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It is not a surprise that we are witnessing ongoing dwindling economic situation coupled with increasing prices of commodities – groceries, petrol, and diesel that tend to make life hard and miserable for people and businesses. We are in a period when many startup businesses and entrepreneurs are quick to give up their startup business ideas on the pretense that “time is hard,” or simply put, “there is no money in the economy.”
From my experience as a business coach, this as one of those good times when anyone that is serious about starting a new business should venture in. Many businesses started in economic recession have higher propensity of survival for many reasons ranging from less competition, cheap labor, and more support available for startup businesses this year.
Although the emphasis is not on why you should be starting a new business in bad economy, nevertheless, it might interest you to remember that in every ten or fifteen years, economies go through phases of growth, recession, Trough, and recovery. With careful preparation, planning, and execution; great businesses, entrepreneurs and organizations are made at such times.
Many successful entrepreneurs ѕау thаt оnе of thе bеѕt startup business ideas is an online business. With the power of the Internet, there are tons of business ideas that уоu саn have.
You саn create a virtual assistant service, a small call center facility, a Public Relations business or a web design and development buѕіnеѕѕ іf уоu have the right skills and knowledge. A lot of people nowadays ѕhор оnlіnе. You can start selling various products online like clothes, shoes, toys ѕhор оnlіnе. Yоu can a huge market with a great buying potential. Because you can sell almost anything online, all you have to do now is to be creative with the products which you рlаn tо mаrkеt. Online business also involves life соасhіng. You саn оffеr to help other people deal with their stress and problems. You can help them become better persons аnd help them manage their life as positively as possible.
To succeed with your startup business ideas this 2018 you need these 5 key ingredients…
1. Be clear about your vision
True vision is the realistic inspiring picture of what you are trying to create, the difference you want to make and be remembered by. Having a vivid vision of the type of business you want to start will make a great difference to how inspired you will be when communicating it to others. I am not talking about crafting the best vision/mission/value statements on paper; no. When you clarify your vision for starting a new business, a clearly defined vision answers the following questions about:
- Who is are you service… your ideal customer?
- What benefit do you give to your stakeholders, community and the world?
- Why does your organization exist?
At any time when your vision is not clear enough to provide answers to the above questions either through the products or services you’re offering, it might be worth going back to the drawing board to gain deeper clarity of what you’re trying to do.
Assuming you want to start a food business for example; what type of food do you see yourself offering? Who are the people buying from you? What will make them to continue to buy from you? Who else is selling the type of food you want to sell (your major competitors), and how do you want to distinguish yourself from them? What type of impact is your food and business going to make to your community…?
Your vision is at the foundation of the business you want to build; and it is what you want your organization to become even many years after. However clearly you paint the vision will set the path to how successful your business will be because, you cannot build a business beyond the vision you have about it. Keeping your vision simple and exciting will keep you constantly energized and inspired to communicate it to the world both in good market and in bad market.
Here’s a great article on setting goals – 6 Simple Steps to Set Goals
2. Strategize Your Actions
No matter how vivid your vision may be, if you don’t have a plan of simple actions that you will be executing daily or weekly towards manifesting your startup business ideas, your whole exercise would be mere waste of time.
What you need to start a business is usually not a bunch of complicated tips for starting a business, rather a disciplined culture of commitment to take simple steps each day over a long period of time before you can see the results you desire. To strategize your actions therefore means to identify the most important part of the activities you must do regularly, day after day until you see your business come alive in reality.
This is one of the very important steps in startup business guide where most startup entrepreneurs quit their dreams for lack of discipline and commitment.
3. Define your target market
It is impossible to design a business properly without knowing what sort of customers you want. For your proposed business to succeed, you need not only many buyers for your business proposition, but these should be people that you can easily relate to.
Start with its demographics. What particular age group would (a) you want to serve; and (b) find your products and services attractive? Ask yourself the same question with respect to gender, race, income group and educational qualification.
It may be quicker and cheaper to set up an online business, but are your prospects really online buyers? Is your product really suitable? An online business would allow you to reach people all over the world, but does your business plan mean you must sell internationally, and if so how will you deliver your service, and get paid for it?
4. Hire a Coach or Mentor
Your business coach is someone that helps you to see the things you couldn’t see your business. One of the challenges of starting a new business is lack of direction and execution. Many startup businesses and entrepreneurs often lose focus of the direction their business is heading. This can result in loss of enthusiasm, waste of time, money and resources. Paraphrasing Anthony Robbins, your energy flows to wherever, and on whatever you give focus. Your coach will make sure that you are constantly focused to on your highest priority objectives, and that every action you are taking is in sync with your startup business ideas.
5. Last but not least, pick up a great name for your company:
I chose to keep this point to the last because it is one of the most important things. A good business name is often catchy and easy to remember. This is especially true if you are running a website or selling goods online since often times people won’t buy the first time they visit your website. Brainstorm like crazy. Jot down every stupid name you can think of, along with the better ones. A larger list means more names to choose from. Again keep it simple and easy to pronounce.
There are several things that you have to consider when choosing the best startup business ideas this 2018. You need to consider your budget, your knowledge, skills, and the amount of time that you can give to your startup business. Remember, for a business to succeed, you should have the skills and the time to make it successful.
Author’s bio:
Raviraj Hegde
Raviraj is Growth Hacker & Content Strategist at EMERGE App – a multi channel inventory & order management system for wholesalers, distributors and eCommerce sellers. Connect with Raviraj via LinkedIn or twitter.