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What is the best way to start a business?
I want to start a business
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Daniel’s Answer
Hi Caylah!
I would suggest the below 3 steps to help you start your own business.
1. You need to register your business with the Secretary of State (SOS). Most businesses register in the state where the business is actually located (HQ Address). At the same time you will need to decide the entity type for your business such as a LLC, Inc, LTD. Make sure you register with a state so your business can operate legally.
2. Come up with a business plan. This would include items such as operations, location, capital/funding, vision/mission statement etc. You can easily get lost in the weeds on this part. Don't get caught up in details that you can figure out later. Think big picture and ask yourself what is your business really trying to accomplish? That is always a good starting point on a business plan!
3. Lastly, come up with different business goals and set dates when you want to accomplish them. Setting a timeline will help you stay on track and know where you are in the process. It is very difficult but don't let yourself get caught up in the whirlwind of the "day to day." Meaning, set yourself and the business up with clear goals and do your best to not let the "daily fires" use up all your time. Inadvertently, you will have to attend to some of these daily fires but make sure you block off time to keep the vison of the company alive.
I would suggest the below 3 steps to help you start your own business.
1. You need to register your business with the Secretary of State (SOS). Most businesses register in the state where the business is actually located (HQ Address). At the same time you will need to decide the entity type for your business such as a LLC, Inc, LTD. Make sure you register with a state so your business can operate legally.
2. Come up with a business plan. This would include items such as operations, location, capital/funding, vision/mission statement etc. You can easily get lost in the weeds on this part. Don't get caught up in details that you can figure out later. Think big picture and ask yourself what is your business really trying to accomplish? That is always a good starting point on a business plan!
3. Lastly, come up with different business goals and set dates when you want to accomplish them. Setting a timeline will help you stay on track and know where you are in the process. It is very difficult but don't let yourself get caught up in the whirlwind of the "day to day." Meaning, set yourself and the business up with clear goals and do your best to not let the "daily fires" use up all your time. Inadvertently, you will have to attend to some of these daily fires but make sure you block off time to keep the vison of the company alive.
Updated
Doug’s Answer
To begin a successful business, first determine the type of business you want to establish, such as offering a service or product. Assess if there is a genuine demand for your service or product and whether you can provide something customers will appreciate and purchase. Consider if you will enjoy catering to customers and if you have the necessary funds to cover various startup expenses, like licenses, inventory, website development, and marketing. It's crucial to be passionate about your daily work, as running a business demands significant effort. However, building and managing your own business can be incredibly fulfilling.
Talk with potential customers or clients very early on to make sure there's a need for your product/service. You'll always learn from this and the information will help you refine your ideas.
Doug recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Stephen’s Answer
No matter what kind of business you start, decide who your CORE customer is, and get to know them intimately. Start by defining a small, very specific type of customer. Talk to them. Understand what it is they NEED... BEFORE you start creating or even defining your "product" (or service). Even if YOU would be a core customer for your business - don't just listen to yourself. Find others. Ideally find potential customers who don't know you so well. They will give you the most honest feedback. Anyway, find them and spend a lot of time with them. Then, when you think you really understand what they need... start SMALL. Start by creating something very simple that addresses an important PART of their need. Don't try to address their whole problem at once! Often you can do this without having to make a big investment of your time or money (yet). Create something small and basic and show it your customer. Then listen to them carefully. Do they find it useful? Would they actually use it? What is the 1 or 2 most important things they would ask you to change or improve upon? They will tell you exactly what you need to do differently or to improve upon.
And, believe it or not, THAT is basically the whole process to getting launched. You just keep doing that over and over and over again: listening to your core customer, giving them a piece of a solution to react to, getting their direct feedback, making changes or improvements based on their feedback, and then starting with another cycle of the same process.
The reason it's good to start with a small, "core" audience is that it allows you to focus on solving one or two parts of a bigger problem - a small audience that all share the same problem will most likely give you consistent feedback you can easily build into the next pass of your solution. A large audience will give you TOO MUCH... and too different... feedback. It won't be so clear what's most important for you to improve next. In that case it's more likely you'll try to do a little bit to please everyone, and end up with a solution that doesn't really excite anyone. So start with a small, core audience and work through several passes to give them better-and-better versions that they can ultimately get really excited about. If you do that, they'll start paying you for it - and THAT is the point at which you have really started your business! Then you have a core set of passionate customers. From that strong base it is much easier to broaden your market, and expand your solution.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!
And, believe it or not, THAT is basically the whole process to getting launched. You just keep doing that over and over and over again: listening to your core customer, giving them a piece of a solution to react to, getting their direct feedback, making changes or improvements based on their feedback, and then starting with another cycle of the same process.
The reason it's good to start with a small, "core" audience is that it allows you to focus on solving one or two parts of a bigger problem - a small audience that all share the same problem will most likely give you consistent feedback you can easily build into the next pass of your solution. A large audience will give you TOO MUCH... and too different... feedback. It won't be so clear what's most important for you to improve next. In that case it's more likely you'll try to do a little bit to please everyone, and end up with a solution that doesn't really excite anyone. So start with a small, core audience and work through several passes to give them better-and-better versions that they can ultimately get really excited about. If you do that, they'll start paying you for it - and THAT is the point at which you have really started your business! Then you have a core set of passionate customers. From that strong base it is much easier to broaden your market, and expand your solution.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!
Updated
Elena’s Answer
Hi Cayla!
While the question is broad, I will try to be specific.
When deciding to start a business you should definitely measure twice cut once sort of situation.
First: marketing. The process of marketing is to research the needs and wants of a demographic before deciding what and how to start a business in specific environments.
You also need to consider your needs and wants, how how they align with acceptable ethics and sustainability.
The bottom lines to consider are People, Planet, and Profits. And I think if you can balance these 3 things, you'll be okay. :)
Hope this was helpful, if you need any reading suggestions or anything, please feel free to reach out.
-Ela
While the question is broad, I will try to be specific.
When deciding to start a business you should definitely measure twice cut once sort of situation.
First: marketing. The process of marketing is to research the needs and wants of a demographic before deciding what and how to start a business in specific environments.
You also need to consider your needs and wants, how how they align with acceptable ethics and sustainability.
The bottom lines to consider are People, Planet, and Profits. And I think if you can balance these 3 things, you'll be okay. :)
Hope this was helpful, if you need any reading suggestions or anything, please feel free to reach out.
-Ela