Starting A Small Business - The Essential Ingredients Needed
At times, starting a small business can seem overwhelming.
When prepping your business to fly, play close attention to
both the logistics and the bigger business-business building picture.
Starting a Small Business - The Countdown
5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Time to launch your new business. You've read countless books, websites, and magazines that all prepared you for this very moment: starting a small business.
However, right now, you're still a little anxious.
- Are you really doing the right thing?
- Have you given your business everything it needs to ensure that your business has a solid chance of success?
- Do you really know enough to pull this thing off
Okay, let's review the business start-up checklist
- I have a Website: Check
- I have a logo: Check
- I have a business card: Check
- I have considered the pros and cons of incorporation as a viable option for my business: Check
- I have decided between having a S-corp, LLC and Sole Proprietorship: Check
- I have researched all the steps needed to legally form my business: Check
- I have a business name that will ring in the ears of my beloved customer: Check
- I have thought through how I will advertise my business: Check
- I have thought through my accountant needs of my business: Check
- I have a business plan that gives me step-by-step instructions on how I will proceed from here: Check
- I have found a business phone option that will work for my customers and will fit within my budget: Check
- I have fully investigated the myriad of business software out there that will help you to run your business more smoothly: Che
Okay, Sounds Like You Are Ready To Continue Your Business Start-Up Journey
But, wait. There is this one thing eating away at you.
How is it that you are supposed to put all these pieces together and really operate your business as a business?
Starting a small business has proved to have more to it than you'd originally thought. Though you can't quite put your finger on it. . .it seems like there is a step in there somewhere that you are missing.
- I mean, you have secured the location, you may have even registered your website address, but I-have-my-own-business-thing really supposed to work ?
In fact you shudder when you have to try to explain to someone what it is you are doing.
You feel somewhat confused and unprepared…which makes no sense at all because…
- You have done a lot to prepare for this step.
- You didn't take starting a small business lightly. You did your research. You thought it all through.
But…it seems so difficult to put it all together in the way you imagined.
You are ready to just get the show on the road already and make your business happen the way you expected. Your business start-up goal seemed so simple.
- Find those who are interested in your business,
- Tell them about it,
- Let them experience it for themselves and
- Then let them pay you your fee.
But Starting A Small Business Hasn't Proved That Simple.
And this is because you haven't given a lot of developmental thought to the story that you feeding the marketplace.
In fact, when you tell others about what you do, their eyes glaze over. Heck, your eyes sometimes glaze over.
This is because you are using such generic terms to describe a business that is meant to impact lives and leave a legacy.
Understanding this will make or break your business.
Because whether you give any thought to it or not, customers that walk into your business will leave with a story.
- Either their experience was one to run and tell the world about because you did X, Y, and Z just right…
- Or, your customers may consider their experience with you to be a "total waste of money" because you because failed to consider B, C, and D.
When Starting A Small Business, You Have To Invest The Time And Energy To Understand The Story Of Your Brand
Starting a small business involves much more than taking care of the logistics.It also involves investing time in legacy-building.
- You have to understand the story behind your brand, your offering, your message.
It the story of your business that customers will reflect on when deciding whether they will visit you again or not.
A crucial part of your success is contingent upon how much impact your brand story will have in the marketplace. When starting a small business, you must ensure that you have an easily spreadable brand story .
When starting a small business, you should also understand that the story of your business will influence:
- What customers think about your business,
- What customers will say about your business, as well as
- Whether your customers will consider re-patronizing your business sometime in the future.
Wishing you a successfully sustainable and profitable business!
Signed: Latarsha Lytle, MBA, your business strategy advisor and motivational coach
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