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How to start a business?
Becoming an entrepreneur is the hottest
trend in America
| "I have truly enjoyed
your articles and blog
and am motivated to do something about my situation.
I want to be start my own business. I have over 20
years of experience in corporate America but when it comes
to starting a business of my own, I don't know where to
start. What do you suggest?" |
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You are not alone
in thinking about starting your business. In the current
economic environment in which iProceed's analysis is showing that
most of the jobs that have been eliminated will never come back,
it makes sense to start your business. Several trends, as
shown below are in your favor:
- Most businesses are started as some sort
of self-employment and as they grow into micro-businesses
and then into small businesses, they create new jobs for
others. According to Small Business Administration,
they create two-thirds of net new jobs.
- Startup businesses now employ 7% of the total workforce
in about 16 million businesses. These businesses produce more than
$750 billion in annual economic activity. What will
please you even more is that generally these individuals earn more money than wage-and-salary workers.
How to get started to start a new business?
"Blessed are they who see
beautiful things in humble places where other people see
nothing."
- Camille Pissarro
How true! We
strongly believe in the simple strategy of "When you have
lemons, make lemonade." It is true for a kid who wants
to make some extra money on the beach, it is equally true for
starting a new business by someone like you, and it is also true
for a corporation. So how to find what kinds of lemons you
have:
- Conduct an inventory of all the skills
and capabilities that you have. Write down
everything that you ever did and learned.
- Now sort these into three buckets:
- Basic: Those that almost
anyone will need to have, starting all the way from
computer skills to managing budgets and planning for
future growth.
- Differentiated: Those
that differentiate you from others. These are
unique to you. For example, if you are an
American who has worked for a Japanese automotive
company in Japan, and speak Japanese language, you
have a unique set of skills and capabilities.
- Leverageable for starting a new
business: Those that you could use to start
a new business. Taking the example above, if you
could help an automotive or a Tier I or II company
redesign their business process to reduce cost, you
can turn yourself into a consultant.
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This exercise can sometimes take days or even
weeks, particularly for experienced people like you who may not
have documented everything that you ever did. A project
management or a quality control training program that your company
sent you to 15 years ago can come in very handy when you are
starting out on your own.
What are the next steps in starting a
business?
Market research
In our opinion, the
hardest part is figuring out what to do and if there is a market
for your offering. That can be easily accomplished through
simple market research and discussions with those who are active
in the space that you want to target. There are enormous
resources available to conduct market research for a new
business. The only thing that we would add is that do not
limit yourself to US alone. Your market should be wherever
the growth is, unless you are providing something that makes sense
only locally.
Legal
Several steps are
involved in determining the right way to incorporate your company
and again great resources are available to do that.
Related article: Tips
for entrepreneurs on networking with potential investors and
partners
Questions,
comments, feedback, and suggestions
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