Startup Business Ideas – Separating Success from Failures
Thinking of leaving your day job but don’t have a clue where to look for startup business ideas and wonder if you’ll be able to earn a living? Maybe you have some financial commitments and with all the current doom and gloom of the financial crisis you are reluctant to give up your current job and take the plunge to move ahead.
For the majority of people when thinking of how to get an income of some kind, their preferred option would be to start their own business. Although the thought can be quite daunting, starting your own business is not as difficult as you would imagine.
According to the US Small Business Administration only 50% of all new small businesses will survive the first 5 years. That may seem daunting and perhaps even discouraging but look at it this way “Half of all new small businesses do survive the first 5 years and go on to succeed” So what separates the success stories from the failures?
Today we take a peek at what’s involved in building your own successful business.
All good businesses start with a simple idea. Although starting a business is about making a profit, a new business is something you could be pouring a lot of time, effort and resources into hence it is important that you go for something that you really enjoy. Consider the things you have always been interested in and think about how you can turn something you love into a business. Also consider how many hours a week you can commit to your new venture and be careful not to over estimate. Successful business ideas are not hard to find if you spend a bit of time brainstorming and using your imagination.
Another consideration is how well your bussiness ideas will fit into any existing market and who will be using your service or product. Once you have identified your startup business ideas you need to compose a business plan that includes both long term and short term goals. Seeking help through a small business course is a good idea and can really help get your ideas off the ground.
Tips and Hints for Successful Business Ideas:
- be realistic about the costs to start your own business
- have enough money for business costs and living expenses for at least one year
- know your prospective customers; do your market research
- do a business plan and be honest with yourself about income and outgoings
- make sure you have all essential insurance in place
- hone in on the skills that you have, outsource the mundane tasks whenever possible
- reserve funds for your marketing and advertising budget
- create a professional looking web site; an eye catching blog can be a simple option
- get your Income Trigger Blueprint if you have a problem with any of the points mentioned here.
There is more to starting your own business than having some startup business ideas and hoping for the best. By doing your homework while you still have a paycheck coming in, you vastly improve your chances of success because you will “hit the ground running” That well planned start will get your new business off the ground and turn your dream of successful business ideas into reality.
Do you have more great airtlces like this one?
Hello Kylia. Yes there is definitely more to come soon so keep an eye open for the next post.
Great common sense here. Wish I’d thought of that.
Great article, and I agree with almost all of it.
If you recommend that people have enough money to fund their new business and themselves for a year, most people will never get the opportunity to start a business.
Whilst I agree that it would be great to have such a buffer, maybe something more like 3 months is more realistic. Besides which, the smaller buffer will ensure there is some urgency in getting the business profitable, and will likely produce a better business as a result.
Thank you for your comment Warren. Creating motivation through lack of funding will work fine for people who are easily motivated by nature but it doesn’t work in a lot of cases. In general, the length of time that you need to be able to fund yourself will vary with circumstances.
If you have a heavy mortgage on your home and no income other than what your business brings in than I generally recommend that you have at least 10 months cover for the mortgage payments. If on the other hand you have no heavy personal commitments at all then the cover period could be shortened.
Unfortunately one of the main reasons for the high percentage of small business failure is that a lot of new business owners are opportunity seekers who tend to jump into the deep end without adequate preparation. Their biggest problem tends to be their inability to mange cash flows. In a lot of cases it can take 3 to 6 months before people start realizing that they need to take corrective action and this is the reason for my recommendation of a full year cover.