Start A Business Process

If you were like the Planet Berry management team you are not alone.  Having worked 20+ years for other companies, private business and medical facilities it becomes very routine to get to and from each task.  The mere concept of planning to start a business seemed overwhelming at first. Most corporations have the resources to provide their training and cultural influences to their employees.  But once you depart this world for your own venture it becomes a whole new process.

This section will try to break down what we at Planet Berry believe are the essential building blocks to a successful home based business and a path to answer the question, how to start a business.  No single approach is the "only" approach and you will most likely use variations of what we have done.  Having said that, we did go through a lot of lessons learned and hopefully you will gain some first hand experience of our trials and tribulations to better navigate those first few months of your launch.

To start a new business is exciting.  Focus on your passion your reason for doing this. There are many days where the roller coaster effect on your emotions is in full swing.  Never lose your focus whether heading up or down in the cycle. 

If your business plan (more on this later) is solid and your market selection on-point then your business will mature into a rewarding venture that is both fun to manage (this is your first love right?) and profitable.  Never forget the profits.

Always focus on the "Why" and not the "What". This means you center on your passion and thus you can scale any tough task and all difficult roads that are mounting a defense against your success. By all means, have fun and be passionate on what ever you decide to do. If this is going to sustain itself it must make you happy. If you are happy you are adding to your own potential as people in general work with people they place their trust at companies they respect. The end result is a repeat client who talks to others in their network about your business and most importantly your staff!

Starting out small and need a lot of infrastructure? Outsourcing strategies are a good way to stretch your cash flow!

Business Plan

The Business Plan is what separates start up ventures from fully sustainable compaines over time.  As you start a business the business plan is not a write once and forget about it exercise.  It is a dynamic, ever changing tool from which all successful companies share a common thread.  They execute against their plan and they challenge their plan over time.  Sounds simple but all too many early phase companies start out with the right intentions and then fail to execute and wonder what happened. The business plan should contain some very basic elements as follows:

Most of the above are pretty straight forward.  I bet your eye caught one in particular.  Point six above is hardly ever thought of and its the one that ultimately defines your over arching go-to-market approach and remains a good focus for how to start a business in the first place.

WAHM! Work At Home Mom's Watch This!

Vision

Vision, heavy word for so few letters. Without it you will never get to where you seek. As you start a business vision drives all the other components of the business plan itself. It should be reachable as a goal but not so easy thus providing your company and employees the ability to stretch their minds and abilities and achieve higher productivity thus growing the top and bottom lines of the business at optimal efficiencies.

The statement itself, Vision, should be clear. It should also be very simple and carry with it the capabilities of the leadership team from top to bottom. The leaders of the company have to relay their passion and focus towards the vision in order to pass this down among the team/employees. Not unlike an athletic team heading into a match.

Each employee should clearly understand the goals and objectives and buy-in to the direction the leadership team is driving towards. Now, you are probably reading this saying, "but I'm a home based business with a total employee pool of, hmmm.....me!" it still matters. Probably more so as you must stay focused even more so. Being a small business carries with it many distractions. So, print it out. Spend the money and have it framed as it will ultimately become your path to success or the reason you are back in line working for your former employer. Having the right perspective can make all the difference in the world. Understanding both the risks and the benefits associated with potential business opportunity allows you to make more educated decisions related to that business and conforms to why you start a business in this manor.

Mission Statement

Whew, that's enough to throw you back into your comfort zone, fold up shop and head back to Corporate America.  If so, then by all means do so.  But if you really want to launch a sustaining business that thrives on change and has the overall potential to become a major force in your focus market then it all comes together with the Mission Statement.

Mission statements can be short they can be long.  What's important is that they are clear and concise to your vision.  Notice we haven't spoen on a Vision Statement yet.  That's interesting isn't it?  That's because over the 20+ years in corporate roles and management oversight popstions I find the two topics too overlapping.  Way too many cycles wasted on comparing the two and trying to carefully disect them into stand alone categories.  Which they are but I for one prefer to go the route of the laser guided Mission Statement.  The Vision Statement is paramount to how you view your company and how you and your employees position themselves in their roles and your market. 

Lastly, the Vision Statement tells your prospects and clients where they should consider you and your offerings.  But for now, we  will focus on the Mission Statement.  Research your market, know  your core competency and nail it so you can drive the balance of the business plan to a fine tuned instrument and anyone who picks the document up knows where your headed and how you will get there.

"Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion."   Jack Welch, Chairman, General Electric*

If that doesn't sum it up then we have a lot of work to do here, smiling.  I'm sure if you are reading this today you have to agree with the Chairman of GE, Jack Welch.  His success is a pilar in the industry and a solid foundation to build from fundamentally.

"Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."  Peter F. Drucker, Consultant & Author.

"Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes."  Lewis Gizzard, Author and Humorist.

Barriers To Entry

After you start a business you run into natural barriers. When we speak of barriers to entry we are refering to the forces in business that would cause you to fail in your attempt to enter a new market (assuming you are already up and running in a particular focus) you are a new business about to carve out a slice of a market you feel is well targeted for your offerings.  Are the business scales lining up for you to initiate a campaign going forward? Did you start a business at the right time? How is your market segment holding up?

