business success

How to launch a business from scratch

Do you have a solid idea for a startup business? If you want to succeed with your new business idea, follow these steps.

Do you have a solid idea for a startup business? If you do, you’re likely wondering if it’s possible to launch a business from scratch.

The good news is that you can start your own business even without a ton of experience. The first steps should be all about research and planning.

If you want to succeed with your new business idea, follow our steps below.

It Begins With Your Business Idea

Before doing anything else, you must come up with a good business idea. Doing so includes researching consumer needs and trends in the market. Keep an eye on local events.

Would your product or service be able to address these customer needs? How much competition would you face?

You also need to figure out what you’re capable of doing on your own. Start with your skill set and determine what you can handle and when you might need someone else to perform certain tasks. For instance, you may need to hire a marketer or a web design company to make a professional business website.

Follow a Business Plan

Creating a business plan is vital for startups as it outlines your objectives and how you plan on meeting those goals. In short, a business plan will help to keep you on track.

You’ll need a solid business plan if you’re going to seek investment. Not only does having one make you look more professional, but it helps solidify your goals and tells investors you have a plan and a strategy for success.

Finance Your Business

There are multiple ways you could finance your new business. Each option has its pros and cons, and you may want to consider combining different financing methods for the best outcome.

Here are a few to consider and research:

Bank loans
Crowdfunding
Friends and family
Angel investors
SBA loans
Personal savings

If you’re strapped for finances, you might want to consider bootstrapping. This method involves using only your personal savings and working hard to make your first sales. Once you have some money coming in from sales, you can put that back into your business.

During this step, you also want to make a budget. When you launch a business, you may need to cut back on other expenses, so be prepared.

Get a Business Coach

There’s no doubt that launching a startup company is tough work, and it’s always easier to make your business succeed with help. If you don’t have a lot of experience running a business, you should consider investing in a business coach.

Take a look at this Business Made Simple Coach to get started. With help from a certified coach, you’ll get the clarity and guidance you need to take your business from an idea to a successful company.

A business coach can walk you through planning, marketing, creating mission statements, and more.

Learning More on How to Launch a Business From Scratch

While these tips are only the beginning, they should help you on your journey so you can launch a business successfully.

You’ve taken the first steps, but that doesn’t mean you should stop learning! Now is the time to keep researching and refining your skills. To learn more tips on how to build a business, check out some of our other resources on the site.

Are you doing everything you can as an entrepreneur to improve your company?

Here are some ways to cultivate success that you may not have considered.

Launching a startup may mean you are fulfilling a life-long dream. However, owning and operating your personal business is not only exciting but also challenging. As the owner, you will want to do everything possible to ensure your company is successful. Here are some ways to cultivate success that you may not have considered.

Establish a Professional Reputation

People in your area will look to you as a leader in your industry. They expect you to have important information about your company’s niche and the products that are sold not only by you but by your competitors. Become informed by reading business publications. Post a profile on business-centered social media like LinkedIn. Write opinion pieces for area newspapers, and offer TV and radio interviews about your company or the industry.

Join Area Business Groups

Make time to join the chamber of commerce and civic groups like the Rotary or Lions. You will learn from experienced business people who may be willing to become your mentor or an informal adviser. You can also get involved in business activities and trade shows that will help to provide linkages to established businesses with which you can do business. As other company executives and administrators become aware of your business and your interest in excelling, they may send customers your way.

Register for an Entrepreneur Summit

Keep in touch with your local small business administration or a similar association to learn about key events for networking with professionals and showcasing your wares. Plan to participate in an entrepreneur summit as a speaker or as a visitor to partake of the wealth of knowledge and experience that will be part of such an event. You can learn a great deal from the pros as well as expand your reach and influence to professional colleagues and peers.

Invest in the Community

Give back to the community where your business is located by donating time or money for important causes. Host a fundraiser for a sick child with medical bills, or sponsor a youth sports team by displaying the team’s banners and colors. Caring for your community is an excellent way to show customer appreciation and attract interest from prospective local customers while making a difference in the lives of members of your community.

Building your business is not just about making and selling quality products. It is also about developing expertise and networking with the public as you support their interests.

How to improve customer experience for your business

There are multiple ways to improve the customer experience as this depends a lot on what kind of business you run. But there are a few general techniques you can bear in mind to improve in this area.

It is no secret that when it comes to business success, customer service is king. It doesn’t matter if you have the best products in the world; without an excellent customer journey, your business will find it difficult to reach its intended pinnacle of achievement.

There are multiple ways to improve the customer experience as this depends a lot on what kind of business you run. But there are a few general techniques you can bear in mind to improve in this area. Read on for more info.

