Tips For Starting a Small Business In India
The population of India is well over 1 billion; this means no matter what business you start there is someone else already doing it. To increase your odds of success you need to have discipline along with a thorough business plan and boundless determination.
The most important thing to have is an idea. But idea alone will not do. Understand how to implement the idea by doing research. Research your competitors; get to know about their product positioning and marketing strategies.
The idea has to be realized through a business plan. A business plan is your roadmap to success. You need to invest a lot of time to get this right and you need to add every little goal that you would like to pursue with your business.
Plan everything and relate that to a timeline. Also projected growth rate and how you would like to scale the business also needs to go into the business plan.
Finding funding is the most challenging part for an entrepreneur. Every viable option has to be explored here. Starting from family and friends to loans from banks. You can also consider sending a brief business plan to a venture capitalist and see if they will be interested in your startup.
If you are under the impression that once you start your business you can spend at will, you are wrong. The first two years of any business are going to be very hard and expenses have to be cut down as much as possible.
Whenever you at the verge of spending ask yourself, are there any other cheaper options available for you. If the answer is yes that you need to explore that option. Being frugal can be a very good thing for a new venture.
More and more people have realized that working for someone else for 10 hours a day is not as fulfilling as our past generations have had us believe and this has led to them to start their own business. Here are a few things that you need to keep in mind if you really want to succeed in your business venture.
Do what you love to do
If you already have some experience in the business that you want to build as an employee that can be come in very handy. The aim is to do something that you love to do so that work doesn’t seem like work anymore.
Make a checklist of resources that you have and if additional resources are needed how you can source them. Writing down everything really helps as it gives structure to your thought process.
Research
Learn as much as you can about the business you want to start. The internet is a great source of information; look through your competitor’s website along with new advances in your field. Go to trade shows and visit the shops and understand how they conduct their business, so that you can make the right changes.
Test the waters
The initial set of customers that you cater to can give you confidence and also expose the flaws in your system. Ask for constant feedback and see if your assumptions have worked out correctly or if you need to tweak the system for better results.
Goals
Setting goals against a timeline is very crucial for a budding entrepreneur. Create a chart and make sure you monitor all the milestones that you achieve in terms of revenues and also the number of customers.
Support team
A support team is something that an entrepreneur cannot do without. The support team can be your family or friends who listen to you and support you through thick and thin. You can also approach people that you admire in the society to be your mentor.
