Tips for a budding entrepreneur. Where to start your business

Every second employee thinks about opening his own business, but a little more than 20% decide on real actions. Moreover, half of those who nevertheless started in business lose interest in their own business as soon as they encounter the first difficulties. We have counted ten typical mistakes of novice entrepreneurs that prevent your dreams and ambitions from being realized.

Mistake One: Unjustified Expectations of Easy and Quick Success

It seems to many aspiring entrepreneurs that as soon as they start their business, everything should go like clockwork: sales will begin, suppliers will line up with tempting offers, all problems with government agencies will be resolved by an accountant or lawyer, and competitors will quietly disappear from the market. This is not at all the case, so a businessman must be prepared for difficulties and disappointments.

Practice shows that for some reason people are ready to make much more efforts to build a successful career in someone's business than to develop their business. Remember how much effort and time it took you to get your current position? Years of study at a university and additional courses, internships, learning the rules of working in a team and communicating with superiors, continuous development of professional skills, etc. Why does owning a business seem easier?

But instead of one boss, an entrepreneur will have at least ten: buyers, clients, government agencies, suppliers, landlords, etc. You will need to be able to interact with all these people and structures, understand their goals and needs, and fulfill your obligations. So running your own business is no easier than working for someone, although the difficulties in it will be of a different order than in a hired job.

Mistake #2: Not having a plan of action

Business is like a car, by itself it only rolls downhill. If you have no idea what exactly you should do and what the client or buyer will pay you for, then it’s too early to start real actions. Study all available information related to your business: business plans, books and articles, franchisor offers, real cases, etc. If you have the opportunity to at least temporarily work in a company operating in the direction you have chosen or adjacent to it, then be sure to use it.

As a user, you can get our books on the development of various business areas: retail store, beauty salon, wholesale, cafe. We are preparing to publish a book on opening a law firm and an online store.

Common mistakes in business planning include:

• lack of clear goals in the form of specific figures for sales and profits and the timing of their achievement;
• unclear distribution of areas of responsibility between partners or employees;
• understatement of estimated business expenses;
• too optimistic figures of expected incomes;
• choosing only one option for a business development strategy;
• lack of plan "B", if the original plan "A" for some reason cannot be implemented;
• underestimation of entrepreneurial risks and activities of competitors.

The other extreme is the desire to work out the plan to the smallest detail, in order to protect yourself from all possible difficulties. Unfortunately or fortunately, no one in business can guarantee you anything. You should become accustomed to working in unpredictable environments, but your competitors have to work in the same conditions. In addition, unpredictability is not always a bad thing, believe that life can present an entrepreneur with pleasant surprises.

Mistake three: misunderstanding your target audience

Another mistake novice entrepreneurs make is not understanding their target audience. There is a category of businessmen who want to do only what they like. For example, you are into slalom and want to open a mountain equipment shop. But think about it - are there enough solvent buyers in your locality who are interested in such goods? Maybe you should open a sporting goods store with a much wider audience, and sell mountain equipment, since you really like it so much, to order?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Who are your customers and clients?
• What are their needs and income levels?
• How many customers and clients can you serve?
• What is the average check your customer is willing to leave?
• How often does a consumer need a similar product or service?
• What is the saturation threshold in your niche?

Focus not on what you can sell or offer, but on what your consumer needs and is willing to pay for.

Mistake #4: Not Selling

Any business is sales. You will make a profit only after you can satisfy the needs of your customers or customers. But the benefits of your service or product must also be conveyed to the consumer. Think about what advertising channels you will use and what marketing techniques you will use. If you have opened a store in a popular shopping center or provide in-demand services, then advertising costs can be minimal. Nevertheless, it is necessary to think about how you will advance in the market.

Mistake five: inability to manage money

Experience shows that the easiest way to start a business is not to waste your own money, but someone else's investments or loans. If you have a solid start-up capital on hand, then there is a temptation to spend it "for the benefit of the cause." Some start-up entrepreneurs (although there are fewer of them every year) are too fond of business attributes: an office in a prestigious location, an expensive company car, a corporate website with an individual design, etc. As an excuse, the fact is given that such expenses are the formation of an image and reputation, without which there is nothing to do in a serious business. In fact, start-up capital should be spent on organizing the first sales, building a customer base, improving the quality of a product or service, establishing business relationships.

