Starting Your Own Business!
Starting a business is like the sexiest thing ever these days!
LETS TALK ABOUT IT!
Starting a business is equivalent to looking good for that bomb girls/guys night out! Just think about it. You are dressed perfect, your hair is on point and your face is glowing. You’re just out here looking sexy AF! Now think about what all went into achieving that finished look. It wasn’t easy huh? It may have even been stressful. But it was so worth it!
This is much like starting a business. We often first see the end product or design and immediately want that. We start thinking of a name and doing all the fun stuff like designing logos and calculating how much money we will make. But we discount the hard steps involved to get that full “sexy AF experience.”
I know this because this was my reaction when I wanted to start my business. I saw an end product or finished look and was like “yoooooo .. this is it right here.” But I promise you, putting together that desired final look has not been easy. I have discovered, that just like prepping for that fun night out, starting a business requires some key steps. Below I will give a brief overview of what I think these key steps for starting a business are.
Where Do I Start?
The first step when starting your business is determining your why and your what. Why are you doing this and what are you going to be doing. Your “why” is always number one, but we will save that for another day.
Once you have determined your why and your what, it’s time to zone in and really think about your niche. All your ‘niche’ is, is a specialized product or service in a particular market.
How Do I Find My Niche?
When searching for your niche, try to think of what you already possess. What skills, products, and/or services you can offer that you are already an expert at. Determining this is no easy task. I just determined mine after two years of searching. Honestly, the whole time it was right in my face, and I was just over thinking.
So just take some time and think about what you are doing on your job, what you are doing in school, your major, your gift and determine how it fits your why and what.
Once you’ve determined this, BOOM! You can then determine your niche.
What Do I Do After I Determine My Niche?
So, you’ve determined your niche or your super talent that you can monetize. Great! Now it’s time to define your target market and determine where to use your niche.
Defining your target market means looking at the overall market and identifying who you want to serve based on various categories like age, race, and gender. This is not an exhaustive list. You will need additional categories to have a more defined target market. Once your target market is defined you can determine where your niche fits in. Every market has gaps waiting to be filled regardless of how saturated it may seem. This is because there is always room in any and every market!
“A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men” – Proverbs 18:16
BREAK THROUGH THOSE CEILINGS!
Your target market includes your ideal client(s). This is super important because it is ultimately who you are servicing/selling to. Once you decide to start a business, everything you post, brand, market, promote, or sell is for your target market. This is the audience intended to see everything because these are the people that will ultimately spend money with you.
When you know this ahead of time, you can properly promote and brand yourself and your business. You will always know where to be, when to be there, what to post, what time to post, and what to offer.
The hard part about this is that sometimes, it takes time to naturally and organically grow your audience/tribe. Don’t post something and expect everybody to flock because you are not for everybody. Some people just will not get it. That is okay. Just know your tribe is on the way. Just stay consistent.
What’s Next, What’s Next?
Yea yea yea I know, you want to do the fun stuff. Go ahead lol. It’s a good time to start playing around with names, brands, colors, and websites.
Your business name should be something completely unique and created by you. Think of what you are offering and connect it to your why. Once you do this, you can begin brainstorming until you find the perfect business name.
While you are going through the process of creating your business name, you will also begin subconsciously thinking about your brand and how you will brand your business. Most people brand through their business name. Others use one brand name and create multiple businesses under that brand. (We’ll discuss this process more in a later post). It all depends on your purpose.
- An example of this would be FENTY by Rihanna. She has Fenty Skin, Fenty Beauty, & Savage X Fenty. One main brand, FENTY, and multiple businesses.
After you’ve brainstormed and found your potential business name, it’s now time to research. You must research to ensure the business name and brand name you wish to use is available. You CANNOT use someone else’s name if it is already in use. 1. There may be legal consequences and 2. It’s just bad business practice. Come up with your own sauce ALWAYS!
You could do an internet search, a USPTO search, a social media search, and a domain search. You could also hire an attorney to perform a comprehensive search for you. That way, if the name you want is available you could get it FEDERALLY trademarked by hiring that attorney. (Generally, a comprehensive search is included in a trademark filing).
This is also the time you would register your business with your state, through an LLC, Corporation, etc.
AND THEN…
Now, it’s time to put everything you have mapped out to the test.
You know when you buy products and it says test on a small area to see the reaction? That is literally what you want to do with the information you gathered. You want to go for a test drive and collect some data about what does and does not work. That way, you can adjust, grow, and have a successful launch!
“Success takes time to build. Don’t Wait” -SM
The steps above are only a brief overview of what I believe is needed to start your business off in the right direction. It lays the framework for success and growth, saves money by testing it out first, and helps you prepare for any necessary changes.
Until next time, subscribe here to become a part of this entrepreneurship journey community!
