Essentials in starting a business...

fishbate Level 1

April 7, 2018, 12:51 pm

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Business may sound interesting and everyone is eager to have one. It may seem easy to put up a business, but its not all concept and ideas. I already have my concept and my product, but i'm having a hard time in marketing, advertising and management. Do you have any tips on running and starting a business? Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

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manmad

manmad

It really depends on the business you are going to start, however there are some things that cover almost every business. To begin with, you should always be sure of how much money you are investing into it and if it's going to be enough. Another thing you should remember is that we are living in the age of social medias and so on, so having an online format of your business is essential if you want to bring a lot of traffic to it, however that's not as easy as it may sound.

9 years ago

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Barida

Barida

Understanding the need to invest better in the business that we want to begin is the core reason we should be careful when we try to begin a new business. There has been some people that went into business at a certain point only to discover that they are not ready financially to push further with the business.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

I have already subscribed to a couple of online stores just to have a more broader audience and it's actually doing great. However my resources are very limited, that's why i'm having trouble in my finances. I've been trying to figure out how can i make more income to work around with my business.

9 years ago

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kgord

kgord

There has to be a demand for your product, which is somethig I have mentioned before. I think doing a market survey is the most important thing to do if it is a physical business. If your business is wanted and needed in the community it is important to know this before you do anything.

9 years ago

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Marako0406

Marako0406

True! one should get in to making a market survey to know if the product or service you'll be offering will be beneficial for the masses. It's important to be ready financially and have a safety net or plan B to E if everything else fails. It's really better to be ready at all times than sorry. Social Media is a better way to make surveys at least you be getting a true feedback from the people you know or from a lot of people who's interested and not.

8 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Yeah, people should also recognize that starting a business online is very different compared to having a physical business and there are a lot of things you need to learn from since you simply just can't transition to making an online business without any research.

9 years ago

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EfficientNinja

EfficientNinja

Yup. Online business is like a whole new world compared to a physical business. You will have to learn how things work online. What may work for a physical business doesn't necessarily work for an online business. Social media is what older business people will have to really learn and adjust to.

9 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Most of the time, the best way of getting into online transition from a physical store is by hiring people who already have experience in working in the online industry, especially for older business people.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

It is true that one should know how much money they are investing. And what they seem to be doing with that money. And knowing how to spend and how to work with the money is pretty much important. You can see that some of the time such essential things build up a lot better business. I guess we learn from our experience on those things.

9 years ago

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kgord

kgord

I would agree that most businessses these days need to have a web presence, because that is typically the first place people look when they are trying to find information on a business. It is just important to put information about your business there. I think it is a helpful thing to do.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

Today smartphone is an essential item for most of us. Two decades ago, no one asked for a smartphone. Smartphone companies manufactured high-end devices and created a necessity. They sent their products to the market and told the people that they should own a smartphone. Good business means creating a necessity. promotion is as important as manufacturing. You need to spend a lot of money in manufacturing and promotion. Marketing means making people aware of your product and telling them why they should buy your product.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I think creating artificial dependency. And then making the life a bit harder on that point makes it a new thing. I have observed that starting business is not going to be that easy. And that's why we have to find out needs of the people. And then make the business on the top of that from what I have seen.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

In the business world, creating a product and making it very necessary for the consumer works well. Most of the products we see in the market follows this general business rule. Creating artificial necessity is one of the strategies of businesses. Consumers were happy with a mobile phone. The businesses introduced smartphones and now smartphoes are essential fo most of the people.
Businesses also should care about the purchasing power of the consumer. If the businesses launch the product that is beyond the reach of their consumers, the business will fail.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Yes new competitors pay attention to existing products. And they build better products on the top of it. I have noticed that some of the time such approach works for most business. And it can be really hard to work with the business such as this. I think if you consider business development then small things such as that can do a lot of change.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

IN order to succeed in the business, your product also needs to be unique. If you are launching a new mobile handset, you should be offering a different handset. The difference can be in pricing or features. If you are trying to sell a copycat product, you are less likely to sell a lot of products.
You also need to adopt new promotional strategies. The same marketing methods that were used 10 years ago may not work now.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I think unique does not mean it will sell. for example you can sell soap even if it is not unique. What one needs is the place and the person who wants to buy the same. That is why many top brands may not sell but the different product may sell even the normal ones.

9 years ago

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kgord

kgord

Yes, and your site needs to be user friendly as well. Sites need to be easy for people to use and to buy from. This is really essential when it comes to starting and having a successful online presence for your business.

9 years ago

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kgord

kgord

I think that these are some of the important things that you need to know. Most people do not do enough preparation when they are starting a business. Finding outthe sorts of things you should do is very important.

9 years ago

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Barida

Barida

One key element that I always tell those that are looking forward to getting into a new business is to ensure they understand the rudiments of the business. There is also need to do a pilot survey in for that is a good way that we can get to see, if the said business is actually going to work at the end of the day or not.

Also, getting to know our direct rivals in any business is very important as long as we desire for the business to grow into higher heights in the near future.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

I also think the survey or study for your business is important, although i have no idea on how i can do a survey. I tried a strategy which involves social media to see if my products are enticing to the costumers. I used a percentage of the likes of the product base on the total audience i have. Is that even accurate?

