My Go To "6 Steps" Simple Plan To Turn Any Idea Into A Small Business

My Go To 5 Steps Simple Plan To Turn Any Idea Into A Small Business (With Success!!)

“Planning for success” is my motto. It should be yours too!

I’m a natural and born, almost obsessive planner. And I’m not saying it’s great all the time, but when it comes to freelancing and business it definitely gave me a big headstart.

You may think that success is not that easy, especially in entrepreneurship and business, and up to a point you would be right.

But with hindsight and experience, I’ve come to realise, that the research and planning stage is as important — if not more — for a business idea or a freelance job to succeed as the work you put in itself.

“A business plan” is just a fancy word. Don’t be intimidated.

Start simple.

But Start!!

So here is my go to 5 steps simple but effective business plan:

1 — Choosing A Business Model

Deciding on your business type and model is the first step you need to take before starting a business and it needs some serious thinking.

When you pick a business model there are three primordial points to keep in mind: investement, risk and profit. Which one is the most important to you right NOW, which one can you compromise on?

The main business models on the market today:

• Ecommerce: online stores, online marketplaces like Etsy, subscriptions, memberships, online services. Basically any type of online business.

• Brick-and-mortar: the opposite of online business, has a physical store.

• Bricks and clicks: has both a physical store and a presence online.

• Subscription: can be applied both to online businesses or traditional brick-and mortar businesses.

How is this important & How does it affect your business success?

The business model you eventually choose, affects mainly:

• How much can you or are you willing to invest? (could be $0!)

• Do you prefer to sell on an estalished market for quick reach and profit in exchange for a commission? Or do you prefer to sell on your own website and do all your promotions yourself for complete control?

• Can the product or service you’re offering be excecuted through third parties, such as print on demand or marketplaces?

• Can you handle inventory, customer service, orders and shipping by yourself? Do you prefer print on demand or dropshipping instead?

2 — Market Research & Product Validation

No matter how much this step is important, don’t think you have to spend weeks or even days on it. Schedule one day to do all your research and be done with it (stay open minded though).

Now, I’m putting this second after, the business model for a reason here.

If you’re on a budget, working alone and just from home, the model and platform you choose is your priority. And when you do market research, the platform you choose is very important. Because what may work for a patform may not for the other.

So, start by researching your product or service in the platform of your choice, see how much competition you have by search volume and most important, see how you can add value.

Don’t get scared if you think your competition is too high. Think always of the added value, and how you can fill in the gaps your competitors are leaving.

There will be a going back and forth between this step and the first one, and sometimes you will have to reconsider your platform or business model of choice.

3 — Designing Your Work Management Flow

In my opinion this is probably the determining factor of your business success.

You need to figure out a work management flow to be the most productive and make the most ouf of both your time and resources.

Want to know my secret to an efficient work management and extremely productive business flow? Automation and Scheduling.

I have to say a BIG fat thank you to whoever came up with this brilliant automation idea! Honestly, it’s life saving.

To help you create your work flow, and decide what kind of automation or scheduling you may need (or if you even do), try to answer these questions genuinely:

• From idea to product conception (or service rendering) to client, what is the complete list of tasks you need to do?
• What are the tasks that can be delegated, automated or scheduled in advance?

• What is the list of resources or tools you need? Or those that would help?

• Are you planning to work alone or can you afford to hire someone?

• How will you handle orders, inventory, packaging and delivery? By yourself, or using an inventoray tool, packaging and delivery service?

4 — Designing Your Financial Plan & Budget

This is where you will need to design your financial plan based on your budget, how much you are willing to invest and your financial goals.

These are the questions I found myself asking everytime in order to design my financial plan:

• How much money can you put as an initial investement? It’s TOTALLY okay if you have $0 !! You can definitely start a small business with zero dollars. Check out some idea here
• How much can you spend on business tools? Or employees?
• How much will you need to spend every month to manifacture and distribute your products or services? Again it can be zero dollars!
• Will you need shipping? Or are you planning to sell only digital downloads or services? Will you ship internationally or only locally?
• How will you handle payments from your clients?

5 — Everything Legal ( contracts, agreements, taxes, business registrations, insurance policies..)

The legal side of your business is like the foundation of your home; If you don’t make sure it’s secure, no matter how much you reinforce your house with concrete, a house built on sand ultimately will fall down one day.

If you’ lost and have zero idea what your business actually needs, The Legalmiga Library offers an amazing 1 hour workshop to cover everything your business may need legally even in the years to come!!

Most entrepreneurs or freelancers are scared of being sucked into a crazy vault of legal papers, procedures, as well as spending heaps of money they can’t afford, so they put off this step as long as they think they can!

It doesn’t have to be that way though. A legal firm and an expensive lawyer is no longer the only way to get legal counsel and protect your business.

For those who are on a tight budget or looking to save some money try:

• Legal Templates
• The Legalmiga Library
• The Contract Shop

6— Marketing, Promotion & Avdertising

Every niche, product or service has an audience. All you have to do is reach that audience. This is where marketing and avdertising comes in.

FREE. It may sound like a myth but honestly, you can really do your marketing and promotion for free in a hundred of different ways. Paid ads aren’t always worth it. So even if you are on a tight budget, there is no excuse to skip this step. Yes you will have to put in the hours but trust me, your time will be well invested!

Having a good SEO strategy to drive organic traffic is essential, but marketing takes your business to the next level.

You have to literally shove your business or service in people’s faces.

In my opinion your marketing strategy should focus on:

• Social media
• Email marketing (even better than social media!)
• Branding
• Content

VALUE. That’s why branding and content creation can do wonders for your business or freelance job. Branding adds value to your business and content adds value to your audience.

So here it is, 6 simple uncomplicated steps to go from idea to small business.

Don’t complicate things or think too much. Just start somewhere from here.

Feel free to drop a comment if this helps you in anyway in transforming your idea to reality or gives you some inspiration! And please share if you have any other helpful tips yourself!

Source: originally published on Medium