Give Your Small Business Start-Up the Best Chance of Success

The first step you need to take in researching your new business is to decide on the type of business or businesses you are most suited to and would be most successful in.

Before establishing a business, consider whether or not your product or service meets the needs of your target market. Who is going to purchase your product or service? Have you considered whether or not there are already products or services which your customer base would purchase if you offered them? Is anyone else producing your product or offering a similar service?

Look at the industry you are considering. Is it a growth industry or is it in decline? Check out the pricing of the product locally and nationally. Are you able to price the product competitively? By reviewing industry trends and establishing a quality business plan, you will be well placed to begin a new business that becomes successful and profitable.

Once you have done the initial business research, it is time to work out how the products will be produced or how a service will be delivered. Consider how much time is involved in each step in terms of the inputs needed and outputs generated. It helps to create a flow diagram of all the steps necessary to get your product or service to market. Make sure you also include a reasonable time table for each of the stages. This will help you manage your business, costs and time. A flow diagram will also help you see if you need to outsource jobs or employ people to help you.

You may be wondering how you go about researching a new business and getting the right answers. Fortunately you can find free and inexpensive sources of information online. A good place to look for information for your start-up business is on trade association websites. An excellent free resource is ‘Service Corps of Retired Executives’ at www.scn.org/civic/score-online where retired executives offer free guidance. For absolutely no charge, you can email questions about your business start-up and receive professional advice.

Another avenue for locating valuable information is to find a willing executive who is experienced in your particular business who may be willing to advise you. In a situation like this, sometimes a partnership can develop which will allow you to obtain personal mentoring. Perhaps, you can offer your products and services in return.

New start-up business owners have taken advantage of public libraries for years, at least the most successful ones have. You can find a range of business information and statistics at public libraries, and this is what many successful start-up business owners have done. If you are considering creating an internet based business, ‘Secrets to Their Success’ is a website with helpful interviews and case studies, from which you can learn from other small business successes. Once you have taken into account information gathered and put together a flow chart covering inputs and outputs followed by a marketing plan, you need to work out the costs involved in establishing and operating your new business.

One of the first things you need to do when determining the costs of your business operations is to contact relevant agencies to inform you of any necessary licences or so you can begin business operations in your area. Your local department of licensing can assist you in this. However, the rules involved with operating an internet business differ from those of traditional business operations. Check with the relevant local, state and federal government agencies to see if you need to collect sales or other taxes.

You also need to consider the costs of advertising and supplies as well as the possibility of outsourcing and the payment of taxes. There are several ways to obtain the necessary information when considering costs, including your local Internet Revenue office and the State Department of Revenue. Accountants can also prove invaluable for new start-up business owners.

Because small businesses do not need full time accounting services, Certified Practising Accountants can be outsourced. The Department of Labor and Industry will tell you if you need to add insurance or workers compensation to your estimate of business costs if you need to hire people for your business.