A New Way to Think About Preparing Your Business

You’ve probably sat there from time to time thinking about a new business idea or adding to your existing line. Today, entrepreneurs have to be more innovative, creative, and driven than ever before. It takes more passion and hard work to make a successful business.



“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” – Unknown



Once you’ve figured the new idea out, what do you do next? From my experience, new entrepreneurs just jump right in to get things started without preparation. But, is that what the next step should be? Usually, jumping right in takes a lot of time plus money without truly understanding whether it will work.



I thought I’d share what basic steps are important to complete prior to launching that new idea. These are based on my experience from working with business owners to start, grow, and finance their businesses.



Discovery Checklist:

(It works well to make organized notes for yourself as you go through each section.)

• Due Diligence - is it already on the market or in use by someone else? Trademarks or copyright on it? Anything negative tied to it? Benefit vs. Risk?
  

q Product

q Service

q Business name

q Brand/Logo

q Business type

• Financial Projections
  

q Initial start up costs – can you afford to do it? Need a loan?

q Sales forecasts – logically estimate pricing, number of sales and cost of getting them

q Break-even analysis – how many sales do you need to make just to get out of the red?

• Market Research
  

q Industry review – booming, struggling, steady?

q Competitors?

q Who and where is your market?

q How do you reach them?

q Why would they buy from you?



By completing this checklist, you’ll have several portions of your business plan complete! If you find that you struggle in certain areas or all of it, seek help from a professional. It is more beneficial to ensure everything is correct before spending time and money on developing a ready-to-fail idea. Now, have fun and go discover the possibilities!



Please send any questions or comments to expert@mybizmap.com



Regards,


Kim Jaragoske



Founder of BizMap

302.824.0055

877.9.BIZMAP

www.mybizmap.com



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yes, the checklist. It seems like you cover all grounds but YET something pops up that you did not intend for. A reserve fund, if possible, is a good idea and should be setup...