how to start a small business and always smile to bank

Starting your own small business is the fastest and surest way to come out of poverty and sustain your wealth. You will not only make money but will get all other things that money cannot buy. You will have time to do whatever you want to do at any point in time without fear or favour. As fantastic as having your own small business may sound, it is regrettably not meant for everyone. It is exclusively meant for only those that can take the bull by the horn.

For about 5years that I have been a graduate, I have not worked for anyone. It is not that I didn’t come out of school with good grade (2.1 in Accounting is not a bad grade, or is it?) but, I chose to follow that path traveled by less, which is entrepreneurship.

Please note that all what you will be reading in this hub are my personal experience and should not be solely relied on without further research. Buy these Amazon books sampled on the right side of this hub so as to get more insight about starting and successfully running your own small business.

• COMING UP WITH BUSINESS (IDEAS) AND DOING YOUR MARKET RESEARCH

The hardest part of starting your own small business is the aspect that has to do with getting business ideas. Though some people will argue that there are businesses ideas all over the place but, just ask them to come up with one or two strong evidence in favour of the supposed business idea they perceive and see them goof. Business ideas can be got through both formal and informal means. I can be as simple as listening to people’s plight in your area and do something that will ameliorate their pain. You can casually interview friends and close relations or even neighbours to find out what it is that they really need at that point in time and work towards providing them. After getting your friends and well-wishers opinion, don’t just take them for what they seem to be, go ahead and test them to really determine the worthwhile ness of the venture. One way to do this is to carryout market research. This mustn’t be a detailed market research but, has to be detailed enough to give you what you are looking for.

• WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN AND PROPOSALS

After you must have come up with business idea(s), the next thing that needs to be done is to write your business plans and proposals. You don’t just write a business plan for writing sake, it must be both bankable and operational business plan. That link leads to a hub that deals with the subject matter of business plan. So do your self a favour by following it and devouring it.

• RAISING FUNDS

A good bankable business plan will help you raise the needed fund for your small business. Check out eleven ways to raise fund/ finance for small businesses. You will agree with me that finance is the life-blood of any establishment (for profit or not for profit). So, make sure you are happy with this aspect of starting your own small business.

• EMPLOYING AND RETAINING THE BEST HANDS AVAILABLE

The best asset that any business can have is her employees/ staff. The irony here is that this is the most neglected asset that businesses have. This is evidenced by the fact that employees/ staff have no place in the (Statement of Financial position) balance sheet. If you want your small business to grow, do yourself a favour by employing the best hands and treating them fine so that they will in turn put smile on the face of your business and your bank account.

• LAUNCHING YOUR BUSINESS

All the above steps will be useless if you don’t launch your business. You need to summon courage and overcome that inertia that keeps people from doing, thereby denying them their destiny

• ACTIVELY, EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY MARKETING YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Marketing! Marketing!! Marketing!!! You must actively, effectively and efficiently market your product or service if you really want to get your small business rolling. Your finest product or service will die with you if nobody knows about it. You can even outsource the marketing function of your business to experts in that field.

• CONTINUOUSLY SCANNING YOUR BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTMy HOD (Head of Department) back then in school will tell us that we stop being graduates the day we stop learning. So it is with small businesses, you stop being in business the day you stop scanning your environment for opportunities and threats. Make sure that you are actively involved in the community where you run your business- this is especially important now that every thing about business and its environment are going green.

One common mistake that I have seen people that started their own small business do is to become complacent with the initial success that comes with having your own small business. Complacency is one enemy of small business that must be decisively dealt with before it takes over everything. You must be mentally ready to handle success that is associated to your own small business. Ok! Now that you know the steps needed to be taken in order to start your own small business, all that you need now is action. Remember that the great difference between the haves and the have-nots is action. Learning the best strategies in the world will not make you any money until you take action, so I urge you to take that positive action towards starting your own small business and smile broadly to the bank.

But before you go, don’t forget to swap out your credit card to buy these great Amazon books that will help smoothen out the rough edges of starting your own small business.

To the success of your small business!