When talking with most successful business owners, you'll also find that it's even better if you already know a significant amount about the industry in which you plan to earn your income. When starting a new business, there's so very much to learn about running that particular business that it simplifies things significantly and becomes less overwhelming if you have solid industry knowledge to begin with. Of the interests you listed, reprioritize depending upon the amount of knowledge you have about each industry. Let's say you know a great deal about cooking and kayaking, less so about the other interests.
Another important factor, once you have identified some industries in which you have some knowledge and interest, is the amount of demand in those industries. If you plan to have an online business, do your research online. Obviously, if there is very little demand for the industry that you would like to start a business in, it's unlikely to succeed. To find out the level of demand for each of your choices, go to: http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal, and enter Kayaking, for example. Looking at the numbers of well over a million daily searches, it would appear that there is sufficient interest/demand in Kayaking, so that could lead to a viable business.
Once you have identified the industry or business focus that is right for your business, you will have to decide HOW to mold that into a successful business. Taking our kayaking example, would you want to sell kayaking equipment, actually shipping it from your home; sell kayaking equipment on eBay, using a dropshipper, so that you never have to touch it; sell ebooks on learning how to kayak; sell regional ebooks which have maps showing suitable places to kayak; or do you have some unique take on kayaking that you want to focus on? While you can decide to do a number of related businesses, it is best to start with a single one, work the kinks out of it, then finance new lines of business from the profits.
Now that you have decided on a single type of business to start, you will need a business plan. A business plan is a forecast of earnings and expenses, along with text explaining exactly how you will achieve the forecast. For example, let's say you decided to dropship kayaking equipment and sell it on eBay. (Dropshipping means that the manufacturer or wholesaler will take orders from you directly and ship the items straight to your customers' homes with your company's identifying information. It eliminates the need for inventory and is the cheapest way to get into hard goods sales.) Your business plan would describe whether you would set up your own website or not, what type of advertising, if any, that you would do, what types of payment you would accept and the steps you would take to be able to accept them, the steps needed to establish yourself on eBay, whether your town or city will require you to get a business permit, selecting a main supplier and some auxiliary suppliers (most of them are in China, and can be found through Alibaba.com ), whether you will do business as an individual, corporation, or other entity, etc.. Spend some time on your business plan so that you don't find out later that you overlooked something major that will cause you to be unable to provide good customer service for a period of time. As to suppliers, it's always prudent to get a sample shipment so that you know firsthand what shipping timeframe and product quality you can expect.
After your business plan is completed, and has been thoroughly vetted, you should be ready to start your new business. You know the industry, you've planned it all through, you know the demand, all that remains is to get out there and be successful! Congratulations on your new business!
Once you have identified the industry or business focus that is right for your business, you will have to decide HOW to mold that into a successful business. Taking our kayaking example, would you want to sell kayaking equipment, actually shipping it from your home; sell kayaking equipment on eBay, using a dropshipper, so that you never have to touch it; sell ebooks on learning how to kayak; sell regional ebooks which have maps showing suitable places to kayak; or do you have some unique take on kayaking that you want to focus on? While you can decide to do a number of related businesses, it is best to start with a single one, work the kinks out of it, then finance new lines of business from the profits.
Now that you have decided on a single type of business to start, you will need a business plan. A business plan is a forecast of earnings and expenses, along with text explaining exactly how you will achieve the forecast. For example, let's say you decided to dropship kayaking equipment and sell it on eBay. (Dropshipping means that the manufacturer or wholesaler will take orders from you directly and ship the items straight to your customers' homes with your company's identifying information. It eliminates the need for inventory and is the cheapest way to get into hard goods sales.) Your business plan would describe whether you would set up your own website or not, what type of advertising, if any, that you would do, what types of payment you would accept and the steps you would take to be able to accept them, the steps needed to establish yourself on eBay, whether your town or city will require you to get a business permit, selecting a main supplier and some auxiliary suppliers (most of them are in China, and can be found through Alibaba.com ), whether you will do business as an individual, corporation, or other entity, etc.. Spend some time on your business plan so that you don't find out later that you overlooked something major that will cause you to be unable to provide good customer service for a period of time. As to suppliers, it's always prudent to get a sample shipment so that you know firsthand what shipping timeframe and product quality you can expect.
After your business plan is completed, and has been thoroughly vetted, you should be ready to start your new business. You know the industry, you've planned it all through, you know the demand, all that remains is to get out there and be successful! Congratulations on your new business!
No comments:
Post a Comment