9 years ago

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Barida

Barida

A survey can be carried out on a set of people to see how they appreciate what you are doing. What I call the type of survey that you carried out is the pilot survey where you get to interact with some of the clients to see how they feel about the product /services that you brought to them. You can now make adjustments and launch them fully at the end of the day.

9 years ago

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kgord

kgord

Well, understanding your customers is very important, what they want, and what they need. it is just one of the things that you might want to concentrate on when opening a business. It is just one of the options that is not really an option but a fundamental.

9 years ago

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MissTery

MissTery

Yeah I agree with you that before we start our business, let's have a survey first to know what are the trends today and what consumers' like because through this way, we will have our guide in forming and starting our business. Just like what our prof. taught us, we should have first feasibility study and business plan before we formally start and invest our capital in a certain business in order to increase the possibility that our business will be successful and will continue to grow.

9 years ago

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RhealaineS

RhealaineS

I agree. In addition, before you start your business, you have to prepare yourself. Business is taking risk in hope of income. You will never know if you will succeed or fail. So make sure that you are ready before starting any business.

8 years ago

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Larryl332

Larryl332

Well the first thing that immediately jumped into my mind was capital of course, but the more I thought about and read above I thought of all the ways you can go about getting that. Regarding the intangibles though I would definitely say a clear sense of purpose and business plan is a must have.

9 years ago

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SiamSEO

SiamSEO

Depending what you're trying to sell, dropshipping might be a good place to start as it requires noticeably less upfront capital to start with. Obviously you're paying the dropshipper part of your sales, but you also carry absolutely no inventory risk like that. If your business really takes off you can easily just start ordering the stock to yourself and cut out the middle-man.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

I have a friend that actually do this and its really working out for her. Although she have some troubles specially with scams and product replacements, she is still enjoying the profit. I really want to try this but i don't know where to start.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I have calculated that dropshipping on shopify requires minimum 360$ on plan plus additional services which goes round about 500$ per year. So that can be an investment. and with need for traffic, people have to focus on what they can sell as well. And it needs a lot more traffic on that note.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

To be honest dropshipping is one of the extensive gigs out there. I mean paying a lot of sum for even setup and monthly cost for say shopify. I guess that is a lot of money. And it's really hard to work around with that type of the money in the pocket if it's less.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

It takes a lot of money to establish shopify Dropshipping business. Investing, 360$ in a business that you don't know whether it will work or not is very risky. Well, you need to take risk in order to do business, however, taking a risk does not mean you put both of your legs in the water without knowing the depth. You will have to take a calculated risk. You should try to keep your initial investment low to minimize the risk.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Yeah that is what stopped me from approaching the shopify. know some of the people who are taking the risk. But 360$ is a lot of investment. And also requires FB Ads and other things that needs to be managed as well. You can see that some of the time this type of the approach requires you to work properly with the business online. So better to have some funds for this.

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

Capital is one of the most important things because without it, you won't have a base to start your business from. Of course, there are different ways to raise capital for your business but it's important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each method to ensure that you don't fall into trouble in the future.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I think even if the capital is acquired. Customer part is also essential. Without getting paid, you won't be making much out of the funds either. So customer acquisition and then spending the funds to earn the profit. So profit centric thinking should be there.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

The biggest essential is you need something to sell or offer service. You have to get customers. That's the essential skill that you should have. Because lack of those skills leads to the business issues. And people have to understand that nothing happens overnight. And you have to be very careful with the time and money that you are spending. So it all depends on how you take the risk. It seems to be the better handling that way.

9 years ago

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Barida

Barida

You are correct by saying that the motion sensor thing we need in business is having the available services or goods to sell to people. Also, there is need to ensure that the available market is there before we venture into selling anything simply because a good service will turn bad when we are selling it to the wrong set of people that won't value what we sell to them.

So, ensuring that we have the available goods is one of the main reasons we should ensure that is available before we venture into any business that we have passion to do.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I think initial customers decide the direction of the business. You have to understand that some of the time business have their own set of the things need to be managed. You can't do this all the time. But some of the time your business approach needs to be changed if the business has no customer.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Hi. I'm actually not a businessman but for once, I was able to be in an environment where all the people I know and I live with are business people. As for me, it's better to have a very unique kind of strategy when it comes to marketing. However, don't be too original. You can copy an established strategy and just change it a bit for it to be a little bit different. As for advertising, a lot of entrepreneurs rely on social media and I've observed that it's a good platform and I've seen a lot of people generating a lot of income just by advertising their products there. Lastly, research about strategies or anything related to starting a business so that you'll have a guide and an inspiration.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

I agree , advertising is a great strategy when it comes to increasing your profit. But i also found out that these services comes with cost and investment. I have seen some free advertising services and i think its an option for me just to see how it works and to analyze the benefits.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Social media advertisements are actually free. If you're talking about paid advertisements, It's not actually what I mean. You can advertise on social media without investing or paying something by advertising your products in to a page, your own business page. It's actually more common on Facebook where they have this so called Facebook pages and you can actually share your link anywhere you want (other pages and comment boxes), just ask the permissions of the admins so that you'll not be marked as spam and be deleted. After making a Facebook page, you may then link that in to your twitter and Instagram.