Streamline Cross-Channel Interaction

Your business will undoubtedly have multiple touchpoints for customer interaction. If one of these fails anywhere in the chain, you could lose a customer forever. One way around this is to ensure that certain channels are used for specifics purposes.

For example, many businesses use chatbots for general customer queries. These bots can then refer the customer to a live agent if the query is more specific. This helps streamline the customer experience because their query is addressed in multiple ways. Also, with the shift to remote working, you may want to invest in VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services as it allows your employees to answer telephone queries from home. If you’re new to this technology, experts at outsourceIT can help you set this up.

Invoke Curiosity

Being curious essentially means learning about your customer. What are they interested in? What makes them tick? What do they want? While this seems like an obvious point, many businesses spend too much time on product delivery and less on what their customers truly want. By being curious, you open a dialogue to learn more about their spending habits, preferences, and desires. If customers know you care about them, they will be more likely to buy your products.

Become Obsessive

It’s all well and good to care about customer service, but the businesses that truly reign on top are obsessive about it. Apple and Amazon, for example, can credit their enormous success on this very premise. A sift through interviews with Jeff Bezos or Steve Jobs on YouTube will likely bring up a conversation about their undying commitment to the customer experience. If you can become obsessive about delivering top service to your customers, you will help your brand stand out in today’s heavily saturated and competitive market.

Personalize

Consumers nowadays want to be treated like people, not like numbers in a box. But personalization can be a tricky one to get right since your customers want individual attention, but without it being stalky or creepy. When done correctly, though, personalization can go a long way to boosting your sales. Userlike.com suggests that you implement ways that make personalization less dependent on gathering consumer data and more on actual conversations.

Audit

Auditing can be essential for learning whether your customer experience is hitting the mark. Whether it’s sending out surveys, chatting with customers, or analyzing analytics, you’ll want to audit your customer service experience and continuously improve on it. A detailed look into your marketing (i.e., what content your customers are visiting most) and sales can reveal a lot about how well you’re performing. But perhaps best of all is asking for direct feedback from your customers to find out how satisfied they are with the experience.

No matter what industry you may be in, customer experience is vital for the lifeblood of your business. Heed the above tips and ensure that your customers keep coming back for more.

Outsource Your Customer Services

If you are a small business that doesn’t have all the resources to streamline your customer service operation, why not consider outsourcing the whole process? There are lots of affordable answering services available for businesses of sizes. They can provide inbound, outbound, and sales services for a variety of different industries.”

7 Ways to improve on your startup that will lead to investment increase

There is something to be said to gaining experience through real-life problem-solving in your business ventures, but you can save time by not learning lessons the hard way and fast-track your path to business success.

Experience is largely listed as the single greatest attribute an entrepreneur can cultivate any time they begin a new path to improve the overall odds of success. While that isn’t exactly groundbreaking, the data behind the difference that experience makes is significant:

Founders who have successfully cultivated a business previously have a 30% higher chance of success in their next venture.
Founders who failed at prior businesses have a 20% chance of succeeding the second time around.
First-time entrepreneurs have an 18% chance of success.

Spend Investment Capital Wisely

Again, not groundbreaking advice, but you’d be surprised that this is one of the most common pitfalls for a young company managed by an inexperienced entrepreneur. Early on, companies can be funded through small groups of angel investors, but it’s often the entrepreneur’s own savings.

If you’re fortunate enough to gain investors and raise investment capital through private funding, don’t let it lull you into a false sense of security. This influx of money can help you beef up your team to meet aggressive growth goals, but it can also help you spend ahead of need. Aggressive expansion timelines are more often than not overly optimistic, which can burn valuable resources much more rapidly than a young company can afford.

Most industries already have formulas to work through this, so do your research. Whatever money you end up asking for should be completely planned for and put to good use.

Don’t be scared to invest in your team, but focus on A-players who can play multiple roles early on. Choose quality talent over quantity.

Protect Company Assets

If you’re inventing, intellectual property can be invaluable. Spend early and often on protecting your property. Legal can be invaluable in the product-based business and even in service-based or knowledge-based industries to protect intellectual property.

If you’re attempting to acquire capital, you want investors to feel secure in the fact that their money is going to be relatively protected and that the capital is going to good use. Be prepared to know if patents or trademarks exist and who owns what. Giving investors an understanding of what and how you’ve reached product-market fit is important as well.

Spend your money on attorneys who can provide protection to company assets. Hire a lawyer to draft a solid client contract- poorly worded contracts will cost you.

Spend Time Creating Revenue-Driven Solutions

Services or technology that easily demonstrates ROI in a direct manner is low hanging fruit for young companies. Plenty of companies succeed by focusing on solutions that drive savings to their clients, prospects get more value (and buy more frequently) when solutions are revenue-driven.

