Starting a New Business

Preparation and planning should be also be a tremendous part of any business venture before the actually business entity is formed. “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan”. However, before preparation and planning you’ll need to create your “Why”. Forming “The Why” of any given business before its formation is quite possibly the most important thing any budding entrepreneur should do.

The easiest way to explain this is with Tesla. The “What” of Tesla is pretty apparent, they are: an EV maker, renewable energy provider with their solar products, etc. The why however is totally different. Tesla’s why is something like: “To make measurable progress against climate change, make highly affordable EVs that everyone can eventually afford and love, etc.”

It seems almost too simple but “The Why” of your business is really going to be the anchor that holds its foundation together. Your employees will understand the goal of the business and in turn every action they take will be made with it in mind. Moreover, there has been numerous studies showing that businesses which have a clear “mission statement” and “why” are more profitable, have better office culture and dynamics, are more productive, etc. These all having compounding impacts that help nourish the underlying business and all it’s different moving parts, regardless of what industry you’re in.

Determining Your Why

Determining your company’s “Why” can be an extremely powerful tool because you can use “The Why” as a framework for all future business decisions. For example, “does this marketing campaign fit into our company’s why?”, “does this approach to customer service align with our mission?”, “does this product offering align with us and what we hope to achieve?”, etc.

Otherwise there are definitely other questions potential business owners should ask themselves before taking the plunge

Questions Potential Business Owners Should Ask Themselves

“Who and what markets are we going to serve?”

“How will we reach those markets and potential customers”

“How will we bring our services/products to market”?

“What differentiates us from competition and other players in the market?”

“What costs/investment will I have to make to get the business in operation?”

Business Operations

Finally, one of the more important questions is how you plan to handle the front end and back end of the business. It’s sometimes easy to put things on paper but when push comes to shove executing can be a lot more difficult.

Consider Partner Services

Many businesses make use of partner services like Shopify, etc. because the opportunity cost is simply not worth it for them. Make sure you know which category of business you fall under and whether you will be handling logistics, fulfillment, customer service, and other back end function on your own. When you're just starting out you want to try and focus on things you're most efficient at. This will ultimately make you more likely to succeed in the long term and remain focused throughout the process.

Starting a new business isn't easy, like anything it has its bumps and hurdles and there are costs associated with starting a new business. However, before you get started you should ideally have goals in mind of what and why you're creating the business. If you understand this, the rest will tend to fall in place.