The Most Overlooked Aspect of Starting a Company
October 7th, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized — Small Home Business AuthorBefore you run off dropping some bux on your next venture here are a few things to think about.
Do you understand your market well? Do you understand it well enough to become unique in the marketplace or at least have an edge on the competition? A good way to find out if you are developing and marketing a profitable product/business/service on the web is to Google all the key words you are going to need for driving traffic and potential customers to your website.
Next, do you have credibility in the marketplace? For example if people Googled your name will they find you attached to anything credible? This could be articles that you have written, interviews, or perhaps anything that might show your potential to help them? I would also throw in a few possible references that people can use to find out about how well/poorly your product/service was in making their lives better. Bringing a strong list of names and sources to the table will help land some of those top level prospects.
Businesses require a great deal of knowledge. Start reading some books (if you haven’t already) and prepare for things that might be a conflict down the road. A smart move if you are going to stay around a local market is to find some potential people to partner up with or network with. This will allow you to start building the right relationships and hopefully generate some referrals that will help your business. Reading the correct books will also help prepare you for possible scenarios and events that you may not have otherwise thought about. For example learning a new management method or a new way of dealing with unruly employees. Maybe even what to do when you receive negative press.
Consider the types of people you would want to team up with to get this thing kicked off. Joint ventures are a great way to offset risk. Sometimes you might need to even hire 2 or 3 people in order to get your business off the ground.
Many people usually fail to get a proper game plan in order before executing on an idea. Proper market research, team planning, and second level thinking (understanding your next move before you make it) are required of intelligent business owners. The plan doesn’t have to be complex but it needs to be something you can realistically commit to over the long term.
Mikhail Hutton
Mikhail Hutton is owner of The HIL Group, a leadership think tank that helps people and organizations manage the change associated with growth and transition. Their mission is to help organizations grow from average to above average through strong vision, communication, and simple leadership.
More from his blog at http://www.thehilgroup.typepad.com
