When starting a business, you need to have adequate and well-researched answers to the following:
Researching the right answers to the above questions will not only grant you success but also make your business stand out.
What does your business have that competitors do not? Is your product the first ever of its kind? Is it at the lowest cost or of a high quality as compared to others?
All these factors sum up your USP. As the name implies, your USP refers to the unique benefit exhibited by your company, service, product or brand.
Do not always expect a rapid increase in sales as soon as you start marketing. From the start, it is imperative to create awareness about your product or service than to concentrate too much on sales.
Since marketing is important in running a business, you should assign a budget solely for it. Experts advise that you do this every quarter.
When marketing, reach out to influencers and build a relationship with them. This could be TV or radio presenters, social media people, YouTube channel hosts, and so on. Encourage people to recommend your products to others and pay them a commission only when someone purchases your products through their referrals.
Finances
Ensure you have adequate funding for the business. Whether the source of capital is borrowed or your own money, or a combination of both, it is ideal to have adequate capital for your new business.
Plan for the inevitable rainy days as well. As you cover essentials like housing, utilities, insurance and rent, make sure you put aside other income to cover for those not-too-well days or months.
Your team
You can achieve the desired results of your business through people. So when starting a business, make sure you are surrounded by the right people. You can do this by selecting the appropriate team members. These include employees, advisors, partners, and so on. You can be assured of success by how effective the team is and how good the team members are led and managed.
Your team must, however, believe in the product and the brand as much as you do as that is the only way they can sell your business to a customer.
Legalities
Whether the business is a partnership, corporation, or proprietorship, pay attention to legal issues such as shareholder agreement, business registrations, protection of the business name, patents and copyrights, local regulations, among others. Some experts advise choosing a lawyer, an accountant and a business consultant to counsel you as you are about to start the business.
