Things To Do Before Starting a New Business

Every person has dreamt of starting a business at least once in his lifetime. A few of the reasons driving people towards starting a new venture include passion to do something, a desire to change the world, building wealth, providing a better solution to existing problems in the market and so on. However, it is not an easy job. Right from bringing up a potential business idea to executing it into a startup, there are a thousand things to do involving numerous risk factors.

Here are things that must be done before starting a new business:

1. Conduct market research: it is essential to understand the industry you want to enter in. Identifying the problems faced by the market, understanding the consumer needs and preferences, current trends, existing competitors catering to the market, their strategies, pricing, etc. Designing a perfect market fit is essential to sustain the business. Also, identifying the target market, resources like manpower, money, machinery, etc. required, identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that come under market research.
2. Fulfill legal requirements: registering the entity legally, getting all the licenses and permits abide by the law pertaining to particular industry standards, tax payments, seeking benefits of incentives and subsidies from the government if any.
3. Finance: capital is required in almost all activities. Different sources of finance need to identify for running a business. Friends & family are the most common sources to seek finance, others include banks, Angel investors, VC’s, etc. Also, a sound business model must be developed in order to generate consistent cash flow.
4. Know your skillset & build a team: an efficient team drives an organization towards success. You must identify your strengths & skills that you are good in. Also, hiring an efficient team will lead the business in the right direction and stay protected, as a single person cannot handle the entire operations.
5. Mentor: a good mentor provides parental guidance to the business. Having a mentor & advisor who believes in the business idea, can give an honest opinion for keeping the business on the right track is always beneficial.
6. Writing a business plan: a business plan is a road map of your business. It provides greater clarity of all aspects of the business including the goal congruence, market conditions, financial & legal aspects. It needs to be updated regularly in order to overcome the flaws, difficulties, assumptions made earlier.
7. Keep going: once the things are in place just focus on your goals and keep going.