2. 1. Start-up Costs.
Before starting a business, you must consider your financial
situation. It is a good idea to over budget rather than under
budget. The rule of thumb is to consider 3 scenario.
• consider your personal saving (including re-financing).
• Friends and family (including inheritance).
•Business loans from financial institutions ( including banks,
finance brokers and other loan companies putting into
consideration their different interest rates).
Now having decided where the finance will be coming from, we
can now move on to the next stage which is organising a
business plan.
3. 2. Business Plan.
The next stage is to have a business plan. For any business to
succeed, it must have a plan as to what type of business, and the
three main types are,
• Franchise
• Buying into an existing business
• Starting your own business from bottom-up.
But whatever decision you are considering, always consult
qualified and independent business advisers.
4. 3. Competitions
It is very important in any business to know who your competitors are and
what your competitors are doing.
Similar business spies on each other. This is the only yardstick you use to
evaluate
your business and it’s success.
Then you can implement things differently by looking for products or things
your competitors don’t
have in other to have a competitive advantage or a stronger hold on the
market.
5. 4. Location.
Another important aspect of a successful business is where the
business is situated. If for example you are planning a small
beauty salon business, it will be unwise to open your business in a
place where there is little or no traffic. A busy shopping centre will
be an ideal place though not all the traffic are there because of
your business, but one or two might duck in for a quick facial or
manicure.
6. 5. Insurances.
In any business, what you need apart from making profit is
rest of mind. And the only way you can guarantee rest of
mind is to fully insure your business. There are many types
of insurance policies, and to know what your business need
precisely, it is better to speak to a couple of insurance
companies in other to ascertain the type of insurance cover
that best suit your business.
7. 6. Registration & licenses.
In any business, you will need some sort of licenses, accreditations or
registration from
either government agencies or affiliates. And the registrations varies
from one authority to another. And this also depends on the
type of business structure you are considering. Be it Sole Proprietor,
Partnership or Company, you will need to contact the relevant
authority in your state or territories.
8. 7. Legal Obligations.
It is crucial for business to know their rights and the type of laws that
applies to their business. There are also some obligations and
responsibilities that comes with the right to own a business. For any person
considering a Partnership business, it is important to know that while it is
not compulsory to enter into a formal contract with your business partner,
but it is possible for things to go pear shape very quickly if business does
not go according to plan. A well documented contract will go a long way to
help Partners if they want to go their separate way. Conversely, A company
must display its name prominently at every place at which the company
carries on business that is open to the public. This is because any
prospective customer can identify your business as legitimate or legally
registered.
9. 8. Research
For a business to be successful, you have to research the products and
services you are offering.
Even if it means offering free samples for people to test and the level of
acceptance. The feedback you receive from
various parties will be the yardstick you use to weigh the level of acceptance.
Researching a product or service can be pretty difficult and expensive, but a
more accurate results can be achieved if it is given to a professional
organisation to manage after cost is
taken into consideration.
10. 9. Marketing.
In business, marketing is an integral part and a successful marketing
campaign can yield massive sales. But the cost and the time have to be
factored into the business. The importance of marketing cannot be
overemphasised, this is because the tools you use is very important. some
of these tools are as follows,
• Radio and Television
• Social media like Facebook, LinkedIn and various social network.
• Business Directories in your local area.
This is were you draw a random sample of your targeted population and
how many people you need to reach in these random sample. The
effectiveness of your campaign will give a reason for your customers to
contact you and become repeat customers.
11. 10. Consider Pull And Push Factors.
For any business to prosper, there must be a pull and push factor. In
other word, you have to consider the internal and external factors that
might affect your business. This could be problems that might happen
years down the track after your business have been through the rough
and tumble of every business. Some of the problems could be,
• Environmental issues
• Government policies
• Technologies.
For example an Internet cafe business opened 15yrs ago when there
were few computers and Internet connectivity could be more lucrative
back then, than an Internet Cafe opened more recently. With the advent
of faster computer and Internet connectivity, one would expect the
Internet Cafe business to be booming, but unfortunately, the introduction
of smart phones now make it almost impossible for Internet Cafe to be in
business because Internet is now available from all smart phones.
