A Guide to Creating your Startup Business
Deciding to start a business is very exciting! It also can be very overwhelming. Do you feel overwhelmed because of all the things you need to do? Are you frustrated because you don’t know which steps to take? If you answered yes, then you need a startup business plan to help you get unstuck.
Having a business plan is essential if you want to focus on the things that are important. You can spend a lot of time chasing unimportant things if you don’t have a plan.
A Business Startup Plan will:
— Stop you from wasting money on tools and resources you don’t need.
— Save you a lot of time because you can focus on the important things.
— Your business goals and objectives will become clear.
— You can set deadlines to complete tasks and track your progress
Let’s walk through writing a business plan together, step by step.
Step 1 – Overview
Include your vision (possibilities) for your business, the purpose (why you started your business) of creating the business, and the mission (what you plan to achieve) of the business.
Step 2 – Define Your Target Audience
Before starting a business, it’s important to define your target audience. Who needs your products or services? What are their pain points? When you define your target audience, you can tailor your products and services to the right people.
When you target a specific audience, it means you’re targeting the people who need what you are offering, and are more likely to buy from you.
Step 3 – Competition
Who are your competitors? Which market segment do they serve? What makes you different and the same as those competitors?
How are you competing with them? With price, quality, etc? How will your market feel about you compared to your competitors?
Next, consider your USP—Unique Selling Point. What makes your business different from your competitors? How does your personal experience make your product or service unique?
Step 4 – Financial Factors
It’s about how much capital you need to start your business, identifying your sources of funding, and the steps you can take to prepare financially before starting your business.
Step 5 – Marketing Strategies
Every business needs a marketing strategy. You need a system to acquire and build relationships with your potential customers. How do you get in front of the people who need your products or services?
Your marketing strategy will depend on your audience and your goals. Some ideas include: content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, paid advertisements (Facebook, Instagram, etc.). Include information on both your planned and historical marketing efforts.
Marketing is all about telling people why they should buy from you. So figure out the best way to do that for your business.
Step 6 – Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
A minimum viable product is the smallest thing you can create which solves a problem. You need this to validate your idea before you spend time and money creating something nobody wants or is willing to pay for. For example, you can offer a free 15 minutes coaching call to a client, or samples of your products so you can get some feedback. More information about MVP read in our previous articles.
Step 7 – Validate Your Idea
Many business owners skip this step and then, they struggle to understand why they don’t have any customers. Don’t start a business without validating your idea. Find your target audience and test out your idea before you invest a lot of time and money.
It’s better to know early on that there’s no demand for your product or service, than after you’ve started your business.
All fantastic business ideas have to start somewhere. Writing a business plan can help you sort out if your idea is a fantastic one or an unrealistic one that will require more resources and time than you have available. Spend some time writing/mapping out your plan and you’ll be on your way to launching your business before you know it.
As your business grows don’t forget to update your plan to grow with it as well! Revisit your plan once or twice a year.
Well, I hope that you are brave enough and that you believe in yourself because I bet that your idea is brilliant! So why not write all of your thoughts and ideas down into a Business Plan and carry it out by means of our team.
Good luck!