Saturday Startup Series

How do you escape the 9 to 5?

Do you have a dream of owning your own business -- of leaving your day job and going it alone? Today, we focus on the first thing I ask a potential business owner -- "Do you have the right stuff?" The 'Right Stuff' falls into five main questions ... be honest with yourself. These measure the traits I've found most important to an entrepreneur.

Do you have the right skills to start your own business?

Being good at something doesn't mean that you would be good at running a business that delivers it. Too many people often think that because they're good at something, they would be good at doing it as their own business. When I meet with a potential new business owner, I want to evaluate where their gaps are. Skill gaps are important to recognize upfront because you want to respond to them as you start your business.

What business type is right for you?

Embarking on the journey of starting your own business is thrilling yet challenging. One of the first steps is understanding the different types of businesses and determining which aligns with your vision and resources. Let's dive into the various business types to help you make an informed decision.

What are the possible entry methods to starting your own business?

Many people think that starting a business of their own means starting something from scratch. However, there are several options to successfully enter the entrepreneurial realm. 

Are you seeking to escape the corporate world and strike it out on your own?

Now it's time to start making some specific business decisions. Nearly all entrepreneurs start off on their own. They forage into the world of business ownership without much (if any) guidance. But you don't have to do this!

You also don't need to break the bank by hiring an expensive business coach. This is a major reason new founders don't hire a coach -- cost. But you really do need help and there is no reason to go it alone.

Want to escape employment for business ownership? What to start?

Selecting a new business to start follows a typical strategic planning approach. You can start Inside-Out or Outside-In.

How do you know if your new business idea is any good?

Once you have a new business idea in mind, you should conduct appropriate market research and a feasibility study to determine if it's really a good idea or not. Market research is a critical first step in understanding your target audience, competitors, and market dynamics. It lays the foundation for informed decision-making and paves the way for comprehensive feasibility studies. 

Can some good business ideas turn out to not be so good?

Once you have a new business idea in mind, conducting appropriate market research is crucial to understanding your target audience, competitors, and market dynamics. This foundational step paves the way for comprehensive feasibility studies.

How do you start and run a super successful restaurant or bar?

First off, great cooks are seldom great business owners. If you've determined through my earlier assessments (previous posts) that you don't have the requisite business traits and skills, hire a coach. The root causes of your business failing is you and poor planning.

Is your great business idea really all that great?

On paper, things might look great. But, delivering a test product or service and determining success can save you a lot of heartache later. There are many ways to test your new business idea without investing a lot of money up front. Startup costs can be extremely high, especially when you have to make capital investments, such as a location, equipment, materials, supplies, and storage. Not to mention business-related expenses like technology, marketing, and professional support (like legal and financial).

What is a key thing to do prior to starting out a new business?

I wanted to talk about a key marketing concept that business owners need to start working on before they even start their business -- it's called Social Proof. Social proof is a psychological marketing tactic to convince people to hire you or buy your products. Before you actually start building and selling anything, you can start building social proof.

What is the most important first step when building a business?

What sets a Strategic Business Plan apart from other business plans?

What in your business drives you to keep going?

Do you find it difficult creating a vision for your business?

If you do, you're not alone! Vision creation is often one of the hardest things for business owners to do.

Why is crafting a vision so hard?

Is how you and your business behaves when you start out important?

One of the biggest misses in building a strategic foundation for a new business is ignoring core values, guiding principles, or a code of conduct. Many new founders don't see the point.

"Core values are for big companies with lots of employees. Not for my little business, just starting out."

What separates my Strategic Business Plan (SBP) from just a business plan?

How will your business deliver value to your customers?

Is it important to know who should do what in a new startup?

What do you do with the organizational structure for your new business?

The next step in the development of your Strategic Business Plan (SBP) is to define the business operating system. However, now that you have an organizational structure established, there is a little more work to do.

What does the engine of your business look like? Does it need maintenance?

Your business operating system is the engine that runs your business. You wouldn't build a car without an engine, and you don't build a business without an operating system.

How much should I charge for my products and services?

One of the biggest challenges in starting a business is determining how much to charge for what you offer.

When you're brand new in business, your initial goal is to simply make enough money so that your business is profitable. But you have no brand name and might not have any experience with what you're selling.

Are you charging the right amount of money for your services?

Consider all the thoughts that must go into deciding how much you should charge for your products and services. Charge too much and you drive customers away. Charge too little and you appear cheap. Your pricing decisions will drive so many different results.

How well have you defined your small business's startup infrastructure?

One of the key areas that is often failed to address in a startup's Strategic Business Plan is a solid identification of their business infrastructure.

Infrastructure, in your Strategic Business Plan, includes buildings, vehicles, equipment, technology (hardware and software), and supplies. You want to fully account for these items up front and continuously review and update these items.

How prepared are you to exit your new startup business?

Most businesses have a lifecycle of starting, growing, scaling, improving, and closing.

An often-not-thought-about part of your operations strategy is your exit plan from the business. Basically, what's your long-term strategy for the life of the business?

Is your business prepared for another COVID-like event?

The last thing you want to think about when starting a new business is dealing with a disaster. Thus, we never think about it, and when it happens, we're not prepared!

Do you really know who all the important people are to your business?

The next section in your Strategic Business Plan (SBP) is on Marketing. Once your new business has an official Marketing Department, they take over an expand on this section as a Strategic Marketing Plan. Good marketing always starts with an audience analysis. Your business’s audience is all the important people to your business -- stakeholders.

How much do you know about your most important customers?

We start with the customers of your new business. Much earlier, in this series, we talked about identifying who these customers were, so we could establish their needs, your purpose, and your vision.

Customers are, by far, the most important stakeholder group to your business -- without customers, you simply don't have a business.

How well do you know your direct competition in business?

Every business, eventually will have direct competition. These are businesses that offer exactly what your business offers and could attract your customers away. A few businesses have a unique and innovative product or service, so they start with little to no competition. However, soon competition will appear.