10 Key Points To Consider:

• Who owns this market today?
• How many competitors are already doing what you want to do?
• What is your opportunity size based on speed to market?  If you build it will they be there so-to-speak.
• How long will it take to penetrate this space?
• Do you have the right resources?
• Financially well backed?
• Domain experience from a people perspective?
• Rolodex is key.  Do you have one for this space?
• Is there growth in this market or is it declining?
• Is your fit competitive with the known players in your target market?

Building Brand Awareness

Deciding on your brand takes time and planning. It's a good idea to invest in a partner that acts as your marketing therapist is a sense. Find a company that specializes in your niche. Perhaps a business that has a track record of success in assisting early phase companies to the market. Your business name to your actual logo will tell your prospects all about your service or products you offer.

It's very important to understand who your competition is and what distinguishes their offerings from what you are planning. Perhaps you are carving out a market share strategy and your brand is capable of taking customers away from existing business ventures already established. This has both upside and downside potential.

Clearly the upside is an established market exists. You must then decide on whether you are a me-too offering and you will take market share by offering a lower price thus your value is economically driven. Or, you see an opportunity to enhance the niche players with a better solution.

Pull customers away from an established market by providing something unique or perhaps better than what is presently addressing their needs and thus their precious dollars spent. It all gets back to your brand. If you develop your brand carefully you can target your markets and clients with pin point accuracy. Trial and error is key and you should test market your ideas with the major search engines as an example.

You can setup a test lab by investing in, for example, Google Adsense. This program allows you to test out your message by attracting customers who are typing in searches on Google. You pay per click but most importantly you can see the reaction of the market to your brand and brand awareness campaigns. You will need a landing page on the internet so think through this carefully so you can capture demand trends based on search criteria.

It's fast and fairly easy to setup and all the major search engines have this capability or they are coming to the market shortly with it. I found this a very valuable piece of my startup investment as I played a lot of different niche scenarios with it and created initial drive towards our current world wide web location (see my bio for more information). What is important here is to do the work up front. Don't launch a great idea without testing your brand. Work with article submission services that have solid reputations like SearchWarp and EzineArticle Submission. We have many ideas in this area at our corporate web site

Network Marketing : Myths and Comparisons

So let's break it down to simple terms. A network is a group of things tied together in its simplest form. Phone lines all converging on a switch box become a phone system from which 100's of calls go in and out of. Thus a network. Traditional direct sales organizations are made up of *typically* Vice President of Sales, Regional Sales Managers, District Sales Managers down to Account Sales Representatives. This is your traditional look and feel of a corporate to field organization. Question I have is what’s the difference between this and a home based business owner who recruits a line of business builders under him and profits from their collective sales? Nothing in my opinion.

The Vice President of Sales gets paid on the overall sales of the lowest level of his or hers organization? Well, if that is true, then it is no different than your basic Network Marketing Company we see day in and day out.

So, what separates the good opportunities from the high risk investments from a home based business viewpoint? Some lack a real product. They advertise recruitment and not the actual selling of a product. Look for the legitimate business offerings and support. First and foremost don't be turned off by the phrase network marketing. Everything is networked these days and has been for decades. Find something you are knowledgeable about and have passion to discuss. This is key as it gets to the very root that separates the flourishing business from the failed. Research the companies to make sure they have a solid reputation and no legal issues with their distributors or customers. As you start a business these are key fine points to consider and hopefully manage.

This is very important in the health and wellness market. All of this can be found online through Google and Yahoo search engines. Do your homework. There are many network marketing opportunities so write down your personal and professional attributes and a five year plan of where you want to be. Network marketing opportunities can get you there if you do your home work and are willing to work hard.

Learn how to build your web site here!

Infrastructure

It was only a few years ago that wiring your home or office was a tremendous undertaking. Bids were required and permits (depending on your needs) would need to be obtained. Whole houses were being transformed into wired Ethernets room by room.

Then a little company in Southern California was borne. Linksys may not have been first to the market, memory serves me correctly, but the clearly are the Xerox of wireless. It was no shock when industry giant Cisco snatched them up from the rank and file and created a strong new division to compliment their growing thirst for top line revenue.

To see the true effect of a company’s ability to flex you have to see how their employees conduct their daily tasks. Creativity is clearly an expensive commodity and to free up your teams to think out of the box sometimes requires unique settings. A wireless infrastructure, when properly implemented has no boundaries, depending on the level of technology deployed of course. Unhitch the Ethernet bound desktops and unite your workforce to compete at new levels!

End or Start A Business Now?

In the current market to start a business venture you must have keen eye sight. The online world of compeitors is fierce and greatly hiddlen from your view. When you first start a business it is incrementally satisfying as you come from a base of zero.

But then, months after you start a business you reflect backwards and see how far you have come. Most business ventures fail in the first 1-2 years. Failure to manage cash is typically the reason. Start a business with a full knowledge (as best you can) of your available resources.

Plan your time wisely. Set daily, weekly and monthly goals to be measured fairly as your business moves forward. Make these goals realistic but challenging.

Start a business with your passion and your plan fully understood. Passion is critical but can lead to poor decisions. Always bring a balance to the table on all critical decisions. Use your network of friends (not family) to bounce your ideas off of. Then, do it again as to start a business in full stealth mode can be an early sign of defeat.