« Now or never! This is so easy to build a company here! ». You know what to do and the time has come: you want to quit your job, to give up your job search… in one word you want to let your daily routine far behind and take a jump start in the entrepreneur life! Now to be successful, you would rather be prepared to how this will impact your whole life!
In the previous article, you read about the first 5 steps. Time is come for the next 5 ones about your quest, what you want to build: your company.
To build a company will take you time, money and energy! Legitimacy and credibility will come along with other key words such as DELEGATE, PRIORIZE, PLANIFY, DEVELOP, COMMUNICATE following the rule of a SHORT, MEDIUM and LONG TERM PLAN. These are quite simple words but are significant.
6. Outline the vision, the mission and the values of your company
Walk the talk leads to confidence and respect from you to yourself and from others.
Align these vision, mission and values to who you are leads to credibility
Finally, speak your truth with passion will engage people to listen and follow.
Indeed, it is always easier to talk about something you deeply believe in.
Therefore, this step, if not the most important, is at least one of the most important to work on upstream.
To sum up:
– What is your company’s purpose?
– What does it exist for?
– What will it bring to the market, to your customers, to you community?
To read further:
– How great leaders inspire actions
7. Define your products and services
You do not sell a product, a service; you want specific individuals to buy a story. What is it you sell? Why? Which needs does it meet? How?
Do not stop after the first WHY? Go the deeper you can. If you still can ask a WHY, that means that you can continue digging.
Who are your dreamed customers? What would you like them to feel, earn thanks to your products/services? Do not restrain yourself thinking: “That is not possible, Swedes (for instance) are too…”. How you communicate will be adapted once you know what you want to say.
At last, how will you develop your portfolio?
8. Do not neglect administrative follow-up and financial means
“I do not have any stocks; therefore, I do not have any expenses”. FALSE. We cannot imagine how many little expenses occur day after day when we create something from scratch. Write a list down about everything you need: insurance, offices, ban accounts, website, images to buy, business cards, books, equipment and supplies, trainings…
To read further:
– How to start a business budget
– 4 Tips for Starting a Business on a Budget
– How to Estimate Startup Costs
9. Set a price
This is not an easy task! Too expensive: you won’t find your customers; Too cheap, your potential customers may question the quality of your products and your credibility.
Setting a price also deals with you being comfortable with this price!
Here are 3 questions that may help you:
– How much are you ready to ask for what you sell?
– How much do you need to cover your expenses?
– What are your direct and indirect competitors’ prices?
To read further:
– Pricing strategy
– Pricing in Four Ps
10. Be visible
Your company won’t exist if nobody knows it. Do not wait for everything to be perfect to talk about what you are doing. Make people around you participate to this adventure! They will feel part of your team and they will talk about you around them. They even may be proud to help you find customers!
Work on your communication strategy: Whom do you want to talk to? Who would you like to commit and help you to communicate? How could you reach your dreamed customers?
To read further:
– Storytelling tips to tell your business story like a TED pro
– Some ideas to start building a network
– How to make your business visible
Those steps, from 6 to 10, will allow you to:
Align who you are and what you do. You will thus feel legitimate, credible and people will feel this confidence.
Prioritize your actions
Define what you want, need to delegate or outsource
Identify key messages
Practice your story telling while working on being visible
The next and final steps will handle with the market you want to conquer.
