EVERY entrepreneur who begins a business wants it to be successful. But how? Which factors are critical to making your start-up a success and not becoming a statistic after five years? The National Small Business Chamber offers these pointers to making your start-up a success.
The idea
You need to have an idea you believe in wholeheartedly. The idea is where your business grows from. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a new and innovative idea, but you need to have an idea. You should also test your idea and adapt it according to results of your tests. By listening to what your customers say about your product you can grow your product into something that people want to buy.
The team
Who is on your team? The people you hire and who are part of the founders is important. You need to hire people who adopt your company’s culture and want to grow your company with you. Your founders should be positive and solution-focused people.
You don’t want negative or problem-focused individuals working for you. You also need to have the right attitude towards your work. Do you see it as a success or failure? This will have an effect on how your business does. You need to ensure that the leaders on your team see failure as a way to learn and grow. There are many successful entrepreneurs who account their failures as the reason for the business being great and better now.
The business plan
A plan is important so that when you hit a slump and wonder why you are doing this you can be inspired again. The business plan lays out your goals and aspirations for growth. It will help you to know what you should be doing each day and help you to work towards your business goals each day.
Remember a business plan is not static, you need to review it monthly and adapt it to how your business is growing. By having a business plan, you will be able to take advantage of growth opportunities when they come across your path.
The funding
You can fund your business in a number of different ways. You need to make sure that you speak to investors before you need the money so that you can suss out who will be a good fit for your business. By building relationships with potential investors, you will know who to contact should you need the money to grow.
The timing
This is one of the most important aspects of your business. If you launch to early people may not be ready for your product. You can counteract this with educating your potential clients about what you do and how they will benefit from this new technology or product.
You could be too late. The market could be saturated and you will not be able to find a way to get in. You could counteract this by packaging your product in a new way that would bring new appeal to your offering. Then you could also have the perfect timing when people have been primed for your product and you are able to give it to them when they need it. This is the ideal time and you should be aiming for this timing.
There is no one factor which is responsible for the success of a start-up. If you feel you are lacking in on aspect, then it is time to work on it. This will ensure you are moving towards start-up success for your small business.