How to Start Your Own Business [Guía]

And although somewhat instinctively we have an idea of ​​what we want to do, we don’t always know where to start or how to shape our business project.

So always trying to provide you with tools that facilitate the construction of your business, today I share a guide that you can print with a series of questions and determining points to put your ideas in order and take the first steps that ensure that starting your business is an experience successful.

The first reason why this guide will help you is because it will allow you to raise your vision to a level where you can plan and project in a conscious, calm and logical way, overcoming emotion and minimizing risk.

The process is similar regardless of the size of the company you have in mind and will help you not to assume but to calculate technically the costs of starting your business.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
My recommendation is that you print it out and with pencil in hand, answer each of the questions posed as clearly as possible. Take your time. There is no rush and on the contrary, the better you analyze your answers, the better you can shape your business.

Then, after a week, print the document a second time and answer all the questions again, analyzing your previous answers as a review. This is the process of “ordering your thoughts”.

You will notice that in this second phase, your creative side will have found best ideas, proposals and probable solutions that in the first phase you have not visualized clearly.

If you are not totally clear about a question, move on to the next one, but make sure you answer it even if it takes a little longer. At the end of this second phase, you will practically have a business plan perfectly adapted to your particular market conditions, investment possibilities and personal knowledge of the business and you will be ready to take action.

It does not matter if your document has 2 pages or 20, it will be your plan and the compass so that things go well from the beginning.

So, after this preamble, here is the guide.
Have all the information related to your business idea such as: drafts, prototypes, idea sketches, similar business information, and any legal documents that may be helpful.

Guide To Start Your Own Business

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS

1. Write a brief overview of your business idea and what you plan to do.
2. Define a mission: in a couple of lines what you want to achieve by building this business and what would be the values ​​on which you plan to base it.
3. Describe your short-term (1 year) and long-term (5+ years) goals.

SETTING UP THE BUSINESS

1. Who is he Owner of the business? (it can be more than one)
2. What will its legal structure be? (corporation, partnership, small businessman)
3. ¿What type of business do you want to start? Y What industry do you belong to? Look for information and identify potential factors that let you know that this industry has potential.
4. What is the trend of this kind of business? Are more opening up in your area?
5. Do you have the knowledge and experience necessary to operate this business?
6. Do you have the knowledge about the products and services to provide? Or eventually, will you have an expert collaborator on the subject?
7. What will your business offer that is novel or attractive over other companies in this industry?
8. How do you plan to keep your business alive in this industry?
9. Is it a business that already exists or will you open for the first time? (define a tentative start date)
10. Where would your business be located? (your home, business premises, office, Internet, others)
11. That product (s) or service (s) will promote your business?
12. What needs do these products or services satisfy?
13. How much money do you need to open your doors? (see budget below)
14. How much money will you need to trade monthly?
15. How much do you want or need to earn the first year?
16. How much would you need to sell to make your desired profit?
17. Consider and define the possibility of using external or temporary services.
18. Describe the characteristics of the products and services.
19. Describe the risks that promoting your products can have.

ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF THE COMPANY

1. Who will run the business? (manager or highest authority)
2. What will be the obligations and responsibilities of the manager?
3. What will the business hours of operation be?
4. Are these times competitive?
5. What will be the wages to pay? (projected)
6. What other staff will you need to hire? (receptionists, vendors, winemakers, pilots, etc.)
7. How much will you have to pay them in salary and what kind of employment relationship will they have?
8. Define the responsibilities, schedules and obligations of each collaborator.
9. What external services will you use? (accounting, legal, technical, etc.)

MARKETING

1. Where will you buy your products?
2. What price will your products or services have?
3. Are these prices competitive?
4. What will the benefits that your company will offer to your customers?
5. What will be the differentiating benefits that it will offer to its consumers?
6. Do your products have life cycles or expiration cycles?
7. Are your products seasonal or vintage?
8. When are your products best sold?
9. What would be the weakest time in sales for your business?
10. What do you plan to do to generate income in low seasons?
11. How do you plan to beat your competition? Do you have any strategy?
12. Define the potential risks that you consider could exist in your business

MARKET ANALYSIS

1. Describe your customer’s profile
2. Describe in detail your potential clients (age, socio-economic level, gender, education, etc.)
3. Where do your customers come from?
4. Are there potential clients in the area where you plan to locate your business?
5. Do your customers have the financial capacity to purchase your products or services?
6. Who are your main competitors?

SALES STRATEGY

1. How he thinks promote your products or services?
2. Where do you plan to promote them? (city, area, countries)
3. What advertising media are you planning to use?
4. How much will this kind of advertising cost you? (quote)
5. Why have you chosen these means? What makes you think they are the most effective?
6. How often will you pay for advertising? (daily, weekly, monthly, occasional)
7. How much monthly budget will you designate for promotion and advertising? (percentage)

And ready! Here you have 53 questions or determining points to start your company. As I mentioned at the beginning, you don’t have to do it in one day or on a single sheet. The more descriptive you are, the better and remember that in the first phase you should capture all the ideas that come to your mind and in the second you will give them a little more shape.

It is a somewhat long exercise but it will help you to know if you have everything you need to start on the right foot since it is precisely one of the common weaknesses of many entrepreneurs is to jump without planning and then realize that they were not fully prepared to assume the economic and technical responsibilities required by the company.

In a second part, I will expand on the financial part related to the initial investment and preparation of a monthly budget. Wait for it!

Meanwhile I invite you to follow 1000 Business Ideas on facebook or see others ideas to undertake: