Everywhere you look online today you see someone saying, “It’s a great time to start a business”, myself included.
So why should we be saying this and why should you be taking any notice?
Well it comes down to one thing. Opportunity!
Everywhere you look there is opportunity, especially in the middle of a global pandemic and economic crisis. New businesses have been set up in healthcare, face mask production, specialist cleaning services and temperature control devices. Still think it’s a bad time.
But before you go jumping in, think about the consequences of jumping too fast.
Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, and that’s fine, but only by testing the water correctly will you find out.
So, this scenario will be a common occurrence around the world today.
You’re sitting at your kitchen table, your partner is asking, “what do we do now, you have no job?”. Starting a business is probably the furthest thing from your mind right now. “How do we pay the mortgage” and all the other bills that are coming in at the end of the month is probably the only thing on your mind.
This can be the catalyst you’ve been waiting for. Let’s say, for arguments sake, you’ve always wanted to open a dry cleaning business, not the most exciting of businesses admittedly but this is just for starters. You read on LinkedIn that some ‘know it all’ guru says this is the perfect time to start a business, because of opportunity, disruption and all the other usual things.
Now before you even think about opening the doors to your new business you need to know a few important things first.
- Is it what people want, is there a need?
- Is the location right?
- Will people pay your prices?
- Etc
There are a few steps to take before all this happens.
The amount of times a brilliant idea has turned out to be a time and money pit, not to mention relationship killer. So, let’s not make that mistake.
Once you have an idea that’s when the hard work begins.
Global catastrophes like recessions and pandemics are often the precursor to disruption and opportunity plus redundancies are on the rise. A smart entrepreneur will view this as a great time to change careers, while others will think about starting their own business.
Its widely accepted that startups launched during a downturn tend to be far more durable and resilient than those started in good economic times. Look around for problems not being solved and come up with a solution that could be a great company for you to start. If you find the solution to a problem and then validate the idea, you’re more likely to succeed.
So, if your dry cleaning business solves a problem for your area, town or village then go ahead start your business today. But make sure you validate your idea first.
You might be the perfect person to start a business, but your idea might be a bad one. Don’t be put off if it is, rarely does an entrepreneur land on the ‘killer idea’ first time. It really does take time.
The important thing is that you get started in this order:
- Validate your idea by doing some market research
- Create an MVP, minimum viable product, and then grow when you’ve proved the concept
- Start your business in the knowledge that its viable and people want or need what your selling and will pay for it
Follow these simple rules and it will give you a great start and cut out a lot of the stress and heartache you could find yourself in if you don’t.
If you would like to know more about validating your business idea before you jump in, join us for a free webinar on 10th December 2020. For more details and registration follow this link: https://webinars.teguk.co.uk/
