Investment and business as a whole is a very delicate issue especially when it involves a huge sum of money or human resources. Every business has its own unique requirements that whosoever want to venture into it must know about.
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But there are general principles that guide every business and you need to consider them before you start any business. We tried to localize them as much as possible so as to enable you relate to them.
Factors or Things To Consider Before Starting a Business
To start any business, you should try as much as possible to do the following:
Learn about the business: so many businesses tend to fizzle out after a while not because the money to be used for it is not there, but because the owner (especially sole proprietors) knows little or nothing about the business. Many think they can make it in every business through trial and error and after a while, they just crash out.
Although there are some businesses that one can do without prior knowledge or just with little knowledge, experts recommend that you learn about any business you wish to start.
You can do some months of apprenticeship, get a private tutor who is knowledgeable about the business, buy online courses, read and educate yourself about the business, etc. depending on your choice and the type of business. However, businesses are best learnt when you are in it and because of this, one-on-one training is ideal if you can get it but if you can’t, then consider other alternatives.
Prepare a business plan for your business: this is one of the most neglected aspect of a business. So many people just jump into a business without having a blueprint of how everything will or should be done and within a while, they fizzle out.
A good business plan would guide you on how the business would be ran, who, where, whom, what is to be done, etc. We have an article on the need to have a business plan and how to go about it. You might want to go through it as well.
Know your market: a business’ market is a very important thing to consider before starting your business. You must have a clear understanding of who your target market are, their social status, their likes, where they are, etc. In preparing your business plan, it is expected to research about your market so as to know if your business will succeed or not.
You should find out if your audience would be willing to pay for your goods or services, where they stay, how they wish it to be, how you can target them through adverts, etc.
Marketing should not be taken for granted no matter how good your product or service is. In today’s world, top businesses that we think are already made also run adverts. Typical examples include Facebook, YouTube and Google as a whole. We think these big names are already made and have their customers at their finger-tips but they run adverts on televisions, on each other’s platform and radio stations.
Know your business environment: directly or indirectly, a business’ environment affects the growth and development of the business. Government policies, lifestyle of the people within the area, religious beliefs, political, economy and social makeup of the environment, nearness to your sources of infrastructure, availability of basic infrastructures like good road network, electricity, etc. should be properly looked into before you start your business.
For example, you would just be wasting your time if someone goes to the northern part of Nigeria to start a pig farm and equally wasteful to open a computer center in a village. Your business should be located near to your target market and also, near to where you will have low cost of production. With these, you can picture what I really mean by you considering the environment where you want to start your business.
Consider other miscellaneous threats: you must also consider other obstacles that you might encounter while running your business (either offline or online). You might consider security of both your business, capital, workers, equipment and records, possible ways of paying back investors, transition issues, relevant associations in-charge of your business niche, necessary registration requirements, legal backings, etc.
Conclusion:
As someone who wants to start a business, you should ensure that you consider the fore mentioned factors before starting a business whether offline or online to avoid crashing out of business after a while. Do you think there are other things to be considered? Where you satisfied with the list? We would like to hear from you. Make use of the comment section and air your views.
We would like to hear from you soon.