Experienced businessmen advise beginners to start with minimal or no capital. Do not immediately aim at some grandiose projects. Try to get at least modest amounts from the provision of services to start with, or integrate into the chain of wholesale and retail sales as an agent. Nothing can replace your own experience in earning income on your own.

The mistakes of novice entrepreneurs in the management of finances are not limited to the inept spending of start-up capital. As soon as the first money from the business appears, there is a desire to spend it on personal needs. Still - after all, this is honestly and independently earned income, why not buy a new car on them? It is especially easy to succumb to such a temptation for individual entrepreneurs, because for them there are no legal restrictions on the use of money received from the business. As a result, working capital is spent on personal purposes, and further business development plans are not implemented due to lack of finance.

Mistake #6: Ignoring Your Competition

If you have chosen a profitable line of business, then you will definitely have competitors. And, of course, a part of the market will be occupied by those who started before you, invested their money and efforts and expects a certain profit. The presence of competitors should not immediately stop you from starting a business, but you cannot ignore them either. To understand how competitive your chosen niche is and how you can stand out, you can order a market research or conduct a quick analysis yourself. An example of such an analysis when opening a beauty salon can be found in our book, it is available in the user's personal account.

Mistake seven: lack of special legal knowledge

An entrepreneur should not only have a good knowledge of his product or service and the methods of its promotion, but also have at least a general idea of ​​the laws governing business activities in Russia. To help you understand the basics of this knowledge, we have prepared a series of articles for you, which we highly recommend reading:

In the process of activity, you will gradually begin to understand these issues, but at the start of a business, the mistakes of novice entrepreneurs when choosing a legal form, tax regime, registration of employees and relationships with partners can lead to serious financial losses and even become fatal.

Mistake eight: inability to delegate authority

“If you want everything to be done well, do it yourself!” - this phrase has ruined more than one startup. What happens if an entrepreneur believes that no one can do anything better than him? He himself has to look for and serve customers and customers, negotiate with suppliers, accept goods, deal with accounting, documents and other routine. The workers are all, as if by choice, slow, irresponsible and stupid.

Perhaps it is so, but hiring the wrong employees is the mistake of the businessman himself. Remember Steve Jobs: "We hire smart people to tell us what to do." It is impossible to build a business without a well-coordinated team of professionals, so finding and attracting such people is one of the main tasks of a novice entrepreneur.

Define areas of responsibility and assign them to employees. Part of the functions, for example, accounting, can be given to Where possible, introduce a flexible wage system - a small fixed salary and percentages for meeting indicators (sales, services, production volume). And moderate your perfectionism a bit - even if something is not done as perfectly as you think, but the business is developing, then everything is in order.

Mistake nine: unwillingness to enter into a business partnership

About 70% of LLCs in Russia are registered by a single founder, i.e. the partner business model is not taking root well with us. Moreover, partnerships are avoided even where it would be justified. Why? First of all, start-up entrepreneurs are unwilling to share the expected profit, although at the start of a business this is tantamount to sharing the skin of an unkilled bear. Another good reason is possible disagreements in the joint management of the business and personal problems in communication. To a certain extent, it can be recognized that the specificity of the Russian mentality is to mix personal and business relationships, and this is not always beneficial. But after all, many successful projects, especially in the West, are developing precisely according to the partnership model.

Let's see what a good business partner can offer you:

• resources and investments;
• business experience;
• business connections;
• skills you don't have, such as sales;
• unique business idea, invention, patent;
• emotional support.

Yes, it is possible that it is not so easy to choose your business partner, but it is wrong to refuse profitable cooperation just because you are afraid of possible problems. Of course, all the conditions of a joint business must be carefully discussed before the start of activities, be sure to fix them in writing. Also keep in mind that an equal partnership, when the shares in the company are distributed equally, can lead to a stalemate in case of disagreement. It is desirable that one of the partners be the main one and bear the main responsibility for business development.

