When you’re researching business opportunities, the thought of launching your own business from the ground up can initially seem a little bit daunting. In many cases there may even be a reluctance to explore the idea further because of concerns relating to two ‘f’ words – failure and funding.
Failure
In the UK, more than half of new businesses don’t survive beyond five years. Statistics like this can knock people’s confidence and discourage them from walking the entrepreneurial path. It’s important to remember however that whilst many might fail, others prosper. And let’s not forget that many extremely successful businesspeople didn’t always get it right in the early days – and view so-called ‘failure’ as an important learning tool.
While there’s (sadly) no foolproof recipe for startup success, there are some important common-sense steps that are worth considering – whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, startup or new SME. These considerations will help you avoid some of the (sadly all too frequent) reasons behind the failure of new businesses.
Some of the common-sense steps for small business listed below relate to the stage prior to launch, while others are applicable to the time after the business has gone live. And some may only be applicable to larger organisations – but it’s worth thinking about how these various elements relate to successful business:
- Ensuring there’s a demand within the market for your goods/services
- Ensuring your product or service offering is first-rate
- Delivering the product at the right time (timing is everything!)
- Having a long-term funding plan & avoiding “silly spending”
- Employing an appropriately qualified team (as well as providing training)
- Knowing the competition & always staying ahead of the game
- Having a credible and realistic business model (it’s okay to be ambitious!)
- Employing exceptional marketing professionals to help drive the product
- Listening to the customer and applying learnings/data to improve services and/or products
- Maintain focus, passion and resilience
- Location is key – choose wisely. The right location isn’t necessarily the expensive one.
Funding
You may be the most passionate kind of personality out there, with a sterling business idea up your sleeve. But the unfortunate reality is that it would be nigh-on impossible to get a business off the ground without cold hard cash.
The prospect of borrowing (and therefore subsequently owing) a fair amount of money may well be uncharted territory (and feel daunting as a result). However, there are various ways that you can get business funding without taking undue risks (read up on business funding source statistics here). First and foremost, try asking yourself the following questions:
- How much funding will I need?
- What are the repayment terms?
- What are the debts secured on? / Am I willing to offer personal assets as security?
- Do I/will I own a business property?
- Am I willing to sell shares?
Once you know the answers to these questions, you can confidently explore the different funding options available to you for example:
- Angel investors
- Family & friends
- Government-backed schemes
- Enterprise zones
- Bank loans, overdrafts & credit cards
- Crowdfunding
- Selling shares
Have you got the right entrepreneurial spark to launch a business? Don’t let the two ‘f’ words scare you off! With the right idea and financial backing, you never know… you could turn out to be the next Richard Branson or Steve Jobs!