MENTORBOX

Things to keep in mind while starting your own business.

ISF Analytica & Informatica

Jun 21

1. Develop Vision & Mission

What customer problem are you solving that potential customers are willing to pay for? This is often called the value proposition.

Regardless of whether you’re running a small one-person operation or a large corporation, having a company mission and vision help to provide employees with a purpose. The mission and vision of an organization are integral to the company’s strategy because they are used to define future goals and operational tactics. While mission and vision are terms that are often interchanged, they actually refer to two separate aspects of the company.

2) Know your Customers

Almost everything you read about marketing and social media advises you to “know your customer” — or prospective customer. And, that’s sound advice. But, how many of you REALLY take the time to get to know your customer?

a)Surveys –. Surveys involve creating standard questions, usually with a list of possible answers that respondents select from, and involve large numbers of respondents. But, problems remain.

b) Focus groups-are also ubiquitous, especially around traditional marketing and advertising agencies. Usually run by a highly trained moderator, the group consists of 8–12 informants with similar backgrounds. Usually, you conduct multiple focus groups. They have the advantage of helping understand how groups of customers interact with your product and can help drive deeper thought from informants.

c)Ethnographic studies — these actually have some major advantages over other ways of getting to know your customer. Ethnographic studies involve extensive interviews with customers (depth interviews) commonly using a common question guide, which allows liberal variation and follow-up questions to truly understand the consumer. You can also observe consumers or be a participant observers — like you’re studying a tribal group like Margaret Mead. With the amount of user-generated data available on social networks, often you don’t need to collect the data, just gather if from these sites and interpret it.

3)SWOT Analysis- A SWOT analysis is an analytical technique used to determine and define several key characteristics: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats — SWOT.

SWOT analyses can be applied to an entire company or organization, or individual projects within a single department. Most commonly, SWOT analyses are used at the organizational level to determine how closely a business is aligned with its growth trajectories and success benchmarks.

3) Surround yourself with advisers and mentors

Launching and growing a business is difficult, and more than half will fail within 5 years. No one person can have all the knowledge, experience, or even perspective to handle every business situation. Gain from others’ skills and experiences.

4)Write a business plan

Have a good grasp on your sales, gross margins, profits, cash flow, and the specific metrics associated with your business.

Look for ways to cut costs where you can. Use cost-effective tools like email marketing and social media to drive awareness, rather than pricier traditional advertising methods.

5) Understand there are no entitlements

Don’t underestimate this one: You will work hard for all your achievements.

Being a small business owner is one of the hardest jobs around. In a recent survey, 40 percent of small business owners said they don’t take vacations and have their money tied up in their business.
 6) Have a passion for what you are doing

Being a business founder can be very lonely and there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything.

From big successes to large let downs, if you’re not fueled by passion at every step of the way your job becomes that much harder.