Mistake #10: Giving up early

If you have read the inspiring success stories of famous entrepreneurs, you know that almost every one of them has had to go through a series of big and small failures. But only the one who gets up one time more than he falls wins. You don't have to look far for examples - the business portal you are on now also developed through crises. Learn firsthand - from team leader Alexander Raptovsky.

We would love to hear from you stories of overcoming difficulties and successes, and perhaps it will be you who someday will tell aspiring entrepreneurs about the mistakes to avoid when starting a business.

New entrepreneurs often run into problems. Due to their inexperience, fear of problems and difficult situations, they make banal, one might even say that standard, mistakes. After talking to dozens of different entrepreneurs who started or still work in the field of Internet commerce, we have tried to highlight 9 main recommendations that can help any aspiring online entrepreneur.
They say that you need to learn from mistakes, but let them not be your mistakes. Believe me, even the most successful, most famous businessmen in their lives got into very difficult situations, and did not always find the right solution to get out of them. But, they all learned a good lesson, received knowledge, which we will share with you today.
So, tips from practitioners and 9 recommendations for aspiring online entrepreneurs.

Those of you who have read our article "Tips for Beginning Businessmen" may have noticed that there was a similar paragraph in it. Starting any business, whether online or offline, is preceded by a good, clear and detailed business plan.
Many startups believe that a business plan is a waste of time, that if the project is excellent, promising, then it will “shoot” without any planning. A large number of startups never start working normally precisely because the founders neglected planning, and at some point I don’t know at all how to behave, what to do, where to move.

A business should be profitable, and if for a long time the profit does not cover the costs, then you need to think about the fact that something is not going right. And it is best when drawing up a business plan to calculate all the pros, cons and risks that may appear in the process of project development.
Also, don't forget about yourself. Of course, you can sit on a starvation ration for some time, deny yourself a salary for the benefit of the company's development, but you won't last long. Over time, motivation will begin to fall and you will abandon the business.

Don't take on more than you can handle in a short time. Do not come up with a brilliant plan to force Apple out of the market, while filling their multi-billion dollar niche. Believe me, even the most interesting and ingenious idea, in your opinion, cannot always translate into a good startup. What you and your team like is not necessarily what everyone else likes.
Before entering the market, you need to do a serious job of studying the demand, the competitiveness of the niche, the forecasts and prospects of the industry, study the activities of competitors and understand what problems they face, and prepare yourself for possible difficulties.

No matter how promising and interesting idea is, it is worthless if you do not understand how to implement it. If you can't make sharp, firm, balanced decisions about the course of action and the future of the company, then no amount of money will help.

In the last article “How to Attract an Investor”, we already talked about the fact that you should not be afraid of competition. If it exists, then the niche is interesting, someone works and earns in it. Thus, you have the opportunity to earn your money. Much worse if there is no competition. Here it is worth alerting and analyzing why this is happening.
But back to the advice itself - evaluate the competition. See if the market is overflowing with supply (as it is now with plastic windows and doors), see how your competitors work, what methods they use, how they attract customers. Be sure to pay attention to their sites, attendance, traffic sources. You need to study competitors in detail and present your products much better.

To implement a promising and large project, you need a good, motivated, purposeful, and most importantly, an experienced team. Involve only those who already have work experience. Understand, there is no time to teach someone, to try something, to test, to make mistakes on trifles. It is necessary to take and work today, and tomorrow to receive the first profit. This is possible only if there are good and professional personnel.
If you are all amateurs, or key functions are performed by those who have never encountered this, then in 95% of cases there will be a failure.

Good startups, as a rule, receive certain sums for development. It can be money from investors, or it can be collected by the founders of the project themselves. But it doesn’t matter who, how and under what conditions agrees to invest in a startup. What is more important is how to manage this money. You must calculate all the costs, all the risks, understand what, how and when you will do with the money. Very often, young entrepreneurs spend start-up capital on completely unnecessary things - expensive advertising, the work of PR people, some specialists, etc., while not understanding at all what they want to see as a result of such work.
Try not to invest large amounts until the project starts to bring at least a small, but profit.

