The easy answer is yes, everyone should learn how to start a business because it can bring you to new heights. If you’re thinking that this wouldn’t benefit you since you are only an employee, then you need to see the bigger picture. For instance, once you happen to receive a promotion and become a manager, you should be able to utilize your knowledge of how to start and run a company.
In order to learn how to establish your own company, you would need to enroll in an entrepreneurship school in the Philippines or in other countries. But this article is here to help you understand the basis; here’s a guide to help you:
Conceptualization of Your Business Idea
If you believe you know how to start a business because you’ve experienced a 9 to 5 job and have figured out how to fix some of the company’s problems, then think again.
Starting a business takes serious commitment. It’s not comparable to working as an employee. With that being said, let this guide be a fresh start for you. Keep all your knowledge on how to start a business and take in everything you’ll learn from here.
Self-Evaluation
Before you start a business, you should ask yourself a few questions—not about the business, but about yourself.
Here are some of the questions that you definitely need to ask yourself when you plan on starting a business.
Why do I want to start a business?
If your reason for starting a business is so you can quit your day job and make money in your own way, then your business will most likely fail. Starting and managing a business requires passion, commitment, and a tremendous amount of hard work. Make sure that your motivation for starting a business is in line with what you enjoy the most in life.
What will make my business unique?
As any entrepreneur should know, almost all of the markets are highly-saturated. In a world where many people are selling the same thing, you need to be aware of what makes your business unique and what will make your product special among all the other ones available in the market.
What resources are available to me?
How much money are you willing to invest in order to kickstart this business? What other things can you use for it?—these are the inquiries you need to answer.
Have an idea of your finances and connections that you can use for starting your own company.
Who are your potential competitors?
Take note of the people who are going to be your competitors. Ask yourself these: why are people choosing them?
Once you’ve identified them, think about how you can beat them.
Your Business Idea
Once you’re sure about starting a business, you should now focus on your business idea. If you already have one, then take a second look at it. Is it so good that other people will buy it?
Your business idea will be the basis of the product or service of your business. You should make sure that it is something worth paying money for.
Below is a list of things that you need to consider when you’re at a loss on what your business idea should be.
Embrace being an Observer
Start by looking at the world from a different perspective. Remove the idea that everything is the way that it’s supposed to be and look for better, easier ways to do the things that you usually see. Use these opportunities to come up with solutions to problems that people aren’t aware of yet.
Create Cheap, Quality Alternatives
One of the best ways to enter a market is to create an alternative to something that is expensive. When you go through this path, make sure that your idea will still deliver in quality even if it is going to be cheaper.
Ask, Ask, and Ask
When you’re experiencing a drought in coming up with ideas, ask people about what they have problems with. Even the people, who look satisfied with their lives, will have something that they want solutions for. Ask them and look for overlaps. When you’ve established that there is a market searching for something, then that is the best place to start.
There are many other ways to conceptualize your business idea. The most popular one is to simply make use of your passion. However, when it comes to practicality, the three aforementioned are the best things to consider.
But of course, learning about how to start a business is not just about conceptualization. One of the most important parts of starting a business is doing efficient market research.
Market Research and Feedback Collection
In this guide on how to start a business, there will be a heavy emphasis on market research as it is one of the most crucial parts of creating a business. In most cases, this will be the foundation while the business plan (which will be discussed later) is the framework of any business. There are 2 types of data that is primarily used in market research.
Primary Research
To explain it plainly, primary research is the process of gathering information about your market from your direct consumers. In most cases, this is being done through online surveys, interviews, and focus groups. This kind of research is useful when it comes to classifying your market as well as in creating buyer personas.
In market research creating buyer personas is extremely helpful because it will assist you to understand and visualize your target customers. A few marketing strategies revolve around the buyer persona in order to increase its efficiency.
A simple way of defining your buyer persona would be to identify their characteristics. Some of the most basic characteristics that are needed are the following:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Job
- Family size
- Income
- Challenges and pain points
- Personality
Buyer Personas are typically a guideline for when learning about your actual customers.
Primary research is much like looking for respondents for a thesis; you need to get a number of people who could embody your buyer persona to answer your surveys—this should be filled with relevant and open-ended questions so you can bring out more information from their answering.
In the end, primary research should be very informative and personalized.
Secondary Research
The secondary research should include all of the data and records that you can easily access and analyze. Some examples of these are the reports, statistics, sales data, and industry content that you have in store or can be found online.
Secondary research is primarily used to identify competitors, together with their content as well as a brief overview of their products and services. It brings about a great opportunity to assume where your business will be when compared with your competitors.
