Congratulations! You have decided to start/are thinking about starting your own small business. This process begins with you giving yourself a pat on the back as not many people have the confidence to invest in themselves and their ideas. There’s a ton of information online about how to start a business and it can be overwhelming to sift through the good from the bad. The process of starting your own business can be daunting, so we’ve created a process of guidelines that are easy to follow when creating a roadmap for any kind of business. Some key questions to ask yourself as you turn your ideas into reality are:
1. What Problem are You Going to Solve?
Although you may think your business is a good idea, your idea has to solve an actual problem in the market. For example, take Style Nine to Five. Founder, Christie Lohr, understood the struggle that finding qualified candidates for positions was for employers and valuable time that was wasted on rifling through resumes of unqualified applicant. In order to fix this problem, she created Style Nine to Five where fashion and other creative companies could post jobs in order to filter-out unqualified candidates and a place where job seekers could find opportunities and advice.
Although we will delve further into research below, it is important to do some research during this step to ensure that your product or service isn’t already on the market or there is not something better available to customers. In other words…what is your competitive edge?
2. Who is Your Target Audience?
As the inventor, you may think your product or service is necessary, but it only matters if others do too! When we talk about your target or niche audience it needs to be specific it just can’t be “those who identify as women.” You have to narrow it down to the specifics , like, “self-identifying women, between the ages of 20 and 35, working in media.” This makes it easy to market and implement strategies that are focused on that demographics, but also makes it easy for investors to have a tangible market to attach an idea to.
3. Do Your Research
We cannot express how important doing through research is when starting your own business. Research is not just asking your friends and family if they’d use your product or service. It’s understanding the landscape of the industry and your niche demographic.
This includes having a thorough understanding of market trends and consumer habits. An example of what to focus on when researching consumer habits is how your target market consumes products? Does the majority shop online? If so, what times are they most likely to shop? What social media platforms do they use? Answering questions like these will help you develop strategies in order to best market your product.
You’re encouraged, when doing research, to be as objective as possible and not to allow your passion for the product to cloud your research and only focus on research that points to your product or service excelling.
4. Set S.M.A.R.T Goals
Setting both long term and short-term goals for any business is essential, and it is important that they’re realistic in terms of the stage of growth your company is in. When goal setting it is important to have the following acronym in mind:
Specific: Clear and explicit objectives that you have, like sales targets, social media followers, etc.
Measurable: What metrics will you use to define that you have achieved your goal?
Actionable: What specific steps are you going to take to reach your goals?
Realistic: Ensuring that your goals are within your reach
Timely: Where does this goal fit on your timeline?
5. Create a Clear Vision & Mission Statement
Based on your goals, create a vision and mission statements that encapsulates them. It’s important to keep in mind that although vision and mission statements are similar, they are not interchangeable. A vision statement is a glimpse into what you would like your company to look like in future vs. a mission statement is a summary of your company’s values and goals.
6. Create a Business Plan
Your business plan is an amalgamation of the work you have done, and its purpose is to present to potential investors with why your idea will be profitable with their help. Your business plan should summarize your target market as well as the various marketing strategies you will use to retain them. In addition to this, it should also outline where funds will be allocated and the circulation of cash flow will involve.
7. Create a Staffing Plan
As the owner of a small business, you may wear many hats, but you certainly can’t do everything on your own for long! It is important to have a staffing/hiring plan in place to be prepared for when the demands of your company increase. A solid plan helps you eliminate stress and knee-jerk hiring that can lead to poor decisions. It’s important to analyze the potential gaps in the company. Are you overwhelmed with production? Social media? Marketing? It is also important to be introspective and examine your own skill set. What are the areas that could be filled by another employee? From this, draw up ideal attributes of each candidate so you are not going into the application and interview process blindly. Finally, be conscious of where you post the job. Consider where your ideal candidate would most likely be looking, as huge job boards become overwhelming and the perfect candidate may overlook or miss your posting.
8. Launch!
You’ve done the work now it’s time to put it to the market. It’s important that you don’t rush your launch date, as sometimes this can make or break your business. Make sure that everything is in order as these steps depend on each other to be successful and you never want to just hope that things “sort themselves out”.
While you’re on this journey it is important to keep in mind that growth is not linear! Your experience will be completely different from other entrepreneurs, so it is key not to continuously compare yourself to others’ experiences, as everyone grows and excels at different times. It’s inevitable that you will hit a few roadblocks, so it’s important that you’re flexible and are able to pivot to stay on top of your market and focus on business success.
Do you have a role available at your company but you’re not receiving the resumes of your ideal candidate? It may have something to do with the position’s job description! Try Style Nine to Five’s Job Description offering. Christie will create a new description to attract qualified candidates that have the attributes and experience that your position calls for.
Demetra Maragos – Demetra is a Master of Arts candidate at New York University, who loves thinking outside of conventional lines to combine her passions of everything culture, fashion and lifestyle.
Feature Image: Adobe Stock