(Newswire.net — January 27, 2017) — Deciding to leave your 9-5 job and become a successful entrepreneur is a step in the right direction if you want financial freedom. So, where do you start?
Before you start renting office space and hiring staff, you might want to consider playing a game of 20 questions with yourself to determine what your intentions are. It may seem obvious, but if you don’t know why you’re going into business and who your ideal customers are, you won’t get very far.
You need a strategy
You may have seen some well-known internet entrepreneurs jump right in with a hot product that flies off the virtual shelf, but not everyone will have that kind of immediate success. If people aren’t already beating down your door to buy your product, you need a solid plan.
The following tips will help you create that plan, so you’ll be more likely to achieve success.
1. Create a solid business plan
A business plan is designed to be an outline of what your business is and plans to be as it grows in the future. Only when you clarify what your intentions are can you formulate a plan to get there.
The USA Small Business Administration highly recommends writing a business plan to document how you plan to grow your revenue over a 3 to 5 year timespan. Their advice covers how to construct important components of your business plan including how to make your business plan stand out.
Documenting how you plan to grow your revenue is important if you plan on meeting with investors. They will want to know if your business is going to be a profitable investment for them.
If you haven’t determined how you’re going to grow your revenue, creating your business plan will force you to figure it out. It will also show you where your weak points are.
Remember that your business plan will change as you grow, so don’t worry too much about making it perfect from the start. Don’t wait until you have everything figured out to start creating it. Just start writing it. Then, when you discover an area you need to better plan—do it.
2. Be prepared to deal with success
When you first create your business, you’ll be the person handling most of the groundwork. You’ll be the one hiring people, managing your staff, paying the bills, and handling payroll. On top of these responsibilities, you’ll still be the visionary. So, as your business grows, you’ll need to delegate tasks to others.
If you’re hesitant to delegate your workload because you don’t think anyone can do it as well as you can, you’re probably right. However, don’t let this stop you from delegating. Think of it as an opportunity for your staff to grow. You can always train them to do things the way you like them done.
3. Wait to brand yourself
It’s fun to create your logo, make business cards and play around with creating a new website. But if you haven’t created your business plan and you don’t have a firm grasp on your market or what you’re actually offering people, hold off on the creativity.
Some entrepreneurs rush in and get their business license, pay someone to brand them, create their logo, and develop their website all in the first week – only to discover none of it works a month later.
While there’s nothing wrong with being quick and creative, wait before making any final decisions or ordering large amounts of promotional materials.
4. Research industry profitability
If you haven’t settled on a specific business yet, you can read about these most profitable industries to find out where the money is before making your decision. And even if you have decided on a business, it will still support you to research the profitability of the industry you’ve chosen. You need to know if you’ll be able to retire in your industry, or if you’re creating a lifetime job for yourself.
Overnight success doesn’t exist
When you see famous entrepreneurs achieve overnight success with a new business, it’s tempting to believe you can do the same. The truth is that nobody achieves overnight success. They’re just leveraging the hard earned success (and massive email lists) from their other businesses.
Take the time to create a detailed plan, even if it takes you three months. It’s been said by great minds that having a plan and a solid strategy is the foundation of success.