HOW TO START UP A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

 

Business is the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects. It’s a person's occupation, work, or trade, a rightful concern or responsibility and the commercial part of the economy

To start a successful small business  that grows fast the following skills must be acquire and develop

 

A successful small business owner would the need the following skills:

 

1. Management skill

2. Technical skills 

3. Marketing skill

4. Communication skill

5. Public relation skill

 

Management skill

There are entrepreneurial skills or competencies that are needed and which one must be acquainted with to ensure the success of the enterprise. Before a good plan can be made, a decision to make the plan must be taken. Planning is at the core of entrepreneur‘s activities. Before good plans could be achieved, good decisions must be made. A decision is a process that leads to taking of an action. An entrepreneur must make decisions. The outcome of the decision could mean the success or failure of the business. Management skill is first of all skill a successful small business owner would need. 

Technical skills

Ordinarily this refers to the ability of the enterpreneur to understand the business in question and also posses the relevant knowledge and skills to engage in the business. for example a person engaged in the business of hair dressing must know the hair styles in vogue and also how to make them. Lack of ability to do hairstyles will sooner or later lead to loss of valuable customers.

So the first thing that the enterpreneur need to know is how-to-do-it side of the business that is the meaning of technical competence. It's a bundle of skill which a business processes and use some to provide goods and services to its customers

 

Marketing Skills

Marketing of products and services at a profit is the overall goal of every entrepreneur / business owners. The sole aim of marketing is to ensure that the product or services required by the customers or consumers are made available at affordable prices with a good profit margin.

The entrepreneurs need to know the markets and where they are located, plan for effective customer and products services, correctly price their products in order to make distribution channels and be able to carry out good advertising of their products with efficient sales promotion. Therefore, marketing skills are very imperative for goal achievement and economic growth of a business.

 

Communication skill

Communication skills are ways and abilities for expressing oneself well so that others can understand. Communication is a process by which people exchange information, thoughts and feelings. It is a means through which self-employed craftsmen and artisans communicate and reach both internal and external persons that are associated with their organization. Any business owner aiming as success must take communication seriously

 

PUBLIC RELATION SKILL

All managers must have to consider the public impact of their actions. Public relations are the term used to describe the way issues and messages are communicated between an organization and the public. Accordingly, public relations are indispensable in every thriving organization in order to keep in touch with and responding to the media and interest groups.

These skills would adequately equip the would be business owner to engage in the journey of the business.

Having acquire all the necessary skills above, anyone who want to become a successful business owner that grows fast must follow these steps

STEPS TO START A SUCCESSFUL SMALL BUSINESS

1. Environmental scanning

2. Location of the business

3. Chosing a product and market

4. Form of business

ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING

Going into business venture, certain steps must be taken before establishing a new business, joining an existing one or inheriting an old business. The steps normally start with environmental scanning.

Environmental scanning can be said to be a process of visiting sites and gathering information about prospects of establishing a new business venture. It is indeed a casual survey of the happenings in the proposed business environment, with a view to assessing the possibility and the viability of a new business. Every entrepreneur performs environmental scanning before starting a business. A mechanic scan the environment to see if there are a lot of car user in the area and other supporting artisans, such as welders, vulcanizer, spare part sellers and electricians, to complement his trade before setting up his shop

 

LOCATION OF BUSINESS

The decision on where to site a business venture is influenced by a number of factors. The principal factors among others include the following:

Factors that determine chosing a better location for a successful small business

1. The nature of the business enterprise

2. Production output, it is product or and service

3. The market size and market demography that is available

4. The nature of the resulting product or service

5. The technology that is available in the business environment

6. Workforce available in the business environment

 

The business owner should examine all the possible factors that would influence his decision to locate his business concern in a particular location. This is a very importance exercise to undertake by a beginning entrepreneur. This has to be carried out diligently.

Environmental scanning must be properly carried out before a business enterprise is located in a particular site.

CHOOSING A PRODUCT AND A MARKET

A prospective entrepreneur needs to come up with a good idea. This will serve as the foundation of the new venture. Sometimes an entrepreneur sees a market need and—Eureka!—has an idea for a product or service to fill it.

There are many ways to look for ideas. Read a lot, talk to people, and consider such questions as: What limitations exist in current products and services? What would you like that is not available? Are there other uses for new technology?

What are innovative ways to use or to provide existing products? 

Is society changing? What groups have unfulfilled needs? What about people‘s perceptions? Growing demand of cashless policy has giving opportunity to many ITC companies to develop difference Pos for sales in Nigeria. Its also bring about creation of Pos agent shop in every corner of Nigeria

Also see how to become pos business owner in Nigeria

 

CHOOSING A FORM OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE

The basic forms of organization are sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, the laws and regulations that apply to business owners vary from country to country and by local jurisdiction. Entrepreneurs should consult an attorney or other expert to make sure that they have all the necessary licenses and permits, and are aware of all their legal obligations.

