5 Things to Note When Starting Your Own Business

[Richard]

Starting an online business could be your springboard to success. It could be the best decision you could ever make in your life.

Truly, starting an online business can be very exciting, especially with the prospect of being successful in life. But then again, there is also a downside to it. Not that it should discourage you, though; knowing the downsides would only help to steer you on the right path. Here are the top five things you will realise once you start your own business.

1. Your business could go a in different direction.

Of course, you would have a plan for your business. You would want it to go your way, so you create goals, timetables, and deadlines to meet. But there could be roadblocks that you'll encounter along the way. Don't be discouraged, though; instead, find ways to cope with the circumstances. Making a Plan B (and a Plan C, and even a Plan D if you can) is always a helpful solution. If things don't go your way, don't give up. Adapt to the situation, and hold on to your vision.

2. Other people will mock you.

There will be people who will mock you, ridicule you, laugh at you, and tell you all sorts of stuff that will discourage you. The sad thing is, some of these people can even be your friends or family. If you really want your business to succeed, just ignore these spiteful comments. Paying attention to them will do you no good. Focus more on working towards your goal, and soon enough your business venture will succeed.

3. Success does not come quickly.

You have to work your way to success, and the road to it is a long one. There is no such thing as an overnight success. You have to work hard to earn your success. And there will be times that you'll encounter failures and rejections. But if your attitude is one that never gives up easily, you'll be on your way to success soon enough.

4. The path to success is away from your comfort zone.

Every one of us would prefer to stay in our comfort zones (which is why they're called "comfort zones"). But staying there will take you nowhere. Have the courage to get out of that comfort zone. Doing so will open up many doors to different opportunities, adventures, and chances for learning and improving yourself.

5. You must drive yourself forward.

Running your own business can get lonely sometimes. You can't always depend on inspiring words and motivation from your family, friends, and colleagues. Most of the time, you have to push yourself harder. If you feel a bit stressed with your business, hold on tight! The best is yet to come, and it will come soon!

[Tina]

Understanding the business environment is an important concept for managers. It encapsulates many different influences and the difficulty is making sense of this complexity, which arises because many of the separate issues are interconnected. For example, think of a technological development such as IT, which changes the nature of work. This in turn, changes lifestyles which then alters consumer behaviour and purchasing patterns for many goods and services.

The macro-environment consists of broad environmental factors that impact to a greater or lesser degree on organisations. Having identified the key drivers of change from the broad data, possible scenarios can be drawn which will help the organisation to draw up its strategy.

The next layer is called an industry or sector. This is a group of organisations producing the same products or services. A useful framework for analysing an industry is Porter's Five Forces Framework.

The layer adjacent to the organisation itself is its competitors and markets. Within most industries or sectors, there will be many different organisations with different characteristics and competing on different bases. The concept of strategic groups can help with the identification of both direct and indirect competitors. Competitor analysis allows companies to identify and understand its competitors. Furthermore, customers' expectations are not all the same. They have a range of different requirements, which can be understood through the use of market segments and critical success factors.

The PESTEL framework is a useful tool to identify how future trends in the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal environments might affect organisations. Examples of such influences are shown below.

· Legal:

o Competition law

o Employment law

o Health and safety

o Product safety

· Political:

o Government stability

o Taxation policy

o Foreign trade regulations

o Social welfare policies

o BREXIT

· Economic factors:

o Business cycles

o GNP trends

o Interest rates

o Money supply

o Inflation

o Unemployment

o Disposable income

· Sociocultural factors:

o Population demographics

o Income distribution

o Social mobility

o Lifestyle changes

o Attitudes to work and leisure

o Consumerism

o Levels of education

· Technological:

o Government spending on research

o Government and industry focus on technological effort

o New discoveries/developments

o Speed of technology transfer

o Rates of obsolescence

· Environmental:

o Environmental protection laws

o Waste disposal

o Energy consumption

Understanding how such factors might impact on and drive change in general is only the starting point. Managers need to understand the key drivers of change and also the differential impact of these external influences and drivers on particular industries, markets and individual organisations. It is worthwhile assessing which factors are the most important at the present time and which will be over the coming years. It is particularly important that the future impact is assessed and fully understood.

[Mabel]

They say; failing to plan, is planning to fail! A plan is what you need in order to succeed in life. Going by the flow may seem like a convenient option at first, but when you figure out that you have not planned beforehand for the challenges life throws at you, failure might be inevitable.

Similarly, for a business, creating and implementing a business plan is a major reason of surviving in the competitive market of the 21st Century. However, most entrepreneurs or firms are not properly familiar with why they need a business plan. Let us talk about the importance of a plan, for existing as well as new businesses, today.

The Importance of a Business Plan:

Mapping the Future:

One of the biggest reasons you need a plan is that it helps you in preparing for the future. You can set goals, develop techniques to achieve and set a mission statement for your business. This helps you to set your business on the right track.

Building the Foundation:

A business plan helps in building the foundation of a company. You have a detailed summary of what you need to follow and how you are going to run your business. Once you know the way you want to run a business, the rest becomes quite easy.

Regular Performance Check:

Creating a plan can help you in keeping the regular performance of your business in check and changing your operational methods accordingly.

Secure Funding:

One of the main reasons why idealistic businesses build a plan is because it is a secure way to protect your funding. You can calculate the previous spending, diving your funds on different tasks and take out an estimate of what you will earn in the future.

What Kind of Business Plan Do You Need?

There are mainly two types of businesses - one which already exists and a newly established. For a newly started business, the best way to develop a plan is to aim for a one-page business plan.

A robust and detailed plan will just take your attention of the other important things you need to take care of in the initial start-up stage, for example, marketing strategies.

On the other hand, an existing business needs to sketch out how they performed in the past and then build a detailed plan for the future, with a vision to achieve an objective.

The Final Verdict:

Having a business plan is one of the most important steps a firm might take, in order to keep a track of the present performance, and sketching out what the company needs to achieve in the future. Business plans can help a firm create a mission statement and then follow it until they stand on a firm foundation and years of experience.