How to start a successful business

You have an idea for a product or service, which you think might be your ticket to making millions.   But now what!

Most people at one time or another say “I had this idea for a business”, but in most cases this never turns into a business, or someone else comes along with the same product or service before you get started.

There can be a number of reasons for this including but not limited to:

• lack of money to start the business
• lack of time (or perceived lack of time I am busy with this or that)
• lack of knowledge
• Finally, and in most cases, lack of guts to give it a go. 

Firstly, there is no such thing as an overnight success.   That “overnight success” has usually involved several years of extremely hard work.

Often as an employee, you won’t see the amount of work put in by business owners in evenings and on weekends.   If you are a shop front, you may have set hours, say 9 to 5, Mondays to Fridays, However there is usually not enough time during those business hours to complete all the paperwork a business generates.

Usually the first year is the hardest for any business, especially if you have not had any previous business experience.

There is no doubt starting a business can sometimes be a blessing and a curse (at the same time) but you can build a successful business.

There  are no guarantees in any business, however remember “Failure to plan will lead to planning to fail”

You need to spend some time carefully planning what you are going to do before you spend your first dollar.

One of the elements of planning is doing your market research.

Market research is very important and a lot of small business owners have not even done that before they start their business.  Recently a friend started a business in a small town.  It was in the take away food business (why does everyone think that take away food is the way to riches?). He didn't do any market research, had a great product, lots of enthusiasm and family support.

What he did not take into account was that there were already 5 competitors operating in the town.Within 6 months a major international fast food operator was going to build and open up it's doors. Guess what happened to his business, it failed. The market research, if he had done it, would have revealed that the major chain was going to open up.  It can be as simple as talking to your local council, finding out what development applications have been approved or are in progress for new businesses in your area.

It is amazing the information that is available about the type of business you may be wanting to start , especially on the Internet. You can obtain information about the competition in your local area.  You can obtain vital statistics from the Australian Bureau of statistics especially on the demographics of your local area.  This can be important if your target market is a certain age group, or has a certain level of disposable income.

This is only one of the many elements that you need to consider in the planning process.

Stay tuned for more.

Ralph Rossteuscher

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