Not a single startup will reach the proper level without good advertising. And if we are talking about online business, then advertising is simply necessary. Be sure to think through various ways, use search engines and use all the possibilities of social networks, affiliate and banner advertising on other sites. But do everything wisely, study each advertising platform in detail and calculate the potential benefits from cooperation with them.

Know how to wait for your finest hour. There is one wonderful Chinese proverb that captures the essence of most modern startups:
"The temptation to give up is especially great when there is a step to victory"
And in fact, the reason for the closure of most startups is not bankruptcy, not the departure of a key person from the team, but apathy. People stop believing in themselves, their strengths, their abilities, and give up. Perhaps they had one more step to take and everyone would start talking about their project. But no, they give up and leave sadly hanging their noses.

I will give you one piece of advice, always remember. He was 30 years old when the board of directors kicked Steve out of the company he created. He himself admitted that he did not want to do anything, that he did not believe in himself, but gathered his thoughts, and ... and then you know what happened. About Apple and Pixar - the companies that he created - are known all over the world. Of course, the example is not perfect, but it shows that even in the most difficult situation, a way out can be found.
In general, we advise you to read our column in which you will find the best thoughts about money, business, success, aspirations from the most famous and successful people in the world. Pay special attention to the thoughts of Steve Jobs and other successful businessmen who made their billions on high technologies.

As part of the interview, we asked business consultant Mark Berman to give some advice to an aspiring entrepreneur.

Opportunities for the development of entrepreneurial activity - where, what, how not to miss?

The main thing is to understand that there are no worthy or unworthy, useful or useless opportunities. There is your predisposition and there is laziness.

Not so much, work with what you have on hand.

You need to use all the opportunities provided. Study the entire information environment of your future business activities in order not to miss the slightest potential opportunity for its development.

Any little thing can be useful.

Recently, a small redesign of the premises was done for one client, the step and threshold were removed at the entrance. The number of people entering the store has grown, so have sales. Step, Carl!

What is your motivation for not losing heart when solving problems that arise?

Any business is fraught with problems or flow difficulties - this is a normal process. Problem is a challenge, it is a chance to improve. A problem is an opportunity for growth.

If you understand this, then look at the difficulties from a different angle.

Do you need friends in business?
All successful entrepreneurs - including myself - insist that good business acquaintances and business friendships should be present in life. Contacts mean opportunities, more communication equals a larger circle of potential customers, partners, etc.

You need to regularly remind yourself with congratulations on holidays, make friendly business visits, take an interest in the success of others in business, etc.

How to choose the right assistants or partners for your business?

People who will work for an entrepreneur should not just want to work and earn money, they should be like-minded people who share your ideas and goals. Only in this case it will be possible to use their working potential to the maximum.

That's what I just said - something like this is written in textbooks. Nonsense all this. You and your employees always have different goals. Globally - one - to make money, but if in detail, then the employee on the salary does not care how successfully you organized the business.

But, look for interested people, if this is intellectual work, and if this is a seller, then the ability to communicate is enough.

It's more about employee motivation. And the methods are standard: a stick and a carrot - someone is helped by a salary increase depending on sales, but someone needs to be yelled at.

How does it relate to the criticism of others, who most often do not believe in your success?

If you don't pay me, then I don't care what you think of my business. If you pay me, then I will study your dissatisfaction and try to improve my business.

It depends little on useless critics, more precisely, it depends exactly to the extent that you yourself attach importance to it.

There are cases of planned information attacks, but this is out of the realm of competition.

After all, business is a kind of work, I don’t think it’s some kind of business where subjective opinion is very important. Objectivity is important here: there is sufficient profit - the business is successful.

