Business Head - Cashflow

Hi,

Okay, so you have identified competitors, a market or markets, and some ideas of how to sell whatever it is that you're selling.

Okay, so assuming that you've come up with a great idea, you'd expect people to start buying what you have straight away, wouldn't you? Seriously, I don't know you, why would I pay for something from a person or company that I have never heard of? That's an entirely plausible scenario, so what can you do? How about coming up with another idea or two, some other areas that you might be able to depend upon to keep the food on the table, and the wolf from the door.

That's a nice easy thing to say, but not that easy to dream up. I spend years thinking of this idea, and now I'm finally doing it, you're saying that I should start that process again? Well, you don't have to, but imagine how much easier it could be if you have two things that could make money, and you can fine tune to make them more profitable. It gives you a lot more chance at success doesn't it?

You are much less likely to feel pressure if you have a sure fire way to make money as well as your "little baby" or an idea. It may be that the alternative cashflow idea makes more money in the long run, that the other idea. That's great, you're making money. So long as it lives up to your benchmark, you should develop that.

The extra cashflow also gives you extra money so that you can develop marketing and sales tactics, without having to mortgage your house, and take a massive risk, on something that might be a huge flop. That said, you did all your research, people like it, they like the price, the time is right, everything is right. How could you ever fail?

Business Head - I feel I have something special to sell

Hi!

You have an idea that you feel is special, will sell. But will it really? Will people really be interested in self-warming socks? How do you know? The thing is, it's one thing for you to think that your idea is good, and a completely different one for others to agree.

So what can you do? Well, you need to ask people. You need to find a forum, and use it as a sounding board. That could easily be an actual forum on the internet, or alternatively it could be a case of asking your family (poor buggers!)

Presumably you already have a market in mind? Maybe you could run the idea past a select few from that market, and see what feedback you get? This is a useful phase, since you may get ideas to add to your original idea, or fine tune it. The idea may not be feasible, so aren't you glad you asked, instead of wasting all that time and money?

You also need to find your unique selling point. What is it that sets what you sell apart from others? Price alone can be a reason, but it makes the business a lot more likely to fail, as you immediately will find yourself in price wars. Unless you have some special place from which you can obtain your product or raw materials (that's legal) you might want to think through what you're trying to do.

What if what you have is completely new? A new eyebrow curling gadget? Great! Now, you still need to find out if people would buy that product. You also need to look if there's something similar to what you do, and see how they sell things. You need to be different, but to start off with you could have a similar approach, with a slightly different product.

Business Head - Where are my markets?

Hi,

Well obviously if you're going to start a business, you need to know where you're going to sell whatever you're going to sell.

So, being the brains that you are, how are you going to find that information out? You're hoping that I was going to tell you? Ummmm... Okay, I'll give you a few ideas to start with.

First of all, do you have any competitors? Or if not, are there any companies that do something remotely similar to what you plan to do? I don't mean pick your nose, as I don't think that that would sell well. You could even look for people that have a similar sort of approach to you. So you could look at no frills companies, or companies that offer things at a cut price. Perhaps you could even view companies that often do big sales, it really depends on how you envisage your company working.

Now, you have an idea of competitors either for a product or service, or people who have a similar approach. You're really impressed with yourself aren't you? Chill out! You still have some work to do, although the job you've done so far has been sterling. Okay, so you need to write down what or how you found those competitors, or like companies, what identifies them? How are they different? What do they do well, and what do they do badly? How much money do they earn?

You can also try to look at the competitors in terms of investing, would you invest in them, and if so why? If not why?

I want a new business. Where do I start?

I do often come across people saying that they'd like a business, at which point I often question their motives. This often ellicit responses such as, "So I can make lots of money", "So that I don't have to take order from the boss", "So that I can work when I want" and so on. Dont we all want those things in life, and more besides? Of course, but that isn't going to make a business sucessful.

First things first, you probably need to lay down some ground rules, a benchmark before you start. Then figure out some things to look for to see if it is at all feasible.

So having your office on the beach is the most important right? I joke about it, but it's quite possible that that is the criteria for business, perhaps if you already can do that, or have a great view from you office window or whatever?

I think it's often a good idea to decide what consitutes a good business first. Loads of dosh, big houses, cars, and the like? You're with me, right? I hear you, really I do. Stepping back for a second, how about the job that you currently have, you earn $x, so by my way of thinking, if the business can't make you that same $x then you need to be asking questions of it regarding how worthwhile the process is.

So, lets assume that that is all we're bothered about at the moment. We don't really care that we will live at work for the next decade, do we? It's all worthwhile in the end isn't it? Okay, so now we need to look at what our business will sell. This area of feasibility is often called a business plan, and whilst people often see this as optional, it's a really good idea, to see if the reality is the same as the visions of paradise you have in your head. We will leave business plans to other posts, as you will otherwise have fallen asleep soon. Wake up already!

Business Head - Another blog starts

Good day to you all,

This is the first blog in a series of blogs about how to start up a business. The blog will deal with how to make the business successful, what to look at to improve the business.

This blog is not meant to be advice, but instead, as with the other blogs at teamplatt, it's all about information, and how that knowledge can get you started looking in the right places to put things right.

I hope you enjoy it.

Martin Platt.