According to Wikipedia, a Business is an “ organization” involved in the trade of goods and services or both to consumers. Anything that involves selling of goods and rendering service for cash to anybody is a business, although it would be more appropriate to use the business term if the “organization” was registered with appropriate bodies.
This article on starting a business helps to answer the first five questions to ask yourself when you intend to start a business and provide accurate answers.
WHY?
Why should you start a business?. According to startups.co.uk, you can start a business so that you become your own boss, run your own life, specialize on interests, open multiple streams of income and maybe make that big dream of yours finally come true. Starting a business might also be the only way you can fulfill your destiny and not have regrets when you are on your death bed or at the pearly white gates.
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| I need to start a business, so I can finally spend time in the spa |
WHAT?
What business exactly are you going to start? In other words what goods or services are you going to offer and subsequently to whom? Two main factors determine what business to start,
1. Your Interests:
If you intend to start a business that would be around for a long time, the best thing you can do for yourself is to start it, in your area of interest. Those things that come to you naturally.You have to lay back and look inward to discover your interests. Is it sports, Lifestyle, Cuisine Fashion, Nature or Music? Let your business be centered around your interest otherwise the business would be a living hell.
2. Your Skills and Expertise:
Start a business that you are skilled enough to run. Based on natural skills or acquired skills, your area of business should be something you are good at, for you to break even. No matter how many staff or workers you have, who handle things for you, your skills and expertise and continued development in that area would go a long way in influencing your decisions and making your business thrive. High net worth individuals have been known to go for some conferences, seminars or classes when they want to diversify into other areas of business.
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| Million dollar Idea: Live Sized Lizard Earrings. |
WHERE?
Where to start a business is also a very important question to ask yourself when you finally figure out what business to start. The concept of selling ice to Eskimos is simply preposterous. Your essence in life shouldn't be to supply goods and services to people that don’t need them. Your essence would be to meet a need, provide a needed service and at times needs can be location specific. Some goods or services might best be needed overseas and not in your neighborhood. Figuring out where exactly your business would thrive also depends on two main factors.
1. Environmental Factors:
You should start a business in an environment with some considerably favorable factors. Factors would never be 100% favorable but starting a business in a place that makes the business dead on arrival is about a waste of time as not starting a business at all.
2. Prevailing Factors:
Almost like the first, economy, purchasing power of the environment, government regulations, competition should all be considered when starting a business. Here you would need to do market research.
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| OMG! This is the perfect place to start my business. |
WHEN?
This question can be broken down into three.
1. When is take off time?
When do you begin a business. The answer to this question is not some vague suggestion like when I get married, or when I get tired of my present job, or when I need money or when the economy improves. It should be down to specifics with particular dates and time, that's the only way you are ever going to start a business.
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2. When should the operating hours of the business be?
This is a question to ask yourself, are you going to work on weekends, it is going to be a freelance job that would be based on client timing, would there be holidays, vacations, breaks etc. This question gives you the structure of how your business would look like.
3. When am I expected to break even or pull the plugs?
This is a very critical question to ask yourself, what is the expected boom date of the business with consideration for over or underestimation?
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| The best time to start a business was 20 years ago in China |
HOW?
This question can only be asked after you have successfully provided answers to the previous questions. How are you going to start the business and get it up and running. Are you going to buy a franchise or merge with a company? How are you going to raise capital, establish contacts, develop a customer base and move sales, how would your products look like, what would your values be?. All aspects of branding , business plan and business development falls here and makes this the most important question.
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| I am going to start an invisible business, and would have a billion invisible customers. |
To start a business , there are questions to ask yourself such as why, what, where, when and how you are going to go about it.
Further Reading: Start Your Own Business, Fifth Edition: The Only Start-Up Book You'll Ever Need
Further Reading: Start Your Own Business, Fifth Edition: The Only Start-Up Book You'll Ever Need
