customers, and how are they going to find you? As well as these points, you should make realistic financial projections based on evidence as far as possible. If you assume you are going to make millions in sales in your first year, that’s fine, but you should be able to show where this revenue is expected to come from.
In every business, some things are your creations, the business name, maybe products or services, even works of art. Whatever it is that makes your business yours that you have worked so hard to create must be protected, and there are various legal mechanisms to achieve this. Product and company names should be trademarked; this happens in pretty much all industries and has done throughout history, check out these famous trademark cases for some fascinating examples.
Wasted opportunities are one of the most common reasons for failures. Therefore, we conduct market research, our business may be great, it could be a fantastic service, but you need to know who it's excellent for? An app that tracks where the most exciting people go clubbing and updates you on where you might enjoy based on past preferences would be great for the under 30s but not so much for those in the over 75s category. You could argue that some veterans of the clubbing scene would disagree and complain that they are still going strong. But marketing is a numbers game, and these people are outliers (a rare example). As such, you should concentrate on advertising and promotion away from that group and towards the primary target audience to achieve maximum conversion.
Every product needs distribution, and it may be physical, it may be virtual. What we mean is that it needs to get from you to the customer. Logistics are essential, if it's an app or an online service, you need to be sure you know how to get it onto the relevant app store. If it's physical, is it mail order from a website? Are you going to sell it in stores? Which model makes enough revenue to cover your costs of production and turn a profit?
You need a promotional strategy to grow a business from nothing. This involves everything we've talked about so far. It should be chronological and include how many customers and how much in sales revenue you will need to have achieved at key points. This will allow you to monitor, in real-time, how well you are doing, and whether you are on track for success. This way, you can alter your course or adjust to prevent the possibility of disaster if things aren’t going to plan.
