Starting a new business can be a thrilling venture. After all, there’s money to be made. However, there are also trials to overcome in order to get your business off the ground. In order to overcome these challenges, a business owner needs to be informed and ready to get his or her hands dirty, because it’s going to take a liberal helping of elbow grease to get this venture going. Here’s what you need to know.
Securing Funding
Opening a business is expensive, potentially prohibitively so. For many, venture capital is the solution to this problem. Venture capital is funding from an external source, and that source will most likely be a bank or an investor. Loans and investments often form the backbones of small businesses. Well-to-do private citizens, successful business owners, and loan officers can provide your business with startup funding on the condition that the business plan seems promising. Loans and investments are viable because of the fact that both parties stand to gain something; loans and investments are given with the expectation that they will be paid back in the future with interest, which is only possible insofar as the business succeeds. Therefore, showing that your business has potential is key, and that means you will need to deliver a compelling pitch to your potential benefactors.
Securing a Location
One of the most important parts of a small business is its location. The location of a business needs to be secured in order to provide the business with a home, first and foremost, and the specific location chosen will impact the success of the company, as well. In terms of obtaining a space, there are a few options, and your options will vary from place to place. One may be able to secure a plot of land and permission to build, in which case you’ll need to begin searching “crane rental Lafayette, Indiana,” for example, in order to secure the tools necessary to erect your company headquarters. On the other hand, you may be able to secure an unused building or space within a larger existing building. The latter option is less expensive, but it lacks versatility when compared with erecting a structure to your own specifications. The former option also provides you with the most space of the three. Building your own structure is preferable in many cases, despite the increased cost, as many businesses such as McDonald’s have incorporated brand signifiers into their architecture.
Knowing Your Market
A given business’s market is composed of many factors such as location and demographics, and these factors heavily influence your business plan and, as a result, your odds of success within a market. Getting to know the demographics of your area is front and center in this regard, as the sociological makeup of your area is one of the most important aspects of the market and will inform your marketing campaign. For example, you can more readily expect to market energy drinks successfully to young people, while older people would probably prefer coffee as their energy boosting drink of choice, and this may be for no other reason than the relative newness of energy drinks compared to the centuries old staple that is coffee. The area’s geography can be pertinent, as well, as people have needs that vary with their physical location. Indiana’s climate, for example, has prominent changes between winter and summer, so a clothing company could successfully sell a wide variety of clothing items corresponding with each season. However, southern Indiana has warmer, subtropical weather, which renders the above point moot.
Starting a business entails a lot of hard work, and much of that work is prior to the official grand opening. However, each of the tasks listed above provide an opportunity to ensure the best possible odds of success. Using this guide, you can make the best choices for your business at each of these crucial stages in order to get your business opened successfully and continue to thrive.