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

Great strategy, but the nice thing about social media (especially Facebook) is that running ads through their platform is incredibly affordable. They offer powerful marketing tools as well, so you can make sure your ads are only showing up to your targeted demographic.

I ran a campaign for my business a couple years back for only $5. The ad ran for 7 days, I think, and reached nearly 10,000 people at the time. I got a good number of likes to my page as a result, but no jobs came out of those likes. Another $5 may have gone a long way, who knows.

My point being that it's affordable and definitely an option as well.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

That's true @TheArticulate. Facebook ads are really affordable. I actually wanted to run an ad as well before when I was still in High School (though it was just for fun) and the ad according to Facebook was only about a dollar or two and it will be shown to my preferred audience for at least 5-7 days. Imagine, with that price I can be popular in just a week? However, for me during that time, a dollar is expensive especially that I live in a third world country.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Marketing is a good strategy. But first comes type of customer and your service. If you have those two things properly sorted out then I am sure you can get things handled properly. That way you don't have to worry much either. Most of the business don't focus on customers and that leads to failure.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

That's right @overcast. Customers are always and will ever be right and important. Although sometimes they are annoying and doesn't take the business owner's side sometimes, they still bring profit to the business and therefore should be given respect and good service.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Yes and that is one more reason people have to set up a process. And make sure to get the most out of their business. I have seen that seems to be working out for most of the business. I know one thing for sure that people have to learn how to handle customers. Because that is the way things work better.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

That is unfortunately true and definitely unfair for me. I mean, it's so hard to put up a business without acting as if you're a slave or a nice person. You have to sell yourself together with your products in order to have loyal customers and for me, it's really hard because I'm not that sociable and I can really tell easily if a person is plastic/fake or being realistic when it comes to communicating with me and that makes me so uncomfortable.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Yes that seems to be the case with most of the business. And we have to be understanding on that part. I have learned that some of the time it can be something to consider. I guess we learn that business has some of the things that need to be sorted out in business.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Yeah, I strongly agree with you. When you're running a business, all the patience in the world must be acquired by you. There shouldn't be any room for rudeness in your heart especially if you're just starting and you're not yet that successful.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

That is true. Rudeness and patience don't get along. And one has to work really hard. You can see that it's not going to be any easy to work with the people who are tough. And people have to understand where to handle those things.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Agree with that, Using social media for advertising and marketing will help a lot, and sometimes business don't need the physical store if businessman did a great job in advertising in social media, and other thing is, its very easy to communicate between the business and the consumers.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Definitely true @aeon. I actually think that putting up a physical store nowadays is just too complicated and pricey. I know a lot of business women and men who have succeeded with just an online store and it's very fascinating how their strategies in advertising their products online have made them rich in just a span of year or months if they'll hit that instant popularity. For me, if you really want to start a business, nowadays the better platform is online because you can reach more customers and you don't need to spend more time on your business. You can just advertise, click, confirm, and then deliver. Just like that and you'll have profit.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Yeah, your right, great advertisement needed on this online business. You should have an excellent conversational skills to attract the consumer who inquiring about your products, Like now, I'm looking for carburetor online, but the other supplier really looks like concern about my motorcycle, compare to other one who just gave the price.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Yeah, definitely right. If you want to put up an online business, you must know how to interact and empathize with your consumers/customers. I feel sad for that supplier who just gave you the price, I don't think he'll survive in the industry (but I hope he does). As a person who have experienced buying online as well, it's always better to buy on sellers who are responsive and are really concern with you. Good job to that supplier.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Well, because sometimes, people in social media business or something like depends on the social media to get consumers is just for part time job, or additional source of income. So, it doesn't matter for them if they have buyer or not. but for consumer like me, it's also doesn't matter if the seller is interested or not.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Yeah. Most online sellers are part time sellers and they only want sure buyers because they don't want to waste time. However, as a consumer, I look at it as a rude way of treating a customer. I mean, even if they don't care if they'll sell or not, they should always respect the people who bring them profits.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Yeah, you're right. Sometimes the online seller don't want to hear many questions from the consumers. Specially like me, if I want to make sure about their products and if they're legit, I will ask for the seller permission to post his/her identity to group for legit check, and they don't like that, specially with their pictures with holding their valid I.D's.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Yeah. Exactly what I've experienced before. However, I also understand that some part time sellers do not want to expose their identities maybe because of privacy issues which, I, as a person as well definitely know how it feels to be cautious especially with sharing my identity. However, I guess as sellers they should address this kind of requests from potential buyers because it's one if the basics in customer service - proving the legality of their products and their identity as a seller.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

That's right, as a seller without physical store. you should expect that kind of situation. The customer only wants to be secure and be safe in the transaction, specially with money involve. part time or not, you should expect this kind of scenario. Specially right now, with a lot of scam seller.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Exactly. That's why I also have a bitter-sweet take on online shops being a trend right now. I mean, it doesn't give the same security that you could get from shopping personally to a nearby store. However, with all the discounts and vouchers, online shops are far better as of this moment because malls right now suck because of the heavy VATs they add in to their products.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Well I think you should know your passion first or what things you really interested. Some of the business failed because of that, they just starting the particular business because the other same business is successful. I saw a lot of this in food business. Find the best place also to start your business. The location is very important also, you should place your business to the crowded place so you don't need to advertise it.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

