THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Starting your own business is an exciting adventure but it also comes with risks. Taking the time to prepare will ensure your leap into entrepreneurship is not only secure, but also realistic. If you have decided you want to start your own business and become an entrepreneur you need to realize, it will be like a roller coaster ride. Starting your own business will be difficult and it will be hard work, but you also get to be your own boss which not many people have the chance to be. If you fancy starting your own business, here are some things help get you started.DEFINING THE TERMS:-
The first step to protect yourself when starting a business is to understand the difference between the types of intellectual property protection, and what they offer you: Trade names, trademarks, and copyrights. A trade name is simply the registered name of your business if it is anything other than your name. A trade name allows you to do business within your state as that particular entity. For example, if you call your business "Chris Smith Consulting",then you will need to register that name with your state as a DBA (doing business as). A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design that is specifically associated with your business and an integral part of your brand. For example, the slogan "Just Do It!" is a trademark of Nike. A Copyright applies to your specific intellectual property, more specifically, your creative works. Usually granted to works like books, movies, television shows, songs, and web content, copyright controls how your work is reproduced, distributed, and presented publically. For example, if you write an original blog post, you hold the copyright to it, and no other website can republish the post in its entirety without your permission. You don't necessarily need to register a copyright for all of your works (copyrighting all of your blog posts, for example, would be costly and time-consuming) but more substantial original works, such as a book of your best posts, should be copyrighted.When starting a business, trade names, trademarks, and copyrights each provide different levels of protection. Trade names, for example, only protect your name in the state where you are registered. Trademarks, on the other hand, prevent the unauthorized use of your business name, logo, slogan, etc. by anyone not associated with your business, regardless of where they are located. Copyright offers many of the same rights as trademarks, giving you the right to seek damages from those who copy your work. As with a trademark, holding a copyright also allows you to prevent the import of foreign goods with unauthorized use of your property. This helps stop piracy and maintains the integrity of your product, Which form of protection is right for you when starting a business depends on your business model, and what needs protecting.
PERFECT BUSINESS PLAN:-
A business plan is a written document describing the nature of your business, detailing your sales and marketing strategy, and the financial background. Taking the time to write your business plan, forecasts, and marketing strategy is a highly effective way to be prepared.It's also a great way to focus on your businesses vision and make sure you stay on course. Your business plan should focus on how your business is serving its particular need and if it represents the majority market opportunity, as customers and clients is one of the reasons why your business can be successful. A perfect business plan will help you see more clearly where you are going. You will define a mission statement you can fully stand behind and use as your road map to success.NEED TO KNOW THE LAW:-
When it comes to starting a business it can be an increasingly exciting new venture, yet you need to understand what regulations, licenses and taxes you and your business will need to follow. You will need to do a vast amount of research on registration for businesses, after that if you still don't feel confident you can always seek the help of professionals and consult with a lawyer and accountant to confirm your understanding and to help structure your business to be in compliance with the law.FINANCES:-
Starting a business can be very rocky in the beginning and if your business doesn't pay its bills your business won't be able to survive. If you are starting your own business you may have investors backing you, or you could have a fund of money to start your business. Either way, when you start up you have to get it off the ground and running with a realistic budget. You also have to pay everyone else, which could include suppliers, employees and bills before you have a wage yourself. This is why you need to have a business plan put in place before starting as it could be a few years before you see your first pay slip. If you have a business plan, you will need to include a realistic business budget, as well as reducing your personal budget down to bare minimum, try to survive on as little as possible in order to give your business its best shot.NEED OF ASSISTANCE:-
When it comes to starting your own business, there are a myriad of things you need to know. You may have heard the terms Accelerators and Incubators bandied about, but it'ss unlikely that you're aware of just what each of these really means, and what benefit they can have to your business.Both incubators and accelerators can help fledgling businesses get off on the right foot by helping businesses grow quickly which in turn can attract better investment opportunities. Each incubator works in a different way, however, and the application process for each is entirely different -as criteria for acceptance relies on your business matching the goals of the incubator. Once you're in, you'll be offered assistance with things like management training, marketing assistance, access to funding, mentorship and IP management. . Accelerators whilst most incubators don't have a set time limit for assistance, accelerators usually set a time-scale for the mentorship they receive. Companies accepted into accelerator programs generally spend a few weeks or months being mentored - but the top-level accelerator programs are incredibly hard to get into. Application for both accelerator and incubator programmes may be difficult, but the assistance they can offer to a new start-up is certainly beneficial, and they are well worth considering if you want a business that has a strong footing to grow from.
NEED STRONG NETWORK:-
Attend events in person. Of course you can actually attend events if this is your thing! Sometimes the best relationships are built face-to-face so make use of real-life networking opportunities. Join Facebook groups. There are a lot of Facebook communities for business owners, creative entrepreneurs and bloggers or whatever you fancy. Try searching for Facebook groups for people in your area if you want to connect with targeted people or join worldwide groups where you may even just find people in your area. Twitter Chats are a great way to connect with bloggers, potential clients and other business owners.Cold emailing, one more thing to try is email the people you want to connect with (visit their contact page for their email address) and offer them a proposal or just ask for what you would like. You never know, they may just be willing to work with you on a mutually benefiting basis.