• Evgeny Chichvarkin, creator of Euroset: People work to get money. Money is a means of achieving freedom. If the money you earn with pleasure allows you to fill your life with impressions and satisfy your passion for knowledge, life is a success. If you work in such a way that you don’t see white light, why are you working?”
• Paul Getty, an American industrialist, one of the first dollar billionaires in history: First make money, and then think about how to spend it - this is the best rule for people striving for success.
• , American industrialist, owner of factories for the production
  cars around the world, inventor: Invest in yourself. I never saved a dollar in my life until I was forty.
• Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda: I believe that success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success is only 1 percent of your work, and the other 99 percent is failure.
• Ruben Vardanyan, co-head of Sberbank CIB: If you are not ready to change and leave, do not try to run your own business.
• Tigran Telunts, General Director of the canning holding Uncle Vanya: We need to start doing business. Overcome the fear of loss of stability, leaving work, lack of salary. After all, in business you need to be able to earn not only for yourself, but also for the team. If there was no fear of loss, then everyone would probably be an entrepreneur.
• Watson senior, founder of IBM: Double the number of mistakes.
• , one of the founders and former largest shareholder of the company: If your business is now off the Internet, then you do not have a business!
• , American entrepreneur, philanthropist, the first dollar billionaire in the history of mankind: Earn a reputation, and it will work for you.

1. Don't wait a moment - start now.
2. Start with what you have and gradually refine the product.
3. Don't be in a hurry to spend.
4. Work on returns, hook the client.
5. Study your sales funnel. Consider each step for expansion.
6. Write down business processes, get ready to scale.
7. Learn from colleagues: .

Life hacks for beginner businessmen

" and subsection "" the article "Advice to a novice businessman" was published. Where we examined the first three qualities that are necessary for a successful entrepreneur. However, there are more than three qualities of these - therefore, we continue to describe them in today's article. Where we consider elements such as responsibility, awareness, business planning and friends.

The fourth tip for a novice entrepreneur: keep in mind that where there is money, there is also responsibility

Business needs money. It is necessary to realize that investing money is, among other things, a risk. You can’t take money without realizing that this is a huge responsibility! A lot of people got into a very, very bad state because of debt. Marriages break up because of debt. From this, friends are lost, loved ones turn away. If you take money, you must give it back. Please understand that this is a huge responsibility and that these are huge risks! Don't borrow unless you're 190% sure you'll get paid back. Is it dangerous. Especially when it comes to bank loans. If relatives can forgive (which is unlikely), then the bank will never forgive the debt at all (and this is guaranteed).

In this regard, the question may arise: "And what should I do? You can't start a business without money?" Well, this is how to look. Of course, if you want to open a huge casino, then yes. You can't open it without money. However, there are many areas where such huge investments are not needed. There is even such a direction as the art of using a minimum of means to achieve the maximum result.

Business Growth Tip #5: Being Aware Makes You Safer

An entrepreneur must know his field of activity and related areas. Must understand what it is and how it works. It's great if the company's field of activity is your favorite. And you understand this, you know the loopholes ... But imagine an old woman who suddenly wants to do not sewing, but web design. It will most likely run into some difficulty. Not so simple.

Further, the better you know your subject matter, the less likely you are to be swindled. They will sell something. Or buy something wrong. You can, of course, defend yourself with a bunch of lawyers, specialists, consultants, etc. But they have to pay! And where to get money from? Well, of course, when there is money. But when they are not... It is better to be aware.

Sixth tip for aspiring entrepreneurs: be sure to draw up a strategic and tactical business plan

No matter how it seems that everything is so simple, understandable and wonderful, it is vital to write a business plan or something like it ... A short strategy. And tactics. If you do not have a business plan, you open a business - you will make a big mistake. If you don't have a plan of action, don't do it. NECESSARY see the big picture. As silly as it may seem, a business plan must be written.

It is necessary to distinguish between a strategic business plan and a tactical business plan. A strategic business plan is a business plan that covers all activities in general - from creation to completion. A tactical business plan involves specifying certain points of a strategic plan. For example, a strategic business plan item: explore the winter tire market. And this point, with the help of a tactical plan, turns into reality. For example, part of a tactical business plan for researching the winter tire market is:

• set aside a financial reserve
• hire quality consultants
• check the results of their work

We have already touched on the preparation of a strategic business plan earlier. We will touch on the preparation of a tactical plan in the future. Be sure to plan! This will keep you from drifting away from your goal.

