The recent COVID pandemic and the need to work from home has spurred many into thinking of starting their own businesses. Several people are coming up with amazing ideas of how to get into what they call their “own business”, while several others have continued to explore how they could scale their existing businesses despite the pandemic realities.

Whichever is yoursituation, there are always some benefits to either starting your own business or modifying/pivotingand/or scaling the existing one.

This article will help guide your thoughts on the approaches to successful implementation.

When beginning your own business, you likely will receive suggestions from family members, from friends, and from otherwell-wishers. Some of these will be well intentioned and possibly workable. However, nothing will equal your very own due diligence since you have chosen the lofty path of owning or scaling your own business.

With that, let’sconsider some excellent recommendations that will work in your business, offered by a business leader.

Conduct Market Research

Now you know what business you want to do. Spend some quality timeresearching into what is involved: what need(s) you are trying to fulfill; who are the target patrons; what are the likely associated costs, who is/are in the market offering the same or similar product or service; what they are selling at; what segment you intend to target; what integrated opportunities are available for sustainability; what would be your involvement and who you may need to make your vision reality and at what cost; and a whole myriad of other considerations: location and proximity to market, etc. etc.  Market research will give you bird’s eye view of what to expect: whether your concept has competitive advantage in the chosen niche and whether there is money to be made.

And just by the way… there should be no reason to fall into the common delusion of thinking that there has never been anyone that has come up with your very idea or similar to it. If you look hard enough, there have been around the world, or there possibly still are in distant or nearby places, someone or an organization doing the very same or at best, something similar to your proposition! Conduct market research.

Have a Vision

Every business starts with imagination. When imagination gets strong enough, it translates into a vision. But then it has gone past a mere mental picture into what you really want to see happen: what kind of organization you are setting up; how long will it be in existence; who will it benefit; what will be the working culture; etc. Make a plan for how you want your company to grow. Write out your short and long-term goals, as well as the time frame in which you expect them to be met. This will make life easier in the long term and ensures your business sustainability.

Analyze Your Competitor

Learning about your competitors and their consumers demand pattern; who they serve; where they procure their product/service input; and at what costs; will assist you in discovering opportunities in market gaps. Your analysis of competition may reveal interesting other untapped opportunities available to you that may help in positioning your new business, for sustainable competitiveness.

The main focus here is to understand the business and to seek to be better than competition – if you can.

Finance Your Company

This is the most important stage before beginning any business. You must determine your financial situation and how you will handle it. There are business financiers that will be happy to assist, including private and public funding.But Solomon’s IDEAS Definition team often advocate that start-ups have a fairly good stake in the total business start-up costs, before looking for external financing, in orderto truly rationalizethe maxim of “putting the mouth where the money is.”

If you don’t have enough money to start your business, you’ll need to raise or borrow money.

Solomon Babajide’s Guide

Solomon is on a mission to help entrepreneurs that are battling business failure and sustainability attain relevance, so they could succeed and be able to grow and scale their businesses and brands – into the future.

His experience of over 45 years speaks for itself. He has assisted numerous local and multinational firms in optimizing their operations and achieving optimum development. Solomon urges entrepreneurs to understand their value and teaches them on how to grow and scale in the business sector.

His book“YOU CAN MAKE A DETERMINED DIFFERENCE… In An Environment of Competitiveness,” is full of ideas for starting a business and sustaining it.

Research shows that 96% of start-ups fail within ten years of starting because they lack a growth roadmap or strategy and exist for momentary gains – at best.

Solomon’s second book: “YOU CAN DANCE WITH THE STARS… In An Environment of Competitiveness,” (coming out soon) espouses these concepts of how to make businesses successful, sustainable, grow and scale – into the future.

There is always something to benefit by learning from those who have been there and done it, like Solomon Babajide and his team at IDEAS Definition – Global. They are there to lend you helping hands through their coaching programs in starting, sustaining, and making your enterprise grow into the future.

Visit his website: www.IDEAS-Definition.com to learn more on how to start, grow, and sustain your business.