Start A Business Today, The Right Way – A Step By Step Guide

Human race, right from the outset have been creative whether to hunt for food or sheer sustenance on this planet. Perhaps ‘creativity’ has evolved as one single storehouse of power that has led to human growth over other species. It is by harnessing this power of creativity using which tools were made to fulfill requirements of survival to the lifestyle era today. Business had its humble beginnings right from barter or exchange and negotiation era to the monetization format that we see today.

We have all seen or read about how enterprises or businesses were built right from the Industrial revolution 1.0 period to the current Industrial 4.0 network economy phase we are in now. Growing number of entrepreneurship ventures is a reflection of a growing and vibrant economy. Those were the days when people seeing an opportunity started using their own capital and thereafter once they saw growth went to Banks, Institutions and Private money lenders to invest in their businesses. Today there is a shift of capital providers from traditional banks to venture capitals, family offices and private equity becoming investors in businesses where they see potential of growth and scale.

You see people across age groups, educated and uneducated all trying to make a mark in entrepreneurship. The reason to embark on this journey could be as myriad as path to livelihood to pursuing passion, identifying a niche demand or sheer thrill of experiencing the unexpected with entrepreneurship and making dis-proportionate money in the process. However, the risk and uncertainty involved is one of the reasons why there are a very few entrepreneurs and a large number of people who work for entrepreneurs is because most of the people out there are uncomfortable with investing time, energy and money.

I am taking an unconventional approach in bringing out this guide based on my personal entrepreneurship journey.

Let me begin by sharing that in this digital and mobility world, the cost of launching a company today has gone down from the earlier multiple thousands of $$ to a Laptop and internet if you have the idea or a business in mind, with the upside return probability of 1000X. Today’s generation is fascinated with Business, entrepreneurship, startups propelled by the regular announcement of venture capital funding, valuations, unicorn announcements and the droves of millionaires and billionaires that’s being created in its wake.

I wouldn’t want to dampen your spirits, well the reality is entrepreneurship is a roller coaster journey, thrilling and downright bordering insanity. Incase the reason you are courting entrepreneurship is

-> You hate your current job

-> You want to make obscene wealth

-> Everyone and their uncle are doing it

-> Comparing your life with a batchmate of yours who is on this journey.

Well, all the above are the worst reasons to be an entrepreneur!

Remember, choices in Life are everything

If you have read until here, you are keen on pursuing entrepreneurship and want to know the steps to get going on the journey.

For the young and uninitiated, I wouldn’t recommend dropping out of school or a job to Startup, but I would definitely recommend them to work in a startup to get a hang of what it takes to get their ship going. The only goal in your 30s should be to build an opportunity generating machine for your future.

Now what’s an opportunity in case you are confused, it is a simple equation

Your Content (Business idea) + Network(distribution) + Time = Your Opportunity

Let’s now get down to brass tacks on how to start a Business. Here are some of the key points once must follow before starting any business.

Zeroing in on the idea. Look for your Passion and then focus

Entrepreneurship is a lottery of efforts. I believe the business idea should start with the person asking questions to himself / herself.

-> What is valuable, am I passionate about this

-> What can I uniquely do

-> What is nobody else doing

When you put your head critically around each of the points above, the idea will crystallise like you have never imagined ever. Well, it is pertinent to mention that you don’t need a new idea as such to start a business. Does the idea give you excitement or say you have a compelling desire or passionate of doing it? I am not saying you cannot choose activity other than your passion, there are entrepreneurs out there doing business which is not their passion, still they have achieved a success in what they are doing. It is just that choosing an business idea which you are passionate about makes your entrepreneurship journey more fulfilling and the probability of success higher.

I would recommend – take up one idea. Make that one idea your life, think of it, dream about it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves and every part of your body be full of that idea and just leave every other idea alone. That is the sure-footed way to success.

Is the idea a Pain point that needs a solution?