After collecting information from both primary and secondary research, incorporate the data you’ve found into your business idea. Does it make sense? If it does, it’s still better to ask someone for a second opinion as well as someone who can provide another perspective that will aid you in your planning stage.
Once you’ve done all of these, you will have an overwhelming amount of information to work with. This is also the time when you could theoretically confirm whether or not you know how to start a business because, given all the information you’ve collected, all you need is a guide and some resources for you to go on with it.
The Business Plan – The Core of your Business
You won’t know how to start a business unless you have an idea of what your business plan should be.
Having a concise and detailed business plan will show that you are serious about what you are doing. To make sure that your business plan is as concise and detailed as possible, here are 7 chapters that should be found in it.
- Executive Summary – Just like how you pitch your ideas in the marketing world, you also have to pitch your business proposals to those who you might want to be partners with. Basically, this chapter summarizes everything in the business plan into a page of digestible information.
- Business Description – In this chapter, you describe what your company does. Included in it would be a look into how it was formed, the mission and vision statement, the business model used, and even the company values and philosophies.
- Market and Competitive Analysis – Analyze the market you want to enter as well as the competition that you might run into. Include data on what the market wants and how you will provide them with solutions. When it comes to competitors, acknowledge their strengths, highlight their weakness, and show them how you are the superior business.
- Design and Development Plan – This segment is dedicated to showing off your product or service. Explain what it is or how it is done, and point out the things that make it worth buying. It is also important to include what you will be doing in order to manufacture the said product as well as a short overview of the finances behind it.
- Organization and Management – This part of the business plan will talk about how the business is supposed to function. Highlight the organizational and operational structure used and explain how management is done. You may also provide an organizational framework to make the chapter easier to understand.
- Sales and Marketing Strategies – At the end of the day, a business is made to make money. How you will make money with your business should be detailed in part. From pricing strategies, marketing tactics to sales practices and branding, every effort you see yourself using for the business must be detailed in this chapter.
- Financial Factors – The last thing to be talked about in a business plan will be the financial aspect of the business. When creating this part, always practice transparency. Detail where your money will be coming from, what you project your profits will be, and when will things fall into place. It is highly recommended to have a projected timeline for profits and sales.
These are the very basics that you will need to know when making a business plan. After completing a business plan, you would already have an idea on how to start a business, but you would still need to make it official. For your business to be considered official you must do all the legal processes needed in starting a business.
Legal Processes
Registering your business can be done on your own. However, it is best for you to consult a lawyer especially when you’re only starting out. A lawyer would be able to help you cover everything you need. These are the things that you might encounter as you register your business:
- Your preferred Business Structure
- Your Business Name
- Permits
- Licenses
- Necessary Accounts
- Copyrights, Patents, and/or Trademarks
Financial Management, Product Development, and Team Building
As mentioned in the guide on what a business plan is comprised of, financial management and the development of products and services are essential. Team building comes later on when you are looking for the people you could trust to help you grow your business.
Financial Management
This is one of the most important aspects that you do not want to neglect when learning how to start a business. In almost every stage of conceptualizing, planning, and executing a business, financial management is a very important thing. Starting a business is not a cheap thing to do. Every piece of money you could use must be utilized wisely. If you have good financial management skills, you’ll be able to follow your timeline within the targeted budget and hopefully spend the least amount of money needed in starting a business.
Some things you need to consider when managing your finances are investors, crowdfunding, loans from banks or relatives, and a lot more. There are many kinds of financial assistance programs for people who want to start a company.
Product Development
It is one thing to think of a product and another thing to create it. When developing your product, you must ensure quality and control over it. If you plan on hiring other people to produce the product for you, you should choose specialists and implement regular checking and maintenance of the product. Aim to create a quality product by the time you will be pitching your business to possible investors and partners.
Team Building
Last but not the least; you must create your team that will serve as the first people to work under your business. Make sure you follow hiring protocols and choose the people who will work well with you the most. When undergoing this process, always state your goals strongly to them. Make sure they understand what the business is striving for.
Finally, develop a strong company culture that would motivate these people into continually doing their best for the business.
Starting a business is no easy task, but with the right guidelines, a strong passion, and a good grasp on the knowledge needed to do so, you should be able to find it to be extremely rewarding when it flourishes into a fully working business.
Learn How to Start a Business with Enderun Colleges
Still interested in what else you need to know on how to start a business? Worry no more! Enderun Colleges is the best school that offers business management courses in the Philippines that will surely satisfy that drive you have.
As one of the premier educational institutions in the country, you will be sure that you’ll be provided with a world-class learning environment that will definitely bring out the business side of you!
For more information on Enderun Colleges, you can click here!
You may also email us at admissions@enderuncolleges.com.
