Turning your idea into a business

What does it take to build a business from the ground up? A lot, in fact: a lot of money, time, determination, and endless patience. Don’t jump into the deep end before getting your feet wet though. There are several questions you should ask yourself to see if you are ready to start a business, and several steps you should take before you invest your life and your life savings.

Consider this

Why do you want to start your own business? Do you see a service not being offered that should be, a process that could be more streamlined, or a solution to a longstanding problem? These are great reasons to look further into the process. Personal experience and expertise in and passion for the field you plan on entering are absolute musts. Consider what other people and businesses in the same field offer – could you realistically offer higher quality services or products, or better solutions?

Beware of a wholly unique business idea, as the company, service or product may not exist because there is not a large enough market for it. Innovation and new ideas are great, just make sure people are willing to pay for those new ideas before investing in them.

Read related articles at Business Review Australia:

• Yin & Yang: Finding a healthy work/life balance 
• Inside the mind of a successful entrepreneur 
• How to find a business mentor

Build a foundation

Research is possibly the most important step to starting a business. Know your market, your customer, your prospective competition, and anything else that could influence your business. And it’s not enough to research, you need to have a complete understanding of the market beforehand. Make sure you have the capital to build the company the way you want to; it would be a shame to get started and then realize you won’t be able to fulfil your goals.

Believe in yourself

It may sound cheesy, but it’s absolutely necessary. Have confidence in you, in your product or service, and your ability to accomplish what you set out to do. If you don’t believe in it or yourself, how can you expect your customers to?

Also, do not try to do it all by yourself. Building a company can start with one person and one idea, but that cannot sustain itself for long. Also, remember to  maintain a work/life balance. Yes, your business is going to take up an inordinate amount of time in the beginning, and possibly part of the way through the middle. But burnout is a very real concern, and it would be quite the blow if you had to give up on your dream business before it could get off the ground because of health concerns.

There are hundreds of things to consider when founding a company, but you have to start somewhere. Take that idea, ask yourself these questions, do the research, and build a solid foundation for that future successful company.

This article was influenced in part by articles at The Daily Telegraph AU, Inc.com and Forbes.