It’s a new year and you have some pretty big goals and aspirations. This year you’ve decided you want to take the plunge. This is your year, this is your moment and you want to turn an idea into a business. A business where you get to make all the decisions and you get to be the one in charge. While of course change is scary but also exciting, creating your own success and reaping all the benefits too. After all you can't expect everything to just fall into place without putting in a little, well a lot, of hard work. So, first things first, you need to get a grip on your business idea and follow the steps to turn it into a success, doing something that you love, and that makes you, and your bank, smile.
So, you’ve taken the plunge to try and finally bring your ideas to life but where do you start? Especially, if you’ve been an employee all your working life and haven’t had the opportunity to mix with entrepreneurs. There is a lot of work involved in taking your idea all the way into your desired product or service you can sell to an appropriate market.
Start with a plan
Starting with a plan gives you the opportunity to answer all kinds of questions that need to be answered as well as giving you the chance to iron out any possible kinks along the way. This is so you can work out whether your idea is actually viable - especially if you’re willing to risk everything and put it all on the line to bring it all to life.
Your business plan outlines everything: what your business does; what you are trying to achieve and the steps you are looking to take to get there. It can include what the market is like and the opportunities it has available, what makes your business so special and different and how you will make it a success.
Writing your plan out means you have a written document that describes your business. It covers objectives, strategies, sales, marketing and finances; actual, expectations and estimates. What you should aim for:
● Outline your business idea
● Research to understand your audience better
● Plan: your sales, your marketing and business operations
● Look at potential problems and work out how to overcome them
● Set your goals and objectives and look at the financial return you expect to come from them
● Work out your financing plan and the kind of finance you need
● Share you ideas with other people to get them behind your business plan
● Keep track and measure your process
When you write out your business plan, keep it professional and use clear and concise language. You should know it like the back of your hand. Look at specific numbers and dates. Be clear about what you want and how you plan to get there and what you need to do to make it happen. If you have this it is more likely that people will be in a position to make decisions about how they can help you and if they can help you.
Why a business plan is critical:
1) You must ensure your idea will actually make you money. While it may be a great idea to you, this does not necessarily mean that everyone will feel the same way as you. In fact, there are people determined to make it work, thinking that they can beat the odds of what the market is willing to accept. On the other hand, you should also not let yourself get put off if you make a loss in the early stages either – if your idea has the potential and is great enough, you may have to accept losses during the first growth phase before you start to turn any profit. Every business starts from somewhere.
A good way to know if your idea is any good is that you will have people willing to invest and help you through those early stages. This then shows you that you’re onto a good thing, because they’re seeing big returns in the future. On a side note, keep in mind that while investment is a great way to have fast-tracking growth. One thing you will need to remember is that you will have to offer some degree of control and ownership to the investors, a percentage of your business and earnings. Just like Dragons Den.
2) Fast tracking growth needs expertise, advice and coaching as well as the investment. All which help a newbie to avoid making the kind of mistakes that could derail a great little business. It can be a crushing experience. Right now, there is a great deal of reliable and extremely helpful advice and resources available out there and much of it is from national and local governments who are keen to support budding entrepreneurs.
3) You need to keep on top of all the rules and regulations in relation to your business. Things like: filing tax returns, meeting your legal obligations as an employer if you have staff and being insured for liability. You need to think of everything and pay good attention to it too, even if it’s boring stuff. If you can’t get your head around it then maybe look around for some professional advice. See if there are people around you who are willing to help. Being a business owner there is one thing you should learn to do and get comfortable with and that is to accept your limitations. It does not make you weak, in fact knowing when you need to delegate, and even outsource, shows smarts and leadership, as you know where you could be focusing better to help your business with progression and moving forward.
4) Just like above, sometimes it pays to know the right people. Source advice from people and organisations you can trust. This is your future and you must take care about where your advice comes from and what you’re basing your decisions on. Your friends may become some of your most useful assets, or it could prove pointless, but how do you know if you don’t ask?
5) You need to find your line, are you a risk taker or do you feel the need to play safe? This will shape your plan in the best way for you. It will show you everything you need for you to decide whether you need to go for investment early on in your business or if you are more than happy to start small and build your growth organically. Putting back all your earnings into your business from sales and so on while supplementing other expenses by using earnings from another job. You may also be able to find and apply for local government backed initiatives that will give you a grant to help you in your early days; removing some of the pressure of borrowing money elsewhere.
Help yourself
If your business happens to be at the idea stage, it could be the ideal time to reach out to a Virtual assistant. We could fit right into your plan and help you achieve a vast array of different tasks and goals as you grow. This will help you in the long run as you would not have to worry about employees and instead can have your focus on growing and progressing.
Some of the things you can expect if you were to get us on board would be:
● Administrative help
● Sales and customer service calls
● Corporate experience in a rage of different sectors
● Managing projects on your behalf
●Only having to pay for the work and hours complete
●Social media set up and support
We provide office support solutions and have been assisting companies for the past 7 years now. We have combined experience working within various office based roles and since forming Work Smart have worked with various clients from a diverse range of industries and sectors.