Tips on starting and running a business

Starting a business can be one of the thought-provoking steps in life: you will be expecting anything to happen with its performance, profitability and success along the way, but your mind is clear that everything is under your control. You might be better placed to know that 90 percent of small businesses fail for one reason or another, and so advise on how to start or a business startup help comes in handy. There are many business startup guides you can download online to start with.

If you start with an inspiration, engage in your field of your expertise, do a good research, plan your finance and business structure, register the company, do accounting and promote the entity, you will be headed for success.

Below are business startup help or guide on how to go about it.

1. Start inspired: An inspiration comes from an idea, so start brain storming about what you can begin.

2. Do some research: Most of inspirations about starting businesses, as many business startup guides might tell you, are not yet weighed against the reality, and so doing some research about the idea you have helps to sieve out misconceptions and tune your idea to business realities.

Some of the most important things to consider when doing this research include checking if there is real demand for your products, determining the people that need those products, checking who the competitors are, and determining how well will the business fit in the market. You might try online research like many startup help firms will tell you, use a focus group or just do a trial and error to find the truth practically.

3. Draw a business plan: A formal business plan is not only a good way of convincing financiers to support your business, but also helps you see the opportunities, strengths, weaknesses and threats of the business. At the end of it all, you will have a clear financial and business goals, income and expenditure projections and tangible growth time-lines.

4. Choose a business structure and plan finances: Decide whether you will be going it all alone in a sole proprietorship, with a partner in a partnership or as a limited liability entity. Of course, deciding on which structure will help you see clearer how to source for capital, if to file for tax, and how to organize financial outflows. By the time you are done with the business plan, you know where to get money, if and who to pay how much, and what income and profit you should expect.

5. Register: This depends on the requirement by your local authorities, but obviously, it is a good way of gaining and retaining a name that you probably will be promoting all the years, such that it cannot be taken away from you.

6. Promote: With consistent competition, it is hard to get your business growing naturally without interruptions, although that is still possible. You can use social media, word of mouth, advertising, website and online campaigns, and third party promoting platforms to spread word or two about your business.