Nine Steps to Help You Start a Startup

If you’ve never started a business, the first time can be a bit scary, especially as it takes a lot of hard work and planning. On top of this bottled and jarred packaged goods, only about half of all businesses survive 5 years or longer.1

Luckily, there are nine simple techniques for startups that you can follow to help get your organization up and running:

Start with a Great Idea

Your first step in learning how to start a businesses is to identify a problem and solution. This is because successful startups start from business ideas that fill the needs of a group of customers. But your idea doesn’t always have to be a new one. You can improve existing services or products in a way that’s better for the customer.

Make a Businesses Plan

Once you have an idea, you’ll need to start building a business plan that describes your services and products in detail. It should include information on your businesses, operations, finances and a market analysis.

Writing a business plan is also important for getting financing for your startup. Banks are more likely to give loans to companies that can clearly explain how they’re going to use the money and why they need it.

Secure Funding for Your Startup

The cost of a startup is different for each businesses owner. However, no matter what your expenses are, you’ll probably need to get startup financing from:

• Friends and family
• Angel investors
• Venture capitalists
• Bank loans

You can also apply for a business credit card. Many companies offer 0% APR promotions, which means that you won’t pay interest on your purchases if you pay off the balance before the end of the offer period. We’ve partnered with Fundera genvideo, which put together a list of the top credit cards offering 0% interest rates.

Surround Yourself With the Right People

There may be a lot of risk in starting a businesses. That’s why you’ll need serious business advisors to help guide you along the way, like:

• Attorneys
• Certified Public Accountants (CPAs)
• Insurance professionals
• Bankers

Building the right startup team is especially important in the early stages of small businesses. This means you’ll need to carefully choose your:

• Co-founders
• Contractors

Initial employees, such as remote workers

Make Sure You’re Following All the Legal Steps

From designing your product to setting up your office, opening your dream startup can be a lot of fun. But before you officially enter the market, you’ll need to take the proper legal steps to give you the best chance at success, such as:

• Applying for a businesses license
• Registering your business name
• Getting a federal tax ID number
• Filing for a trademark
• Creating a separate bank account
• Familiarizing yourself with businesses regulations

Building contracts for customers and others you plan to work with

Establish a Location (Physical and Online)

Whether you want to set up a manufacturing facility, set up an office space or open a storefront, you’ll need to decide if leasing or buying a property is right for you. In many cases, you can get tax deductions for managing a commercial space, which is a benefit to owning your own location. You’ll also be able to rent it out to make more income.

On top of this, websites offer benefits like:

Keeping your shop open 24 hours a day, on weekends and on holidays, which increases sales.

Helping you reach customers around the world.

Allowing customers to read reviews about your products, which can improve your brand’s credibility.

You can enhance your online presence even more by starting a blog. This can help you establish yourself as an expert in your field. You can also use search engine optimization (SEO) to increase your brand’s visibility on Google searches. And it’s constantly a terrific concept to put up on social media platforms, in which your target target market visits frequently.

Develop a Marketing Plan

Every startup wishes to spend a special amount of time and money on advertising and marketing. It’s a vital expense, as it helps you to:

• Establish a brand identity
• Stand out from the competition
• Create customer relationships and build loyalty
• Increase visibility, which attracts new customers
• Strengthen your organization’s reputation

Some startup marketing activities you should consider include:

• Using social media to engage customers and promote coupons or deals
• Giving rewards for referrals, which brings in more business
• Offering free samples or demos in your store
• Sponsoring events to get your name out there in local communities

Build a Customer Base

In order for your startup business to have long-term success, you’ll need to build a customer base. These loyal customers can assist with:

• Boosting your sales, as they’re willing to keep spending at your organization
• Sending a message to new customers that your brand is trustworthy
• Gaining referrals, which saves you effort and time with finding new customers

Some ways you can attract and retain customers include:

• Regularly offering a great product or service
• Launching loyalty programs to keep them coming in
• Using affiliate marketing on social media, such as paying influencers to promote products to your target audience
• Focusing on great customer service
• Using market research to better understand your customers’ expectations
• Asking for feedback directly from the customer

On top of this, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) found that 92% of customers said their loyalty to specific stores was because they offered prices that were fair and matched the value of their product, while 79% said it was because of product quality.

Plan to Change

Startups change substantially within their first few years in operation. A key to success is to evolve and adapt your business model to your market and industry.

Some strategies to ensure you’re prepared to adapt are:

• Hiring forward thinkers so that you know your team is adaptable
• Listening to feedback from customers, suppliers, and others that you work with
• Staying up to date on trends in your industry

Remember, it’s businesses that are willing to adapt to customer expectations that are able to establish themselves for years to come.