How to start a business is where the spirit led me to this cold morning. And my message basically for you, is 5 keys to to a successful business. Knowing whether you should start a business is key to your success in business.
Yeah, my inspiration actually came from Peter Thiel’s ‘Zero to One’. What I was led to ask you are 5 salient questions to ask yourself to know if you have business being in business.
Does it sound odd? Like, do you have business being in business in the first place?
How to start a business should not be your headache at all, if you cannot answer these questions satisfactorily.
To start with, many people suffer a great deal in life because they work so hard on what need not to be done at all. The earlier you know how a viable or how a profitable an adventure can be, the better the decision you can make as to whether you should stop right there.
To avoid struggling with a business you should not have started in the first place, these questions will give you a clear idea of keys to successful business.
How to Start A Business: Differentiation
Can you create breakthrough technology instead of incremental improvement?
When you start a business, you create something entirely new for a particular segment market, you improve what is being done already in a significant way, you make an existing thing cheaper or available for more people in a shorter time.
Out of these three concepts around which a business can be started, creating a breakthrough technology seems to have helped more startups survive.
It maybe easy to switch things up a little bit and get paid for doing so. It maybe easy to replicate an existing product or service so fast that users cannot but to pay you. But starting something entirely new is what makes you stand out.
It is a general belief that there is nothing under the heavens anymore. That is an indefinite approach to life, if you ask me.
If you believe all life problems are not solved yet, definitely you can start a business to give humanity what is not yet in existence.
Myspace was thriving when Mark put together thefacebook to collect his schoolmates’ pictures. If Zuckerberg told himself then that his website could not do something different or better than Myspace, maybe we will not have that massive platform which connects people with opportunity for subtle, yet effective, advertising in Facebook.
To start a business that will be successful, think of breakthrough technology or some innovation that will make your business one of a kind.
How to Start A Business: Timing
Is now the right time to start your particular business?
Much as you think of how to start a business that is based on breakthrough technology, kindly take note of how realistic your idea is, with regards to time.
Some businesses have died prematurely, not because they were built on terrible business ideas. But they failed to thrive because they came up when the world was not ready for them.
Youtube, for instance, was not the first video hosting website when it started. Many other video hosting platforms that came before YouTube struggled with video compression. Their inability to deliver smooth video streaming, support various video formats were few of their undoing.
Youtube hit the Internet just about time Codec was released, and then jumped on it. It was perfect time in my opinion. Maybe Youtube would have died like other video hosting platforms that came before, if they could not use Codec to compress videos.
Starting a business with breakthrough technology, product, service or idea that will differentiate your offer is great, but, consider the time you are starting the business.
Be sure other factors required for the business to survive are in place, at least, you can create them if they are not.
How to Start A Business: Monopoly
Are you starting with a big share of a small market?
The passion to start a business can be blinding. Ask those who quit mega paying jobs to start business. Ask those who had nothing but sheer ability to persuade others to get their business running.
They will tell you passion to bring their business ideas to live kept burning their soul.
What’s the problem with following your passion? What is the problem with starting a business because you love to do something others find difficult to do?
- Clearly define your target market.
- Start with and win particular share of the market
- Don’t go head-to-head with a monopoly from immediately.
Sheriff Shitu who started the now defunct showroom.ng has one thing to tell you about possibility of a business you die to start can dying right in your hands while you cannot help it.
One of the lessons he learnt from the failed furniture retail business he started but died was defining your market.
Your business can be so fascinating that you do not realize that you either do not have enough market size to survive or a well establish business is already dominating the same market you service.
One way to test your business idea is FREEMIUM. Yes, give it out FOC first and see if people will come back for more. If your target market are not motivated enough to try your product for free, how are sure they will pay for it?
Know your market, know your target audience, know the size of the market you want to start with, then go after them at inception.
You can compete with other successful businesses as you grow but you don’t want to rely on your ability to bite your opponent in a fight till he surrenders when your teeth are still forming.
How to Start A Business: Team
Do you have the right team?
When you want to start a business, be mindful of the team you assemble. Working for a startup is not the same as it is with bigger business types and sizes.
There is different mindset for startup team members. Your team should be conspirators, not mere professionals, super-talented hires who just want to get paid to deliver their services.
When you start a business, you have a vision which is clear to you mostly. You must recruit team members who will share your dreams and passions. It is on you to sell your dreams to your team when they get onboard.
It is allowed for on-boarding process of team members to look more like ‘initiation’. I have had one, it was a memorable experience. I remember it every time I walk in into same place or another branch of that food joint where we had that team bonding lunch.
Before you start to salivate, here are 9 Ways to Recruit the Best Talent for Your Startup.
How to Start A Business: Distribution
Do you have a way not to just create but the deliver your product?
‘Marketing strategies in many businesses are handled like war tactics. Some business focus on their competitors in order to develop marketing strategies to kill them off. While some small business basically focus on developing great product.
Great product sells itself. Right?
In tech space, marketing strategies may not sound so exciting because many great products have truly done well with less advertising. But, bank-breaking deals rarely happen without letting your target audience know what you have to offer via personal selling, by sales people, or grand salesmasters.’
This is an excerpt from my last post, BEST B2B MARKETING STRATEGIES IN 2017 BY 50 EXPERTS
You probably having had the money or the opportunity to consult 50 marketing experts on how to grow your business using effective marketing strategies across offline and digital channels before.
That is the rare opportunity my post on best B2B marketing strategies gives you. Read up immediately and you will be humbled by tactics that have worked for many experts.
WARNING: It is not enough to offer great product, it is very very important to a have effective distribution plan to get your product to as many users as possible, as quickly as possible too.
Hope you have learnt what acid test to take you business ideas through before you start a business. It is daring enough to want to be an entrepreneur, but do not get carried by adding CEO in front of your name.
Ask yourself these 5 questions to know if you have business being in business.
See you around!
Nigeria
