How to start a business from scratch. Recommendations to help launch your own company

The number of people willing to start their own business is growing every day. However, in reality, most potential entrepreneurs do not know how to implement their idea from scratch, as they have never dealt with it before. Starting a business is not only a combination of a good idea and confidence in one's abilities, but also the right choice of niche, understanding the peculiarities of the economic situation in the country, and understanding the mentality of local residents.

Any business needs to start somewhere and follow a certain set of actions, including when launching your own business. It all starts with studying the basics and "preparing the ground," and ends with achieving the goal - monetizing your efforts.

Stages of Implementing Your Business

Researching Demand and Choosing a Niche

The key to success is choosing the right niche. A business detached from reality is doomed to fail. Your ideas should be supported by customer interest. The question arises - how to avoid making mistakes in your choice.

1. Get inspired by global sales leaders

You can get ideas from major trading platforms such as Alibaba, Amazon, AliExpress, etc. These are extensive markets with various product groups. It is worth spending some time analyzing the assortment to find something special. Perhaps there is a category of products that are not so common in your country or not available at all. Even in familiar, traditional niches, you can find something unique, as audience interests change and can be niche-specific.

For example, Korean cosmetics, Chinese teas, adult coloring books for stress relief - all of these were once imported into our country by savvy entrepreneurs and now enjoy huge demand.

2. Think about yourself

First of all, personal attitude towards a particular product is important in choosing a niche. Individual interest in the chosen field becomes the key to success. Think about what you are willing to do for a long time, without losing interest and with a readiness to endure temporary failures.

If you love active leisure and traveling, it would be logical to create a travel agency.

3. Gather Statistical Data

There is a wide range of tools available for forecasting and analytics in trading. Search engine query statistics (Yandex Wordstat, Google Trends) will indicate how many people are interested in a specific product (e.g., "children's thermal underwear" or "raincoat for dogs"). Analyzing the query will help determine if there is demand for the product, whether the seasonality principle works for a specific group of goods, the number of potential consumers, and their region of residence.

Thus, you will conduct initial marketing research and analyze demand online.

4. Study Your Competitors

Having an idea of what you want to do - study the existing market - see who occupies the niche and who among the players could become your real competitor.

You can always learn something from your competitors and avoid their obvious mistakes in the future. It is not uncommon for situations where a business chooses a unique and promising niche but fails in promoting it properly and ends up with nothing.

What helps minimize the chances of making a mistake:

- Choose products that can realistically lead to "upselling". By selecting a unique product, a buyer is unlikely to go to another online store for an accessory. It is often the small, related products that are the most profitable;

- arouse interest and create demand. By choosing a product that is not yet saturated in the market, create demand for it. New products are new content, so allocate a budget to advertise something interesting. A curious buyer will eventually become interested and land on your resource;

- do not underestimate hobbies and interests. Now, the main consumer demand is based on the preferences of people who are constantly self-aware and constantly learning something new. Some go to a horse club or engage in rowing, others are passionate about scrapbooking or decorating kitchen utensils;

- focus on what's important to the customer.The prospects of moving beyond known market spaces and the paradigm of stiff competition are described in the book "Blue Ocean Strategy." Expand the boundaries of existing niches, which are crowded with competitors (the so-called red ocean), and focus your efforts on untouched areas (the so-called blue ocean). In blue oceans, there is no competition and there is enormous potential for company growth, as the rules of the game are yet to be established.

As an example, consider the circus industry, which was rapidly losing its popularity due to children's changing interests.

Cirque du Soleil (French for "Circus of the Sun") achieved incredible success in what seemed to be a doomed industry. Success came to them when the company decided not to use classic circus elements (round arenas, animal performances, and clowns), but to focus on high-level acrobatics and creating a bright, conceptual show. They also changed their target audience, trying to interest affluent adults rather than children.

The main rule of success that many ignore, subsequently leading to unsuccessful businessmen - it is important to provide real benefits to your customers, not ephemeral profit for your own gain. A business without a global goal and real value for others is doomed.

Checking the chosen niche

Once you have identified your niche, test its demand. Checking the niche is easy - you need to create your own store. Contrary to stereotypes, it is quite possible to bring a business idea to life without initial capital. Typically, this option is chosen by people who have decided to leave their traditional place of work and venture into the so-called "free flight."

For example, one of FlawlessMLM's clients, before developing a multi-level partner program, followed the advice of our specialists, namely: studied his audience and analyzed the demand for his product using the well-known sales tool - the social network Instagram.

By allocating a minimal (relative to starting a business) budget for promoting the page and being able to present his product through visual content for his profile, the client tested the demand for the product being sold and, at the same time, earned money to develop and scale the small Instagram project into a large network company.

After receiving feedback from customers, make adjustments to your advertising campaigns and keep working. However, do not expect fabulous profits right away. You may have to deal with unforeseen financial difficulties. According to statistics, only about 35% of businesses "survive" after their first year of existence.

Where to Get Money to Start a Business

The headache of startups and novice entrepreneurs becomes the search for investments to implement and support the project's viability. There is plenty of information online on ways to find money, but we will not discuss such banal things as "getting a bank loan" or "borrowing from relatives and friends." Let's consider slightly more unconventional approaches that have already been successfully used by our clients, namely:

- Accumulating capital from test sales. Launch a test sale on popular platforms. With successful niche testing, you can earn from sales. Many entrepreneurs stop at this stage and do not scale their business.

- Attracting investors by demonstrating the test results' prospects. The project can become a portfolio analog, and it is in your interest to implement the "demo version" of the business as qualitatively as possible.

- Create an initial partnership structure and sell top positions in it. By selling the first positions in a multi-level structure, you will get the initial capital for development, and partners will get a profitable investment with entry at the start.

Sales Automation

Every entrepreneur plays the role of a business engineer, for whom a company is a mechanism that requires constant improvement. Assessing the prospects and demand for your idea, think about the prospects of automating sales through network marketing.

Network marketing (multi-level marketing, MLM) is the principle of company's product implementation through partners who act as informants-sellers in exchange for earnings, bonuses, and discounts. In addition to selling the product, a distributor can recruit partners with similar rights.

The basic principle of the direct sales industry has become the idea "do it yourself and share with a friend if you like it.".

Products or services offered by a company should definitely be unique and appealing to distributors, as only then they will be able to present them in the best possible way. By becoming a "product advocate," a distributor can convincingly persuade opponents of the benefits and advantages of the product and shape a positive opinion about the company.

Becoming an MLM company automates the process of finding the end consumer (potential distributor), while spending less financial resources on attracting them.

Often, traditional businesses use affiliate marketing methods to attract customers and increase sales. Hybridizing a traditional company with MLM elements is a working algorithm for scaling your business.

For example, in the CIS countries, promo codes, cashback, and discounts for referring new customers through referral links are common. Similar programs are available at Tutu.ru, Booking.com, Lamoda, L'Étual, Yakaboo, and many other widely known companies.

Wireless headphones, smart watches, selfie lamps, compression stockings and socks, laundry drying balls, fitness bracelets - this is far from a complete list of promising products that experts predicted high demand for in 2019. It is necessary to remember that business processes do not stand still, that other people may already be implementing business ideas today, at this moment, and starting to earn money from them. No one will wait for you, no one will pity you, and, more importantly, no one will do the work for you.

Nakakahinayang (Tagalog, Philippines) - the feeling of regret for not taking advantage of a situation or opportunities provided because of fear of taking risks, while someone else succeeded as needed.