Do you want to start a business from scratch, but don’t know exactly what it takes? Don’t worry! In today’s post, we’ll bring you some tips to prepare yourself, create your business and start selling your products or services.
The work is hard, but owning a business can be rewarding. Starting a business can bring you greater financial gain, independence and more geographic and financial freedom.
Do you want access to 9 valuable tips for starting a business from scratch? So, come read!
Choose a product or service
One of the first and most important steps to starting a business from scratch is choosing which product you will sell or which service you will offer.
To do this, you need to think about some points, such as:
It is important that your product/service is in demand in the market, because, even if you offer something of the highest quality, if there is no audience, there will be no sales.
Furthermore, having a business involves intense work, which will take up most of your day, so you need to choose something that motivates you and that you really believe in.
Finally, you need to evaluate what resources you currently have available to start the business. This way, you can have a more realistic perspective for this beginning.
Do market research
As we said, when creating your product or service, you need to check whether there is demand for what you intend to sell. Likewise, it is important to understand your market, whether or not it is saturated and what opportunities it presents.
Analyze the competition. Investigate what other firms are doing and not doing. It’s intriguing that you’re positioning yourself in an area that hasn’t yet been explored in your section.
In this market analysis, you can either find spaces to insert your product or service, or create your own segment, with little or no competition. But to do this, you need to do good market research to identify these possibilities.
For example, you may have the idea of opening an ice cream shop in your neighborhood, but realize that there are already at least 5 ice cream shops in the area. So, you can think about differentiating your business from those that already exist and opening a vegan ice cream shop or one with water-based ice cream, for example.
Establish the business model
Establishing the business model is very important to guide your strategies, plan your actions and your finances. Do you intend to have a physical or online store? Are you going to sell on Instagram or on a marketplace?
A physical establishment may require some investments that an online establishment does not necessarily require, such as renting a space.
If you choose to sell online, a marketplace can be a good alternative to starting a business from scratch. Research some options, such as Amazon and Elo7, to determine which one makes the most sense for your business.
But you don’t need to depend on third parties for this. Instagram itself is an excellent option to start promoting your services and products and start selling. Furthermore, this is a very economical alternative, as you don’t need to invest anything to open an account.
Even when advertising on the platform, you decide how much you want to spend on ads, and you can change the amounts whenever you want.
Think about your business’s value proposition
What is the transformation of your product? What problem does your company solve and how does it solve it? What sets your service or product apart?
All these questions have to be considered for you to define the value proposition of your business. It is essential for your positioning in the market. But, for a powerful value proposition, tip number 2 is worth it. It is essential to know which gap in the market your service or product fills in order to create a positioning aimed at this.
Your differentiator and strong point could be, for example, personalized service or customer service. Thinking about this positioning also helps to define the product you will sell.
Over time, you can review your value proposition according to the reality and results of your business. Especially at the beginning, it is normal to refine some points. But, to launch your product or service on the market, you have to start somewhere, and thinking about your value proposition is a good alternative.
Define a target audience
Another very important aspect of starting a business from scratch is defining a target audience. Over time, you can even diversify this audience, but, at the beginning, it’s good to have one or two focuses at most.
When you have an idea for a product or service, you probably also think about the target audience. Some questions to help with this definition are:
Defining the target audience will be important not only for positioning your product or service in the market, but also for the communication you will establish with this audience, whether on social media, in your establishment or in the advertisements you carry out.
Make financial planning
Financial planning is important to guarantee the strength of your business at the beginning. It is interesting to set aside initial capital to support activities until your company makes its first sales.
Furthermore, at this stage it is important to price your products and services, taking into account the market price, how much you spend to produce, how much profit you want to make and the value of what is sold (which includes how exclusive the product is). product/service, the quality of raw materials or service, etc.).
Using this pricing, you can get an idea of sales predictability at the start of the business and have more information for financial planning.
Financial planning is also a strategic ally for your company and helps you define, for example, how much discount you can offer on a product.
Bet on service and loyalty
One of the advantages of having a small business is the possibility of offering dedicated service to your customers.
So, this is an opportunity to build consumer loyalty. Therefore, focus on service, don’t leave your customers unanswered and guide employees to provide good service.
Take the opportunity to ask for recommendations and reviews from customers to promote your business and expand your consumer base. Always encourage recommendations to continue growing.
You can also create promotions at the beginning of the company’s operations to attract customer attention and optimize the chances of loyalty. Think about an opening promotion and think about referral actions (such as refer a friend and get another product).
But remember that all these initiatives should not harm your business financially. Plan ahead to decide the best options.
