Starting a new business is not going to be easier. Developing yourself as an entrepreneur needs a lot of effort and planning. It is nothing short of a challenge. And many buddy entrepreneurs often shy away from asking for business advice from experienced entrepreneurs.
Why learn from successful entrepreneurs?
Learning through the hard knocks and through experience is brave. Still, it is ultimately foolhardy. You don’t have to experience all of it to learn. You can do it through the experiences of others and hence save yourself time, headaches and money.
These businesspersons have faced a lot of difficulties and hassles. After going through them, they have financially reached a success level.
Many entrepreneurs had to struggle a lot financially too. They did not have too many funds to make their dream come true. Sometimes, they have to borrow funds from resources like business loans, self-employed loans or even unsecured personal loans to grow their business in Ireland.
Let’s explore some tips through the horse’s mouth, the successful entrepreneurs.
Expert’s Advice on Achieving a Successful Business
1. Try it out first
Having some hands-on experience is always better and beneficial before starting a new business. Get into similar professions, get some experience, learn the trade, its challenges etc.
Suppose you are a food lover and can find a job as an assistant cook. Or, if you wish to get into a trade with a high entry barrier, one way is to find small and medium-sized enterprises that can use interns and volunteers to help.
Research about them, find them, work with them, and get firsthand experience on the job.
2. Get feedback from friends &family
Try sharing your business idea with your family and friends and get their opinion and feedback. But choose carefully who you approach to get the opinion of people who care and are supportive and will give you a realistic opinion.
Try preparing a short informal presentation, show it to your friends and get feedback. You can also try approaching small organisations that deal with similar work you are interested in if you want an unbiased opinion.
3. Be mentally prepared
The next step is to assess the ability and willingness to deal with different aspects of the business. Some tasks would be challenging, and you have to try repeatedly to overcome them.
To start a business, being mentally prepared is essential. Be ready to face and sail through the highs and lows that will come your way.
The probability of success increases if you have a realistic idea and plan to address the various challenging tasks with the same effort and enthusiasm.
4. Test your business idea
A few hours earlier, you get an idea which makes you say, ‘Aha!’ And you think you found the perfect solution, a brilliant idea. But how will you know that the market or others will agree to your brilliant idea?
So now you face the biggest business dilemma of starting your own – how to sacrifice your existing salary and spend a year or more developing that product but not being sure if it will work. The answer or solution to this dilemma is simple – Do it.
5. Market research
Many budding entrepreneurs spend time and fortune building a product that nobody wishes to use.
Do the market research and get a confirmation for your idea. Once you survey the market, try to explore the loan marketplace too. You never know at what time you will have to seek long-term or fast loans for your business to grow.
It is often thought that validating your concept takes time, effort and resources to get relevant insights. But most successful founders disagree with this.
6. Pitch to experts
Once you have well-thought and are ready with your idea, try to sell it to an expert in the industry. Prepare a pitch by doing effective brainstorming and taking the necessary steps. Present your idea to some expert and take the feedback.
They can give you real-time feedback and suggestions from their industry experience.
7. Find out opinions on similar products
You can approach some online discussions and user-based forums. It can give you good insights into what consumers think about a particular product or service.
This will help you to identify people’s needs and expectations and what they do not like.
8. Organize a focus group
A focus group is when you assemble a small group of people related to the profession and ask them about their opinions, beliefs, and perceptions regarding the concept.
Focused group discussions are one of the good ways to gain insights into what people are thinking of your product and other parts of business activities like advertising, marketing etc.
9. Understand your market
Once the idea is ready, explore what’s going on in the industry. Collect information, read news,search through publications, and look for information regarding the products of your competitors. Explore the latest innovations, ideas,and developments in areas that influence the industry.
10. Prepare a checklist
You must prepare a checklist or task list you need to handle once your business starts operations. Making a checklist will keep you apprised of the activities you need to take for smoother operations and business success so that you don’t miss out on any important task.
Some activities like getting new clients, paying taxes, writing proposals, finding sponsors, managing inquiries and complaints, searching for reliable suppliers, etc., are a must on your to-do list.
11. No need to be the first mover
Yes, at times, the first one to take the move has the opportunity to reap the benefits.Still, the first-mover advantage is highly overrated. There are umpteen successful examples of later entrants in history.
There is nothing to worry about, even if your idea is not unique or one of a kind. It will be your execution that will be critical and decide whether you lead the race or lag behind.
Conclusion
In the end, jumping in and getting started is important. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, do not delay acting on an idea. Just think big. Start small and execute correctly.