Let's Talk Start Ups

The journey of taking an idea from concept to finished product can seem mountainous. It's challenging to know where to start and what steps to take next. I have had the pleasure of being surrounded by some innovative and creative minds. I have watched each of them build a business plan to turn their dreams into reality.

Depending on the resources at your disposal, where you will start may be different from someone else. Your finished product will look different as well. One thing is for certain, if you understand your market, are consistent and focused, success is possible. Here are some ideas to consider when starting a new business.

Know Your Industry

When you're starting, or even expanding your business, make research a top priority. It's not enough to know the product information. Concentrate on understanding who your consumer is, or why they need your product or service. How will they use it? How will they benefit? Why is it important? More often than not, we forget to consider to whom we are selling. We tend to focus on getting our information out there, but we overlook to whom we are trying to give our information. Create a target or a prospective client profile. By doing this, you will be able to figure out where to find your target market, learn their interests, and ultimately make sure you are in front of them. This will help determine the most effective ways to establish connections. It will help you communicate effectively. At a minimum, it will help you decide the best way to brand or market yourself.

Know Your Competition

Make sure your research includes learning about your top competitors. Where they work. Do they work for themselves or for a larger company? What assets do they bring to the table? Who do they service and how? Some of your greatest sources for information come from watching your competitors. Learning how they utilize their resources can give you great insight into how you should use what you have now and how to prioritize what to get next. It will help you learn what questions are being asked and help you to make sure you will be able to provide accurate answers to those specific questions. It will let you know if you need more knowledge in a specific area of your business. You will be able to gauge how you measure up to the top performers in your industry.

Prioritize Your Menu

As with any store, restaurant, hair salon etc, you aren't going to want every product or service. Likewise, your clients and prospects will feel the same way. Thus, it's important you are creating separation within your products and services. Don't expect that because a customer is interested in one product or service they will be interested in all of them. This leads to overselling or overwhelming potential clients. The end result is a prospect that will take all the information you have provided to them and give someone else their business. Allowing space and separation will create opportunities to sell in markets that may not otherwise be available to you. Particularly when it comes to niches inside of larger niches. You may already have a rather tight community that will benefit from your business, however you may find that by separating products and with customized marketing strategies you will open up your audience and thus expand your potential market.

Use Social Media Wisely

I can not say it enough, how annoying it is, to see social media profiles asking for business in celebrity comment sections or other pages that have a large audience. It's even worse when their business or comment are completely unrelated to the topic of the original post. That's not marketing or branding in my opinion. I don't know who made that popular but if that could stop, that would be great. Between spam and bots, comment threads have become more challenging to navigate and it can be difficult to engage with others. There are ways to effectively utilize comment threads for exposure and growth for your business. However, asking for business on someone else's social media is in poor taste. I have yet to see positive responses to those who use this method. A more effective way is to engage in the comment thread. "Likes" on posts aren't effective since unless someone follows you no one will see your name. I recommend commenting on threads so your name will show. Make sure your comments are well thought out and relate to the topic. They should be a minimum of two or three lines but not too long. I will say it again, stay on topic. This shouldn't be seen as a time to argue, even when people are wrong. Always keep in mind that you are on someone else's page, which means you are talking to and with their supporters. The goal is to gain new followers and opportunities for business not wasting time in typing wars. Make friends, not enemies. This falls right in line with studying and researching your competitors. You'll learn where your target market is. Where the holes are in your industry. You will learn the questions people have. You can be ahead of the game by already having the answers available on your page or website. It will give you content for your page or blog or site etc. You can make sure you have relevant content for those who visit your page.

Ultimately there is no better place to start than where you are right now. If you have to start part time, then start part time. There are no wrong answers here. The important thing is, that once you start, you don't stop. A simple but important piece of advice, be where you are and use what you have. Scale your business based on your resources. You need to know how they are being utilized so you can ensure you get the most for your effort. Focus on one thing at a time, allow yourself the chance to become an expert in one area before moving on to the next. Effort and adaptability mark the difference between success and failure. Make sure you are working towards success!