Its a good advice @aeon , location indeed is a great factor in starting a business. Although i have included the plan of having a physical store, i think it will have to wait for the mean time. My first move was to try my products online and see the audience...once i established in the online platform and have enough resources then maybe i could start a physical store.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Physical store is very important and I think much better if the location is in the middle of the city. Actually my friend and I had a business before, and It was accessory business more on bracelet, earrings, necklace. actually funk or rock accessories. even we posted a lot of things on our website, the consumers always asking for physical store to visit, and we can't afford that.

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

A lot of people make this mistake for businesses and websites as well. They start a particular website or a business because it is in a niche or a market where you can earn a lot of money from. It's a huge problem because of the fact that chances are you just won't have a passion for it or the knowledge (sometimes). And that's never going to end well because you just won't have the motivation to keep working at it.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Yeah, that's right. People nowadays will just rely on what is in-demands in market or if someone earn a lot from business, people will just copy and sell the same items. Well "Monkey see, monkey do". It will not work, or if ever, it's really hard because that thing is not your passion.

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

I think that's even a bigger problem, the fact that they try to copy and sell the same thing is what becomes a problem. At least if you are going into a niche that is already successful and doing well, then try and diversify your products and make yourself different from the competitors. But a lot of these people don't even bother to do that.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I think the problem with passion is at some point you have to make money with it. And not all the time passion leads to money. And people don't understand what to do in such case. And that's where we have to understand that we have to find out what sales and have to merge that with the passion. Dog raising can be a passion but you have to sell dog good with that. I hope you get what I meant.

9 years ago

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jaymish

jaymish

During the weekend I've been listening to T. Harv Eker. He is a motivational speaker known for his theories on wealth and motivation. He recommends that you start a business with the goal that it can run without you. In this way it makes you passive income. He recommends the three elements essential in a business are operations, production and marketing. Once you have them right you are good to go. This is my recommendation to you. Make sure you get these basics right.

9 years ago

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manmad

manmad

Passive income is definitely amazing, however it's not an easy task to do and it's going to require a lot of active work and investment from the start, you need a lot of capital to turn something into passive income, because it's most likely going to require a lot of traffic, which isn't easy to achieve.

9 years ago

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DenisP

DenisP

"Passive income is definitely amazing, however it's not an easy task to do and it's going to require a lot of active work and investment from the start…"

It depends on the kind of business that you're getting into. If we're talking selling merchandise or providing some sort of service, it's going to be pretty difficult to get a passive income going. Simply put, some types of businesses just aren't intended to provide passive income for what could possibly be decades.

However, passive income has become more of a (relatively reachable) reality through things such as the AdSense program with Google. Take Youtube for example. You could post hundreds of videos, and each and every one of those videos will continue to generate revenue even after you've moved on to new uploads and projects. Now that is convenient.

9 years ago

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manmad

manmad

It's not convenient, because you are going to have to put more effort than you can imagine in order to pull profit from YouTube videos, you'll need hundreds of thousands of views so you can get some stable income, the same goes with all AdSense or other programs that generate profit from traffic, that's a lot of active work so you can start getting passive income.

9 years ago

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DenisP

DenisP

I think there may have been a misunderstanding. I didn't mean that the process of getting there is convenient. I'm active in the YouTube community so I'm aware of just how much of an uphill struggle it is to gain success on YouTube.

This line: "those videos will continue to generate revenue even after you've moved on to new uploads and projects" was what I was referring to as being convenient.

Getting those videos up and getting them noticed certainly isn't convenient by any means, but if you happen to have success with them, the passive income generated by them is undeniably convenient. It sure as hell wouldn't be convenient if you only got a one-time paycheck out of them and then they stop generating revenue.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I think it takes years to start such business that runs without you. And even then you can't just automate things around. And it may not be that easier on many ways. You can see that starting business and keeping clients takes time. And making it on automation is not going to be easy. So I guess it's delegation and the people around part that takes time.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

It's looks easy based on the three factors, operations, production and marketing but actually it's really hard to do that. The business will just run without the owner if it's already well established, and to make it happen in a very short time, the owner should have stable financial support for the business.

9 years ago

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SiamSEO

SiamSEO

No business will just keep on running without someone directing the whole deal for very long. Sure you might be able to take your hands off of it and see where it goes, but within months things will start to crumble down as you always need to maintain and adjust things in your business plan in order to meet the ever-changing demands of the market.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Yeah, business always needs new plan to maintain the status and the consumer. The business marketing team should be aware about that. They should know about the changes happening in the market. The owner paying to do their job.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I agree. There has to be a good process. And one has to focus on that process. And make sure that process runs with or without the person. So that seems to be a way for many people managing the money better way.

9 years ago

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aeon

aeon

Yeah, one step at a time, and you will notice someday, that you reach your goal in business. Specially if your business is also your passion. I know you will not like to leave your business even an hour.