Understand Your Timeline

When working on bringing transformative technology to the market, it’s important to remember that often, this solution is disruptive. This can create a situation where users have to adjust their systems and processes in order to experience the best results possible.

This is challenging- people don’t like change. No one does. But big and meaningful change takes time which can present a challenge, as clients won’t experience results immediately. If your business is built around disruptive tech, it’s important to set expectations at both the client level and the boardroom level. The potential for reluctant transition with clients is absolutely there and you must set reasonable expectations at all levels about delayed returns.

These are not easy conversations to have as they’re difficult realities to accept when real dollars are being spent and you’re burning through capital every month.

Invest In PR Early

Many founders consider public relations and media outreach to be fluff- something that is a lower priority until you have a bigger budget. However, securing placement in reputable publications when you first hit the market can help a young company in a number of ways. Targeted exposure is extremely effective in getting the word out, driving an initial wave of leads.

Articles in respected publications can enhance buy-in and help prospects convince stakeholders to take a leap with new tech or a new process. Press can help substantiate timeliness, but more importantly, it can help educate prospects.

Build Outside Relationships

Building relationships with third parties will allow you to establish relationships that can vouch for your work. This provides ongoing value for a young company and its emerging technology or services. This can take the form of validating success through white papers, third-party research, or case studies.

Have Reasonable Expectations

People assume that launching a tech company brings overnight success and riches, but it doesn’t typically work that way. Most things of value take time and it’s incredibly important to remain resilient and flexible. Learn quickly from failures and mistakes and then regroup as necessary to press on towards success.

Building a successful business is incredibly difficult. By taking your time, doing your research and starting from the beginning can help you get your startup off the ground. Make sure you do the proper steps to plan the remaining steps to launch the company and prepare yourself so that you’re ready to raise money.

Without proper financial planning, your business doesn’t stand a chance. Make sure you’re network is on point too- you’ll want to surround yourself with the right people. It’s incredibly important to find people who can help you in areas that are not your strongest point of expertise.

Placing your business in the best position to establish a steady clientele will help to grow your startup. Launches are never perfect- you should always prepare for unforeseen circumstances. Proper planning is absolutely crucial to help you clear and anticipate any hurdles.

Reasons budding entrepreneurs should stop looking for venture capital

Here are seven reasons for budding entrepreneurs to give up the hunt for venture capital and angel investors.

Every year, about millions of new businesses are started, and fewer than one percent successfully raise venture capital (VC).

Whether it’s the feeling of acceptance into this elite club, or the misconception that it’s impossible to start a new business without millions in capital, many startup founders find themselves hypnotized by the pursuit of VCs and angel investors.

Perhaps the adage is true: We want what we can’t have. And yet it can be argued that your chances of success are greater if you stop looking for VC money and focus your energy on bootstrapping your business and attracting customers.

Here are seven reasons for budding entrepreneurs to give up the hunt for venture capital and angel investors:

1. You haven’t proven your market need

Sure, you’ve put together a pitch deck, business plan and financial projections, but those are all just that — projections. You’re basing the future success of your company solely on hypotheticals.

Before looking for VCs, prove that there are customers out there who want what you’re selling. Spend time talking to your users, and focus on giving them what they want. Invest your time in finding a place in the market before trying to convince investors to give you their money.

2. You lose control

Once you secure VCs, you’re at their mercy. Even if you maintain a majority stake, you’re giving up a percentage of equity, profits and control to a board that may have a different vision for your company than you do.

In most cases, your VCs will ask for one or more board seats giving them the right to vote on or veto key decisions that will directly affect the future of your company. These same people also have the right to fire you or members of your team, which means you could be ejected from the company you started.

3. You’re focused on the investor – not on your customer

Giving up control means you have a new responsibility. Your first priority is no longer to your customer, because your investors expect to come first. Among other conditions that are negotiated in a deal, venture capitalists can ask for anti-dilution protection, dividends, liquidation preferences, mandatory redemption and other perks that the founding partners may not even get the rights to.

In some extreme cases, VCs have the right to sue you for everything you own in the case you forget to tell them “bad news,” according to Bloomberg Business.

4. Instead of trying to make money, you’re trying to raise it

The irony of trying to raise venture capital is how much time you waste chasing down investors – when you could be chasing down customers. There are only so many hours in a day and only so much work you and your team members can take on. Every minute you spend chasing down a flippant VC is a minute you’re not working on creating a great business.

That’s all to say you’re putting a lot of your eggs into a basket that the statistics say you’ll never obtain.

5. Your burn rate is higher than if you were to bootstrap

What’s a burn rate? It’s the amount at which a company spends money, especially venture capital, in excess of income.