Any business idea that is a real pain point and a problem that is faced by a large number of people is surely a sweet niche spot to be in. If your solution resolves that pain point in a unique manner impacting lives, it’s a great business idea to begin with. Remember any idea that solves problems for discerning consumers will have latent demand (unique selling proposition USP) and will have a huge advantage to begin with.

Validation | Market Research | Benchmarking the Business Idea

Before you get into the pilot seat, it is important to gauge the characteristics of the market for your business idea. It would be worthwhile to gauge your idea on the following parameters

- if there would be an enduring and predictable demand.

- Is the fragmentation in the market high enough

- Good and decent industry margins

- Low competitive professionalism

- Low industry customer satisfaction

- Startup capital needed matches your personal capacity

As you know that “Business Starts at Home”, it is better to start validating your idea from close friends, relatives, potential customers and with entrepreneurs. Ensure that the sample set is fairly large for a decisive decision on the idea. Doing this exercise will help you to evaluate the initial pros and cons of the business idea and will also help you get into a more detailed market research

Market research helps to evaluate the feasibility of new product or service, by gathering information about consumer needs and preferences. It helps to validate your business idea before going big. Market research helps entrepreneurs understand the demand of the market, market size, competitors and the competition. It gives you basic sense of, whether the business idea you are looking to launch will succeed or not. Market Research can be done in the following way:

• Studying competitors
• Freeze your market segment
• Define your customer or Buyer Persona
• List of questions for research participant
• Survey
• In depth Interviews

3 ‘S’ Small, Slow and Sustainable

This 3 ‘S’ says everything about going ahead with your business idea. You should always start small, maybe pilot in a small market, build up slow and always try to develop a sustainable business model. Most of the young entrepreneurs try to go big too soon and end up in a vortex, burning out.

Going slow helps to understand if the solution to the problem is being received by the consumers in the right perspective, does it need calibration. Being small gives you a flexibility to change the structure or implement the solution effortlessly to overcome such problems and this helps to develop a robust business model which does not need roll back and will stand the test of time.

Setting up a Legal Entity

Setting up a legal entity for your business is one of the important aspects in the entrepreneurship journey. There are various types of legal entities available to start your business and popular ones are:

- Private Limited Company

- Liability Partnership and

- One Person Company to name a few.

Each type of entity has their own characteristics and depending on your business requirement, your ambition, roadmap you could choose one that is appropriate, else take guidance from Abiza.

You should be looking at your future plans such as business operation, funding requirement & sources, Geographic segmentation, business structuring etc. before selecting any type of legal entity for your business.

Quick Tip: The most popular and business suited form of legal setup is Private Limited Company and it fulfills all the requirement as mentioned above and to know about Private Limited in details please click on this link https://instabizfilings.com/private-limited-company).

PS: Non-Residents, to understand the process and requirement for setting up Private Limited in India please click on this link https://www.abiza.in/knowledgehub-details/HowCanNonResidentsRegisteraPrivateLimitedCompanyinIndia

Developing a competitive edge | Moat

The term economic moat, popularized by Warren Buffett, refers to a business' ability to maintain competitive advantages over its competitors in order to protect its long-term profits and market share from competing firms.

In layman’s language moat means the ability to create something unique which your competitors don’t have or will need a lot of catching up to do and due to that you have competitive edge and that would defend your businesses from ceding market share and profits to the competition.

Nevertheless, this is a definitely how you would have started and will sharpen as you go along. Moat can be of any type say for example creation of Strong Brand, Unique patented solution, creation of intangible assets or technology, having strong presence on social media etc. Having moat in the business reduces your marketing expenditure as that can be your best-selling point which your competitors don’t have to offer.

I have tried to cover the important aspects of starting up a business which I feel are most important for any entrepreneur to start the entrepreneurship journey.

Entrepreneurship is the ultimate high and is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most can’t!

Last but not least, do you have the ability to work for 60+ hours weekly to achieve your dreams. Surely you can if you are passionate!

Trust the above will give you a good head-start to start your own business. In case you want any guidance you are free to write to us @ connect@abiza.in or call 8448440306 .