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

The actual management of your business is the hardest thing about your business. I think the most important thing that you can do is to keep at it when you start your business. You will come across a lot of challenges when your business is still relatively new and a lot of people will actually give up because of these challenges. But if you stay motivated and keep at it, hopefully you can go through these challenges and start to do well

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

I started my blog as my business. I published articles, monetize the blog with adsense and affiliate products. If you invest mone on some thing with a pure intention of making money, it is a business. I invested money in domain and web hosting, I invested my time. Therefore, my blog is my business. sadly, my business is not doing good. I also launched a drop shipping business, and this business is also not working. I need to recenter my thoughts on doing business online.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I think blog needs to be maintained as a business because passion and money does not make sense. Some of the time we have to sell things. And selling is nobody's passion. So you can see that business has it's up and down. And we have to invest the time and make changes as required. That's how we learn more things.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

When I penned poetry at the age of 14, I never saw myself as a poet. When I began writing stories at the age of 18, I never saw myself as a story writer. When I published my book at the age of 21, I never saw myself as an author. The writing was my passion and when ever I write anything, I was just exploring my passion. However, I never knew when my passion became my profession. In order to make most of your business, you need to be passionate about it. If you do not have the passion for your business you will never make money. Your business niche should be something that you are passionate about. Becoming passionate does not guarantee money, however, it promises you an easy way to succeed.

9 years ago

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mystic14

mystic14

Becoming passionate does not guarantee money, however, it promises you an easy way to succeed. That doesn't make sense.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

I actually find it sensible tho. It's actually true that passion does not guarantee money because passion without action is useless. I actually know a lot of people who are passionate in thinking but aren't passionate in doing. Like for example, they have so many ideas in mind and are very passionate to plan about it but does always fail when it comes to realizing their plans because they lack the passion to invest. However, if passion is accompanied with action, I do believe that it will bring fortune and lots and lots of money.

9 years ago

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mystic14

mystic14

It's not bringing me ANY money whatsoever. I am taking action, I get NOTHING. i have no passion because of it! i had passion, but I have been struggling for way too long!

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

I definitely agree with you sir. It's true that in business, a business man should be business minded and should always think about profit. However, you will never have a good profit and a large business that continuously grow with just investing money and effort. There needs to be passion in business because it gives every business man strength and courage to give more effort and time instead of hurrying and failing afterwards.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

If you want to do business, you need to be passionate about your chosen niche. If you are not passionate, you can never succeed. Apart from having passion, you also need to need to have knowledge about the business. Without proper knowledge, your business will never happen.
Before you start your business, you need to do a lot of research. You also need to money to invest in business.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

Exactly @vinaya. A lot of people think that running a business is easy but actually it's not. Business is not for the weak. It needs a lot of dedication and hard work and all the things you've mentioned. There's a lot of ups and downs in running a business, therefore you must be economically, emotionally, and physically stable if you want to run a business.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

Not everyone can succeed in business. In order to become a successful entrepreneur, you need various skills. You must be a planner, a risk taker, investor, a researcher, marketer etc.
Business starts with an idea. You need an idea to do business. you must also have an ability to do a research on your business idea. You need funds for your business.
You should know whether there is a demand for the product and services you are trying to sell. If there are no demands, you must have an ability to create demand for your products and services.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

It all depends on what kind of business are you interested in opening up? If it's a physical one or an online business, if it's a product or service?

In any kind of physical business you should always have a clear understanding of the pros and cons of your trade also a modest capital is recommended.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

Starting a business means you are either selling services or products. First of all you need to find out whether there is any demands for your products or services. If there is no demand, you also have to think about the ways to create general interest on the products and services you are trying to sell. Secondly, you also need to have a stable financial background. If you do not have enough funds, your business might fall before it actually materializes.

9 years ago

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DenisP

DenisP

Well without many details, it's kind of difficult to give you any sort of advice really. What sort of advice we can recommend is going to vary, depending upon the kind of business you want to start up. What you do when running an online business as opposed to a brick and mortar business is going to vastly vary. For starters, get yourself intimately acquainted with multiple social media platforms. Social media is absolutely necessary in this day and age when it comes to marketing and advertising. Another tip is to setup newsletters and build a large list of emails to send them out to. Start a blog which gives you some authority within your field. The list goes on.

9 years ago

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kgord

kgord

i think the first essential rule in staring a business is that you need to have something that someone wants. In another words you would have a hard time selling ice to Eskimos. There has to be a need and desire for your product in order to get people to buy.

9 years ago

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vhinz

vhinz

Starting a business needs a thorough research on your target market. Doing a business with what you are passionate about is necessary, but you have to ask the question, is there a demand for the product or service that I want to offer? Because no matter how great your ideas for the business you want to start with but nobody wants it, it will surely fail. Then you have to take an inventory of yourself. Do you have the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out the business? Can you do it by yourself or do you need to hire someone to do the tasks for you? Identify the opportunities as well as the associated risks. Consider the amount of capital you need to invest in. Make a plan on what marketing strategies you are going to do to promote your business. Having a clear target market, good quality products or services, and effective marketing strategies can give you a greater chance of succeeding in business. Don't start a business unless you clearly understand the ins and outs of it.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

Well said @vhinz, i will surely take your advice. Although i'm sure i have the skills in terms of product development and services, one of my weakness is advertising and risk assessment. I'm still trying to study each category of running a business and i think i have progress. I'm just taking my time to be ready for a full business kick off.