 

Sole Proprietorship: In a sole proprietorship, the individual entrepreneur owns the business and is fully responsible for all its debts and legal liabilities. Examples include writers and consultants, local restaurants and shops, and home-based businesses.

This is the easiest and least expensive form of business to start. In general, an entrepreneur files all required documents and opens a shop.

 

Partnership: A partnership consists of two or more people who share the assets, liabilities, and profits of a business. The greatest advantage comes from shared responsibilities. Partnerships also benefit by having more investors and a greater range of knowledge and skills. There are two main kinds of partnerships, general partner- ships and limited partnerships. In a general partnership, all partners are liable for the acts of all other partners. All also have unlimited personal liability for business debts. In contrast, a limited partnership has at least one general partner who is fully liable plus one or more limited partners who are liable only for the amount of money they in- vest in the partnership.

 

Corporations: Corporations are recommended for entrepreneurs who plan to conduct a large-scale enterprise. As a legal entity that has a life separate from its owners, a corporation can sue or be sued, acquire and sell property, and lend money. Corporations are divided into shares or stocks, which are owned by one, a few, or many people. Ownership is based on the percentage of stock owned.

 

Sources of financing a successful small business 

Many business owner struggle to find the capital to start a new business. There are many sources to consider, so it is important for an entrepreneur to fully explore all financing options. He also should apply for funds from a wide variety of sources.

Personal savings: Experts agree that the best source of capital for any new business is the entrepreneur‘s own money. It is easy to use, quick to access, has no payback terms, and requires no transfer of equity

Friends and family: These people believe in the entrepreneur, and they are the second easiest source of funds to access.

Credit cards: The entrepreneur‘s personal credit cards are an easy source of funds to access, especially for acquiring business equipment such as photocopiers, personal computers, and printers

Banks: Banks are very conservative lenders.

Venture investors: This is a major source of funding for start-ups that have a strong potential for growth.

 

Intellectual property: a valuable asset of a successful small business

Intellectual property is a valuable asset for an entrepreneur. It consists of certain intellectual creations by entrepreneurs or their staffs that have commercial value and are given legal property rights. Your new product and its name, a new method, a new process, a new promotional scheme, and a new design can only be protected and prevent competitors from benefiting from such ideas or firms through patents, copyrights, trade secret and trademarks

 

Patents: A patent grants an inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling an invention for a fixed period of time

 

Copyright: Copyrights protect original creative works of authors, composers, and others. In general, a copy- right does not protect the idea itself, but only the form in which it appears

 

Trade Secrets: Trade secrets consist of knowledge that is kept secret in order to gain an advantage in business.

 

Trademarks: A trademark protects a symbol, word, or design, used individually or in combination, to indicate the source of goods and to distinguish them from goods produced by others.

 

Some other secret of a successful small business

Tax policy

Governments use taxes to raise money. But taxes increase the cost of the activity taxed, discouraging it somewhat. Therefore, policymakers need to balance the goals of raising revenue and promoting entrepreneurship. Corporate tax rate reductions, tax credits for investment or education, and tax deductions for businesses are all proven methods for encouraging business growth.

 

Record keeping, one of the secret of a successful small business

Record keeping is the job of experts in each department or section of the organization which is the art of writing, summarizing, and storing business transaction in a systematic manner.

 In general the following records are kept for the interest of six categories of users:

 

1. The business itself

2. The owners of the business;

3. The customers;

4. Interest of investors

5. Legal requirement

6. The Employees

 

Marketing strategy, another secret of a successful small business

It is a total system of business activities designed to plan, price, promote and distribute wants satisfying goods and services to present and potential customers.

Marketing involves:

1. The identification of needs, wants and demands of the consumers

2. Planning and developing products that would satisfy these needs and wants.

3. Making sure that the products get to the consumer (distribution)

4. Ensuring that the consumers purchase the products in the midst of stiff competition.

Business plan, most important aspect of a successful small business

Research show that 95% of small and medium scale business that pay no attention to planning fail within the second years of operation, the process of writing a business plan actually helps develop an idea into an opportunity. It forces you to ask and answer hard questions and explore your options. It’s the art of bringing everything about the business into a file which will serve as a road map for the business. Business plan is a mental image of what you want the business become in future

 

Conclusion

A business owner that take cognizance of all skills and steps explain here will have a successful business experience in the nearest future, when other business are collapsing within the first four, five years of operation, a business that goes through these process will be gaining more market share because the owner has secure a better future for the business