Running a business has a big impact on your life and the lives of those you care about. However, before you can run a business, you must first learn how to start one. If you have never done it before, deciding to start your own business can seem frightening. Fortunately, many other entrepreneurs have gone before you, and you may learn from their successes and failures.
These 6 tried-and-true steps for starting a business can help you with everything from researching and confirming your money-making concept to thinking out your shipping plan to finally releasing your product or service, whether it's your first or tenth.
Conduct Market Research
Consumer behavior and economic trends are used in market research to confirm and improve your business idea. It's critical to get a good understanding of your target market right away. Even if your company is still a glimmer in your eye, market research allows you to mitigate risks. To better understand the opportunities and restrictions for obtaining clients, gather demographic data. For example, if you are marketing a pre-selling condo, you have to know first who will be your main prospects. You may want to learn their demographic information such as age, money, family, and interests, as well as anything else important to your business. This way, you can also be aware of the trends - if it is tech, ecommerce, advertising, and SaaS.
Then, to gain a strong feeling of your market, answer the following questions:
- Demand: Is there enough demand for your product or service?
- Size of the market: How many individuals would be interested in your product?
- Economic indicators: What are the income range and employment rate?
- Location: Where do your clients live, and how far can your business travel?
- Market saturation: How many such solutions are already available to customers in the market?
- Pricing: What are potential buyers willing to pay for these alternatives?
You'll also want to stay current on small company developments. It's critical to get a feel of the market share that will have an impact on your profitability.
Write a Business Plan
Once you have nailed down your market research, you will need to ask yourself a few key questions: What is the goal of your company? Who are you trying to sell to? What are your ultimate objectives? How are you going to cover your initial costs? A well-written business strategy can provide answers to these questions. New firms make a lot of blunders because they rush into things without thinking about these components of the business. You must identify your target market, like what has been mentioned earlier about targeting specific people for a condo living in urban areas like a condo in Manila, condo in Quezon City, or even in places outside the National Capital Region, say, for example, a condo in Cagayan De Oro.
Choose a Business Name
What's in a name, anyway? To begin with, your company name is a universal aspect of your marketing; it appears in everything you do. There's no reason to make things more difficult for yourself by choosing a bland, unclear, or irrelevant business name. However, the early stages of a firm are fluid, and very little is set in stone. You don't have to live with whatever name you come up with right now. Keep it basic and focused: come up with a name for your company that explains what you do, is short and memorable, and matches your goal and vision statement. This isn't an easy endeavor, but with a little creativity, it's extremely doable. Look at the name of Vista Residences. Once you’ve heard its name, you immediately get an idea of what it is about. Of course, it’s a real estate business – condominium, condo living, condo design, ready for occupancy condo, etc.
Validate Your Product Idea
All you have is a list of assumptions until people pay you. Market research, polls, and comments from friends and family might steer you on the right path, but the sound of the cash register ringing is the calling card of true product validation. Making a few initial sales is the first and possibly best approach to validate your product. There are, however, a few techniques to validate your potential concept while you're working on it. The majority of them concentrate on a single crucial action: commitment. Allow early consumers to commit in some way to demonstrate that.
Know Your Finances
Any company's primary purpose is to make money. Otherwise, you simply have a pastime (which is perfectly fine!). If you want to run a firm, though, you'll need to know what you'll need to get started and how to manage cash flow once you've got it. Although it's difficult to come up with a clear list of reasons why most firms fail, cash flow and lack of capital are common causes. Financial knowledge and acquiring finance (if necessary) are two sides of the same coin. Let's begin with the most basic. Many businesses may be started for very little money, but others will demand funds for inventory, equipment, or physical space. A good example of this is a condo business. Before you claim your first return of investment, you will have to produce a big amount of money for construction, condo design, marketing strategy for pre-selling condos, and a lot more. However, before you spend a penny, get a clear picture of your overall investment. This can help you make key estimates, such as when you'll break even. Your business will mostly choose where the money goes, although data shows that product and inventory expenditures account for a significant portion of spending in Year 1. If your calculations reveal that you'll require more cash than you can afford to pay for out of pocket, consider a small business loan, a Shopify Capital offer (for those who qualify), or a crowdfunding campaign.
Protect Your Business
It takes a lot of effort, time, and money to start a business. That means you'll want to insure it with the appropriate business insurance, such as:
- General liability insurance protects your business from claims of bodily injury, property damage, libel, and slander.
- If you have to temporarily close your business due to a fire, theft, or wind damage, business income insurance can help you replace lost income.
- If your customers', patients', or workers' personal information is lost or stolen, data breach coverage can assist cover the costs.
- If you're sued for negligence or faults in the services you provide, professional liability insurance will protect you.
You can't grow a successful company without putting time and money into it. You'll also need to promote your company and develop a solid marketing strategy. In today’s environment, creating a business also means you’ll need a good website and social media presence. These can help you learn your consumers better. You can also ask for consumers' email addresses so that you can contact them directly while promoting your business.
Vista Residences is the condominium arm of the country’s largest homebuilder, Vista Land & Lifescapes, Inc. that offers ready for occupancy and pre-selling condominium projects in Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, Ortigas, Baguio, Cebu, and CDO that are strategically located within major cities, in close proximity to premium universities, transit oriented locations and developed business districts.
At Vista Residences, unit owners can take advantage of the property’s centrality. The properties of Vista Residences are strategically located near the country’s premium universities and CBDs, making them an attractive investment for both local and foreign investors.
Living in Vista Residences enables you to enjoy convenience, where everything is pretty much within walking distance or a few minutes away from the property; comfort because the project features and amenities are designed to deliver comfort at all times, which makes condo living a worthy investment; security that is 24/7 and CCTV monitoring, which makes the residents safe and secure within the property.
In line with Vista Residences’ thrust to offer convenience among its residents, it also features an AllDay Convenience Store and Coffee Project in all its projects.
For more information on Vista Residences, email [email protected], follow @VistaResidencesOfficial on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, or call the Marketing Office at 0999 886 4262 / 0917 582 5167.
