How ready are you to start a business?

‘The ability to respond to the environment, as tough as it may be, is an essential attribute of any business leader and entrepreneur.’

Whenever entrepreneurs speak, one thing that stands out is their pride in the scars they got while building their business empires from the ground up.

They tell these tales vividly, painting a Goliath versus David battlefield scene that excites you and makes you believe in the little David in you.

You will imagine yourself as a founder or chief executive of the business you want to set up. And the craziness of your dream will make you brave enough to go for it.

But what makes you ready to start a business? How ready are you to start a business?

Here are five things you should know to start a business successfully;

1. Who is Your Target audience?

One thing that most SME businesses miss is who their target audience is. So, when developing a marketing strategy, you have to start from that base.

If anyone says everybody (is their target audience), you have to break it down and narrow the scale.

“If you fine-tune who your audience is from the marketing perspective, that is how you will talk to them, but product development perspective is how you will render that product in a way that person you are talking to can be able to receive it,” Jeff Njau, an SME consultant explained.

This, he said, needs to introspect from the entrepreneur.

2. Business Objective

“What is your business objective? Your target, mission and vision are important in creating your strategy,” she says.

Before you start opening a social media page and putting up banners or billboards, understand who you are speaking to, and you will be able to create messaging around that and then link it to your business goals.

The entrepreneur should ask questions such as: What is the target for this idea? What need am I meeting? Is it a real need or an imaginary one?

 “When you start interrogating, you can begin fine-tuning the product and marketing,” said Mr Njau.

3. Payment platform

Danson Muchemi, chief executive of JamboPay, an electronic payment platform that provides solutions to businesses, government agencies, and other organisations, said that sometimes, money to start an enterprise is not the big issue.

In his case, he recalled starting JamboPay in a cyber café, stating that all he needed then was a computer, an internet connection, and a desk.

“As entrepreneurs, we understand that finances are probably four to five per cent of the ingredients you need to get started. I knew then that I needed an internet connection; that was the most important thing. It was not trucks to move around or vehicles or even big offices,” he said.

For him, what is important is the clarity of what the customer wants.

Entrepreneurs should ask themselves: What values are we giving to whom? What is their pain point? What value are we extending in our service to meet their challenges?

4. Decision-making

Besides clarity and value, entrepreneurs should also be agile.

This means being agile enough in decision-making, internally and externally, to admit that you need partnerships with other like-minded enterprises to thrive.

“If numbers and numbers never lie, indicating that you need to shift or change your product from one market to another, you have got to move. And act as fast as you can.

So, are you ready?

If you’re thinking, ‘That’s me, I want to start my own business!’ then put that thought into action!

Courtesy: The Standard