Entrepreneurship is great experience and possibility which gives you the freedom to be your boss. Overall becoming a successful entrepreneur involves a combination of factors including passion, persistency, creativity, and strategic thinking. Here are some key steps that I have been using in my entrepreneurship years:
1. Identify your market Niche: successful entrepreneurs often start by identifying a need in the market or a problem that needs solving. As an entrepreneur, it is easiest to start from what are your competence areas that you carry, and see where there is new problems that you can help with. The problems do not need to be overwhelming to resolve the whole world – for local people and local problems, they are often very normal.
2. Research your ally: Before jumping into the business deeper, it is well used time to do some market research. if you are not yet aware of the local competitors, research them well. Understanding will help you to set your service better fitting the local demands.
3. The Power of Networking: Networking is an important asset also – you might need help, guidance or advice, even sometimes co-operation with your competitors (f ex if your customer is really in trouble, better to help him out instead of leaving). Networking also with customers is important – often the freelancers, service providers who are remembered, do have regular customers that will need the service within a certain frequency. This is the easiest to sell, repeat orders of satisfied customers.
4. Embrace Feedback: Also, it is valuable to ask feedback, what was good and what not. With Valmista feedback is captured also every time, but verbal feedback is also very good to hear. Even it would be negative – the purpose is the development of the value and customer experience further. There will sometimes be failures, things do not go perfectly, but those are to be considered as learning, that it would not happen later again, just make needed changes and keep moving forward.
5. Building a Sustainable Business: Finances, company, will it be small or large, will need positive cash flow and at the end, profitability for being relevant in future also. Generally, the early times as entrepreneur, do not often bring in great financial results (but it is possible with great fit to the market), but more important is that there is steady orderbook and products/services that you will manage and make more valuable little by little. Generally pricing should be focused on the value created, and increases should be made frequently for keeping bit ahead of the inflation. Also, you will need the profitability also for being able to invest into the future – technology, tools, devices needed for your services will require investments.
6. Risk management: Even being your own boss, business includes always certain risks. Sometimes those are smaller that can be easily managed, but for example investment decisions are there larger topics that will need calculations for best case and worst case scenarios. In case the area of service fits better to the trends of the time, then often this decreases the risk factors.
Remember, success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, dedication, and hard work to build a successful business. And Valmista is there for you to help you on your path as in your local business!
