Before Starting Your Own Business.

Looking to start a new business? Here are a few points to remember:

Customer

• Experts say that the best way to determine the needs of your business is to look at your customers’ needs.
• If they’re the type who usually give you a three-to-four-day span between order-taking and delivery, then you may be able to skimp a bit on inventory and instead focus on forming solid, reliable relationships with vendors who can help you meet those timelines.
• However, if your customers are of the type that “need everything yesterday”, then your inventory will need to be ample enough to meet those last-minute requests.

Employee

• In a small business, each employee is important.
• You want everyone to be performing to the best of their ability.
• In order to achieve that, it is your responsibility to make sure everyone in the team knows what ‘great’ looks and feels like.
• Make your expectations clear to them, how important their actions are in terms of the overall success of the business, and how you will help and support them to get to where they need to be.
• Make them feel confident about your future goal for them.
• Employees want consistency, security, clarity and freedom.
• All of these translate into behaviours that you, as a business owner can put into action.
• However, remember what works for one business doesn’t necessarily work for another.

Product

• There are profitable opportunities in every industry-from beauty supplies to hand tools, beverages to snack foods.
• No matter what you sell, make sure you are constantly discovering ways to reaffirm the value of your product to customers by revealing the superior service that you have to offer, as well as the cost-saving efficiencies created by those services.
• Don’t restrict yourself in terms of product choice and geographical specialization; it can hamper success.
• Diversify your offerings gradually.

Office

• Each company has its own unique needs; no two companies are alike.
• Hence the requirement for office space and supplies will also be different for every business.
• Regardless of where you set up shop, there are certain operating costs associated with setting and running a business.
• For starters, necessities like office space, a telephone, fax machine and personal computer will be absolutely requited.
• The entrepreneur selling mobile phones in the middle of an industrial park, for example, has very different startup financial needs than the one selling cakes from his basement.
• While the start-up needs may differ from one business to another, initially, you must be prepared to run on no profit.
• To begin with, you must get the basic stuff that forms the core of a business.
• When I say core business needs, it means you should be prepared to pay the rent for office space, if you’re working from anywhere but home, a telephone bill and the fee for getting internet.

Structure

• The structure of your business will be the deciding factor on how soon you need to begin paying taxes on your earnings.
• The broad, general rule is that if you are a sole proprietor, you don’t need to begin paying taxes immediately, though there can be twists.
• Going by the law, you’re supposed to file taxes quarterly, if you make more than $400.
• However, if you shift from being an employee to being self-employed during the year and you don’t make quarterly tax payments, there are no penalties.
• Interestingly, this is not true if you’ve formed a corporate entity.
• All corporates must begin filing taxes on income as they earn it. If the entity makes money, it must be reported quarterly.

10% of the budget spent on advertising is better than remaining unknown to the world and not earning the extra 10%. Go where your customer is on the web. If your potential customer hangs out on forums, then post to those forums. Become a trusted advisor. Get your supporters to refer you. Contact HyperEffects to chart out a tailor-made business marketing strategy for your company and see your business show up on television ads, press releases and on major channel partners. Go where your customer is on the web. If your potential customer hangs out on forums, then post to those forums. Become a trusted advisor. Get your supporters to refer you.