9 years ago

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wallet

wallet

If you are a beginner as I can see you need someone really specialized in marketing, advertising and management, they know well to set and run your business. Tips and advice may hurt your business and you may even lose your investment.

9 years ago

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Steve5

Steve5

You have to know what your goals are. It's okay to aim high but you should stay level-headed. Patience is probably the hardest part of starting a business. You'll need to invest time and effort on something you're not sure will succeed. Remember that there's always risk in business.

9 years ago

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mildredtabitha

mildredtabitha

Nicely put. Risk is what most potential entrepreneurs never want to face. To be honest, I would really do my best while starting a business to minimize risk but sometimes we can't avoid it. So despite having a good plan for the business, anything can happen and so it is advisable to be ready for anything by being well prepared.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

If you already have a concept and an idea well, the next step is for you to make a marketing plan, just ask yourself "How would I sell my products?" And from your answer make a plan.

9 years ago

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Martinsx1

Martinsx1

Depending on the nature of the business concept, I believe that taking online marketing and advertising would payoff well. Whether it's social media marketing or email marketing, once it's targeted well, I believe it's going to have more positive impact on the business.

9 years ago

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mildredtabitha

mildredtabitha

What I know is you need an idea which you already have and also capital for starting the business. You need to have an available market to keep the business going and you also need a backup plan. Experience is best but if it is your first time, you can get advice from your role model and also learn some basics . You also need patience

9 years ago

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Martinsx1

Martinsx1

Having an available market isn't just enough to determine if ones new business set up would do well. There is a need for an extensive inquiry into the nature of the market and the kind of prospective customers available in the market. This would help one understand faster if the business would be a major hit or a miss in the future.

9 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

It depends on what business you would like to start on, since each industry have different situations where you can succeed or fail at. Generally, it helps if you have a good background on the industry you want to enter, know your competitors and the estimated capital that you would need to start a business and if you can afford it. Research on the industry's barriers to entry or exit, the current profitability, the strength of your main competitors, and know your target market.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

When opening up a business, one important thing to consider is capitalization. You should have enough capital to sustain your business for 6 months and this includes all expenses and your marketing program.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

Yup, i have actually read about this. In the article i read about entrepreneurship, it said that a buffer of 6 months finances is ideal to keep your business running. Also an emergency fund was suggested in the article, saying that a business man should also have emergency fund for unforeseen events.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

It's really about your determination to succeed in a business, if you already started one, you'll do everything to make it successful, as long as the business you're starting is feasible then it's all up tp your determination, it could mean success or failure.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

Yup that's the part i'm worry about "failure" . That's is why i'm doing everything in terms of preparation and knowledge before i kick start a full business. There's a lot of consideration and preparation and i don't wanna miss one, just to make sure.

9 years ago

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Martinsx1

Martinsx1

The beginning of any business project is the most difficult phase because it's a trail moment that comes with lots of challenges. But I'm glad to hear that you have taken care of everything else but just marketing, advertising and management.

Now, I would tag marketing and advertising to be almost the same thing because as you are advertising your business, it's a form of marketing in a way. About management, depending on the size and nature of the business would determine if you need more hands to help you run the show.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

I agree the planning and study is the most stressful one, but i think it way payoff along the way. I have done lots of studies and inquiries from people like you guys to have extra knowledge and suggestions regarding the matter and i think it's very helpful. Specially when these suggestion and experience comes from real life experiences.

9 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling. While you may have efficiently planned the start of your business and your strategies, you still have to control and monitor your progress every time, otherwise, your business will fail to keep up with the growing competition and industry.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

If you got all things covered then proceed with the licensing or setup. Procrastination always takes away the zeal and your motivation when it comes to business. I would suggest that you proceed to the setup and implement your plans ASAP.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

I have already accomplished a city license and a certification from the trade department. I'm still on the process of building a physical store outside of my hometown. I like to take it slowly just to make sure that i do not skip some steps. Thanks for the advice.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

That's nice to hear, I would advice you to create an online store also by doing so you could double your earnings, having both physical and online stores will give you an edge when it comes to credibility in online selling, buyers are more comfortable in buying things from an online seller who has a physical store. Besides, having an online store will give you the opportunity to tap regional and overseas customers and that means more money in the bank.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

Thank for the advice, i already have a couple of online store where my products are displayed. Although i have to put some extra on the price to cater on the sites percentage and also due to some shipping cost. It's actually doing great at the moment....

9 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Definitely, there's no place for procrastination when you have a business. You should be proactive rather than reactive, and should always make sure that the job is done way before the set deadline.

8 years ago

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EfficientNinja

EfficientNinja

You need to be good at business math to know how much it takes to profit. You have to compute all the expenses and profit to see if your business is sustainable.

You need to have a sound business plan that has a very high chance of success. You also need to have a very strong mindset because every startup or businessman will always face large obstacles that try to make their morale low and make them give up pursuing the business.

