Work smarter, not harder. We have all heard the sage advice to work smarter, not harder; but what does this mean? Working smarter means using a strategy to take your business concept from imagination to implementation. Rooted in the Soaring Phoenix business building philosophy is ensuring that your strategy is in harmony with what you want and need for yourself, your lifestyle and your approach to juggling your day to day affairs.
Success is not accidental. Spending dedicated time before you start building your business will allow you the advantage that successful entrepreneurs enjoy—the luxury of doing what they love.
Soaring Phoenix developed this introductory document to help you work smarter by developing the best approach to get you and your business where you want them to be—on the road to success!
The following 10 steps will help you develop the strategic approach that will work for you and your business concept.
Step 1: Make a Life Map
Step 2: Create a Business Plan
Step 3: Select Your Business Structure
Step 4: Create Key Assets. Protect Your Great Idea
Step 5: Find the Funding
Step 6: Organize Logistics
Step 7: Find Great People
Step 8: Establish a Brand
Step 9: Market and Sell
Step 10: Get a Mentor
STEP 1: Make a Life Map.
If you were in construction, would you build a house on unfamiliar territory or on an unknown site? You might know how to build it, but with no address or geospatial coordinates, how would you get there in the first place? In this step, Soaring Phoenix guides you through the process of getting a bird’s eye view of your life, so you can see where you can fit building a business into your life and how you can map your way there. We guide you through the questions you need to ask yourself, so you can determine your direction, avoid detours, and anticipate rest stops on your journey as you drive your business from an exciting concept into a functioning reality.
STEP 2: Create a Business Plan.
Creating a business plan is your next and most crucial step to ensuring the most efficient path to turn your business idea into a reality. The business plan works in tandem with your life map and provides you with the researched information you need to prevent mistakes or to help you work through life’s unexpected roadblocks. Developing a business plan is your opportunity to determine the soundness of your strategy and implementation plans for your road trip. The plan is also the key to getting funded (more on that in Step 5). Soaring Phoenix provides you with an outline of a typical business plan that you can tailor to your specific needs. Some of the key categories it will help you define are pinpointing your target market, honing your strategic approach, outlining your tactics, creating your budget (including a cash flow tool), compiling your launch and operations calendar and creating your exit strategy.
STEP 3: Select Your Business Structure.
Selecting your business structure is much like deciding on the best car insurance for you, your needs and your driving habits. As with starting a business, there are inherent risks involved with owning and driving a car—whether for personal or commercial use. The right coverage will reduce your vulnerability to financial liability or legal susceptibility. A good business structure will help reduce taxes and reduce risk from frivolous lawsuits. A bad business structure will create excess taxes, increase your risk and eat up your valuable time. Identifying the “right” structure for your business depends on finding the right fit to meet your strategic goals and implement your strategic approach. Soaring Phoenix provides you with a simple guideline of some more common business structures to get you started finding the best coverage for your needs. (It is best to work closely with an attorney and/or an accountant to ensure you single out the right choice.)
STEP 4: Create Key Assets. Protect Your Great Idea.
You have worked hard to map your destination (Step 1) and write up your plan to get there and build your business (Step 2). You even selected the right structure to reduce the vulnerability of your business (Step 3). Having someone else to steal your great idea and beat you to the punch is heartbreaking! Patents, copyrights, trademarks, know-how or trade secrets are often collectively referred to as intellectual property. In this step, Soaring Phoenix briefly introduces you the impact that not protecting your company’s intellectual property can have on your intentions to start your business.
STEP 5: Find the Funding.
Every business has expenses and needs to be financed. In the same way that a road trip needs to be fueled with gasoline or meal breaks, you will need a steady injection of funds to ensure success in building your business. The good news is that you already figured this out when you developed your Business Plan (Step 2). Now, all you need to do is raise the money to meet that four-, five-, six-figure number. Does debt financing work for you or can you afford equity financing? Is your best hope for a loan a call to your mom or dad? In this section, Soaring Phoenix explores a variety of funding options to help you determine what kind of financing you need, understand the varying impacts that differing funding methods will have on your business, and identify the right match for the goals you set in your Life Map (Step 1) and the strategies you defined in your Business Plan (Step 2). Soaring Phoenix also prepares you with what you need to know to make a winning small business presentation.
STEP 6: Organize Logistics.
The most successful entrepreneurs have identified their specific areas of energy and expertise as well as their roles in implementing the start-up and maintenance of their businesses. They are comfortable with recognizing areas of weakness and limited knowledge, interest or time, and they “outsource” for fresh assistance and even-handed counsel. Soaring Phoenix lists the Top Nine service providers (such as, accountants, attorneys, information technology experts) to include in a solid logistical team and suggests a framework for making sure that all their efforts are coordinated to keep your business strategy on target. Identifying and securing a core logistical team provides you with the support will need for every business’s predictable moments (such as filing for permits) and for the surprises (like a computer virus)!
STEP 7: Find Great People.
Did you get a flat tire on your road trip? The right relationships or the right staff can help keep you and your business moving forward. The wrong ones can set you back a couple days, weeks or months—or it can even shut you down entirely! Even if you think of your business as a one-person operation, you will need a network of support to help you create a successful business. Most importantly, you will need customers! Whether contractors or customers, employees or suppliers, the business relationships you build with these individuals can help make or break your business. Soaring Phoenix gets you thinking about knowing your Target Market and building effective and strategic alliances.
STEP 8: Establish Your Brand.
So your Business Plan (Step 2) has helped you set up your business, now you need to attract customers. While you continue on your road trip, you want every moment to communicate or demonstrate to your customers that your business offers the answer to their real or perceived need: What does the vehicle you drive say about you, your product, or your service? Is it purely functional, or does it provide its passengers with a positive emotional experience? Soaring Phoenix shares with you how to develop a Marketing Plan to promote your business, product or service. Your Marketing Plan shapes your Unique Selling Proposition (which you defined in your Business Plan (Step 2)), and it determines how much it will cost your business to simply attract your customers to your business. Soaring Phoenix also provides you with some basic principles of promotional techniques, including public relations and publicity, advertising, personal selling and short-term sales promotions, so you can develop the Marketing Plan that best suits your business, from launch through maintenance and growth.
STEP 9: Market and Sell.
Now that you have attracted customers to your business, you will need to convince them that your product or service is worth paying money for. As much as 80 percent of the start-up phase is in marketing your business. How are you going to sell and deliver your product or service? Soaring Phoenix walks you through the process of developing a solid sales transaction, from perfecting your personal introduction, communicating your pitch and dedicating yourself to follow-up so that you can build lasting sales relationships with your customers.
STEP 10: Get a Mentor.
There are good mentors and there are great mentors. The former shares expertise to help you keep the body of your business in sound functioning condition: a good mentor will give you clear directions and show you tricks of the trade. The latter will also provide these tips and knowledge; but great mentors will also provide insightful knowledge about you, the founder—the heart, mind and spirit—and driver of your business to help you drive your business to new heights. Soaring Phoenix encourages you to find mentors to help you look at your business critically and improve it, and we also urge you to identify those individuals who will help you grow personally, so you can create a new plateau upon which to grow your business.
Wondering if that product or service you want to offer is worth committing your money, sacrificing your time, and expending all your resources? Soaring Phoenix provides a tool that will help you decide if you have made the right choice for yourself. Get clear from the outset. Our Strategic Opportunity Tool helps you develop your objectives, goals, strategies and plans to create a foundation to build on. Know if you are making decisions with the right criteria.
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How to Start Building Your Business
