Irrespective of whether you want to pursue greater things or you just don’t want to be an employee anymore, starting one’s own company is a great achievement. If you’ve decided to start your own company and be an entrepreneur, thereare two important things that you need to know and have in mind. The first one is how to get started on success and secondly; what it will take to be successful.
The good news is you are not forging new ground. Many people have done it before you, and best of all, many of them are willing to help people like you realize your dreams.A good example is Peter Loftin, a successful technopreneur from North Carolina, the USA who started his company from scratch and today is a top recognized entrepreneur in the region who has also not relented on giving back to the community.
This man,Peter, started his tech company from back room selling portable telephones. But through resilience, hard work and determination he managed to build up his company into one of the largest telecom giants in the world. He did it, and so can you. But how?
First, you need to identify a product that can generate you enough revenue and then develop a business plan. You may be asking why all these?Well, the truth is, in this era, there seems to be an unlimited demand for all things free. Secondly, a business plan will help you consolidate your thoughts and ideas into your product and business concept. Like how long will it take to develop your product, will it require outside funding and how much funding? You should also determine who you need on your team, if there are competitors, how you will market and sell your product, how big the market is and what type of pricing strategy will you pursue. Additionally, you have to determine how you plan on providing customer support, find out if there are any regulatory hurdles to overcome, and so on.
Many people have written their business plans before only to find out later that there were no viable business models for their products. It’s far more likely that a business fails due to a poor business plan than the execution of one.
So what next after developing a business plan? Seek external insight on the program. It doesn’t matter if you will be funding your plan by yourself. You need to pitch it to someone who might be able to offer insight. In this regard, you should develop a short presentation on the product concept and the business strategy. Most advisors and investors will start by listening to the presentation or reading the executive summary. While there are many crucial elements of a business plan, at the early stages of a company, product vision, and credibility of the team are of utmost importance. Above all else, the first investors are investing in the people. The business strategy will often get more attention than the product itself.
That’s it, with a product, a plan, and adequate funding,starting a company shouldn’t be something to worryabout. The only thing that you will need to do is put your plan in motion and work hard to ensure that you become the most successful entrepreneur of your time. As I said, Peter Loftin did it from scratch, and so can you. Just be smart about it.