Seventh advice for a novice entrepreneur: do not take friends on your staff.

Do not take friends to your staff You will understand your mistake as soon as you do this. Friends will not fit into jobs the way hired workers do. Friends won't make it. Friends will want more than the rest. Friends can pressure you. Friends will drag your firm down. You can't fire them out of a sense of duty. If you hire a friend, you will make a big mistake. The old true saying: "If you want to lose a friend, lend him a loan." So here. Don't take friends. You can cooperate with them, but do not take them on the staff.

Friends can be co-founders, inspirers, work under a contract, for certain tasks written down on paper. But not wage workers. You can check - but be warned 🙂

Thus, the tips for aspiring entrepreneurs cover four more areas - a business plan, friends, responsibility and awareness.

http://www.openbusiness.ru/html_sovet/11zapoved.htm

There is a lot of talk about supporting young and not so start-up entrepreneurs, we have all heard about various federal programs to promote the organization. At the same time, many people are very skeptical about such projects.

What can a young man who decides to open his own business really count on? Let's try to figure it out.

What kind of help can a start-up entrepreneur get?

Several options and directions of support are possible. Let's start with the most attractive and tempting - with grants and subsidies.

Financial assistance, loans and gratuitous grants are the most desired type of assistance. In fact, there are two main ways to get money, they are relevant for the whole of Russia.

60 thousand to start a business

A fairly well-known program to support small businesses, or rather, the transformation from the unemployed to. They give out not 60 thousand rubles, but 58,800 - this is the annual amount of unemployment benefits. This program is absolutely working (no wonder - the amount is small, and this money is paid by law to the unemployed anyway).

To get this money to start your own business, you need to go through a series of steps. To some, they may seem tedious and superfluous, but in such a situation there are pluses: namely, additional knowledge on the organization of the case.

What needs to be done to get 60 thousand for a business?

Here are the main steps:

1. Registration at the local employment center as unemployed, confirmation of this status (in some cases, you have to go to interviews repeatedly to demonstrate that you are looking for a job).

2. Submission of an application for participation in the program of self-employment of the population. Further stages are already carried out under the supervision of employees of the employment center.

3. (Not in all regions) After the application, you undergo a short training - the basics of doing business, as well as psychological testing that reveals a propensity for self-employment, private entrepreneurship.

4. Consideration of a business plan by a special commission. In the case of a satisfactory assessment, the grant can be considered received.

5. Registration of IP, standard procedures.

6. After receiving a certificate of registration (usually within a month), money is transferred to the bank account - the same 60 thousand (more precisely - 58800) rubles.

7. At the end of the quarter, you must provide a report on the use of the money received.

Is it worth applying for such "lifting"? It depends on whether you are ready to go through all bureaucratic procedures for the sake of this money (of course, you need to register as an emergency in any case) and whether you consider the proposed training useful.

Grants from regional authorities

In many regions, business project competitions are also regularly held, the winners of the competition have the opportunity to receive a gratuitous grant in the amount of a more serious one - about 300 - 500 thousand rubles. The competition in such competitions is usually very high, but with a serious approach, it is quite possible to become one of the winners, especially if you make efforts for high-quality design and presentation of the project, and also take into account that projects that have the maximum chance of winning:

• socially significant;
• involve the use of grant funds for the acquisition of liquid assets (machines, equipment, vehicles);
• create additional jobs.

Non-financial support

In addition to the actual money for the development of the business, government agencies allow you to use their other services. So, many business incubators have already been created that can offer beginners, for example, the following:

• lease of premises for offices at a reduced price;
• analysis and evaluation of projects;
• advice on taxation and the choice of legal form.

Moreover, getting help in such a business incubator is usually quite simple - few people know about them, and therefore such structures usually work with “underload”.

Thus, it is quite realistic for a novice businessman to receive certain services and funds from the state. Although, of course, the volume of such support can never be compared with full-fledged loans from banks. On the other hand, the support of the incubator can become an additional argument when the bank considers whether or not to issue a loan to you.