In today’s generation, starting a business is practically possible for people who have the concept of business in their minds. The business market is filled with multiple industries run by people with the determination to have their own small or even big size companies. However, as we move forward in the technology era, most of the industry is focused on the “What’s New” concept of marketing.
This “not so new concept of business” focuses on entrepreneurs who push the boundaries of creating a new idea of business in line with technology that provide new products or services in the market. This “not so new concept of business” focuses on entrepreneurs who push the boundaries of creating a new idea of business in line with technology that provide new products or services in the market.
It may consist of people who develop new apps to help improve the business, a freelancer who can help run your business remotely, or people who create a social media platform that introduces people that would like to share their homes to travelers or of the same interest. It is what we call the Technological Trends in the business venture.
Concept of Business
If you have the time to observe the current market in your local area, most of the business provides solutions to your daily life. See how a tailor shop help you fix or design your working uniform, a butcher who continuously provide you fresh meat in the market, a baker who are open to bake you hot and fresh bread every morning, and a coffee shop near your office to serve you hot brewed coffee since you don’t have the time to prepare your breakfast at home. In other words, most of the business in your area is what the economist called mature.
These are businesses that provide services and products that you should be doing, but you don’t have the time to do so. No surprise that opportunists or business-minded people will run this kind of business to cater to your daily needs and earn fair enough money to run more business of the same type.
However, the majority of business owners don’t love their business. Financially wise, they love what they are doing, but the passion for serving people is not their primary reason why they started their business. Whether you like it or not, most of the business owner was driven by the concept of earning rather than serving the best quality of products and services to their customers.
I will not name some of the fast-food chains that provide high-speed service with the customer than a quality meal, also, for merchandisers who produce cheap products to generate more income. Some countries are allegedly producing fake or toxic consumable products to create more revenue.
These are called Pragmatic Business, who run to earn rather than to serve the customer. And they are almost everywhere in the market to the point that the business concept has defined the definition in every startup business owners’ idea of business.
Practical Business owners, however, see business as a vehicle for underlying commercial purposes. They dominate the market in today’s world by deceiving their customers. But, as you observe how they run their business, you will find that the service is not being done with love, but with money.
Then again, there are still a handful of business owners who run their business with love and passion. The quality of output drives them to produce quality products and services rather than money. They may not be earning that much, but they are happy in terms of what they are doing because their primary goal is to give a total commitment to excellence in their product or service rather than earning.
Of course, these businesses need to make money to sustain their needs. However, money is not a driving factor for them; love does. Most of the business owners who run a business of love create a business environment where the owner aims to pass excellency to his or her successors.
What are the things you must know when starting a business?
As discussed above, a fast-food business can be categorized into two categories; Pragmatic Business and Business with love. There are two different paths of business that we want to put into one concept.
Creating a business wherein quality is the top priority without compromising the return revenue. So, if you’re going to start a business, you might consider these 9 Golden Rules to follow before you start your own business.
9 Golden Rules to Start a Business
1. Discover Your Passion
If you want to establish a business built with love, you must know what kind of business you are passionate about. What type of enterprise is in line with your passion? What are the things you love that you want to share with your future clients? How can you turn your passion into service? What are your hidden talents and skills that can add value to your business? Starting a business is a long-term process. So, be sure that you love what you are doing, or else you will end up too soon.
However, if you like what you are doing, you will find yourself working on an extra mile to achieve a specific target of the month, working overtime to meet your weekly primary, and spend some sleepless nights only to fulfil the project that you need to finish today. Your passion will drive you to make an extra effort only to achieve what you want to do since it is your business that you want to succeed.
2. Sketch Your Plan
In every business, planning is crucial. If you fail to plan for your business, chances are, you will end up nothing but a guessing game. Building your business plan will help you achieve your goal with a higher success rate. So, don’t put your time and effort into waste, make your planning beneficial to your business.
Start with your Vision, Mission, Goals, and Objectives. The next one should be the strategies that you will apply to your business. Then, things you need before starting your business, such as legal papers, target locations, and the like. Make sure to list all your necessary things to be done before you dive into your business.
3. Talk to an expert
After all the planning, create a checklist and talk to an expert or to people who are doing the same business as yours. It is essential to your business since you need their guidance and advice on how you will start your business and what are the steps that you need to undergo before opening a new business.
You can also visit your business area, talk to the people who are currently running their business near you and seek advice. You might learn something from them. Remember, they already established their business before you build your own, so they knew all the processes and the things that you need to be ready for.
4. Manage Your Finance
The fourth golden rule is to have cash and backup finances for your business, or else it will not survive. You need to have an extra amount to sustain your business and personal cash flows. You need to spend something and be ready to stake your savings to your business. If you can’t pay on your business, better start earning and save a lot for your business. Starting is not as easy as frying eggs.
5. Market Research
Your business needs to do some market research to get to know the strength of your business and the opportunity that you can take advantage of. You will also get to know your weaknesses and the threat in your industry. You will learn what the best products or services you can offer. You will know if your service or product is saleable in your target area. You will see how you can market your business well. The information that you will gather in this action will help your business prepare for all upcoming challenges.
6. Create a Catchy Business Names
The next thing you need to look for is your branding. A catchy business name will help your business stand out among your competitors, so make sure that you are there in choosing your name and strategically catch the attention of your customers.
Short, unique, and easy to remember names are the edge of every business in the world. Just like these brands: KFC, Mcdo, Mango, LV, Chanel, and other companies. They are short yet catchy and straightforward to remember their names quickly. Learn from these businesses and try to create your catchy business name.
7. Online Business Profile
In this modern age, you will be outcasted in the marketing and advertising field if you will not establish an online profile for your business. What you must do is to create a social media profile (FB, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) or develop a business website. If you have either of the said platforms will help your customers see your presence online, and this will help generate traffic to your local business. You can initiate online marketing and target your audience. Moreover, the results of your market research will help you focus on the right customer in your selected demography.
8. Build a Startup Team
Building a startup team coincides with tip number 4. If you have your own business, make sure you have the startup team that will help you achieve your target goals. If you have a friend who can work with you or if he wants to be a business partner, then this will help you save a lot instead of paying people to help you materialize your project since hiring a team will need additional money to pay for their services.
9. Listen to your Customer
Once the business is already running, observe your customers. Engage with them and talk to them on how you can improve your services. What are the downsides of your business? What are the things that they like in your business? What are the things that they want to see or experience in your business?
You can learn these things from your customers. Their voice is as significant as you are serving them. Getting all their suggestions might increase the number of customers who will avail of your product or services.
Sum up.
When starting a business, you must employ different strategies and techniques for you to achieve success. You will learn many things while talking to experienced people in your industry. You can even ask them for guidance and tips. Make sure to read more success stories and study how they manage to generate their own business from scratch. These tips will help you start your business from scratch, just like Barjunaid Cadir did. He’s a student who made his way to establish a small agency that helps companies in their day-to-day business. By profession, Barjunaid Cadir is a Public-School Teacher in the Philippines from 2012 to 2015. He left his teaching career last 2015 and pursued his postgraduate course abroad.
Since Barjunaid Cadir struggles financially, he took the time to learn the idea of working remotely and learn freelancing skills that he can use in his venture. To cut the story short, the number of his clients grew over time that he needs a small team to run his business. So, he started to hire two members to join his venture.
Currently, he is managing five heads in his team. He’s the Editor-in-Chief of The Weekly Trends Magazine that features news and other trending stories. He is making his way of building a small VA online university (theVAsity) for aspiring individuals who wish to learn how to start their venture as a Freelancer.
