In this blog, we will discuss the top 10 steps to start a small business. According to the Small business administration nowadays 28.8 million small businesses are running inside the United state. Every businessman start their business with a unique business idea and the businessmen see his growth and then he invests money in the business. There is no doubt that the Small Business is located everywhere.
But every business is not the position of success. According to the “Small Business Administrator,” approx 2/3 business can survive in the market for only 2 years and half of the business finish in 5 years. Only 50% of business only service for the long term. If you decide to open your own business then ready to face the challenges. Mostly you face the challenges at the starting of the business. Before starting a business, then you must have to follow the below necessary step to get the success in the business.
Top 10 steps to start a small business
1. Find and Idea for business
I hope you have heard the “Necessity is the mother of all inventions”. Great ideas come in mind when you find any essential requirements.
First, you need to analyze the requirement of the market. And then find the potential of your success. Before investing the money to start a business, then you must have to make a blueprint of your idea in your mind, how you can reach to the success.
- Then do the research on your idea. And ask many questions to yourself regarding your solution.
- Does this business idea fulfill the need of customers?
- What is the demand for your product/services in the market?
- Know you, customer, it means that who will buy your product for example-Toys for Children’s, Sports Bike for Young boys, etc.
- Do research on how many businesses are using the same idea you have.
- Measure how your business is the best fit for the market.
- You have to write all the points on a piece of paper. So, next time you will not face the problem in remember the previous planning and go into the depth of your idea.
2. Make a Plan
The Second Steps to Start a Small Business is planning. Planning is the most important part of every business and you can say that the planning is a blueprint of business later you have to complete.
In the planning phase, you decide what kind of step you should take in your business and what are the risk you might face in the future. In the planning step, you must have to clear your goals.
You can also divide your planning into three-phase-
- Short term planning- In which you to mention your daily task.
- Middle-term planning- Here you have to mention your monthly goals.
- Long-term planning- In which you have to set the yearly goals tasks to perform by you.
3. Plan your Finance
If you completely have done your planning phase then you have to move on to how much money does it require to start. Literally, a small business doesn’t need huge money to start. It needs only some money to cover your ongoing expenses. Here you need to calculate your overall cost which includes Asset, License and permits, Inventory, Property lease, Market research, Equipment, Branding, and Esurance.
To get the profit from your business you need to keep running your business up to 12month by paying the Rent, Travel expenses, Supplies, Production, Advertisement, Employee and own salary expenses, etc.
Below are the number of options that will help you to fond your small business are-
- Small Business loans
- Financing
- Crowdfunding
- Angel investors
- Small business grants
4. Choose Basic Structure
The fourth Steps to Start a Small Business Now you have to choose how many partners would be there in your business. The business entity which you chose will impact mostly all the factors for example- Business name, liability, File your Taxes.
You have to make the structure of your business is dynamic in nature so, in the future, you can make changes in the structure of your business.
According to your business complexity, you have to take the advice from the attorney or CPA. So they will help you to make the decision to choose the right structure for your business.
5. Register the name of your business
The name of your business is a very essential task for your business. The name of your business should be unique and the name must represent your product without making any confusion.
When you have successfully decided a name for your business then you need to check the trademarked is currently use or not if not then you have to register your business name. If you are running your business as a sole proprietor then you can register your business with their name with state or county clerk. If you are running your business in partnership then you need to register your business with his name and you have to do some paper formalities for your partners.
Once you have registered your business name then the only represent your business and the other business owner can’t register his company with your company so your brand name is kept safe.
6. Apply for License and Permit
If you open any business without the license of the business then your business would be considered as an illegal business. License and permit are a part of the business where the government issues your license to run your organization successfully.
There are different types of license and permits are available. You need to choose the license according to your business. The license may differ to state or country wise. Here you may need to do research on what kind of license you are required to run your business successfully. Don’t ignore this step.
7. Select Your Accounting System
Accounting is the most important task for all types of businesses. Choosing the right accounting software is such a difficult task for you because there are several options available in the market so, it creates confusion in which one accounting software is good.
QuickBooks is one of the most using software and it has more then 2.55million users are using this software. The price of this software is affordable and one of the best things about this software is here you get the 30days free trial.
This software will help you manage all accounting and bookkeeping tasks here you can easily make the customize invoices, payroll activities, budget, cash flow, etc.
8. Location for your Business
If you are going to start any business then you must have to choose one of the best locations where your targeted customers come regularly. for example- If you are going to start your small office regarding any services then you must analyze your workers and customer both. The distance of your office should not be so far otherwise the customer will consume the other’s services which situated nearby him.
You have to choose those locations which are nearby your raw material. Because of the expense of transport increase when your business situated at a longer distance.
Then you must have to analyze your competitors now you have to find how many competitors are available on this location which you chose. Fewer competitors can increase your sales.
Finally, you have decided a place where you will start your business now you have to think about the buy or lease your commercial space it’s all up to you. According to us, you must have to lease your commercial space if you are getting the success in this place then you can purchase. Because you may have to change location if you don’t get sufficient customers. This the of the most important steps to start a small business.
9. Make a team
It is one of the most important parts of your business. These are the person who handle your business in actually. This is your implementing time. So you need to carefully hire your employees because one lazy employee can make all employees lazy.
Before hiring the employees you must have to make the outline position which you need to fill and you have to assign the job responsibility according to the positions.
10. Promote your small business
Once you have done all the stuff done. Then you need to tell your clients and customers you have started your business on the specific location. There is n number of ways to promote your business. Some of them are given below-
- Promote your business by distributing the templates and banners.
- You can promote your business by taking the help of social media like- FaceBooks, Twitter, Youtube, Linkedln, etc.
- You can also attract your client or customer by giving them an attractive scheme offer.
- You can promote your business by giving a discount to your clients/customers.
- You can also take the help of digital marketing if it comes to your budget.
- You can target your specific location clients/customers by running the google ads campaign.
I have discussed the 10 steps to start a small business and these steps are common for any small and big businesses. You must have to do more focus on two steps which is planning and promotion. These are the steps will help you to get more clients/customer and when you more clients/customers then the ratio of profit will be automatically increased.
