You got it!
That aha moment where you realized you have a great idea and would love to turn it into a business.
The only problem is, you don’t know where to go from here.
Just like when you’re going on vacation, a road trip or anywhere really, you need to know where you are going and how to get there. So, you invest in several different things like gas, food, room and board, plane ticket etc.
Whatever it takes to get you to your destination. It’s the same with business.
You need to invest in your business idea to get you from point A to point B. And, here’s how to do it.
Write a Business plan
The first thing you need to do is write a business plan.
That’s it, a business plan.
This will be that first step into substantiating your business idea. It is also the foundation for the next steps.
So, why a business plan?
Because, according to an article by Preferred CFO, 78% of businesses fail due to lack of a well-developed business plan. So, you don’t just need to write a business plan, you need to write a well written, informative, realistic business plan.
A business plan isn’t just to show a lender or investor.
It’s main function is to provide you with feasible information. The business plan explains the how.
How you are going to make a profit, how you are going to create a viable business, how you are going to take your business from point A to point B.
A business plan will answer those questions by showing you the scope of your business, what industry you’ll be in, how that industry is doing, what your market looks like, the people who will be your customers, your goals, strategy, mission, vision, operations, and financials.
The business plan outlines your business, if you don’t understand the industry, market, customer wants, needs, operations etc., of your business how are you going to succeed.
If your industry is predicted to have a downturn or if the economic situation is turning for the worse, you need to know these things before jumping in. That way you can make any necessary adjustments to your business idea. You need to know what you’re getting into.
So, invest in a business plan! It’s better to invest a couple thousand to have a business plan written and actually know and understand what you are getting into than to go in blind and risk not getting funding or worse, failure.
Funding
Once you have your business plan, and it looks like your business idea could be a viable one, you need to think about funding.
Funding your business is obviously very important.
You’re going to need to pay for expenses like website design, hosting, rent, office supplies, computers, printers, phones, inventory, pay for product development, employees business license, legal fees, government permits, etc.
The great thing about having your business plan done, is that you’ll know what your projected expenses, start-up costs, and overall financials will look like.
So, once you have that start-up number there are three ways you can get funding.
You can fund it yourself.
Ask friends and family
Go to a lender or investor
Funding your business, yourself. If you have the money I would say go for it. Some small businesses only need $10,000 to start, a restaurant needs over $100,000 and others much more, it depends on your industry.
But there are several ways you can fund your business. If you have savings, invest your savings. You can get a second job and use that money, sell a car, get a personal loan, etc.
There are several different things you can do to fund your business yourself. If you have a job and get a second job, just remember it’s temporary. You need to sacrifice, but that sacrifice is a temporary investment in your future independence, so that you can launch your business and not need to work for someone again.
You could always ask friends and family. A lot of very wealthy entrepreneurs started out that way. Look at Dan Lok he was able to get a little over $100,000 from his family members. But, don’t just go asking your friends and family for money. If you go to them with just an idea, they might not have the confidence to lend you money. But if you hand them your business plan, this will show them that you understand what you’re getting into, have thought it through and are serious.
Go to a lender or investor. Unlike family, a lender or investor has no emotional connection to you. They’re not going to consider helping you unless you can prove to them that you understand the business you are getting into and can pay them back. In this case a business plan comes in handy.
Launch your business
So you’ve made it this far. You have your business plan and your funding.
The only thing left is to launch your business.
How?
By applying the information you got from your business plan.
Find a location, an office, get your products/services ready, hire employees, buy all your necessary supplies and begin marketing your business to your target market.
If your business plan was properly written, all this information will be in there.
This part of your journey is going to take a lot of dedication and hard work. And depending on how much work you put into it that’s how much return on your investment you’ll get.
So, dedicate yourself to your business, do it as if it were your job! The more you put into your business the more you’ll get out of it. So, work hard.
Final Thoughts
All these rich and famous entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk, Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey, etc., they all had to work hard to get to where they are.
And the thing is they all have the same 24 hours in a day that we do, but they worked hard, they were dedicated they had passion.
And where are they now? They’re all at the top. They’re successful and you can be too.
So, get your business plan, your funding, and work hard. Nothing in this life comes easy. And like Estée Lauder once said, “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.”