SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES DON’T HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT
Name any of the most successful businesses that come to mind and I can say with overwhelming certainty that they did not get to where they are today without some sort of plan when starting a new business.
Perhaps the aspirations for your business are a little more modest than Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Richard Branson’s, but all businesses start out with one thing in common …… a desire to succeed in their chosen venture. Why else would you start a business right?
A good plan needs a vision behind it, but whats a vision?
My first tip for planning to succeed in business is to start with your vision, be very clear about that. What is the underlying reason you are starting out in business?
Once you have your vision or long term goal in mind, then that becomes your starting point and everything else can flow from there. Think of it like planning for a holiday, you can’t book plane tickets, accommodation, or even know how much money you need to save until you know where you are going, in simple terms your business vision is where you want to end up, its the destination. Come up with your destination first and then you can start planning from there.
It doesn’t matter if you are doing it for love or for money, starting a new business must have a point to it, a reason for being there. Focus on that.
This doesn’t have to be complicated and brainstormed in a corporate boardroom over several days …… (anyone who has worked in large corporates will know what I am talking about). The easiest way to come up with your vision is to sit for a while and just imagine what success looks like to you. It doesn’t have to be about money either, success is more about having an overall goal that you want to work towards and the success part is when you have put all the plans into place and achieved it. To make this task a little easier perhaps ask yourself “How will I know that my business has been successful, what will I see, and what will I be doing that show me that its successful”
If the point of your business is to connect low income families with free or affordable services, then earning lots of money is not necessarily an indicator of success for you, success for you is going to look very different to someone who is simply motivated by money.
Meditated on that for a while? ……. So whats your vision, what are you working towards?
There are lots of free resources for businesses and starting out in business. Here’s a couple of my favourites as a starting point for planning your version of success:
Some free resources to get you started
Planning for Success
Here is a really good place to start at the planning stage or starting your business. New Zealand trade and enterprise have developed heaps of useful resources for businesses starting out.
This workbook is a really good place to start.
The workbook covers off the key areas during the planning phase of starting a new business
- Business Overview
- Business Strategy
- Knowing your Market
- Systems and Processes that need to be set up
- Budgeting and Funding for your business
To check out other free resources from New Zealand trade and enterprise you can head to their website: https://www.nzte.govt.nz
Starting a business - checklist
Starting a business is made a lot easier when you have the right tools and resources. Business.govt.nz is a great place to start.
Download their easy to read checklist beside this text or if you want to check out their other online tools and resources head to the read more button below.
Maree Wallace is the owner and operator of Business Allsorts, a company dedicated to helping small businesses with all aspects of creating, managing and growing their business. For more information on the services they provide and how they might be able to help yours, visit their website: businessallsorts.co.nz