1. Test, Test, and Test Some More: Test your product(s) in the hands of potential consumers in your market for early, critical feedback. Do not keep your idea a secret.... share it with a select group of potential customers. Without critical, real-world feedback, your business idea will very quickly hit the wall.
2. Find Your Target Market: Far too many small businesses fail by trying to be everything to everyone. Maybe your idea has some potential in multiple markets, but start with the one target market with the greatest need. Your business idea should grab the attention of a specific and reachable market that has enough breath and depth to offer long-term longevity for your business.
3. Get Protected: A new business idea is a delicate thing.... in order to protect and nurture your business, you will need to apply some forms of protection. This will provide assurance that no other companies can invade and steal your market share. Protection can take the form of exclusive contacts, licensing, patents, or the best location on the block. Consider all of your insurance needs as well.
4. Find Out What They Really Want: Ultimately, running a business comes down to the simple task of providing a product or service that people want and/or need.... a simple, yet often overlooked principle. Your business idea is good or great - IF it meets a customer's needs or wants. There may be a wide open market for a new kind of jewelry design, but if consumers do not want yet another choice in jewelry, success will be fleeting.
5. Manage Your Cash: Every small business idea needs to be evaluated against the cost of building that business. The idea can be great, but if you are not prepared to self-fund, OR go out and creatively raise the million dollars required for your launch, the idea is not for you. The best business idea is one that matches your ability to deal with, and raise attainable cash to fund the start-up and still have a decent capital reserve for operations. A person that makes their own home-made jewelry most likely cannot afford to start out in retailing by buying a high-end jewelry store in the mall.
6. Sales Skills: A business idea can have an incredible upside - only if you bring the well developed sales skills required to succeed to the table. If the business requires that you to go way outside of your comfort zone, it might be better to find something that more closely mirrors your other skills and experience. General sales skills offer much better chance of success than an idea based on unrelated skills. Nothing happens until you sell something.... and without profitable sales, you are NOT in any kind of business that either the IRS or I would recognize.
7. Short-Term View: In the near-term, what is the likelihood your business can be replaced by something newer, better, bigger, etcetera..., impended by government regulations, or made obsolete by technological and/or social changes? Perform a quick SWOT analysis to see how well your small business idea might survive. It's probably not too realistic to start a "me-too" gift-shop in the midst of an already over-crowded tourist shopping area. If this is your aim, try consignment sales to the already existing shops....
8. People: Many business ideas will require a highly motivated and technically skilled work force. Make sure that you're able to fulfill this equation, or it will wind up being the one 'critical success factor' which can make or break you. Remember, as the Kenyan soldiers are fond of saying: "good people are hard to find." Consider how and where you will gain and retain them.
There are many more things to consider, but this short list should serve to get you started on the right path....
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