Tips On How To Become An Entrepreneur
Think about it: being your own boss, calling the shots, raking in that dough… sounds nice, doesn’t it? While many wonder how to become an entrepreneur, few realize the challenges that come with it.
How Difficult is it to Become an Entrepreneur?
Let’s tear off this bandage right away: About 90% of all startups fail. That’s right, you’ve got a 9 in ten chance of never getting your business idea off the ground. Still want to give it a go?
Good, read on.
First Steps
Any journey begins with a first step. Yours should be to identify profitable startup ideas. You certainly don’t want to enter into a market already filled with significant competition. Imagine trying to go up against Coca-Cola with a new soda flavour!
Instead, identify and focus on a growing category and ensure you’re filling an underserved demand. You could certainly focus on making something better or cheaper than what already exists, and work your way towards a minimum viable product, or MVP.
Who would be buying your product or service? Your ideal client or customer is known as your avatar. In order to gauge the viability of your product, you should work towards understanding your avatar. Even better, if you could speak to someone you feel represents your avatar, you’d have a better understanding of their wants and needs.
Business Plan
After you’ve satisfied your first steps, you should work towards creating a business plan. This is a formal document that defines your business goals along with the steps required to achieve them.
This is not only a great way to measure your success as you go, it is also key to bringing investors on board.
Network
Speaking of investors, it is important to network and find those who may be willing to invest in your idea. Networking also affords you the opportunity to meet people who may have the skills or know how you need them in your business.
Raise Money
As an entrepreneur, your end goal may very well be to make millions of dollars, but you may likely need someone else’s help to get there. While you may have savings in the bank, you may want to consider applying for a loan. This is a common way of raising the capital you’d need to start your own business, unless you can secure the aforementioned investors.
You Don't Have To Do It Alone
There is nothing wrong with finding a co-founder for your enterprise. For starters, it would be easier to secure funding. You’d also have someone to lean on during tough times, and may provide unique perspective and knowledge.
On the other hand, there could be conflict between you and your co-founder, and you’d have to split the equity of your business. Additionally, a good co-founder can be hard to find.
Market Your Idea
Marketing is one of those things that is generally an afterthought, but should be a concern before you even start your business. You might have the best product out there, but if no one knows about it, how the hell are they ever going to buy it from you?
When marketing, consider focusing your efforts towards your avatar. For example, if your avatar is a millennial, you may want to focus on social media over a billboard.
If marketing is not your strong suit, there are companies out there that can help. Our partners at Siva specialize in digital marketing, so you can let them focus on improving your brand awareness while you focus on running your business.
Payday!
Being an entrepreneur can be a long, challenging journey. But it can be so very rewarding to know you’ve truly earned your pay.
It won’t come overnight, and there could be some lean days before you finally get there, but so long as you focus on what you need to, gain the experience you require, and secure the funding your business needs, you are already closer to your goal than ever before.
