Guide

How To Build A Business From Scratch? A Step-By-Step Guide

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How to BUILD a Successful Business from Scratch

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So, you have decided to leave the corporate bondage and get enlisted under the coveted 30 under 30. You are no longer interested in the Employee of the Month award thus the next goal is Entrepreneur of the Year. Great, but how? What you need is a Guide that will handhold you till the ideation to the execution of your business and even further. Let’s dive in:

  1. Idea Generation: This step which is also known as ideation will be the first step of your entire journey. The ideal way to generate ideas would be to consider multiple ideas, meaning, refrain from coming up with just one idea and planning your entire business around it. This is the best place to think about your reason. Why do you want to start this business? Why this business particularly and not some other? Once these 2 questions are answered you need to find your passion for the business. There may be various timeframes between which your business can finally work, perseverance till that point needs to be maintained or else it can be incredibly frustrating for you and your team. Coming up with that idea(s) that will fit like a glove with your passion and expertise will take your business leaps ahead.
  1. Market Research: Conduct thorough market research regarding all the ideas that you have generated previously and conduct a SWOT analysis of each idea. Try to consider the best possible for your business after conducting thorough market research. Market Research can be or ideally should be done with the help of a professional. Market Research usually consists of determining your business’s target customer base, competitors, and what your products or services will be. It would also consist of reports regarding the financial divisions and the material procurement along with workforce procurement as well. Try to cover as much pre-operations research as you can about your upcoming business in this market research. If possible, research all the ideas you have generated in the ideation stage.
  1. Business Plan: After conducting thorough market research chalk out a thorough business plan that would include all the factors that would be the foundation pillar of your business, which would be your Finances, Legal Stuff, Products, and Services. So, an ideal plan would consist of the exact blueprint of your entire business. Now this blueprint would showcase the Various departments of your new business. Let’s discuss this with an example. Say, you are planning to open a café. Your business plan will include everything from your location of that café to the team and baristas that your café would employ, the funding for all the pieces of equipment, furniture and merchandise along with the snacks you would serve. Additionally, it would chalk out a sales strategy and sales target so it is written on paper how many cups of coffee you need to sell per day to make rent and how many croissants customers must buy in the first quarter to give you a reasonable revenue for growth and profit.
  1. Legal Structure: The Legal Composition of your business or company should be written down and legally binding which would make it clear for every party/Partner/Investor. A certain Peace of mind is needed when entering into any new business so that the interests of everyone involved are safeguarded. But first, you must decide what kind of your business is, a sole proprietorship, Partnership, LLC, Corporation or Cooperative. Most new businesses would either be sole proprietorships or partnerships. After the nature of your company is decided it is time to determine the profit ratios and other financial decisions like equity, debt, shares and IPOs.
  1. Registration: Register your business under the country/ state/ county and the commercial body under whose jurisdiction your business falls. Registering your business under the proper commercial regulatory body would be the first step of operation that you will do. Your business will surely need some licenses and permits which you will have to obtain at this point. Register your business along with paying all the fees and deposits to safeguard, legalise and authenticate your new business. It will additionally need to fall under taxation laws, do that in the beginning to avoid follow-up visits from any authority. If you deal with food, medicines or consumables, special licenses are issued. Along with your business make sure to register yourself as a proprietor or a partner in your company along with other stakeholders.
  1. Finances: Every new business or company has a financial structure also some financial shortages as well. The finances, Investments, and Funds should be segregated and safeguarded. If possible, establish a different section with a finance department which would consist of an accounting as well as a finance professional. A finance professional would be able to divide and allocate your investments, funds and revenues into different segments. They can advise you on how much you should keep in equity and how much you should give out to debt depending on the size and scale of your new business. Finances would also consist of the amount of share of profit you would keep for yourself, or if you would like to draw a salary from your new business like an employee and let it grow in scale. The same goes for all your partners, if you have any, and your investors as well.
  1. Workforce: Starting any new business can be daunting and you are already taking a lot of risk, and investing a lot of money, time and effort. What can sail you through this journey to building a successful business is acquiring talented, passionate and dedicated workers for your business. Employees who are not judgemental to work for a start-up and are equally passionate just like you about this new business. Employees who seek stability and work for only money might not be the best fit for your business at the absolute start of your new business venture. Hiring an HR right at the beginning will not be feasible for your budget, and if you do the talent acquisition for the very first team then it would be in tune with your personality and working style.
  1. Branding and Marketing: Build your brand around not only the product or service that you are planning to sell but also around the experience you are planning to bring into your customer’s life. Prepare a brand logo and a theme for your brand and swiftly start marketing it. At first, no need to go in for the big marketing channels like paper, billboards or TV Commercials. Digital marketing platforms and paid collaboration works just fine when you are starting small. Once the word is out about your business you can think of setting maybe a sinking fund which will help you to nab bigger marketing agencies once you have the revenue for it.
  1. Product/Service Development: Now you have your blueprint and the structure of your business ready, it is time to start production. By production, it means that you are selling a product, and if you are selling a service then you need to start developing that service. The inventory and material procurement for the production or development will be done in this stage. Maintaining the quality of your product or service that you are planning to sell needs to be top-notch. The only way you can even think to survive this over-the-top competitive market is if your product is of the best quality and if it is a service, you are providing then it is worth the money you are charging, but most importantly creating a fan base like customer group is crucial who will beep coming back for more. These are the customers who will make your business established and large-scale in the long run.
  1. Launch: Now that you have your product ready, it’s time to prepare for the big launch. and a big launch does not have to be an Apple event by any length or breadth but the launch should be an event that would get your customers intrigued. This launch preparation should start well before time since the Marketing of your brand starts. Your followers should be waiting for what is about to come and when the launch date is announced, by hook or by crook, try to stick to that date. The launch event can include some parties, some exciting offers or even some guest appearances, so now would be a good time to invite those influencers who have been promoting and marketing your brand since the beginning. Launch can be both Physical or Virtual if your business is virtual, for example, if you are providing UK virtual office services.
  1. Operations: Daily business operations must be smooth and up and running. Set up a helpful customer service desk for any issue or query that your new customers might have. If what you are selling is a service then make sure that as a service provider, your service is smooth, fulfilling and better than what is present in the market. If what you are selling is a product then make sure that the manufacturing unit is up and running and the quality and need of the product is best in the market, or else, establishing yourself in the market will be a tough nut to crack. If your business is outsourcing your product, make sure to diversify the channels of your procurement.
  1. Revenue: So now you have launched your product and your baby is out of the nest. Time to count the cash. Once you start generating a percentage of your investment in revenue, time to roll the money, build your capital and simultaneously grow your Existing capital. Talk to your finance guy about dividing into shares and if you enlist your company to the market. If you are small-scale, start creating sinking funds about non-avoidable future costs.

With this, we conclude the steps which you will need to follow to build a business from scratch. It will be tough, and you might even fail in a venture, but if you manage to follow these steps and add the pixies dust of your creativity and niche, your success is just a financial year away. All The Best.

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