Most women starting a new business are full of ideas (which is great) and passion (even better!). But it can be easy to get caught up in the ‘fantastic idea’ and make mistakes that can be easily avoided. So here are some tips for starting out:
Take time to test: you absolutely need to go with your ‘gut feeling’ when starting a business. But if you do not take the time to test and research, you are likely to fail (and fail quickly). Talk to experts and people who have been in business for more than five years. Work out who your target market is and see what they think of your idea. You might receive feedback that you did not anticipate and may find you have to do some more work before you launch. That does not mean you should give up! The product or service you launch may look different than what you first envisaged, so be open to change.
Market aggressively: you are competing with many other products and services, and advertising ‘noise’ in general, so you cannot expect that your idea will ‘sell itself’. No matter what it is, you have to create a comprehensive marketing plan. This does not necessarily mean spending a lot of money, but you do need to have a clear plan of what and how you are going to promote.
You cannot do it all: at the very beginning, you will likely be the one doing every aspect of your business. But if your idea takes off, you must bring in other people with specific talents and skills. Associate yourself with other business owners and start building valuable and trustworthy relationships so you can draw on those networks when you need to.
Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender