How to start a business: 9 easy steps + from scratch + ideas + experience

Many aspiring entrepreneurs ask themselves the question: “Where to start a business?" Often the first steps are the most difficult due to the lack of knowledge and experience, but they are worth taking and not giving up on your cherished dream.

How to start your own business – 10 golden rules

There are several rules that will tell you how to open your business from scratch:

1. Explore your opportunities and analyze the market;
2. Talk to experienced entrepreneurs and take note of their recommendations;
3. Do not open a business with funds set aside for other purposes in your life (loan payments, medical treatment, children's education, etc.);
4. Before starting your own business, ask yourself the question: “What are you risking if you fail?”;
5. Do not get involved in projects that require serious financial investments;
6. Plan your actions on paper and meticulously write down every step that needs to be taken to achieve your goal;
7. If you have no experience, do not borrow to start a business;
8. Start a business in a niche you know;
9. Get ready for any scenario, any scenario is possible. No one is immune from failure, but always tune in to success;
10. Do not stop, even if something does not work out, be optimistic.

How to start a business – 9 main steps

It is not easy to have your own business, at first it will take a lot of time, forcing you to think about implementing your own ideas for days on end. Therefore, before thinking about how to start a business, look at the following steps.

Stage 1. Determining your value

A person is most successful in the area that corresponds to his desires and interests. Therefore, you should choose exactly the direction in which you are most comfortable. A great idea arises at the intersection of people's needs and your interests. To understand how to open your business from scratch, answer a series of questions honestly. What are you willing to spend your time on? What is of the greatest interest?

At first glance, it seems that defining a calling is not difficult – it is something that you do with great pleasure. For example, you enjoy building, writing, home improvement, or painting. How to come up with a business idea from scratch? Set yourself a clear task to come up with an idea and remember it every time. Your imagination and expanded horizons will help. An idea can come to mind spontaneously.

Stage 2. Market analysis and niche selection for the future project

To figure out where to start your business, you should carefully analyze the market and decide on a niche. The advantage of choosing your own niche is that if a person is passionate about something, he tries to learn as much as possible about this business. For example, if you like taking care of animals, then it is easier to start a business from scratch selling kittens. You know how to feed them, bathe them, care products, etc.

If you have not chosen a niche, or have set yourself the task of reaching a different level of life in terms of finances, choose the direction in which a lot of money rotates. It can be construction services, trade or the sale of real estate. Competition, of course, will not allow you to earn a lot at once.

However, clear customer habits and a scheme developed over the years will make it possible to start without inventing something new. Having become a profit, you can hire a director and not take an explicit part in the business. And free time will be spent on completely different tasks, for example, starting a new business.

Stage 3. Drawing up an action plan

Where to start your business? After choosing a business idea, you need to figure everything out in numbers, decide on expenses and income, and detail it to the penny.

So, for example, in trade, the main parts of the costs will be:

• room rental
• advertising
• purchase of products
• taxes
• workers' wages.

All these figures should be reflected in the business plan. And take the numbers not from the head, but use those that are on the market today. Therefore, carefully study the offers of goods suppliers.

Anyone you find on the Internet, check the prices by phone. Prices must be real. A properly drawn up plan will help in the implementation of your idea and give an answer to the question: how to open your business from scratch.

Compare your prices with those of your competitors. A clear plan is necessary in order to decide on a business model. Note that it should also include a marketing plan, according to which your product will be sold.

If errors are found during the planning stage, then the model will need to be corrected. This can happen if a competitor's supplier provides goods at better prices. At the planning stage, everything is required to make the business profitable. Draw drawings and diagrams with explanations. This is your instruction, following which the chances of success increase.

Stage 4. Marketing research

To constantly make a profit, before opening, for example, a jewelry store, conduct market research. Success is possible if:

• Careful selection of goods;
• Search for reliable suppliers (it is better to work directly with the manufacturer, without intermediaries).

The key to the success of any business related to sales is a competent choice of products. It is very important to understand what the buyer needs. The assortment should be changed from time to time. This is especially worth doing before such holidays as the New Year, March 8, etc.

During this period of the year, people are interested in jewelry for clothes and shoes. Therefore, the assortment should contain products of various shades and styles, which will allow you to choose a piece of jewelry for every taste and wardrobe.

The choice of a product cannot be approached from the standpoint of its quality and price – it is important to realize what demand it has among buyers. Whether it is worth ordering certain items of products from the supplier. Conduct your own marketing research: go shopping and analyze which items of the product are especially in demand among buyers; ask the managers of your competitors and find out what sells best.

Thinking about how to open your business from scratch, you can start your own business by opening one point of sale. If there is an extensive range of high-price products, it will take $50,000 to open a retail outlet. If you focus on the middle and low price category of products, you can start with $30,000. This includes the cost of opening an individual entrepreneur, utilities, furniture for the store, the purchase of products, salaries to employees, and rental of premises.

Remember, sales depend on the location of the outlet. She must be in a public place. A metro station, a public transport stop, a nearby shopping and entertainment center – all this affects the flow of visitors and, accordingly, sales.

When ordering jewelry from the manufacturer in bulk, you can count on an extensive range of goods at a bargain price. Thanks to this approach, you can save a lot, and by reducing costs, you can purchase more products. At the same time, the final price at which the goods will be sold will not allow you to refuse such a profitable purchase.

Stage 5. IP registration

For those who are thinking about how to create their own business, in 97 cases out of 100, registration as an individual entrepreneur (IP) is suitable. An individual entrepreneur is understood as such an individual who carries out entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity. faces. He is liable with his property and at the same time submits reports on the same grounds as legal entities, uses the profits for his intended purpose, conducts banking operations, but is also obliged to pay insurance premiums.

When creating an IP, it should be borne in mind that:

• the entire period of activity of the individual entrepreneur is counted in the length of service;
• tax accounting is carried out according to a simplified scheme;
• any citizen over 18 years old can be, with the exception of civil servants and military personnel;
• can hire workers;
• you can get not only a current citizen, but also a citizen of another country (you must have a TRP or a residence permit);
• An individual entrepreneur is responsible to creditors.

The distinctive features of an individual entrepreneur are as follows: no need for a legal address, no need to open accounts with financial institutions, no authorized capital required, simple registration of an individual entrepreneur.

IMPORTANT! Without registering a business, you can, perhaps, exhibit goods on social networks and provide small household services. To make a business visible, it must also be visible to the tax service. Otherwise, you risk being prosecuted for illegal activities.

To register an individual entrepreneur, it is necessary to collect the following package of documents: an application of an individual entrepreneur, a receipt for payment of the state duty of an individual entrepreneur, types of activities, a photocopy of the current passport. If you want to carry out activities under the simplified taxation system, in addition to the documents listed above, you should write an application for the application of the simplified tax system. A week after the submission of the documentation package, you can receive a certificate of registration.

Paperwork is a simple formality. Don't know how to do it? In all state instances where IP registration is carried out, you can approach and consult. Another option is to contact a specialized company, where they will tell you how to open your business from scratch, and help you complete the documents properly.

Stage 6. Advertising on the Internet

If you know how to start a business and you have a service offering, then it's time to start looking for clients. Notify your friends, relatives and acquaintances, informing them about what activities you are engaged in. This will make it possible to conclude the first contracts. If services are not relevant for them, ask for telephone contacts of acquaintances to whom you can be recommended.

Site creation

For the greatest coverage of the audience, the best investment in a business is to create a website and promote it to the TOP-10 search engines for given key queries. However, without a well-thought-out strategy, it is impossible to achieve positive results and maximize profits. Therefore, the main task is to determine the goals, everything else is only a means to achieve them.

The advantages of having your own website are obvious:

• business automation, the ability to combine with other tools for working with clients;
• the possibility of interacting with the client personally;
• Internet platform is available to users 247;
• automation of work with clients (warehouse, advertising, accounting, marketing, etc.);
• each of the visitors receives information about the company that he needs;
• simple and quick change of information on the website;
• the ability to collect statistical data, the implementation of various marketing activities that are aimed at a thorough study of customers;

A well-chosen set of advertising methods will effectively work to promote your company in the global network. By entrusting this work, for example, to a specialized company, it is possible to ensure the solution of the following tasks: increasing brand awareness, increasing visibility in the global network, a significant increase in sales, and increasing the number of visitors.

Today there are several types of web resources, we list each of them:

• Business card site. The main purpose is advertising. Consists of several pages and introduces visitors to your services. By ordering the creation of a website, you thereby receive an advertising platform on the global network.
• A one- pager is a web resource that consists of one page. It is usually used to present and/or sell a product or service.
• The company's website is your personal manager who is able to conduct an advertising campaign and accept an application.
• Online store. Used as an additional outlet that works for you 24 hours a day.

Let thousands of users know about you. Investing in creating your own website is an investment in the development of your business, because such a resource is a source of information for your potential customers and partners, an effective way to attract visitors and, accordingly, increase sales of your products and services.