9 years ago

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Tronia

Tronia

I don't think you need to be good at math if I'm honest. It's quite easy to get somebody else to do that for you.

But I definitely agree with your second point - the business plan. That's probably one of the most crucial things when beginning. If you create a well-developed business plan you have ten times more chance of actually succeeding.

9 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

I beg to disagree with you @Tronia. Although it's true that we can hire people who are good in math, it's also a must that as an owner of a business you have to be good with computations. Actually, he is not referring to the basic math but the business mathematics which includes computations on profits, losses, and etc. The things I don't really know that much either.

9 years ago

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aecel

aecel

I'm also one of those who are eager to have a business but my funds are not enough so I need to save more money but the problem is I don't have the concept yet. I have a friend who started his business this year it's a clothing store I asked him to give an advice on how to start a business and he said you really need guts to jump in. At first, it was scary because you may encounter lots of problems during operation but he said it's normal it's going to resolve anyway only if you're 100% focus on your business. He doesn't have a budget for advertising and marketing stuff but he just uses different social platforms to promote his stores it's free anyway so it's a good start using it to promote your business.

9 years ago

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Judas2018

Judas2018

Money first and foremost. You're gonna need money for supplies, advertising, logos, etc. Secondly, an advertising plan to generate more revenue and future customers. Third, a solid number of how many employees you can take on at the beginning. Some businesses fold quickly due to hiring too many people to start, as the money isn't always there to pay them.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

I agree, you really need sufficient amount of money start a business, apart from that you need an emergency fund for problems along the way. Aside from taxes and permits, you still have to worry about other expenses like transportation expenses and other stuffs. You just really need to take care of your priorities.

9 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Yeah, you need to have a significant capital to jumpstart your business and you need to be able to have planned and budgeted everything you need at the very start so you know how much you started with and can do proper accounting of your cash flow and transactions.

8 years ago

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Tronia

Tronia

I think that it really, really depends on what sort of business you are trying to start. Certain niches and businesses might need way more money to take off than others.

But generally, the essentials are probably:
- passion,
- time,
- money,
- knowledge.

Without passion, I would never personally start my own business because if you're in it just for the money from the start... you might get burned out very fast.

9 years ago

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mabhel

mabhel

You're right. More than anything else, one must be into his business, must be hands on and willing to sacrifice in order to succeed. And more importantly, he must love what he's doing.

9 years ago

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MissTery

MissTery

I agree to you! Essentials in starting a business...

Essentials in starting a business...

Passion is important because if you have passion, you will enjoy what you are doing and there are many creative ideas and innovations that will pop up in your mind which will truly help growing your business.

9 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Yeah, passion will keep you going even during difficult times, and you will always try to make something work even when the odds are against you as long as you have a vision of succeeding and you always keep your business interests first.

8 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

If your a startup then it's important to get a continuous stream of visitors or traffic to your site. You need to make your site visible to as many persons possible you can use SEO/SEM and Social Media Marketing to achieve this.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

If you are opening a physical store and if you will be hiring workers under you, then you must create an effective hiring and training program. And the key here is getting the right people to do the job. After hiring your people, the next step is to train them and one important factor in training is by giving them motivation.

9 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Yeah, invest in human resources if you are going to hire your employees so you can hire the best people for your most important jobs and also have a good training program in place for the line workers.

8 years ago

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Larryl332

Larryl332

It is kind of nice knowing that others also find those difficulties in the beginnings of any adventure and also are plagued by common things like procrastination. Makes it all the more necessary to have a good mindset and goals to achieve before things get going in motion. Makes me feel a lot better about myself, too.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

When starting up a business don't procrastinate, never be a minimalist and don't be complacent. The best way to go is to always start strong, and you can do this by creating targets and goals, focusing on this and innovating is the key to success.

9 years ago

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MissTery

MissTery

Hi! Before starting your business given that you already have your capital for this, you should first conduct a feasibility study of this business. You should specify who will be your market, is it for male or female? or for kids or adult or both? Such as those things. Next thing is to know your strategic location. It is also important to know because your income will mainly depend on it. Your location is where your target market should also be located. Try also searching on the internet what are the other matters included in the feasibility study and I suggest you conduct a survey to know what are the trends today and to know what your target market wants. Lastly, have your passion in starting and having a business. It is also a key to success if you have passion and enjoy what your are doing. Go and good luck to you! Essentials in starting a business...

Essentials in starting a business...

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

Point taken, rest assured that your suggestions are greatly appreciated and included on the reminders list. I'm really curious about strategic location, if i'm not mistaken your pertaining to establishments close to the store to be like markets, malls or schools. I like your your point.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

When you have a business it's always best to always enable, reviews, comments and suggestions, doing this would would give you important buyer insights that could help your business evolve for the better.