You may know the now viral story of CEO Maren Kate and the downfall of her company, Zirtual. She abruptly shut down all operations due to a glitch in the books that was overlooked. Basically, the company did not have a handle on its burn rate – and it ran out of money. This also supports the next point that…

6. You lose the hustle required in running a lean business

When playing with someone else’s money, many startup founders admit that it becomes less real. It’s harder to stay lean and savvy with the false impression that you’re rolling in the dough.

Investor and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk writes: “Twenty-five to 50 percent of all the businesses I have ever looked at were more than capable of being a little scrappier.”

7. Your end goal is focused on an exit rather than building a company that will last

If your end game is growth over profit, then you are forever stuck in a cycle of having to raise more money. As soon as you’re no longer able to secure more from VCs, then your company will likely implode.

You’re relying on other people’s belief in you – based on hypothetical projections – rather than relying on a solid business model that turns profits and creates happy customers.

Author: Shannon Whitehead

Shannon Whitehead is the founder of Factory45, an online accelerator program that takes sustainable apparel companies from idea to launch — without raising venture capital. Committed to improving the fashion industry, Whitehead launched what was at the time the most successful fashion project on Kickstarter and now helps other fashion entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market.

Image credit: www.fortunebuilders.com

This article was originally published in Entrepreneur.com

5 Ways for a new entrepreneur to ensure success

How do you ensure success? Who stands out from the crowd? What separates the pros from the amateurs?

There aren’t any definitive answers. And I’m not even going to begin to try and analyze them. What I will say, is that over the years, I’ve been observing. Working with startups and entrepreneurs on a regular basis has provided rare insight into what makes one person get ahead of the rest.

Here are five way to set yourself up for success that go beyond conventional wisdom:

1. Make it easy to help you

Most people are excited and willing to help out new entrepreneurs. But the likelihood of connecting with someone who is more seasoned in the industry is largely dependent on how you make the “ask.”

The first and most obvious way to sabotage yourself is by writing an inquiry email that scrolls on for block paragraph after endless block paragraph. In most cases if you’re looking for advice, the person you’re seeking out is busy.

Keep your email to no more than two to three short paragraphs. Your chances of getting a response are incrementally higher and you’ll come across as more professional – and more effective.

Bonus tip: Ask a specific question. Avoid using phrases like, “Can I pick your brain?” Instead, ask the exact questions you want to know the answers to. Once you have your foot in the door and get a response, you can follow up from there.

2. Write thank you notes

They don’t have to be handwritten and shipped via snail mail, but if someone takes the time to jump on a call on your behalf, follow up with them.

Regardless if the advice was good or not, it’s common courtesy to express gratitude to someone who gave their time to you.

This is especially applicable when a contact goes out on a limb to introduce you to someone. It makes that person and yourself look bad if you don’t take the time to follow up afterwards.

Good things come from gratitude. And the most successful entrepreneurs show how much they value the people who helped them along the way.

3. Start before you’re ready

Should I launch now? Should I get more real world experience first? Should I go back to school? Only you know the answer that’s right for you, but my recommendation to most aspiring entrepreneurs is to start before you’re ready.

Building a business requires a long runway. It’s not only about the amount of hours in the day that you spend on your business, but the months and years that you take building up to it. As I tell my entrepreneurs (on repeat), launching a successful company is a marathon not a sprint.

The sooner you can start fleshing out your ideas, seeking out mentorship, connecting with industry peers and educating yourself, the better off you are in the long run. The old cliche usually holds true: Tomorrow you’ll wish you had started today.

4. Be consistent

The entrepreneurs who get ahead are calm and collected. They’re methodical, they’re strategic and they don’t get easily frazzled.

When you’re first starting out, your attitude and the way you handle challenges are going to dictate how you respond in the months or years of your business to come. The entrepreneurs who get ahead know there is a solution for everything. And sometimes the solution falls under the guise of a better option.

Building a business is not an overnight endeavor. It requires consistency of action, which means not giving up if something doesn’t work the first time.

5. Ask for help

Nobody builds a successful business by doing it on their own. That’s right, nobody.

The entrepreneurs and mentors you see are all getting help, seeking out mentors of their own, building advisory boards and seeking out further education.

Solopreneurship is a farce. If you want to get ahead, then you have to seek out help from others and continue to invest in yourself. That’s what separates the amateurs from the pros.

Author: Shannon Whitehead

Shannon Whitehead is the founder of Factory45, an online accelerator program that takes sustainable apparel companies from idea to launch — without raising venture capital. Committed to improving the fashion industry, Whitehead launched what was at the time the most successful fashion project on Kickstarter and now helps other fashion entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market.

Image credit: www.madresdedesamparados.org

This article was originally published in Entrepreneur.com