Website promotion

Creating a website is only the first step to success on the Internet. It still needs to be constantly promoted and improved, taking into account all the factors that affect the success of the company. You should pay attention to the structure of the website and its graphic design. The final algorithm of actions depends on the type of site and even on the season. It is necessary to develop a marketing strategy that is aimed at obtaining potential customers and increasing the profitability of the business.

Whenever there is close cooperation with suppliers and other partners, having a web resource is a great help for further expansion. You need to promote the site in stages: determining the strategy for promoting the resource, creating an extensive semantic core, filling it with high-quality content, search engine optimization of the Internet site, promoting the web resource in the TOP of search engine results.

The process of website promotion is not an easy task that requires a lot of practical experience and full dedication to the process. That is why, in order to get good results, you should contact webmasters who have an impeccable reputation and know all the tricks of successful site promotion.

contextual advertising

When a person is looking for a product, he does not look for phone numbers of shops and companies in the directory, but goes directly to the Internet and resorts to the help of search engines. Surely you have paid attention to the statistics of any Internet resource that about 80% of traffic comes from Google and Yandex search engines? All this happens thanks to contextual advertising.

Contextual advertising is perhaps one of the most optimal tools for promoting a business on the global network. Each such ad is seen by a fairly wide Internet audience, which contributes to the promotion of your site. Professional advertising setup will guarantee the promotion of your resource and a constant influx of potential buyers.

Placement of contextual advertising in search engines makes the site popular – the ad is located above the list of search engine results, thereby noticeably stands out among all competitors. If a person is looking for a specific product or service, then he will click on the link of such an ad, and he will no longer view the TOP search engine results.

Stage 7. Hiring employees

When thinking about how to start your own business, remember that no successful business is complete without hiring employees. Otherwise, it is the usual work for the "uncle" or self-employment. Therefore, the question of finding employees is faced by every aspiring entrepreneur.

Successful staff contribute to increased profits. Hence the question arises – how to find people. You can view ads, search among relatives and friends. The principle of selection is of great importance here. We need a team of true professionals. Draw conclusions after you check the person at work. Sometimes half an hour or a few days is enough to assess the level of professionalism. A trial period is given to understand whether you need such an employee or not.

The higher the qualification of a person, the higher his salary. Starting a business from scratch, every penny counts, so it is better to miss such an expense item. Hire a piece-rate employee. Often, such conditions are agreed by the performers of the work or sales managers. For example, if your profile is the installation of metal-plastic windows, then installers can be paid a percentage of the order value.

If you want a person to work conscientiously, but paying a salary is not an option for you, take him as a share in the business. With such conditions, the employee will be motivated to work for the result. For example, he will receive 10% of the profits of the entire company. Be sure to specify all the nuances.

Motivation is 96% of success! Believe in it and “charge” your employees with this belief. This will support them and reflect on profits.

Stage 8. Business promotion from scratch

Business promotion is a further expansion and not always advertising. Many people believe that their own business can be profitable without making efforts to promote it. This opinion is wrong. For example, if you open a store in the market, then people will notice the outlet, go in and buy something. However, revenues will barely cover costs. There are plenty of competitors in the market and it is impossible without promotion at the stages of business existence. You will not attract buyers, which means you will not see profits.

In promoting a business, there are many components that come down to one thing – meeting the needs of customers. Advertising will help inform people about the opening of the store. Analyze what people need and be sure to do it. Maybe they want to participate in various promotions, get products quickly, at a low cost or with home delivery. Analyze, try different methods of promotion in your area. Focus on advertising, compare its various options: the Internet, outdoor advertising, television, newspapers, etc. Find highly effective advertising methods and focus on them.

Stage 9. Analysis of the results

At this stage, we can say clearly: business ideas from scratch met all expectations. You make a profit, a base of regular customers has formed. Now the time has come to take stock and set further goals for business development.

Tip: Whatever type of activity you choose, do not forget to invest in business development and constantly analyze the results. This will avoid many mistakes.

Summing up

Now you know how to open your business from scratch. Having shown perseverance and ingenuity, success will certainly await you. Down with all fears. Believe in yourself and everything will work out. Based on these simple 9 stages, starting your own business will turn into an interesting and exciting journey, which, after a while, will begin to bring good profit.

“In baseball, as in business, there are three types of people: those who simply watch what is happening; those who create what is happening and those who are surprised that it is happening. This was said by the famous coach Tommy Lasorda. What type of people are you?