I read an interesting article called 3 Weeks to Startup. It offers some tips to start up a business in just 3 weeks.
It has always been a personal interest to learn how to start up a small or home business in the shortest time possible. So this article, albeit a little general, is a great start for those who have no idea at all how to go about starting a small business on their own.
I have summarised the steps given in this article. If you wish to read the full article, I suggest you visit the website and take in all that has been offered.
- Day 1 – Start with a workable business idea
Do this reality check about the business you want to embark on: Do people need what you’re going to sell? Will they pay for it? Are they already buying something similar now? How will you focus on running the business?
-
Day 2 – Determine ownerhip
Are you the sole owner of this business or are you going to start this up with a business partner?
-
Day 3 – Agree in writing
This is pure common sense and it works to have everything spelled out in black and white after agreeing on how you will work together as business partners.
-
Day 4 – Give your business a name
This is probably an exciting exercise to give your business a suitable name. Check whether the names you have come up with are available before dwelling in too much or you may be wasting your time away working on a name that has already been taken.
-
Day 5 – Work on an initial sales forecast
Try to do a 12-month projection of what your sales would be like. Go down to the nitty-gritty details, day by day, or hour by hour sales if you need to, just to be able to get a sense of what kind of sales will you realistically be looking at.
-
Day 6 – Budget your monthly expenses
Every business has an expense budget with it. Work out what your budget is like, which includes everything from rent and electricity bills to salaries to office supplies.
-
Day 7 – Budget your starting costs
This is different from yoor monthly expenses of running the business. Starting costs should be the expenses you need to incur to set up the business. It could be legal and stamping fee or purchasing fixed assets for the business.
-
Day 8 – Develop a marketing strategy
You need to know who your target customers are and how you are going to put your marketing message across to them. Thus, you need to have a marketing plan that will address your target audience effectively.
-
Day 9 – Develop your image
Your business needs an image. Develop your company logo, tagline, image, etc. Make sure you use your logo and display your image consistently to your customers.
-
Day 10 – Develop your website
These days, whether you are doing business offline or online, a website is a must. Web presence is very important as people will tend to check you out and if you have a website for them to refer and read all about you, you stand to be in better light with the customer than one that goes without web presence.
-
Day 11 – Payment method
You need to think how your customers will pay you for your products or services. Find the most convenient way for your customers to purchase from you. Even if you need to go through a lot of inconvenience to set up that payment method the first time round, it is worth the effort. So do it right!
-
Day 12 – Try selling
You may not be in full-fledged business yet but it doesn’t hurt to start selling and testing the market. This can work well before you launch in a big way if there are processes you discover along the way that needs improvements and tweaking.
-
Day 13 – Consider business insurance
You may want to insure your business. Talk to the agents and find out what kind of insurance best suits your nature of business.
-
Day 14 – Build your team
You may need to hire some people to help with certain functions of the business. Think about what you and your business partner can hold on your own, and what areas of expertise are best left to others you want to hire.
-
Day 15 – Location is key
If you are setting up an office, think of a prime location that works for your business. The key word here is what works for your business. Take note that not all prime locations would work best for your nature of business. For example, your business may thrive in a shoplot at a residential area as compared with a 5-star office building in the city.
-
Day 16 – Set up your accounts
Get a good accounting software to run your business. If you need to spend some money to invest in a good software, it may be worth your money. You don’t want to end up doing lots of manual work from a software that is not friendly. Keeping your books easily accountable is good practise, plus it might save you a lot of time to do book-keeping.
-
Day 17 – Legalise things with your business partner
If you are working with a business partner, you may want to engage a legal team to write up a simple agreement about where you and your business partner stand.
-
Day 18 – Recruit your team
After thinking about the kind of help you need for your business, you can now start your recruitment process and hold interviews.
-
Day 19 – Funding
If your business needs any additional funding from what you and your busienss partner have put in, you should look into various options of how you can obtain the funding. You can look at banks, or other investors who might be interested in your business. This will need agreement from you and your business partner, of course.
-
Day 20 – Think about the launch of your business
How will you do it? What kind of marketing will you do to let others know that you are in business and that you have great products and services to offer? First impressions are important so try to make it good the first time round!
-
Day 21 – Start your business!
You may want to create some kind of marketing gimmick to get people excited about your new business, or simply offer great promotions of your products and services. Try to close some sales on the first official day of business!
