Are you an aspiring entrepreneur having interesting business ideas, but lacking clarity and direction on how to start it as a Business? A structured approach and knowledge about the important factors can help an aspiring entrepreneur turn his/ her dreams into reality. If you are one among them, then get ready to know the 11 things that you should consider before starting your own business venture:

1. Research Your Idea

Having a worthwhile Idea that has business potential is the first step to building any business. Before investing all your money and efforts into building your idea as a business, it is essential that proper research is undertaken to ensure revenue flows out of your Idea. If your idea is similar to an existing product/service, do simple market research about the profitability of the existing product/service and what are the improvisations that you can bring to the existing product/services. If your product/service is completely innovative and new to the market, conduct a simple survey among your friends and peers to understand the need for such a product/service and receive feedback about how you can refine your idea into a helpful product/service that could be sold profitably.

2. Draft a Business Plan

Now that you have understood how to convert your idea into a product/service that could be sold, it is essential to draft a business plan for your product/service to proceed further. Work out a plan for the initial capital involved, the time needed to develop your product, the pricing and any other resources required to bring your product/service into the market, and a simple projection of estimated revenues and cost to identify when you can break-even in the business.

3. Find Partners

Finding another person with the same interests in this digital era is not so difficult, yet very important to scale up your business. Find the right person who shares the same interest, passion, possesses the requisite skills and qualifications or experience that you feel is necessary to improve your business.

4. Source Funds

As soon as the business plan is drafted, the next thing to do is to source the funds, the initial capital required to start your business. Either required capital shall be brought entirely by the owners out of their savings, or partly by way of borrowings from others. Draft a project plan to approach banks or others for borrowing the funds to kick start your business.

5. Decide on the name and location of your business

The name for the business is as important as your Idea for your business as it becomes the brand that you build for your business in the long run. The location of your business has to be decided based on the market for your product/service. Choosing the right location for your business can have a great impact on creating visibility in the market.

6. Decide on the structure of the business

Every business should operate out of a legal structure. There are several forms of legal entity structures available out of which you can choose the most appropriate one. Depending upon the nature, size, and extent of your business, choose and also take the help of an expert to decide which form of entity is best suited to carry out your business operations.

7. Legal Registration process

Based on your decision to carry out your business in a certain legal structure, follow the legal registration process for that entity type. Understand the legality, time, and cost involved in the registration process and proceed with obtaining the registration certificate of your business.

8. Apply for licenses

Upon getting the registration certificate of your business, proceed to apply for the necessary industry related licenses, tax Identification numbers and approvals to carry out the specific nature of your business.

9. Develop your product

Now that you have everything in place, start developing your product or service. Estimate the timeline and cost involved to produce/render and monitor the processes continuously to bring out your product/service to the market. 

10. Create a website, brand your product, make it known in the market

In the digital era, it is of utmost importance to have a virtual presence and hence create a website and start selling your product/service online as well.  Do not hesitate to spend a few bucks on marketing, as it is required to make your brand known in the market.

11. Monitor your Progress Constantly with proper Accounting & Compliance

Your idea is converted into a business and you have started earning out of your new venture. The next thing to do is constantly monitoring your progress, as it is more important than just building your business. Proper accounting, recording, and analyzing of transactions is of key importance to track the profitability and cash flows of your business. Taking care of the necessary statutory compliance from the beginning will ensure protection from any potential legal or compliance risk later on and contribute to peaceful growth for your business.