The 6 Simple Steps to Starting a Business in a Recession

Starting your own business in such times of uncertainty may seem insane. However, like a lot of things in life if you are prepared to follow some simple tried and tested steps then you could well be the one living your life the way other only dream of.
So here are the 6 simple steps that took local single parent and former teacher, from working hard in a low paying job to carving out a new and exciting life for herself and her family.

1. Knowing your why

This is the single most important key to new business success – knowing why you are doing it in the first place. I believe that if you fully understand the reasons behind your decision to start up, this will determine your success or demise. Have you recently been made redundant? Have you thought you might as well start up doing what you did as a job, but working for yourself? My question would be – how much do you LOVE doing what you do? If you have a burning passion for something, are you more likely to do whatever it takes to get where you want to go?
Be very clear here, people who have a passionate conviction about what they offer and are clear why they are doing it will be very successful.

2. Plan, plan, plan

Once you know why you are doing what you will do, then it’s time to get the planning right. It’s like the old saying: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Spend some time researching your chosen subject; are there others out there doing what you want to do? Most importantly, is there a need for what you will offer? Its one thing being passionate about something, it’s another serving it up in such a way that it fulfils a need in orders. After all business is all about finding out people wants and needs and providing them with solutions. Once you have this match, you can build yourself a Business Plan. You can get professional help with things like this, or you can begin by working out what you offer, to whom you offer it, how much will it cost, and by when and how much you will sell.

3. Gather your support team

Working for yourself, or running a business can be lonely at the beginning; you will need people around you that support what you are doing, and can help when you hit hurdles.
Ideally you will want a group of other business owners you can work with, and you can meet to discuss how you can mutually help each other.
As you grow think about who you need to join you team and work for you, successful businesses are team players, don’t get caught in the notion you can do it all alone!

4. Get the marketing right

Most businesses don’t do enough marketing, especially at the beginning when ideally you should be spending 50% of the time on this. They will place an advert in the local paper and wait for the phone to ring! Again marketing should be built into the Business Plan, what activity you will do, how often, how will you track your results – what works and what doesn’t? It’s vital to get a system in place to track every enquiry, and then how you will follow this up.
Marketing doesn’t need to cost the earth either, there is plenty that can be done for free, and after that at small costs – so long as you know who you are marketing to exactly (your target market) and that you are promoting the benefits of what you offer, not the features. Lovely as they may well be, people just don’t want to know all the features of what you offer, just what it can do for them!

5. Focus on the financials

Another area that gets forgotten by most start-ups; getting the financials right is crucial to your success. It’s unlikely you will go out on week one and make a profit, so having a strict financial plan, cash-flow forecast and ideally six months living costs put away to survive on would be the minimum. Again there is plenty of help available out there, if numbers aren’t your thing; but remember – if you don’t focus on the money, you will never be successful!

6. Keep investing in yourself

This is probably the most under-rated area in some businesses today. If you are thinking of starting up your own enterprise then think about what areas could do with improvement – have you got all the confidence you need, the sales skills, the business knowledge, or the self-belief that you will succeed no matter what? Because to be truly successful you need to follow the 80/20 rule in all areas, in this area – 80% of your success is determined by your ‘mindset’, and 20% by the strategies you use. By continuing to strengthen your own abilities as well as your skills you will be ahead of the crowd, and therefore on the path to true business success.
A business that starts and grows during a recession is a strong business and can only get stronger.

Sophie’s  passion is education; inspiring you to develop and grow to create your ultimate vision.

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