So, You're Going Into Business For Yourself?

Business Building - Starting a New Business Five Essential Questions You Must Ask First

So, You're Going Into Business For Yourself?

Here's a checklist of five essential questions you must ask
yourself first, and why you need to answer them...

1. What proof is there that there is a market for what I'm
planning to do?

2. How is what I'm doing different to what's already being
done?

3. Why should my prospective customers buy from me instead of
those already supplying the market?

4. Can I establish myself without offering discounts or
"freebies"?

5. How much am I willing to spend to buy customers?

Here's why you need to answer them...

1. Way too often, businesses are established on a whim
without appropriate research. They're started because the
owner had a falling out with their boss, or because a
well-meaning friend suggested their idea was viable. All too
frequently, it's because someone says, "That's a great idea,
everyone needs one of those..."

So the business starts and suddenly the owner realises it's
an uphill battle simply because their pockets aren't deep
enough to education the marketplace.

Solution: Do your research first.

2. Don't bother starting up doing exactly what everyone else
is doing. When there is more than one person doing exactly
the same thing, one of them will ultimately become
redundant.

Solution: Make sure you take a different slant.

3. Just being different isn't enough - you need to be better.


Solution: Your offer, your level of support, your guarantee;
whatever it is needs to differentiate you and make you the
obvious choice.

4. Discounts and freebies are all very well but unless you're
making a profit, or unless the jobs will lead to repeat,
profitable business or valuable testimonials, you're better
off without the work.

Solution: Either charge sustainable fees from the beginning
or understand that you'll be living off your savings for
longer than your family expected!

5. Word of mouth and networking on their own aren't a
marketing plan.

Solution: Invest in direct response marketing (see some of my
other articles on this site) and measure your results.
Allocate funds to marketing and see your ads as an investment
in buying customers. Monitor this investment as you would
shares or property. Always remember that a bad is always
going to be a bad ad. If the phone doesn't ring, change it!

Good luck with your new business!