9 years ago

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Vinsanity

Vinsanity

Personally I am really into business. Even though it is like life and death at the beginning, still when you become successful it is a good and stable passive source of income. You can have your own employees who would work for you and what you just have to do is to make decisions and do signing.
If I were to do business, I would choose a coffee shop or a grocery store. Some things that I consider is that it should be located somewhere near corporate buildings and schools.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

I agree it's basically putting your product closer to the customers which is very logical. Also your thoughts about life and death of a business when starting is really true and its actually the hardest part. Starting and keeping it running is basically the heart of success.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

In starting up a business it's always best to train and mentor a someone trustworthy enough on the ins and outs of your business, so that whenever your not available or your on a vacation, you don't have to worry about your business because you know that someone capable is managing it for you.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

When it comes to earnings and profit it's best to have a plan on what to do with it. Putting all your money in a single basket is unwise, it's best to divide the earnings by opening up a separate bank account for it and depositing 25 percent of it as savings, another 25 percent should go to your old account another 25 percent to another account to be used for investment and the last 25 percent should stay with the business as contingency or emergency fund. Doing this would help insure profitability and stability.

9 years ago

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treecko142

treecko142

Yeah, you should know how to manage your finances so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor better rather than wasting it all on things that you don't really need.

8 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

In starting your own business you must also have the following traits :

Focus - You must always focus on your goals no matter what.

Faith - Believe in the business and believe in yourself. Don't let other people tell you what to do. Also don't easily believe other people right away with regards to your business, seek the truth yourself.

9 years ago

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bienn05

bienn05

Capital and the knowledge on the business you are planning. You should be the master on what business you are going to build to avoid some people who will take advantage. In terms of marketing your product, you can always hire some experts to help you. I mean, it is not forever, you will just try to reach out to the community that you have this kind of product.

9 years ago

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fishbate

fishbate

Good point there, not all business owners are good in everything. Some are good in production management and some excel on financial factors. Hiring some experts will definitely help, specially on factors that one lack in skills or expertise.

9 years ago

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kinja90

kinja90

There are a lost of factors to consider before you start your business. You should know what product/item to sell, you're knowledgeable of it already, it's your hobby or what interest you most. It's ideal and suggested that you love what you're doing in starting up your business. Even if your business is a simple one but you love it and it's your hobby, I bet you will be successful. Another thing to consider is you should know your competitor and knows how their business works. With it, you have an idea how to run your business better. Customer Service is also on thing. You should know how to handle your customers well. Loyal customers will help you promote your business. Business is a risk so once you enter it, you'll never know if it's successful or not. Be ready for circumstances and always embrace flaws. Always listen to the feedback of your customers whether it's negative or not. It will help make your business better.

8 years ago

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beerthooyah

beerthooyah

Business system have components that needs to function effectively. Components such as:
1. Product and services.
make it a point to deliver only the best product and services
2. Marketing
Study many effective marketing stratetegies to fully advertise your business.
3. Customer service
Ensure that your client are satisfied with your product or services.
4. Execution
The single most important factor in any business. A business cannot exist if we dont know how to execute.

8 years ago

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Jeane

Jeane

I would also add this:

Before you start your business you need to know who your customers will be. That won't be enough though. Go a step further.

Have a conversation with prospective customers so you know what exactly they'll want to buy. This information is very valuable. If you know what your customers want (not what you think they might want), you'll only stock those products or provide only those services.

8 years ago

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cmoneyspinner

cmoneyspinner

I don't know if this is true or not, but it's a simple guide that does make good sense when you think about it. I once heard or read that if you don't know how to write your business plan, you probably shouldn't start a business. It's "essential".

How to Write a Business Plan [Updated for 2018] | Bplans
https://articles.bplans.com/how-to-write-a-business-plan/

8 years ago

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jaymish

jaymish

I've just started my online business recently and I plan to start my offline business next year. Right now I am working on a business plan and also on finding a location. I think location, location, location is the most important thing about a business. If you find the right location and you do everything else right like the marketing, your business is bound to do well. Also find out if there is need for your product wherever you get your location.

8 years ago

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PaleShade

PaleShade

I am having the same issues actually

5 years ago

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BanKick

BanKick

Listen guys, marketing is having an incredible importance nowadays. I mean, it has always been important actually, for any kind of business, however nowadays, marketing is always on the first place! Any kind of domain, any kind of business, marketing is having a special place right in front of anyone and anything! Let's be honest, the cars that we are buying and the phone and basically everything is not made by engineers and technicians, they are being made by marketing specialists! And marketing in the online area is just as important as for any other domains. I understood that right after I have read this article https://www.seoblog.com/quora-reddit-seo-marketing/ , it is really great actually, and it helped me to understand what is actually seo.

5 years ago

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milaniagreen

milaniagreen

Successful and competitive in the modern market are companies that use all their reserves to increase the efficiency of their activities and reduce inefficient expenses. Now it is impossible to do this without the right electronic solutions. I advise you to learn more about the tools from airslate here

5 years ago

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milaniagreen

milaniagreen

Optimization is an evolution. Optimizing the process means gradually improving its progress - step by step, identifying and strengthening weaknesses. This is a special project management mode that will require discipline from those who like to get ahead of themselves, contact MediaOne for ORM services

5 years ago

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lindsaymonaco85

lindsaymonaco85

Choosing what kind of business to start can be an immobilizing task when confronted with a multitude of opportunities. It's important to determine where your passions lie and to understand your personality type. Yet, equally important is what skills you bring to the table and whether you are entering a dying industry or a fast-growing emerging business.

5 years ago

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